NGT India September 2014 preview

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 • ` 1 5 0 • VO L . 3

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ISSUE 3

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} } Tread Softly Spirits and sustainable living in Himachal’s Spiti Valley

Earth-Friendly Lodgings

Go Green in India • 24 Comfy Wild Nights Across the Globe

September 2014

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Contents

Volume

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Issue

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N A T I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C T ra v eller I n d ia

Chumbe Island Coral Park Lodge, Zanzibar

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Spirited Away

Go Green

24 WILD NIGHTS

Lessons in spirituality and sustainable living from the remote Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh

You don’t have to rough it out to save the planet. Committed to conservation, these retreats prove that conscious travel and comfort can go hand in hand

From a mountain retreat in Greece to a tree house in the Peruvian jungle, a pick of ecolodges from across the globe that are low on environmental impact but high on wow factor

By Neha Sumitran

By Costas Christ

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national Geographic Traveller INDIA | september 2014

Franz Marc Frei/Look/dinodia

Infocus

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 • ` 1 5 0 • VO L . 3

all New webs

ISSUE 3

ite natgeotraveller. in

} } Tread Softly Spirits and sustainable living in Himachal’s Spiti Valley

Earth-Friendly Lodgings

Go Green in India • 24 Comfy Wild Nights Across the Globe

On The Cover This photograph was shot at Misool Eco Resort at Raja Ampat in Indonesia’s West Papua province. Raja Ampat is an archipelago of 1,500 small islands and a prime scuba diving area. It has the country’s largest marine national park and is one of the richest coral reef ecosystems in the world.

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10 Editor’s Note  12 Letters  121 Big Shot 122 Inspire  128 Travel Quiz Voices

28 National Park

52 The Insider

67 Tech Trot

14 Tread Softly

Amsterdam, the anything-goes Dutch capital has a healthy hold on heritage

Financial apps for the traveller on the move

Travel in the time of Ebola

Elephant herds and panthers in Uttarakhand’s Rajaji National Park

16 Far Corners

32 Off-Track

56 Local Flavour

Memories of war, peace, and international espionage in Kalimpong

Cyclades, one of Greece’s stillquiet corners

Luguria’s famed pesto sauce keeps it simple

18 Book of Hours

34 Book Extract

Super Structures

An illustrated travelogue of Villars Cave, France

The story of Dilip Donde’s solo sailing expedition to circumnavigate the globe

57 Urban Attitude

Navigate

38 Taste of Travel

20 Urban Spirit Slovenia’s Roman Holiday

Reading coffee grounds and sampling hangover cures in Istanbul’s Old Town

22 Detour

44 Travel Butler

The architecture of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is as inspiring as the art inside

Funerary urns and vestiges of war in northern Laos

Airbnb, the coolest room rental service on the block

Smart Traveller

24 Take Five

50 Dire Straits

62 Money Manager

Treacherous roads that test a driver’s skill and luck

Dwindling numbers of the sarus crane

A guide to planning expenses for a holiday in New Zealand

Tracing the Windy City’s built history on a boat tour along the Chicago River

61 The Landmark

Get Going

110 Active Break Discovering the other side of Goa on a biking expedition

113 Adventure Kayaking through the mangroves of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Short Breaks

116 From Mumbai Baroque palaces meet the bare beauty of the White Rann in Bhuj

120 Stay Away from the chaos of Manali town, a castle among apple orchards beckons

september 2014 | national Geographic Traveller INDIA

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Massimo Pizzotti/Photographer’s Choice/getty images (spider), andrea pistolesi/tips images/dinodia (food) Misool Eco Resort (Cover)

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Editor’s Note | niloufer venkatraman

Watching the World Go Round

Breakfast done, I headed out too. If Mince could walk in the rain, so could I our mission National Geographic Traveller India is about immersive travel and authentic storytelling, inspiring readers to create their own journeys and return with amazing stories. Our distinctive yellow rectangle is a window into a world of unparalleled discovery.

