Binsar – A Jungle Safari

‘Should anyone take away anything belonging to the God or his worshippers and avenging spirit and compels him conscience stricken to restore it twenty fold. Even the faithless and the dishonest are said to be reformed by a visit to Binsar.’ One of the many legends concerning Binsar stated this.

Not many of us know about Binsar so did some research and found it perfect for experiencing something different from our earlier trips. Unusual Location, Rich natural surroundings among dense forest with no electricity, little network playing hide and seek… anything more you need to relax and forget about all your daily routine, traffic jams, pressure of deadlines… I suppose no.

Binsar is famous for it’s views of the snow capped Himalayan mountain ranges, so one can sit back and enjoy the view while savouring your favourite drink. Binsar is around 400 KMs from Delhi and, 35 km from Almora. Perched on top of Jhandi Dhar hills is a notified forest reserve and bird sanctuary. There is no town called Binsar, not even a settlement of huts or anything, it is just the forest reserve that has been named Binsar.

The placed affords wonderful views of the snowcapped Himalayan ranges, like the peaks of Nanada Devi, Kedarnath, Chaukhamba, Trishul, Panchchuli and Nanda Kot. Surrounded by abundant garlands of alpine flora, ferns, hanging moss and many other species of wild flowers, this is as close as you’d get to heaven.

Journey

Early morning around 4:00 am, two of us left Gurgaon and going by our previous trip experiences, our plan was to reach Almora by 11-12. The four lane highway from Delhi up to Hapur is a driver’s dream where you can allow your speedometer to cross the mark of 100kmph. Things are not that smooth beyond Hapur up to Gadh Mukteshwar. Long stretches of road of course are there but wide-enough only to pass one vehicle at a time. In between Gadh and Moradabad we had a mixed feeling of driving both on good and bad stretches some of which are prone to traffic-jams.

From Delhi, it’s highway driving throughout. NH 24 connects Delhi to Rampur via Hapur. En-route halts include the Wonderland, Rwy crossing, Moradabad. The two lane Moradabad by-pass culminates into Rampur road which is just OK and has no major problem. At Rampur we turned and headed north on NH 87 all the way upto Haldwani/Kathgodaam. A marvellous change in vegetation, roads as soon as we crossed Haldwani and decided to take the route from Bhimtal. Around noon we reached Bhimtal and made a quick trip to Naukuchiyataal.

A short trip to these famous water bodies and we proceeded towards our planned destination Almora. At a height of 1638 metres, Almora rests among a picturesque setting. On a horse saddle shaped hillock, surrounded by thick forests of pine and fur trees, flowing alongside the city are rivers of Koshi and Suyal and to top it all are the snow capped Himalayas in the background. The town unlike more developed Nainital and Mussoorie is quite virgin a land. The place is untouched by urbanisation and the people here have preserved their culture and tradition well.

Binsar

5 km of long mountain range of Almora lends the whole district oodles of natural beauty. Situated only 30 KMs away from the township of Almora lies Binsar nestled amongst thick forests of Oak and Rhodendron and yet offering surprisingly close views of the Himalayan peaks. The entire region is now a wildlife sanctuary and has a host of wildlife like Panther and Barking Deer.

We stayed in the KMVN tourist rest house, located in the forest of the Binsar Sanctuary. And guess what, there was no electricity after 9 pm. They had solar lamp etc in the dining room but gave us candle in room. No running hot water. They gave hot water in bucket in the morning for the bath. All the staffs are very helpful. Our room had wooden walls and was clean. Overall I found it cool. BTW : they served only veg food (eggs were available – for non vegeterians).

Since we reached around 4 pm and didn’t want to waste any time therefore had snacks and walked through the forest for about 2 kms to Sun-set point.

The next day…..but after enjoying the celestial view of the Himalayas during the sun-rise, we drove towards Jogeshwar. While crossing the jungle visited Binsar Mahadev temple, situated at an altitude of 2,480 meters. Binsar Mahadev temple is famous for its archeological significance, being an ancient construction of 9th century. It is believed to be constructed in just one day.

Jageshwar

Thirty four kilometres from Almora was the famous temple of Jageshwar. This temple is counted among the 12 jyotirlings of the country. Before we reached Jageshwar, 2KM beyond Punuanaulah and 3 KM before Artola, there was an 8km long, slightly rough dirt track on the left hand side, which took us to the Vridha (old) Jageshwar Temple perched on a hill top of 2000ft above the main complex. As told by Pujari ji, this was the original stone temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Once we were back on the main track to Jageshwar (New) after a short 5 KM drive the landscape chaged dramatically. The valley we entered had huge deodar trees with dappled sunlight filtering through – a beautiful verdant forest.

In the midst of innumerable Deodar trees tower above the grand temple complex.The complex consisting of 124 temples and hundreds of statues with exquisite craftsmanship, dating back to 9th to 13th centuary A.D. From the sources I came to know that Jageshwar is situated at an altitude of about 6,200 ft. Jageshwar is a Hindu Pilgrimage town in Kumaon region.

This cluster comprises of Dandeshwar, Chandi, Jageshwar, Kuber, Mritunjay Temples etc. The oldest is Mritunjaya Temple and biggest is Dandeshwar Temple. The annual Sharavan Festival is celebrated from 15th July to 15th August in the monsoon season. Annual Maha Shivratri Mela is also celebrated in Spring season.

After spending one full hour there we drove back to Binsar and in the evening went on exploring nearby Jungle. Walked for 4 kms and reached to Himalayan View Point, where one can have a panoramic view of the snowy peaks of Himalayas on any clear day and in addition a glimpse of the township with it’s tiled roofed houses and paved streets would take you to the sixteenth century in some thoughtful moment. Unfortunately it was a foggy day and we could not see anything except great expanse of this Jungle.

Next was the day to return to Gurgaon and fortunately it was a clear day and we could get a glimpse of Nanda Devi and Trishul Parvat, presenting another joy with bright End Corner gives very scenic view of sunrise.

Visiting jungle is always an exciting proposition, as you never know what you will come across. Infact, the jungle can dole out numerous surprises for both the nature lover as well as the explorer. However, while in jungle, we should never forget our duty towards the nature. We should keep the environment clean and refrain from indulging in anything that can go against the nature conservation program of the forest department. We should never ever disturb the wild animals and birds, even while clicking their photos and never even try to meddle with the nature. GO GREEN….