India: Himalayan Sanctuaries

We had always wanted to go to the Himalayas, and out of the blue, in 2006, we were invited by our friends Phil and Anna. Michael and Mary Green, friends of theirs, are putting together a small party of eight. Michael had done his PhD research on musk deer in the Valley of Flowers and could arrange access to forbidden places through the Indian Forest Service.

The Three Sanctuaries

The aim was to visit three sanctuaries in the Indian Himalayas: Hemkund, a Sikh temple next to a sacred meltwater lake, the Valley of Flowers, made famous by Frank Smythe’s book, and the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, the ring of mountains enclosing India’s second-highest mountain.

What happened

We describe the overwhelming impact of the colours, sounds and smells of Delhi and relate how we bought a silk carpet. We recount our climbs through steep green valleys and raging torrents into the soaring snow-white mountains. We tell stories about the people we met: the Sikh pilgrims on their pilgrimage to Hemkund, our young guides from Joshimath, the people we stay with in the small mountain villages and the merchants in the hill station Mussoorie.

Published 26 Jul 2017, 96 pages, ISBN 9780995768086