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national Geographic Traveller INDIA | SEPTEMBER 2014

for breakfast. It was at Café Calla in my hotel, at a table on the edge of the street-level terrace of the breakfast room. It was bang on the city’s pavement overlooking the River Rhone. I politely declined the waiter’s offer of a newspaper, helped myself to the buffet which included some of the best bread I’ve eaten, and settled down to look out at people on the street. On that drizzly, dreary morning I watched as a young man who appeared to have just stepped out of bed, attempted to walk his pet dog. Mince, I think that was the pooch’s name, wasn’t too pleased being rained on, and kept trying to enter the restaurant. After some pulling on the leash, the man suddenly sat down in the middle of the pavement, just a few feet from me. He pulled the dog onto his lap as if he were a toddler and then, in the most endearing way, proceeded to explain to him in a tender voice why he should listen to dad. It worked, and off they trotted toward the Mont Blanc bridge. Breakfast done, I headed out too. If Mince could walk in the rain, so could I. Back at the office from my trip, I was complaining about how my cell phone was falling apart. My 20-something colleagues jumped in to proffer advice on which phone I should buy. One even suggested the games I should download, “to play when you’re travelling and feeling totally bored.”

Bored? I thought. I can’t remember the last time I was bored. In fact the last time I checked, there were still plenty of interesting people to observe in every nook and corner of the planet.

Stephen Simpson/Iconica/getty images

I

know it’s a bit rude, but I do it anyway.

Every time I travel, and especially at airports, I spend a lot of time watching people. I do try not to stare too long. And I think I look away enough so I’m not being too intrusive.

On a layover at Munich airport last month I was feeling rather annoyed. Security personnel had emptied my hand baggage, turned on and tested my camera, checked every item I had. Passport control had asked me dozens of questions, and the kind gentleman at the immigration counter went so far as to tell me that if I overstayed in a Schengen country, I would find myself in jail. Feeling a bit miffed at all the questioning, which I attributed to my Indian passport and the colour of my skin, I found a quiet seat near the departure gate.

That’s when I noticed a family of three little girls and their mum playing a game of cards that looked like the French version of Uno. The older girls seemed to be poking fun at the youngest whenever she played a wrong card, even as mum jumped in to defend her. Game done, the three sisters opened a box to share a snack. It was heartwarming to watch the very same older girls who had teased their sister, now helping her eat.

When she was done, without any instructions from mum, they very gently dusted her clothes, picked all the crumbs off her face and out of her hair. And I hadn’t even realised it, but my earlier exasperation had dissipated.

A distinct change I’ve noticed in years of people watching at airports, is that folks just aren’t interacting with each other as much as they used to even five years ago. A large percentage of travellers spend their time peering at their cell phones. Even people travelling together, I’ve observed, are often deeply absorbed, with fiddling independently with their handheld devices. Families with children often have their own equation with electronic devices, and are the most engaging to watch.

During my stay in Geneva on this trip, one morning I awoke early with a plan to walk the shores of Lake Geneva before the city came to life. Instead it was a dark, rainy morning and I retreated to my favourite spot

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Kye Gompa, Lahaul & Spiti, Himachal Pradesh

Travel Sketch

Write to us Share stories of your travel with us. We will publish some of them on these pages.

Emails letters@natgeotraveller.in Letters National Geographic Traveller India, Sumer Plaza, 2nd Floor, Marol Maroshi Road, Andheri East, Mumbai 400 059. Published letters may be excerpted and edited.

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Artists take you through their journeys in pictures.

I travelled to Corbett National Park this May on my first ever solo trip.

Along the way, I missed my connecting train to Moradabad, got delayed at Ramnagar, and had a harrowing time in the rain. But the moment I got there, the sight of the Shivaliks, the gurgling rivulets, the pristine forest,

travel. In keeping with the spirit of the column, I suggest that NGT do away with the cellophane cover used to seal the magazine.

It is thrown away and rarely recycled. Instead, the magazine can have a paper flap running from the inside of the top page to the outside of the last page.

—Sumathy K

and the aroma of the jungle made my heart skip a beat.

Spotting the park’s wildlife was quite a rush. It was a great trip and I realised that hardships often add to the charm of travel.

—Akash Pandya Mike Pandey’s column strikes the perfect balance between conservation and

Get Local KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND

Everything you need to know to travel like a local.

