Day 11 : Kotkhai Sainj Yashwant Nagar Oonchaghat Solan Nahan

We started from Chakroth in the morning and descended down to Koku Nallah, filled up the Diesel and we were on our way towards Gumma and Chaila. We wanted to avoid the Tourist rush which we would face at Fagu / Kufri / Shimla and we wanted to avoid the Shimla Chandigarh Road altogether. And I had a meeting at Nahan with one of the Princesses of the Sirmour Royal Family as they wanted me to have a look at their Fort restoration work as well as take me around their beautiful Cottages they had built in their private Forest land.

So we took the Sainj Road. Sainj has a water treatment Plant which supplies a large quantity of drinking water to Shimla City which it takes from the Giri River. Sainj is also home to one of the gems of Pahadi architecture, the Sainj Durbar which used to be the Court Palace of the Rana Sahib of Theog and Sainj was a part of his Riyasat. The Road from Sainj onwards is not in the best of shape as it winds along the Giri River but the consolation is that there are not many Vehicles around so the going is slow but at least no Traffic jams. But the Road slowly starts to get better after Yashwant Nagar. After Yashwant Nagar towards Onchaghat the Road keeps getting wider and better until you hit Solan.

From Solan you take the Solan Nahan Road and this Road is literally heaven. Very scenic, with Chir Trees lined up on both sides of the Road.

Day 12 : Nahan-Simbalwara-Yamuna Nagar-Karnal-Gurugram

After enjoying the Royal Hospitality at the Bantony Cottage we finally said good bye to the foothills and started to descend. But again we wanted to have one last dance with the Himalayas and decided to hit one of the National Parks which lie just at the foot of the Himalayas. Some of these Parks which run across the foothills are quite famous like the Jim Corbett National Park and Rajaji National Park are quite famous. But having a knack for the Offbeat we decided to pay a visit to the little known and almost unheard of Col.Sher Jung National Park in Simbalwara which straddles the Border of Himachal Pradesh with Haryana.

Around the Park and before entering the Park we saw a lot of Van Gujjars who are the same as the Gujjars in the Mountains. They are spread all over the Western Himalayas right from Basohli where we started the sojourn to all the way across to very foothills here in Sirmour. And we were happy that even on our last day we were with the original Men of the Mountains. We also visited one of their permanent Villages around the Park. I assume that may of them actually lived inside the National Park till the Government relocated the Van Gujjars from the National Parks in this whole region and re-located them to Villages outside the Park. As a result there are Gujjar settlements on both sides of the Park. Infact on the side we got out there was no pucca Road, just a dirt track which went across Streams and Rivulets and all along the way we could see the settlements of these Van Gujjars. Of course most of them were quite amused to see us driving through their Lands. Do I suspect some of them were not very happy to see us. they have been in a long struggle for their land with the government so probably thought we were from some government agency.

The park itself was quite big and at thick vegetation but we entered Pak after 10:00 in the morning so it was already heart and most other animals or not to be seen.  one of the park officials even guided us to the women watering hole in the park which has been created by damming the river which runs through the park we have found that place also for some time but with no luck there was also an observation Tower a little distance from the river and I even went down to that but it looked as nobody had been there in many years. some of the local court orders that there were leopards in the park and other animals but we really did not see any mammal and we just manage to see some Birds.