Just 50 kms into the hills and you are in a perfect n absolute wilderness!!
At first sight, it just looks another trip to one of the renowned hill stations in the Himalayas. But, this actually was a timed test for my 2003 Honda City Gxi to Graduate from plains to cruze into the Hills.
About the place:
Chakrata is a cantonment town in Dehradun district in the state of Uttarakhand, India.
It is situated between the Tons and Yamuna rivers, at an elevation of 7000–7250 feet
The area is known as Jaunsar-Bawar, belonging to the Jaunsari tribe famous for their BlackMagic (kindly ignore). Chakrata is an access-restricted military cantonment, and foreigners face severe restrictions in visiting. Notably, it is the permanent garrison of the secretive and elite Special Frontier Force, also known as Establishment 22 ( called "Two-Two"), the only ethnic Tibetan unit of the Indian Army, which was raised after the Indo-China War of 1962. Various kinds of weapons and survival training is also imparted by R&AW and other intelligence services in Chakrata.
Altitude from sea level: 2,118 m
How to reach: Chakrata is around 380 km from Delhi via Ponta Sahib and can be reached from Dehradun via Mussoorie or Vikasnagar. Both routes pass through beautiful mountainous road. Traveling in the monsoon can be quite tricky as the area sees frequent road blockages due to landslides.
Best time to Visit: January – April, though, Chakrata’s easy accessibility makes it ideal to visit throughout the year!
Brief Itinerary:
Day1: Saturday 4th April,2015 Leave Gurgaon at 4 am. Reached Chakrata at 5 pm
Day2: Sunday 5th April,2015 early morning visit to Gurudwara, Camping at TigerFall. Leave for Delhi@5pm
Day3: Home at 3 am, Monday.
Budget: INR 2700/- per traveller
Back to travelogue:
Every time I have a get together with friends, I use to talk about visiting the much heard less known Chakrata. This time, we four, Maneet Singh, Parvinder Mehra (me), Pratap Singh and Teertha Choudhary from Genpact were determined to do it on first week of april,2015. I simply hit the Gas pedal at 4am in the morning heading onto the Grand Trunk Road, a truly driving delight. To our badluck, all the wine shops in Gurgaon that used to be open 24*7*365 were closed L and hence we could not have the real party element till Karnal BEER. Luckily, I had a Blender’s Pride, my all time favourite.
One thing I would like to mention is, from the very beginning of this trip, we chose an anthem song to play every now and then..
The Track.. Bohemia ..
Jado Nikle PATOLA banke, Mitran di Jaan Te Bane…… ni Mitran di Jaan Te baNe……
It was drizzling in the morning to add to the awesomeness. The beauty is being fed to full at a Sonipat fuel station.
Chardi jawani tera, gora gora rang ni
Gora gora rang kare mitra nu tang ni
Driving directions- take right from Karnal.
Gori veeni vich
Ni gori veeni vich kali wang chanke
Ni mitra di jaan te baneAt Karnal – Vikasnagar road, you have to have a meal at Sneham Restaurant. Its about 40 km from the right turn you take from GT road.
Chardi jawani tera, gora gora rang ni
Gora gora rang kare mitra nu tang ni
Driving directions- take right from Karnal.
Gori veeni vich
Ni gori veeni vich kali wang chanke
Ni mitra di jaan te baneAt Karnal – Vikasnagar road, you have to have a meal at Sneham Restaurant. Its about 40 km from the right turn you take from GT road.
Once you have a meal here, you will be thankful to me for writing this recommendation.
The Yamuna river Canal is a good spot to rest and give rest to your eyes for around 15-20 minutes.
Jado nikle haaye ni jado nikle
Jado nikle patola ban ke mitra di jaan te bane
Road condition from Delhi to Chakrata doesn’t bother you at any single moment throughout the journey!
Kashmir toh leke Punjab me tu patle
Munde Multan de
Tere kaale suit paan ke
Ban than ke aayi, bani mitran di jaan te
Jado nikle haaye ni jado nikle
Jado nikle patola ban ke mitra di jaan te bane
Road condition from Delhi to Chakrata doesn’t bother you at any single moment throughout the journey!
Kashmir toh leke Punjab me tu patle
Munde Multan de
Tere kaale suit paan ke
Ban than ke aayi, bani mitran di jaan te
We reached ……… (Unknown) and had a tea break at this scenic rest point, recommended to everyone who visits chakrata.
