Valley of flowers

You find it wonderful when some one presents you few flowers, just imagine your happiness if you suddenly find yourself in a valley of flowers! Yes, I am talking about a real valley of flowers. The valley of flowers situated in Uttrakhand the Himalayan state in our country. The valley is spread over 88 square kilometers of area and more than 500 varieties of flowers blossom there.

Facts about Valley of flowers

The famous botanist Frank Smith was the first man who discovered valley of flowers during a rainy season in 1937 while he was camping in that area. He
was so overawed by the beauty spread over the place that he wrote a book with same name Valley of flowers. Valley was later included in world heritage sites and declared a national park. The valley is situated at about 3250mt from see level which comes in to Janskar range of Himalayas. The highest peak of the valley Gouri Parbat is right at 6,720mt from sea level. 

Timing is important

You must select the timing with lot of panning to visit Valley of flowers national park because the best season to go there is July and August to see most number of varieties of flowers besides this particular season create a heavenly view as the rivers, waterfalls, mountains are at their peak during this season. The Valley is open to visitors during April to October only it is under the cover of snow during rest of the year. However the truth is that July and August see most flowers blossom therefore most nature lovers try to reach there during these months despite the fact that these months make journey a little troublesome due to rainy seasons.

Park is open from 6am to 6pm but entry into the park is closed at 3pm therefore tourists are advised to reach there as early as possible to enjoy as much as they can. To reach valley of flowers the trekking begins at Govindghat and once you reach to Ghanghariya you have to walk all the way to because ponies are not allowed beyond this point. There are few other points to keep in mind-

1- No night stay or camping is allowed here so it is advised that tourists should arrange their stay at Ghanghariya itself.

2- To watch flowers there is no sidetrack but only a single track therefore if you wish to watch flowers from closer point you shall have to cross bushes to reach nearer to flowers. 

3- Be careful while touching flowers because some of the species are poisonous therefore plucking, crushing or smelling them may prove harmful.

4- You encounter a wonderful river Pushpavati while trekking down in valley of flowers coming down right from the top of the mountains, which enhances your experience to greater extent. There are several other streams scattered allover the places which meet finally in the river Pushpavati covering a wide area of the valley and making your trip all the more worth. Tourists specially nature lovers and botanist come to see the wonderful colorful carpet like view on offer presented by different flowers including Brahm kamal a night flower specie of cactus also Night blooming cereus, Blue poppy, Cobra lily, Primula, Calendula, Daisies and Anemones etc. 

5- Visitors are advised to carry enough woolen clothes, basic medicines, raincoat etc as the rainy season especially hilly rains prove too cold on this particular height.  

How to reach to valley of flowers

There are three different ways to reach to the valley. If you are going by air, you have either Delhi or Dehradun where you get regular bus services for Joshimath. The nearest railway stations are at either Haridwar or Rishikesh if you are going from Delhi side otherwise tourists from Kolkata side can go to Kotdwar the last railway station to reach to Joshimath in Uttrakhand. From Joshimath you have different methods to reach to Ghanghariya the base camp for valley, which is only 4km away from there.   

An experience worth mentioning

The valley of flowers, best known as paradise on earth for the number of varieties of flowers and the entire area looking as a colorful carpet lay on the ground. I find it heaven like whenever I visit the area. I am a traveler, who has a passion for visits to such places, but this place is different from those all. I can remember a trip that I did in 1995 after a couple of months later my mother passed away in December 1994. While sitting there I felt like I was sitting there in the lap of mother and did not want to come back even if the time was over to stay in there. I came back but reluctantly as if my mother was calling me back and I did not want to move from the lap of other, The Mother Nature. As I never wanted to come back from that place I was delayed to reach to my planned destination Gopeshwar, where I had promised to stay with my old friend posted as an engineer in PWD who was waiting for me eagerly.  

However, the experience that I went through was not as easy as I thought would be since the road was almost with no traffic and rare a passerby that two in initial stage. Later when it was later in the night, there was only the half moon to accompany me and the voice of breeze. On every turning point I felt like a leopard or fox would jump on me and from Chamoli onward when the road was steep climb for about 7-8 km up to my friend's house near the PWD guesthouse, I was all but fallen dead .As I could manage to reach up to Joshimath late therefore could not catch the last bus as they have certain fixed time to run last buses in hilly areas. Being so emotional, I walked all the way to Gopeshwar from Joshimath, to reach to my friend’s place. He was surprised to see me knocking his door at 2am. By the way, there was no communication system anywhere around to inform him about my delay. 

Photo source- wikipedia