Nelong Valley: A Journey Along the Old Trade Route to Tibet and China

Nelong Valley: A journey Along The Old Trade Route to Tibet and China

It was in the early months of 2014 that a group of people got together to do something that would take away the attention from the devastating flood of 2013 and bring back focus on the natural beauty and unexplored terrains of Garhwal Himalayas. This was the inception of the first ever civilian group venturing into the spectacularly beautiful Nelong Valley. At a time when the entire area had been terribly affected by a flood, the magnitude of which was unbelievable, organizing such an event was not an easy task. All of us who were involved with it knew that the odds of us pulling it off were huge. The biggest hurdle was getting permission from all the concerned Government agencies. Nelong Valley had been off limits to Civilians since the Indo-China war in 1962, when the entire population of the valley was shifted out of the area and relocated in Harsil and Dunda areas of Uttarkashi. The Valley was handed over to the Army and ITBP and entry even for the original inhabitants of the valley was banned.

With huge odds working against the event, the main organizers – Hotel Association and Where Eagle’s Dare pitched in their best efforts and rallied together to get the permissions. Finally, after a lot of head banging and tos and fros, it finally happened. The permissions were granted, albeit very reluctantly, and we started the preparation for the First Ever Expedition into the unseen Valley of Nelong.

Initially, the expedition had been planned as a motor cycle and SUV trip, but the forest department refused to give permission for motor cycles to venture into the valley citing noise pollution as a reason. So, the motor cycles were to be left at the turn off to the Valley and everyone had to shift to SUV’s.

Location And History

Nelong Valley is located just off the Gangotri highway a few kilometres before Bhairon Ghati. The valley is cut through by the Jad Ganga and is characterized by a stark alpine landscape, little vegetation and steep cliffs. Unlike the rest of the Gangotri Valley, Nelong Valley has very little tree cover and reminds one of Ladakh more than of Gangotri. The hills are barren and striated a rainbow hue. Clear deep blue sky against the barren windswept hills creates a very dramatic visual treat.

In its hey days, Nelong was a busy trade route between Tibet, China and India. The traders used to come over the mountain passes bringing herbs, fur and semi-precious stones to exchange for salt and other commodities. The Bada Haat area of Uttarkashi was the trade point. The signs of the ancient trade route, its paths and camping sites are still visible. One of the most incredible sights is at a place called Gartangali where an amazing wooden path was built to traverse a sheer rock cliff. Large sleepers of wood were embedded into the rock face to create this path. The engineering skills and the effort required to build it must have been really remarkable. Despite decades of neglect, large parts of this wooden suspended path survive, as does a beautiful wooden bridge across the Jad Ganga River.

Plan for the Expedition

Since it was a “Where Eagles Dare” initiative, the expedition was planned with adventure in mind. Once the expedition was announced, a lot of adventure enthusiasts came forward to join in the journey. By now, the district administration was also involved and it was decided that the local youth would also be given a taste of adventure so a few enthusiastic locals were also invited to join in. The main group was to start off from Delhi arrive in Uttarkashi, have a night halt here and then be joined by the locals the next day to proceed to Nelong. The program from day 2 onwards was as follows:

Day II (Sept 21)

• 07.30 assemble at vishwanath temple for pooja
• 08.00 Flag-Off by DM and MLA
• 08.30 Breakfast at Ganesh pur hosted by Shivananda ashram and Rotary club
• 09.30 departure for harshil,
• 12.00 welcome at Harshil by 5GR, Tea-Snacks
• 13.30 arrival at Gangotri,  Pooja, Lunch hosted by Mandir Committee
• 14.30 departure for Nelong
• 17.30 arrival at Nelong camps, welcome by ITBP, dinner,

Day III (Sept 22)

• 07.00 Breakfast, start expedition, visit Sonam, Tripani, PDA, Sumla, Mandi
• 17.00 reach back Nelong, Dinner

Day IV (Sept 23)

• 07.00 Breakfast, visit Neela Pani, Jadhung, by evening reach Uttarkashi
• 17.00 arrival at uttarkshi, celebrations at Shivlinga resorts

Since Nelong is restricted to civilians, there is no place to stay. But since ours was a three day tour, arrangements for night halt were made at the ITBP Camp in Nelong. This was courtesy ITBP. Also, there are no tea or snack shops in the entire valley, hence we carried our own and the rest was provided courtesy ITBP.

The Expedition

We started off in the morning and halted as planned at Ganeshpur where all the expedition members were formally introduced to each other. The locals as well as the guests co-mingled and got to know each other.