
AFTER AN HOUR OF scampering down the mountain, the trail suddenly disappeared. Huge boulders lay along the shores, and I found myself transfixed by the gushing, free-flowing, sapphire-blue Supin River—a rare sight in Uttarakhand, where most great rivers have been dammed into lifeless trickles. Above the river hung a heap of wires and ropes, and a small metallic basket, my heart-stopping ride to the other shore! For another 2.5 hours, I huffed and puffed up a steep mountain behind my guide, till I finally caught the first glimpse of my illusive destination. The oak forest gave way to yellow mustard fields and baby pink peach blossoms as I walked into Kalap–a forgotten village in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, accessible only by an eight-kilometre hike from the nearest roadhead at Motwar village.
I first heard about Kalap back in 2014. Anand Sankar, an avid hiker and former journalist, had established The Kalap Trust (kalaptrust.org) to build a school and medical clinic in this remote village, and employed teachers and doctors to run them (though things fell apart during the pandemic). Back then, a trip to Kalap needed some advance notice. With no phone network in the village, Sankar had to send a letter to Kalap with the public bus driver four days in advance! Dehradun, my home town, is the nearest big town (only a 12-hour bus ride + eight-kilometre hike away), but it took me another seven years to make it there.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 2022 من Travel+Leisure India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 2022 من Travel+Leisure India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول

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