Delhi to Naag Tibba – Two travelers on a 125cc Hero Super Splendor with a two person camping Tent for self sustenance in wilderness.
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| What else can I wish........ |
“Bhai yeh rasta thik to hai, kahin hum galat to nhi jaa rahe, andhera bhi hone wala hai, yahin kahin jagah dekh k tent laga lete hain. Koi banda dikh jaye to confirm ho jayega k hum sahi jaa rahe hain.”
(Are we moving in the right direction, its almost dark, lets find a place right here and mount our tent instead of keep moving. We can confirm the right direction/path if somehow somebody shows up. )
These were the words from worried Sanjay as we did not find any sign of settlement for about 2 hours of continuous walk towards the Naag Tibba base camp. Also, this was his first ever trekking experience in the Himalayas.
About the place: Nag Tibba ('Serpent's Peak'), is the highest peak in the lesser himalayan region of Uttarakhand state (Garhwal Division). It is situated 16 km (9.9 mi) away from Landour cantonment, and around 57 km from Mussoorie in Tehri Garhwal region of Uttarakhand.
Altitude from sea level: ~ 3050 mtrs
How to reach: Best route is Delhi-Karnal-Yamunanagar-Ponta Saheb-YamunaBridge-PantwariVillage-ask for the last motorable road towards Naag Tibba-6.5 km trek to the base camp-3km trek to NaagTibba peak.
Best time to Visit: January – February, September - November
Brief Itinerary:
Saturday, February 17th 2015: leave Dwarka, Delhi at 1145 hrs. for Dehradun
Reach Dehradun at 1900 hrs. overnight stay at a guest house at Dehradun
Sunday, February 18, 2015: leave Dehradun at 0800 hrs, reach Pantwari at 1300 hrs.
Trek to Naag Tibba base camp. Overnight camping and bonfire.
Monday, February 19, 2015: Trek down to the parked vehicle (Bike) leave for Delhi.
Delhi (Home) at 0215 hrs.
Budget: INR 1450/- per traveler (with your own camping tent and equipments)
Back to travelogue:
After being astonished by the impeccable beauty of various treks in Himalayas, I was looking for a trek in the Himalayas that would take me at an altitude of 3000m (from sea level) strictly limited to be termed as weekend trip. Googled like hell and found this place – NaagTibba, less than 400km from Delhi and takes you to a respectable altitude of 3000m above sea level.
My office hours are that of graveyard shift and hence we left for Mussourie at around 12pm on Saturday February 17th and the route selected was Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut bypass-Mujaffarnagar-Dehradun-Mussurie. Although we intend to reach mussourie by dark, but we could only make it to Dehradun at around 8 pm. We searched for an affordable accommodation and found one for INR 400/- only. After office hours at night and a 200 km ride, I had to have a good sleep. Hence, without wasting any time, we took shower and had ‘little little’ of Rum and went to much desired deep sleep.
Next morning, we woke up at 7:30 am, and left for Pantwari village, last motorable point. We had tea and paranthas at Kempty Fall, Mussourie, which looked like an abandoned market place in the month of February. I have had heard about the fish rice at Yamuna bridge after Kempty fall and we gave it a try. Surprised to see that fish was served with fins, no matter, it was really tasty.
Pantwari is about 45 kms from Yamuna bridge.
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| Sanjay enjoying fish rice at Yamuna bridge |
Pantwari is about 45 kms from Yamuna bridge.
Important: once you reach Pantwari village, ask for the last motorable road towards Naag Tibba, it is about 9 km where the dead end comes and you will have to park your vehicle right there in jungle with no one to take care of.
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| looks insane, this is where we parked our bike for next 24 hrs |
From here onwards, begins the absolute test of endurance, in fact, your entire persona. The very first step we took forward had this question “this doesn’t seems to be a trek, has anybody ever walked on this terrain?”
For Sanjay it was horrifying as this was his first trekking in the Himalayas. For me, what else I could have wished at just 370 kms from home. We kept walking on this hard to distinguish trek. You can see some abandoned huts probably made by shepherds, for temporary halts or rain shelters. After we covered walking nearly 1.5 kms, we saw a dark figure approaching towards us. Fear on our mind, we questioned ourselves, is that a Beer. We stood still and as the creature came close enough we were relieved to see that this was a Bhutia dog. Believe me, besides their terrifying looks, these dogs are highly loveable and cute and may prove to be a great companion in jungle. He was tired like us and we, now three, took rest under a tree. You can easily figure out which tree have mentioned here, because this is the only big relief that comes within 2km from the beginning of trek. At next 400 meters, we met Pradeep, working on a project. They plan to built a Goat farm and a guest house that may take another year and to be ready by mid 2016.
