She is sophisticated & wild. She will please your eyes and warms your heart. You will fall for her tranquility & beauty. She blushes when birds whisper to her. I wish, her treasures remain hidden forever, for she is unexplored and less commercialized.... She is Jibhi daughter of BANJAR VALLEY. BEASKUND river , her brother adds beauty to her wilderness magically. She was barely touched by the mass tourist crowd when we visited
Geographically speaking Banjar Valley is in the middle of Himalayan range. Going towards east, the peaks go progressively taller, finally giving way to the great Himalayan range, where peaks have heights of 4500 meters and above. Natives of Jibhi are called Serajis as they speak Seraji.
21 MAR 2019 - A misty breezy morning we are at Aut waiting for a shared taxi to reach Jibhi. Take Delhi - Aut bus on Manali route. Landmark of Aut is the big tunnel. (approx.cost for one side 1500 INR)
While gazing at it, a gust of clean, crisp air touched my face gently reminding that I need to take a deep breath with a load of oxygen to rejuvenate even my tiniest cell in the body. And my body will thank me to save her from the pollution of Delhi
There were no options of hostel (except one - Mudhostel) or good hotels in Jibhi. And we booked a Homestay ROCK TOP INN. It's run by a family. Honestly, from the pictures I dint like, but I loved it once we reached. Customized homely pahadi food & the love they gave was beyond any great service from 5 star hotels, I can vouch you for that. 4000 INR for a room - three days stay, 2 times meal, unlimited tea, coffee, snacks.Half an hour drive frm here will take you to Jalori pass which is at 10800 ft. high. You will get shared sumo from this place which would cost 1200 INR ( This rate would have changed now, as its been a year now)
It was definitely worthy. And a lovely Labrador named Google, who guided us for all the hikes. He actually took us around and shown the places, I remember there was a time when 4 of us stood and decoded what signal was he giving us in between🤷♀️..
After a thorough research in browser, I found this one particular place in Jibhi from a random IG profile. It was named as "Mini Thailand". You can't google it :-). Even google hides the best places in world :-) #hiddengem. All of us were equally excited to explore that place.We had to ask a lot of people to figure out where is this. But Serajies had different names for it like "Mini Malaysia", some even name it as "Mini Singapore". While we were strolling through streets to figure out this place we asked the natives, why is it named that way. They said people like such catchy names and hence named it that way 😊
We were literally on a treasure hunt to find this #hiddengem of jibhi. Hiked around 15kms on the first day to find out mini Thailand. Finally, when we figured out, we were on the top of it at 3pm with cloudy weather and thunders, all we could do was to watch the place from above.
The next day we made it. It may be 4-5kms from ROCK TOP INN Homestay. Probably the best landmark I can give is the below picture. It's a view from the road on your right side, google maps won't help you. I am not sure if it is updated in map now.
Right after this, within 2km we hiked down for half an hour from the main road to an unexplored trails of thorns and wild plants. We ensured not to break any plant or stems while hiking. The wild scent of nature was an intoxication to my cells. It was very clear that, hardly any humans been to that place from the path we went.
The first view, it was a magical moment when my eyes met hers & felt the spark between our hearts.
This place remains always special for me. I felt, we stepped inside her ❤️.All I could hear was gushing of Beaskund river & her teeny tiny bird friends chirping.The water was so cold that even my feet turned blue after crossing the stream. The best pictures always come from the difficult & adventurous travel
Even the picture would give you the sense of tranquility of this #hiddengem of Jibhi.
You will feel nature here. No humans around,not even a dog. Jibhi is quite famous for her wide range species of bird friends . Its the best place to do bird watching for the bird lovers.
I felt, nature sense your innate feeling and then only she shows you her #hiddengems. And at night, she will show you shining Stars, Moon & Milkyway.
She made me believe that this world is worth living in. We haven't lost all the charm of our lonely planet. A humble request, when you leave the place, leave as if she was untouched by you. Let's be responsible travelers & not spoil the left over beauty..
Wish you a happy journey