Kala suit kala til mikhde te jachda
Nazar na lagge tenu
Bacha ke billo rakh da......
As soon as we reached Chakrata...
Ishare karde nishani wale manke
Mitra di jaan te bane
...we, to our surprise, were driving into the clouds. Yes, literally, we were into the clouds. Here are some pics..
We searched for a room and found one for INR1600/- that goes INR400/- per person.
We got outside the room to explore the local market and were delighted to see that military apparels and accessories were available at a throw away price. Here are some useful souvenirs from Chakrata:
We got outside the room to explore the local market and were delighted to see that military apparels and accessories were available at a throw away price. Here are some useful souvenirs from Chakrata:
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| Military Boots helpful to walk on Black Ice |
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| Military water bottle for survival in jungle |
We had muttonicious dinner at Sher-e-punjab.
And went to sleep for early morning trekking.
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| Chakrata has its own delicacies is this is one of them.. 'Mutton Fires'!!! |
And went to sleep for early morning trekking.
Next morning we went to Gurudwara to seek some blessings. Being Indian and Delhiite, we had 'Garam garam Chai Pakoda at Chakrata market and then headed towards DevBan. Unfortunately, road to Devban is not Sedan friendly and hence we took U-turn towards TigerFall.
For this only reason, I will be visiting Chakrata on bike in the first week of next month i.e., May 2015.
Road to Tiger Fall is not in a good condition but is doable by any car.
Google de wangu tere lagdi aa hike ni
Facebook wangu ohnu karda main like ni
Enroute to tiger fall a local asked for lift. There is no harm from strangers in whole of the uttarakhand region unlike NCR. Pratap singh, for a laugh, asked the local why it is call TigerFall, do Tigers keep falling from it??? :D. The villager replied no, its due to its roaring sound.
Poke roz mera
Ni poke roz mera top utte tanke
Mitra di jaan te bane
And then the only thing the villager had to talk was Potatoes grown in his fields, Aloo, Aalooo, aur bas Aaalooo, I was about rename my trip to Aaluaata trip instead of Chakrata. The moment we reached to the last motorable point towards Tiger Fall, these native children came to be our guide. We could not refuse the offer.
Ni poke roz mera top utte tanke
Mitra di jaan te bane
And then the only thing the villager had to talk was Potatoes grown in his fields, Aloo, Aalooo, aur bas Aaalooo, I was about rename my trip to Aaluaata trip instead of Chakrata. The moment we reached to the last motorable point towards Tiger Fall, these native children came to be our guide. We could not refuse the offer.
TigerFall is a sight to behold.
We did camping right near tiger fall
and at five, we left for Delhi. We did not forget Sneham restaurant on Karnal road.
Jive agg vicho nikal da vey shola
Penda rola jado bann ke tu nikle patola
Seena khola laho dola
Tenu dil diya gallan bola
kare jee mera
Par sorry main ki tera
Lagda bangi ve tere te
Akhan main sari raat
Hun lagda hun kudiya nu lagda main aadmi tera
Sun ja main choti dassa
Si dassa main aaj vi tere te attka
Par mainu lagda milna saath nahi tera
ke aaj tere ban 'na main
Sajna ve tera sajda karna, saath deyi meraReached Delhi at 3 am Monday.
 |
| Tiger Fall (background) |
We did camping right near tiger fall
and at five, we left for Delhi. We did not forget Sneham restaurant on Karnal road.
Jive agg vicho nikal da vey shola
Penda rola jado bann ke tu nikle patola
Seena khola laho dola
Tenu dil diya gallan bola
kare jee mera
Par sorry main ki tera
Lagda bangi ve tere te
Akhan main sari raat
Hun lagda hun kudiya nu lagda main aadmi tera
Sun ja main choti dassa
Si dassa main aaj vi tere te attka
Par mainu lagda milna saath nahi tera
ke aaj tere ban 'na main
Sajna ve tera sajda karna, saath deyi meraReached Delhi at 3 am Monday.
Will be back in may first week on bike. Till then, good bye chakrata.
KeEp TraVelLing!!!
Chakrata 3.0
Revisit December 4th, 2015 - finally, did Deoban and Budher.
Chakrata 3.0
Revisit December 4th, 2015 - finally, did Deoban and Budher.