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| I thought this is a tea stall and we can have something to eat. It is not. :( |
At first, I thought that this must be a tea stall and we could have something to eat, but it wasn’t as mentioned above. Nevertheless, Pradeep offered us tea and we thanked him. He told us that Naag Tibba base camp is around 5 kms from here, hence we moved forward. We also saw some porters coming from base camp and they assured us to provide food services once they come back in the evening. Thanks to them as we did not bring anything to eat.
One thing I would like to share, although Naag Tibba is just 370 kms from Delhi, this is neither a weekend destination nor and easy trek. 2 days makes it very hectic, You need at least 3 days to enjoy the trip and chances of being lost in jungle are high on this trek. I would recommend to keep something handy to mark your path while you trek towards Naag Tibba as this will certainly help you to get down quickly to your parked vehicle.
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| no traces of any track or direction. Only wild guess is that we have to keep moving uphill. |
While walking towards the base camp, the trail used to disappear at times, we just had a wild guess in hand. After having walked for around 2 hours, we did not see any living being and were worried about being lost in the jungle. Sanjay said “Bhai yeh rasta thik to hai, kahin hum galat to nhi jaa rahe, andhera bhi hone wala hai, yahin kahinjagah dekh k tent laga lete hain. Koi banda dikh jaye to confirm ho jayega k hum sahi jaa rahe hain.”
(Are we moving in the right direction, its almost dark, lets find a place right here and mount our tent instead of keep moving. We can confirm the right direction/path if somehow somebody shows up. )
In this sense, Naag Tibba is a must do for those who want to taste the thrill of being lost in jungle provided you do not take a guide with you. However, guide is must post the base camp to the Naag Tibba Peak.
Finally, we heard some voices, this was a group from Delhi. They took the other way round the ………….. which is around 14 km trek. We pitched our tent some 100 meters from the group as I did not want any city like party over here.
Temperature was 1-2 degree C and we were comfortable inside our tent. Thanks to Quechua for making such an easy to mount and useful, lightweight two person tent at an affordable price of only INR2300/-
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| Quechua T2 tent in its full bliss! |
Temperature was 1-2 degree C and we were comfortable inside our tent. Thanks to Quechua for making such an easy to mount and useful, lightweight two person tent at an affordable price of only INR2300/-
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| experience the Pitch black in jungle and.. Yes, it has ample room for two! |
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| it also has pockets at corners for quick access for Torch, mobile etc. |
We woke up at around 8:30 am and disappointed to see that it was raining and we cannot do the Naag Tibba peak. Nevertheless, we went to visit Naag Devta temple and then packed our tent to trek down to our parked bike.
To be the least fortunate moment, we could not find a trail and were lost in the jungle. We were supposed to find a trek that leads downhill, but, the only trek we could see was uphill into the jungle. We kept walking on it in a hope to find someone and ask for the right direction. After half an hour, we saw a meadow and were able to zero out that we never came across this place while going upward.
Hence, we turned back to for that half an hour again. Fortunately, after around 40 minutes, we saw a villager and asked him if he has seen a bike parked nearby. Bingo! He told us its just few minutes away from here. Thanks to the villager God. We reached where we parked our bike and had a rest for around 20 minutes. Now, time to head back to Delhi. We left at 3:30 pm and were home at 1:30 am.
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| Good Morning! |
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| Nag Devta temple, Naag Tibba |
To be the least fortunate moment, we could not find a trail and were lost in the jungle. We were supposed to find a trek that leads downhill, but, the only trek we could see was uphill into the jungle. We kept walking on it in a hope to find someone and ask for the right direction. After half an hour, we saw a meadow and were able to zero out that we never came across this place while going upward.
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Hence, we turned back to for that half an hour again. Fortunately, after around 40 minutes, we saw a villager and asked him if he has seen a bike parked nearby. Bingo! He told us its just few minutes away from here. Thanks to the villager God. We reached where we parked our bike and had a rest for around 20 minutes. Now, time to head back to Delhi. We left at 3:30 pm and were home at 1:30 am.
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| at Ponta Saheb way back to home |
My suggestion for Naag Tibba, do not exceed the number of people by 4 if you plan to visit and experience the taste of this wilderness/jungle.
Keep travelling.!!