Plan Ahead TOP TRIPS

Getaways, travel tips, and trips you need to plan ahead for.

Visit us at www.natgeotraveller.in SEPTEMBER 2014 | national Geographic Traveller INDIA

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Abhinay Nawani (mountains), kuber shah (man)

T

ILLUSTRATED TRAVELOGUE

he high-altitude district of Lahaul & Spiti in Himachal Pradesh is a haven for travellers. I recently visited the village of Kye on the bank of the Spiti River. The village is famous for the Kye Gompa, a Buddhist monastery located at an altitude of 4,166 metres. Centuries old, it has weathered the storm of many wars and earthquakes. Tourists visiting the area often stay here. The view from the gompa is as beautiful as the sight of young lamas studying and playing around it. —Abhinay Nawani

Navigate | take five

Rocky Road Treacherous highways that test a driver’s skill and luck | By Tushar Abhichandani

F

rom cobbled paths that could barely handle a few cars to roads that accommodate thousands of vehicles each day, the last century has seen an exponential increase in the number of highways across the world. They have made travelling faster and easier.

However, there are many landscapes across the world that modern technology still hasn’t tamed.

The paths to these retain an element of risk and leave drivers with very little margin for error.

Here is a list of five such roads where danger is an integral part of the journey.

With landslides, wet surfaces, and deceptively steep inclines, Trollstigen is a road that demands a driver’s complete, undivided attention. Built in 1938, it connects the town of Åndalsnes to the village of Valldal in central Norway. According to Norwegian folktales, the area is populated by trolls who walk on the mountains and turn into boulders the moment they are hit by sunlight. The road, literally “troll’s ladder” in Norwegian, has 11 hairpin bends, and long patches that are extremely narrow. Cars often have to stop on the edge to let oncoming traffic pass.

There is also the difficulty posed by rainfall, fog, and high winds, making this one of the toughest roads in the world to drive on. Vehicles longer than 12.4 metres or an average multi-axle bus, aren’t allowed on the road as they would not be able to make the turns. Despite the challenges that the road poses, it is very popular among locals and tourists as it passes along steep mountains, fertile valleys, deep fjords, and waterfalls.

James Dalton Highway Alaska Driving to the ends of the earth acquires special meaning on the James Dalton Highway. The road connects Fairbanks in southern Alaska to Deadhorse, one of the northernmost settlements of the North American continent. Large stretches of the road are unpaved and covered in gravel that often cause drivers to lose control.

Semi-trailer trucks are the biggest threat to drivers on this highway. Most of them take a long time to slow down, making it imperative for drivers to get out of their path as soon as they spot them. In the six months of the Alaskan winter, the problem is compounded by snow and ice, making the highway even more difficult to navigate. Vehicles have been known to skid off the highway at low speeds, and trucks often end up sliding down uncontrollably on the numerous slopes along the way. As the road winds through the frozen tundra, polar bear, fox, caribou, and other animals can be spotted off the highway.

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daitoZen/Moment Open/Getty Images (mountain road), Rolf Hicker/All Canada photos/Corbis/Imagelibrary (truck)

Trollstigen Norway

Navigate | take five Stelvio Pass Italy Stelvio Pass has 60 hairpin turns, numerous tunnels, narrow lanes, and steep inclines that seem custom-built for a car chase in a Hollywood heist film. The secondhighest pass in the Alps, it is located near the Swiss border at an altitude of 2,757 metres. The road connects the northern Italian towns of Valtellina and Merano.

It snakes along the eastern Alps, passing stark cliffs, snow-capped peaks, and alpine forests. However, admiring the view isn’t an option as even a momentary lapse of concentration can cause cars to go over the cliff. There are long, narrow sections with numerous blind turns. Drivers often swerve out of control trying to avoid bikers and cyclists. However, recent measures like better signage, road widening (and regular traffic jams) have made the stretch safer.

