Khari Mandari – a lesser known trekking
destination of Manali
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| Way to Khari Mandari |
I have not been able
to write a blog for a long.. long time because of my personal pre-occupation
and consequent confinement either in Delhi or at most visiting my home in
Ranikhet. Therefore, I had nothing much
to write about. A few days back a friend
of mine working in Delhi Development Authority, where treks for the employees are
conducted annually & regularly, which is a healthy practice, informed me about the destination . While discussing his last trekking trip organized
by his office, he mentioned the name of a place called Khari Mandari, which he
had visited with the office group and recounted some funny anecdotes that occurred
during the said trek.
As I found the place
to be of some interest to me, I tried to gather some information from the
internet, but to my dismay there was no information available about this
destination. So I contacted my friend
again and sought some detailed information from him about the destination along with
some photographs and this narration is a third party account of the visit, as
informed by my friend. I am undertaking
the same so that this nondescript destination of Manali finds mention in the
internet and for benefit of my blog readers.
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| Heading towards Jogini falls |
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| Almost there at Jogini falls |
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| The famed Jogini falls |
The journey had commenced
late in the evening from the office premises near INA Market, New Delhi and as
it was around the month of September, so all the participants had been
instructed to carry some jackets and woolens, as the weather in the mountains can
take a turn for worse at any time without any prior indication. Everyone was in high spirits singing and
cracking jokes with their friends & groups, who had managed to get seats
next to each other in the bus. The
initial destination was Manali, which is about 550 Kms. from Delhi and takes
12-14 hours to reach. After initial hullaballoo,
everyone settled in for some sleep, which was hard to come by due to constant
jumps and jerks of the bus. The bus took
the NH-1 till Chandigarh (about 227 Kms.), which takes about 4-5 hours to reach
and thereafter, one has to take NH-21 and it takes about 8-10 hours from
Chandigarh to reach Manali, which is
about 330 Kms. By the time most of the participants
had woken up, we stopped somewhere beyond Chandigarh in a nondescript place for
the morning ablutions & a cup of hot Tea / Chai, as arranged by the tour
operator. Refreshed, we commenced with
the journey and by late-morning had reached our destination and immediately
checked into the Bahang base camp on the Manali -Leh highway. After briefing and allotment of tent and freshening
up followed by lunch,
we all were allowed to rest for the day and everyone had a sound sleep till
late evening, tired from the overnight journey.
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| The tents at Bahang |
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| The tent site at Boggi |
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| Tent site at Sarai - the base camp for Khari Mandari |
The
next day i.e. day two of arrival in Manali, although it was bright and
sunny, yet there was a nip of cold in the air.
After breakfast, we headed for the famed Jogini falls for acclimatization.
The fall was really spectacular, falling from a height of a hundreds of
feet. Having trekked back to the base
camp for the night, we all were provided with some basic hiking equipment and instructions
to be followed for the trek that was to commence from the next morning i.e. day
three after arrival at Manali. The next
morning i.e. day three of arrival at Manali, we all proceeded for Boggi, after early B’fast we left by
Jeep that dropped us at Jagatsukh. Boggi
is situated at an altitude of 2500 meters above MSL and after alighting from
the Jeeps, we started for the first leg of the trek of about 10 Kms. and having
got past Banara village, camp was setup in a meadow close to alpine forest and
everyone provided with packed lunch.
Although the trek gradient was easy, but having walked for 10 Kms., we
just tore into our lunch packs. Evening
was free and we all enjoyed the surroundings.
The fourth morning was scheduled for trek from Boggi to Sarai, another 10 Kms. trek passing
through some undulating meadows interspersed by some gradual climbs and by late
afternoon we managed to reach Sarai, perched at an altitude of 3050 meters above
MSL, where camps had been set up in a small clearing. We retired for the night at this camp, as it
was to be our base camp for final assault to Khari Mandari.
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| As we start our trek towards Khari Mandari - distant view of Pir Panjal ranges under cloud cover - view from below Fa Kanda ridge |
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| View of the camp below from the Fa Kanda ridge |
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| Khari Mandari top - view of the alpine destination |
On
the fifth day since our arrival on Manali, after having taken early
breakfast, we started our climb towards Khari Mandari. As we started the climb, we found it to be
toughest of the trek. The trek endures
constant climbing and gradual gaining of height upto Fa-Kanda ridge situated at an altitude of 3500 meters above
MSL. The tour guide informed us that we
could get spectacular views of Pirpanjal and Chandra Bhaga ranges, but as the sky
was overcast, we could not get a glimpse of the same. We reached the Khari Mandari, which is a
meadow perched at considerable height and after taking rest for about half an
hour, we started our trek back to the base camp at Sarai for overnight stay at
the camp. Early next morning i.e. the sixth
day of arrival, we started our downward trek passing by the same meadows
& forest fringes retracing through small hamlets or villages named Tilgan,
Suru and reached Priini, wherefrom the Jeep picked us up from near an old
bridge and took us to Manali for an afternoon outing in the township. The next day we returned to Delhi, thus
ending our trekking trip.
© S Roy Biswas
