Snow Leopards & Tungnath

tungnath - highest Shiva temple in the world

Author: Kapil Kumar

Venue : Bhawali, Uttrakhand

Gopeshwar, Uttrakhand, India: It was a bone chilling night and we left Pipalkoti for Chopta. Pipalkoti is a very small station near Chamoli in the Shivaliks Mountains and it is enroute the world famous Badrinath pilgrimage. Life in Pipalkoti moves on a snails pace so don't expect to move fast here. Though we decided to move in the day towards Chopta but our guide Nitin Kahera completed his work till late in the evening and than he set the pace to move.

On the road to Tungnath

In the day we hardly did anything in Pipalkoti but enjoyed the rustic beauty of the mountains and people's innocence that is hardly found in the cities now. A cup of tea in an old Chai Shop with Garwahlis talking about goats and man eater tigers and leopards give you a very basic idea that issues in the hills are so different from New Delhi. For people of Delhi a dog is important but here goats, cows are like family members and every night some family or the other fights with leopards to save them. Children are not hooked to TVs and internet rather they enjoy the company of dog puppies and play age old games which can take you back into your childhood if you have seen that era of the 80s and the early 90s.

Silent Tungnath

Night in the shivaliks is really scary. Mountains are high and landslides are a common site. Mandakini river creates thunderous sounds that is enough to chill your bones. And let me tel you here that if your car breaks down during the night than your are simply helpless and it is advisable to move during the day only. But, we did not follow this rule. And left everything on the Gods will and started the journey towards Chopta. The distance is around 100 kilometres and it is like a four hour journey. But hardly we knew that after Mata Anasuya temple we won't find any villages till we reach Chopta. After 5 pm the sun went down and the whole atmosphere just changed within minutes. The warmth went away and the bone chilling weather was hitting us in our boots. We were all packed with the best wooden stuff but still we could feel that the weather outside the jeep was -1 or may be less on 31st December night.

Enjoying some time at Pipalkoti

Shiva in Silence

As we crossed Mata Anasuya temple we halted for a bit as the last police station asked the reason for travelling so late at night. The officer on duty was not that strict but he warned us that leopards are on the move so don't stop too your car in the jungle and keep moving. After the permission we just halted for a while and I gazed at the stars. It looked so unreal as if I could see the north star and the Saptrishi after nearly two decades. 

Ganesha Temple at Tungnath

Snow Leopard home

Akash Kund at Tungnath

The city life took our stars away from us. The vertical limits of our apartments snatched away our skies. And at that moment I felt like a child and wanted to touch the stars in my thoughts. But, now we had to move on as the journey was too long.We crossed the last police chowki and moved towards Chopta. During this journey we crossed a leopard sanctuary and the policeman was right that the jungle was so dense that we couldn't gather courage to stop our car. After a tiresome journey we reached Chopta and looked for accommodation. We were lucy to get two tents at that night though people who wanted to welcome the New Year had nearly choked that place. It was very cold night though the tents gave some warmth.

Tungnath Temple

Shiva's Silence

After the morning tea we started our treck toward Tungnath - the highest shiva Temple in the world. The trek from Chopta ground zero till Tungnath Shiva temple is nearly 16 kms. But let me brief you that if you are not fit enough you will stop your journey after 5 kms in a meadow and return which most of the people did.

3457 meters high 

Intial 5 kms were like not to hard but still I was loosing some breath though younger boys were climbing on a good pace. As we crossed the meadow the height started becoming more and more steep and now it started testing my lungs and my stamina. After climbing nearly 7 kilometers I wanted to gave up but younger generation wanted me to climb and our guide Nitin Kahera and Fitness Guru Tony Tantra just pumped some confidence in me.

Nitin, Mayank, Tony and Parth were showing no signs of tiredness rather they were climbing like professionals but here I must thank four of them because they helped me move on though on a very slow pace.

Nandi the Bull of Shiva 

Tungnath is one of the 5 temples that fall under Panch Kedar yatra and to come here in January is not advisable because of intense cold, snow storms and snow leopards. Intense cold was now my enemy number one as it was breaking my bones. We had to lit fire in the middle of the journey with some wood and we all got some warmth. But we had to move on as we had to come back before the sun comes down. Slowly and slowly we finally reached Ganesh temple - and hell broke loose. The Snow storm welcomed us and we had no place to hide....

Golden Light at Tungnath

Nitin Kahera - my guide to Tungnath

At this point the temperature dipped sharply and everyone started feeling that numbness in the body and also fear of hyperthermia was high on my mind. After a while the snow storm stopped but it kept on snowing slowly. We moved on but now our legs were like frozen to the core. We could hardly move but mystically we moved on and at this point Shiva was in our minds - and we cried for mercy....

Kedar Ghati

Each step we took towards Tungnath was like fighting a war within us. It was too cold to bear and as we reached the temple someone had lit up a fire. It was like meeting God at the point of time. We all just plunged our hands into the fire. But let me tel u that even the fire was of no use just that in our minds we thought now we will survive to tel this tale. After a while we reached the temple compound and the feeling at that point of time for me was like conquering mount Everest. I thanked Shiva for making my journey to his highest points of pure consciousness.

Evening Lights at Tungnath

After the darshan we started our journey back. Some locals joined us too and told us that we were the last pilgrims and from now on only snow and snow leopards will be the masters of this place.

till we meet again 

Bhole Baba ki jai