Amongst Khati chaos and before we began teaching and undertaking solar installation we decided to trek into Sunderdhunga Valley. It is a trek that we have done before (except this time we didn't spend 5 days at Bellony tops snowed in, stuck in the tent?!) but the sheer beauty of the area is a major lure to be repeat offenders. Sunderdhunga means the valley of beautiful stones,is situated west of Pindari valley and has two glaciers - Maiktoli and Sukram and the main encompassing peaks are Tharkot (6100m), Mrigthuni (6856m), Maiktoli (6804m)and Pawalidwar (6663m).
The area is rich in wildlife but despite seeing numerous bear and leopard scats we failed to get a visual of the culprits. Near Jatoli we sighted fresh leopard poo, paw prints and scratchings on the track, possibly from the same leopard who has killed at least 10 cattle around Khati in the last month. Much of the bird life is on the move to warmer climates and we were able to witness the flock migration southwards of various species.
The scenery en-route is nothing short of spectacular and in the lower reaches the forest is ablaze with the golden/red hues of autumn colours. To boulder hop beside gurgling streams, walk on high altitude bugials admist the most awsome snow capped mountains and breathtaking scenery is to feel 'alive'! When you don't see a soul for days it is incredible to imagine that you are in the second most populated country in the world.
We took 8 days for the walk, apart from Jatoli there are no rest houses on this trek. Our accomodation was a combination of camping and staying in a shepherds hut at Khatalia. For this trek you need to be self sufficient in food and have appropriate mountain equipment.
At Khatalia we spent four nights and a considerable amount of time conducting a 'cleanup'. The area was awash with rubbish from trekking groups and from shepherds who spend from May till October grazing goats on high altitude bugials. The detritus was a combination of steel cans, bottles and plastic rubbish. All flammable material was burnt and the recyclables were trekked out to Khati, taken by mule to Song and then transported by jeep to a glass/steel recycler in Bageshwar. In the future, PEAK hopes to conduct track clean ups in both valleys at the end of every trekking season.
We were asked at Jatoli if we had heard any gun shots up the valley (which we hadn't), apparently poachers originating from the Nepali border have been shooting wildlife - snow leopard, musk deer, bears - for the Chinese market. So far we haven't had any reports of poaching in the Pindari valley. However, unlike Sunderdhunga, Pindari has rest houses at Dwali and Phurkia and Baba G lives at Zero Point for most of the year, this leads to an increse in people moving in and out of the area on a regular basis. I presume that this may make poaching in the area more difficult, but certainly not impossible.
For seven of the eight days we were treated to clear, blue skies. You could not have asked for better trekking weather for the end of November.
Bonnie & Scott
PEAK