La Carretera de los Yungas Bolivia

Norbert Eisele-Hein/ImageBROKER/Dinodia (cyclists), Sergio Ballivian/Dinodia (bus), Blaine Harrington III/Corbis/Imagelibrary (trucks)

Carved into steep mountain sides, La Carretera de los Yungas, or the Yungas Road, runs along vertical drops of hundreds of metres. The road connects the Bolivian capital La Paz with the town of Coroico in the northwest part of the country. It was built by Paraguayan prisoners of war in the 1930s, many of whom died during its construction. Like most mountain roads, the stretch is full of S-curves, blind turns, and steep slopes. There is the added peril of rain, fog, and landslides. But what makes the route really treacherous is the road itself, which is less that ten feet wide. The number of accidents here have earned it the sobriquet “Death Road”. Strangely, its infamy attracts many tourists and has made the road one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations.

Zoji La India Although the Zoji La stretch of the Uri-Srinagar-Leh highway in Jammu & Kashmir is a national highway, large parts of it wouldn’t even qualify as a rural road.

Most of this high-altitude highway (around 3,500 metres) clings to a mountain face, and has steep slopes and blind curves, along with long stretches of mud and gravel. There is also the threat of occasional landslides, and large boulders often block parts of the highway.

The Zoji La section is extremely slippery in places, and mistimed braking and speeding can send a vehicle to the bottom of the deep valley. The landscape is rugged and almost barren, but its stark, breathtaking beauty attracts many thrill-seekers looking for an adrenalinepumping drive. The pass is closed for four months (November to April) during the peak of winter.

SEPTEMBER 2014 | national Geographic Traveller INDIA

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Super Structures | the landmark

Fluid Mechanics Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’s wavy construction is as inspiring as the art inside it

By Karanjeet Kaur

1,034

Architects and scholars frequently cite Guggenheim Museum Bilbao as one of the most important masterpieces of 20th century architecture.

T

he aesthetics lesson begins before you even enter the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, one of Spain’s most prominent repositories of contemporary and modern art.

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In the late 1990s when it opened, the museum’s innovative architecture catapulted Bilbao to touristic popularity and triggered the transformation of a grey, former industrial centre.

national Geographic Traveller INDIA | september 2014

Designed by the award-winning American architect Frank Owen Gehry, the museum turned into an almost overnight architectural classic.

The structure, which appears to be in constant motion, not only became the port city’s most recognisable symbol, it also enlivened Bilbao’s economy that had been in decline after the collapse of its shipbuilding and steel industries. The Guggenheim Bilbao is considered the shot in the arm that the city’s tourism industry desperately needed. Guarding the entrance of the titanium-and-glass museum is Puppy, American artist Jeff Koons’s massive flower-bedecked creation and behind it looms Maman, French-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois’s enormous bronze spider (cyclists often weave through her legs).

The Basque city now draws over a million visitors, who also walk by the riverfront promenade, luminous by night, and sample marmitako fish stew and txakolí, a tart white wine, in nearby Plaza Nueva’s restaurants.

Over ten days in the middle of August, Bilbaoans and tourists alike spill out into the city’s streets to celebrate Semana Grande, or the “great week” of ope0n-air rock and jazz concerts, elaborate food festivals, bullfighting, and nightly fireworks competitions in the company of giant puppets.

The museum’s 11,000-square-metre exhibition area, distributed over 19 galleries, has hosted the works of avant-garde, cubist, and contemporary artists, and includes American sculptor Richard Serra’s massive installation “The Matter of Time”.

Jose Fusta Raga/Corbis/image library

The approximate weight in tonnes of “The Matter of Time”, the eightpiece steel sculpture by Richard Serra, lodged permanently at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Smart Traveller | tech trot

On the Right Track Financial apps for the Frequent traveller | By Tushar Abhichandani

Toshl

At the start of our holiday, most of us diligently note down our expenses, but eventually give up, hoping to calculate a rough figure by the end of the trip.

This is where Toshl comes handy. It’s a money-tracking app that lets users input details of their expenditure and allows them to set budgets. It takes less than a few seconds to add each transaction, as one can directly type on the home screen of the app. With every input, the total expenditure is displayed, along with the amount of money remaining in the pre-set limit. This is a great feature, as it allows users to keep a track

of their spending and helps them plan for the rest of the trip. One of the best features of the app is that it backs up all the data on the cloud, allowing mulitple-users to access it.

Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Price: Free. Pro version for `1,207 Expensify

Collecting bills is a more accurate method of calculating expenses, but keeping them handy and sometimes even making sense of them, can prove to be quite a challenge. Expensify helps solve this problem. Originally designed for the business traveller, Expensify tracks expenses using a very cool feature—bill scanning. All that users need to do is take a photo of their bills. The smart upload function of the app scans the photo and automatically saves the details. Not only do you end up having a copy of all your bills, you get access to a detailed document that contains all your transaction; all of this without having to type a single word. And in case you lose your bills or don’t have them, there’s also the option of manually inputting details. Users can link their credit cards and bank accounts to the app, which then pulls transactions from these accounts and adds it to expenditure details.

Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free

Award Wallet

I often open my wallet and notice the collection of unused loyalty programme cards I own. From airlines to hotels, banks to credit cards, almost all membership cards lie criminally unused because of my forgetfulness. And on the rare occasion that I do remember, I find that my points have expired. Award Wallet is the perfect app for someone like me. It links to all of a user’s loyalty programmes, which are then tracked by the app. It displays the details of each account, sends notifications when points are about to expire, and allows users to manage accounts of family members as well. Award Wallet even updates users on any promotions being run by the credit card companies linked to the app.

Platform: iOS, Android Price: Free, Pro version for `302

XE Currency

Every time I go abroad, I have a tough time converting my spending to rupees.

Unless you possess exceptional mental maths skills, estimating expenditure in foreign exchange is a futile task.

Fortunately there are a host of forex apps that can help you convert currency in seconds. XE Currency is one such handy app. It provides live exchange rates, along with graphs showing the upward or downward trends of these currencies, which can help users pick the right time to buy or sell cash.

Platform: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Price: Free. Ad-free version for `120 september 2014 | national Geographic Traveller INDIA

tandav/shutterstock

I

always prepare a budget before a trip and think of all the possible expenses I may incur. I do a lot of online research, and in my head I am this super-efficient traveller who manages to stretch his cash to the limit.

Unfortunately, at the end of most trips, all the planning proves futile as I rarely stay within budget and my account is lighter than I had expected it to be. My only solace lies in the fact that a lot of people I know suffer from the same affliction. Fortunately, like most problems of the 21st century, there seem to be apps for financially challenged travellers like me. Here are four apps that will ensure you keep a track on your expenses on your next trip.

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In Focus | tread softly

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india s hill life wild CH BEA D FOO A YOG URE ENT ADV E TUR CUL luxury

Twenty-two eco-sensitive retreats from around India demonstrate that sustainability, authentic experiences, and comfort can go hand in hand

photo courtesy Nimmu house (lady), wildernest (frog)

OPS KSH WOR

Y NDL FRIE PET-

In Focus | tread softly

SwaSwara

Banasura Hill Resort

Gokarna, Karnataka

Wayanad, Kerala

SwaSwara’s guests rise with the sun, beginning the day with a yoga class or Mandala meditation backed by the sounds of the ocean. This is usually followed by long walks along Om Beach and hearty breakfasts with fruit and veggie juices made with produce from the property’s organic gardens. The Ayurvedic wellness retreat in Gokarna spans 26 acres, although the built area is only 11 acres—the rest is left untouched to preserve the land’s natural ecosystem.

The resort, its farms, and swimming pool use only harvested rainwater. The villas are made from beautiful local laterite stone and have clay tiles, thatched roofs, and open-air showers. Every Monday, the SwaSwara team cleans the garbage along Om Beach, which is one of Gokarna’s most popular stretches. Guests can lend a hand, or spend their time kayaking, learning clay pottery from local artisans at the resort’s arts centre, or taking short hikes with field naturalists. Activity-filled days are ideally rounded off with long, gratifying Ayurvedic oil massages (8386-257131/32/33; swaswara.com; minimum stay 5 nights; doubles `1,60,000 including all meals and prescribed Ayurvedic treatments).

