Footloose in Garhwal

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In the spring of 2007, six birders trekked from Lohajung to Sitel via Bedni Bugyal and Wan. This is a first-person account of that fantastic trip. ... (More) In the spring of 2007, six birders trekked from Lohajung to Sitel via Bedni Bugyal and Wan. This is a first-person account of that fantastic trip.

This stretch of the Garhwal Himalayas is one of the richest in bird life and perhaps the most inviolate of hill stations, mostly because it is inaccessible except on foot. It is also part of the Curzon Trail, and the Raj Jat Yatra, along which King Jasdhamal and his retinue perished in an 18th century hailstorm. Their perforated skulls and bones still welcome visitors at Roopkund, above the snow line at about 14,000 feet. However, our trek would stop well short of this macabre spectacle at Bedni Bugyal, an alpine meadow at 12,000 feet above MSL.

We set off from Lohajung, a pass in the Greater Himalaya, and one of the gateways to the outer periphery of the Nanda Devi sanctuary. Our trek lasted nine days on foot and took us through the hamlet of Didana (8000 feet), from where we ascended to Bedni Bugyal. We descended through forests of pine and deodar toward Wan, near which the Bedni Ganga rushes as a young mountain stream. From Wan we walked to Kunol, and from there to Sitel. We spotted over 106 species of birds including Himalayan Griffon vultures, Bearded Vultures, Rock Buntings, Pied Thrushes, Mistle Thrushes and three species of blackbirds.

Our trek ended at Sitel, from where we boarded a shared jeep to Nandaprayag. (Less)