—Neha Sumitran

A bumpy road through the Western Ghats leads up to Banasura Hill Resort, located at an altitude of 3,200 feet, among the mist-laden peaks of Wayanad.

The fatigue from the journey, however, is forgotten as soon as you glimpse the 35-acre farm, covered in tea, coffee, pepper, and cashew plantations. The resort’s dull orange mud walls are framed by the riotous green of the forest, and the Banasura Hill right behind it.

The region is a biodiversity hotspot, part of the Western Ghats UNESCO World Heritage Site. A beautiful waterfall, numerous streams, birdwatching spots, and jungle trails are all short hikes away—aided by trained members of the local community.

Banasura’s many naturally cooled huts and cottages are built using the rammed-earth technique and have elephant-grass thatched roofs and bamboo furnishings. One of the most interesting aspects of the resort’s natural architecture is the bio-fence, created by planting 5,000 bamboos of different varieties around its perimeter.

Harvested rainwater provides up to 40 per cent of the resort’s water requirement, used water is channelled into the gardens and toilets, and a biogas plant recycles organic waste into manure and kitchen

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photo courtesy SwaSwara

SwaSwara

india

Kipling Camp

Kipling Camp

Banasura Hill Resort

fuel. Banasura is open throughout the year, although the surrounding hills are most beautiful just after the monsoon (95397 01354; banasura.com; doubles from `7,000).

—Neha Dara

Two of India’s well-known wildlife conservationists are the force behind Kanha National Park’s oldest lodge. Anne and the late Bob Wright set up Kipling Camp in the park’s buffer zone with the motto of “treading softly in the jungle”. The camp works in close consonance with the Baiga tribal community, through a cooperative they established many years ago. The organisation supports local performing and fine art.

The owners turned the bare farmland on which the camp is located, into a verdant forest. Meals are served at diff­erent locations across the property: under a mahua tree, on a patio, or even under the stars.

Visitors can go on a tiger-spotting safari or birdwatching tour with in-house naturalists, or hang out with the resident elephant Tara. Kipling Camp has 15 warmly lit double rooms set up with local materials and a private cottage that overlooks a waterhole. The water body was enlarged and contoured over the years, as catchment for rainwater and remains full even during severe drought. Sewage is filtered using sand and other natural elements (07649-277218; 011-65196377/98110 15221; kiplingcamp.com; doubles from `24,000).

—Karanjeet Kaur september 2014 | national Geographic Traveller INDIA

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photo courtesy banasura hill resort & kipling camp

Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh

In Focus | tread softly

Elephant Valley

Nameri Eco Camp

Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu

Nameri National Park, Assam

The 100-acre Elephant Valley includes parts of an old pachyderm migration route and, between April and October, herds of tuskers can still be seen weaving their way through the region’s ancient Shola jungles. The densely forested Palani Hills (only a few hours from Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala) have a startling diversity of flora and fauna: delicate orchids cling to moist rocks near waterfalls, Malabar whistling thrushes cajole prospective mates with their melodious calls, and bison placidly soak in mucky ponds.

Guests at Elephant Valley’s bungalows often spot these animals going about their day as they begin theirs—with cups of frothy filter coffee, from beans grown on their 45-acre pesticide-free coffee plantation.

The resort also has a large organic farm that grows avocado, sweet lime, pepper, guava, and lemon, blossoms of which liven up the air. The 20 sparsely elegant villas and rooms are tastefully done up using wood from reclaimed doors and windows, have solar lighting and cast-iron stoves for chilly nights (92441 03418; www.duneecogroup.com; doubles from `3,300).

—Neha Sumitran

The 20-year-old Nameri Eco Camp, one of the oldest nature resorts in India’s northeast, is a great vantage point to see the blues of the sky, the Nameri River, and the Eastern Himalayas coalesce on a bright day. Twelve thatch-and-bamboo tents and two cottages, built in the style of the Mising tribe, are arranged around a central courtyard where a restaurant serves Mising food made with veggies from the camp’s organic patch. Visitors come to Nameri mainly for the elephants, tigers, and more than 420 species of birds, including the critically endangered white-winged wood duck. They can also raft down the Jia-Bhoreli River or explore the national park on foot. The absence of jeep safaris means the national park is pristine.

Visitors who crave a slightly less intense itinerary, can opt for a walk through any of the nine villages around.

The camp works closely with the Mising, Boro, and Garo communities, drawing staff from the neighbouring villages and providing others handicraft training.

In conjunction with the State Institute of Rural Development of Assam, the camp sets up self-help groups that enable villagers to start small agri-businesses and become less dependent on the forest. The Nameri team also helps the Eco Task Force, the special unit 134 of the

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photo courtesy elephant valley

Elephant Valley

india

Kalmatia Sangam Himalaya Resort

Indian Army, in distributing saplings and afforesting the area. The camp is never closed, but the weather is ideal from October to April (03714-292644; nameri.co.in; doubles from `1,800, inclusive of all taxes).

—Karanjeet Kaur

Nameri Eco Camp

According to one of two legends surrounding this Himalayan township, Kalmatia is a corruption of kali mitti or cursed black soil. This “blighted earth”, however, is so rich in iron and other minerals that it has given birth to a centuries-old forest spread out over the 14-acre estate of Kalmatia Sangam Himalaya Resort. The greens and browns of the fragrant deodar and oak are offset by vivid rhododendron, peach, plum, pomegranate, and lemon in bloom. The forest grows every year. When the acacias perish due to snowfall in January, the Kalmatia team plants new varieties every monsoon ensuring that the home of Himalayan magpies, wild pheasants and hens, whistling thrushes, and pine martens remains almost untouched.

Kalmatia Sangam’s ten cottages channel the traditional Kumaoni aesthetic—floral patterns on the walls and tin roofs—with a western touch. A rainwater harvesting system, which feeds into two underground storage tanks, fulfils the resort’s entire water requirement. The altitude at which the mountain-facing property is located (2,000 metres) means there is no need for air-conditioning. There are geysers for hot water in every cottage, but efforts are on to replace these with a solar powered system in a few months.

All staff members are drawn from nearby villages, and are fulltime—not seasonal— employees, which entitles them to linked benefits.

In addition to supporting local cooperative societies, Kalmatia Sangam also organises walks and overnight stays in the nearby villages of Deora, Palieu, and Sokhyatal (05962-251101/251176; kalmatia-sangam.com; doubles from `7,000.

Book at least 30 days in advance).

—Karanjeet Kaur

Kalmatia Sangam Himalaya Resort

september 2014 | national Geographic Traveller INDIA

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photo courtesy nameri eco camp, kalmatia sangam himalaya resort, feathercollector/shutterstock (bird)

Almora, Uttarakhand

Get Going | andaman & nicobar islands

Adventure

13.2

For those who prefer to stay out of the water, kayaking is a good way to experience Havelock Island’s marine bioluminescence.

Lighting up the Night Kayaking through mangroves reveals an underwater glow by amrita das

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enveloped my paddle blades.

In disbelief I repeated the strokes on either side of the kayak. I was bowled over by the beauty of the bioluminescent bacteria in the water. It grew brighter and more magical as we moved into the thick, darker grove of tidal trees. The glow lined the kayak, marked the trail the blades created, and appeared wherever a drop of water touched it. I was enraptured by the bright stars merging with the glowing specks in the water.

As we made our way back to civilisation the port lights grew brighter, and the beautiful bioluminescent particles faded into the night. I’m still recovering from that ethereal experience, and I know I can never see the sea in the same way again. The Vitals Getting there

sounds of the mudskippers and the chirping of crickets.

While Havelock Island’s pristine beaches are famous, visitors rarely find time to explore the surrounding areas. I was on a nightkayaking trip to explore the forest of mangroves around the island. Since it was my first time, we shared a double-seat kayak.

Forty-five minutes into the trip, we briefly let our paddles trail in the water as the tide around us rose.

The sky turned dark almost as soon as the first star appeared, and we pulled out our headlamps. The

national Geographic Traveller INDIA | september 2014

mangroves looked shadowy and the water reflected the night sky.

Before long I realised that kayaking was less exercise and more a deeply relaxing experience. In the quiet of the night in those mangroves, my senses were enhanced; I heard the minutest ripple in the water, witnessed shadows even in the dark, and felt the hug of a light breeze.

This peace was broken only when Tanaz spoke. “Quick, do a backstroke now,” she said. I did. And that’s when I saw it—blue-green bioluminescence that had

There are daily flights to Port Blair from Kolkata and Chennai. From Port Blair, there are government (`200 per head; tickets available at jetty) and private ferries (`815 per head; www.makruzz.com) to Havelock once a day.

Kayak tours Night-kayaking tours are organised by Tanaz Noble at Havelock Island. The tour starts at Havelock jetty, near Barefoot Bar & Brasserie (99332 69653; `2,000 for 2 hours).

neha dara

A

s the kayak glided towards the creek, I saw a flock of egrets flying home in the twilight. After a little bit of practice, my hands had become used to the grip of the paddle and the strokes had begun to come naturally.

By my side was Tanaz Noble, who conducts kayaking tours through the mangroves of Havelock in the Andaman Islands. One ear cocked to her instruction, I’d occasionally duck to avoid a stray branch. On the way to the second creek I realised I was speaking in soft tones as I became more aware of the

The per­cent­ age of India’s mangrove cov­ er present in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Short Breaks | stay

Mountain manor

Manali

himachal pradesh

Far from the chaos of Manali town, The Himalayan is like a plush man cave | By Neha Sumitran

The Himalayan is every boy’s dream castle. The stone mansion, which took a decade to build and was completed three years ago, has battlements, buttresses, and a plush but medieval feel. Stride past the pointed archway of the vestibule and you’ll find yourself in a cavernous dining room with heavy wooden furniture.

By the cast-iron fireplace is a Hogwarts-style vertical banner bearing The Himalayan’s mascot: the mythical (and rather solemn-looking) heraldic ibex, two hooves in the air and goatee billowing in the breeze. Underground, below the conservatory, is the Dungeon, a bar-cumsports room with a pool table in prime condition. Instead of chairs, the Dungeon

Family-friendly

has church-like pews.

I spent a morning exploring the property, sinking into the Conservatory’s posh armchairs, snooping around the cabbage patch, and trekking up to the gazebo on the roof for an aerial view of the land. The Himalayan is away from the chaos of old Manali’s hippie hangouts and new town’s mayhem, and offers day vistas of pinecovered mountains veiled in thick mist. The sky on a clear night is sigh-inducing.

Fatigued from our explorations, a cup of lemon tea in the glass-panelled observatory allows us to watch the pitter-patter of rain. It’s a fitting spot for both solitude and long conversations. The cane furniture and Victorian floral patterns beg for a good

book, or bottle of Merlot.

I chat with owner Nishat Mohi, his wife Mimi, and Lys their three-year-old huskie who loves attention. Mohi is an architecture geek and can talk about turrets and clovers

for hours while Mimi is happy to introduce guests to her garden with apple, plum, and cherry trees, hollyhock blossoms, and hydrangeas.

Their large trampoline near the apple orchard offers flashes of fruit-laden trees, lush mountain sides, or a swimming pool depending on how high you jump. It’s the perfect way to work up an appetite for grilled Himalayan trout with buttered veggies from Mimi’s garden.

The Vitals Accommodation The Himalayan has eight pool-side cottages and eight large rooms in the castle, each of which has a functioning fireplace. The suites are spacious and furnished with shiny brass fittings and antique-looking furniture (my bathroom could have fitted a king-sized bed). The two-bedroom cottages are cosier, ideal for small families and groups of friends. In winter, when the battlements are laden with snow, The Himalayan takes on a more fairytale air. The Himalayan can organise angling and rafting trips in the region. Tariff does not include meals (08894005999; www.thehimalayan.com; doubles from `7,000). The restaurant serves European and Indian fare.

Getting there Manali is 550 km/14 hours from Delhi and 260 km/8 hours from Chandigarh. It is well connected by bus services. There are a few weekly flights between Delhi and Kullu’s Bhuntar airport. Manali is 50 km/1 hour from Kullu.

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milan moudgill

pet-friendly |  romantic |