BANI is an offbeat tourist lo
cation situated in kathua district of jammu and kashmir.At 4200ft,located in the lap of lofty mountains, good climate and immense natural resources, Bani is 88kms from Basohli town and linked by road only.it is also the base camp of trekkers who go to different routes to Bhaderwah, Machhedi etc.
THE ROUTE :(From Jammu to Bani)--- JAMMU -LAKHANPUR -MAHANPUR - BASOHLI -BANJAL -BHOOND -KAHAROD -BANI -CHANDEL -SARTHAL TO BHADERWAH.
Total distance is 250 kms approx from jammu to bani and took us almost 8 hrs drive one way as the road from Basohli to Bani is very difficult mountain route.
It was Saturday morning of Eid 2015 that I and my husband thought to take on the drive to Basohli and Bani...Earlier we did Billawar also in kathua district of j&k. After a long while we got 2 consecutive days of holidays so wanted to have a nice break, hardly aware that it will be such a long journey, full of adventure and heart crushing thrill. We started around 8am and drove straight to lakhanpur which is almost 90kms drive via NH1A and after crossing over the j&k border toll plaza took a diversion towards Mahanpur by the Thein Dam...it was another 40kms or so drive thru some bad patches often ......but Mahanpur really brings joy with its first glance....THE HUGE RANJIT SAGAR LAKE and The Thein Dam just make everyone stop for a while and pose a photo shot with it at its backdrop. ..
Now it was some 66 kms (approx ) drive to Basohli. ....just was enjoying the drive up and down the high mountain road following the Ranjit Sagar lake. ...The lake is so so huge that as we drove ahead ,I could see it from various angles from top of the mountains. ..jungles of fig trees , dates kept on coming and going but hardly we could find any tress of settlements on the way .....
Atlast we reached Basohli, it was almost 1.30pm and my husband insisted me to have lunch there itself. It's a small town, famous for its miniature paintings , but those caves thar had those paintings seems to be drowned into the lake waters after the dams where built on it.
Now another 88kms left for Bani.... but as we left Basohli, the landscape changed totally....now it felt that we r really on the Himalayan track. ...just beautiful, I can see ..not much of traffic, simply we two ...unknown road , high mountains, chill in the air during such hot and humid climate of July in jammu. ...just so romantic, I said to myself.....We hardly remembered , how long we were driving by then ... its BANJAL, THE GARDEN OF NATURAL FLOWERS "...... so beautiful, colourful mountain slope with flowers growing as wild..then the Glacier bed, which was really difficult to drive thru , though there was no ice but the leftover rocks and gravels. ... bur we were just too excited to see it as we drove towards BHOOND.
Now we were heading towards BHOOND AND KAHAROD. .,hardly aware that we will be experiencing more and more beauty...oh , those clouds, I just was amazed covering our way ahead ...Driving thru the clouds , almost zero visibility. ..just so so exciting. but surely my husband on the steering wheel was just becoming to worried about the drive ahead. ..but I was on top of the world .....felt as if lost in the high mountains, not aware where we were heading too .....just the thrill of an adventurous drive. ....the road was good upto few kms and then couldn't understand whether it's a road or a trek route. ...now had to be very conscious as even a wink of an eye, one will be down into the gorge below. ...hardly anyone around and silence really was making us both bit scared...
The pics on the top of my writeup will speak for itself..... at Kaharod , we entered the rain forest zone , just made me recall my journey in Arunachal pradesh (Tawang trip )....just lively but slowly it was getting dark and we were getting worried about reaching Bani. ..was not aware of its proper distance as hardly I could find much info on this place on the Internet. Slowly, even my husband was getting restless after driving for so long .....oh , that's the NHPC PROJECT dam at Bani, I told him as my camera lens picked it's first glance , so we aren't far off ... then it was another 6/7kms drive to Bani valley which was situated amidst nature,thick forest,waterfalls and meadows..... we had to halt the night at the Forest ranger guest house at Bani town ..... at last a long journey of 250kms, came to a halt at almost 5.30pm. ...with a cup of tea , we stood by Sewa river and keep enjoying a lovely evening amidst dense jungle, chill in the air and the smell of the chir and the pine trees....so peaceful away from the hussel bussels of our everyday lives. ....the bells at the famous Shitala mata shrine echoing across.....just loved it all.
THE ROUTE :(From Jammu to Bani)--- JAMMU -LAKHANPUR -MAHANPUR - BASOHLI -BANJAL -BHOOND -KAHAROD -BANI -CHANDEL -SARTHAL TO BHADERWAH.
Total distance is 250 kms approx from jammu to bani and took us almost 8 hrs drive one way as the road from Basohli to Bani is very difficult mountain route.
It was Saturday morning of Eid 2015 that I and my husband thought to take on the drive to Basohli and Bani...Earlier we did Billawar also in kathua district of j&k. After a long while we got 2 consecutive days of holidays so wanted to have a nice break, hardly aware that it will be such a long journey, full of adventure and heart crushing thrill. We started around 8am and drove straight to lakhanpur which is almost 90kms drive via NH1A and after crossing over the j&k border toll plaza took a diversion towards Mahanpur by the Thein Dam...it was another 40kms or so drive thru some bad patches often ......but Mahanpur really brings joy with its first glance....THE HUGE RANJIT SAGAR LAKE and The Thein Dam just make everyone stop for a while and pose a photo shot with it at its backdrop. ..
Now it was some 66 kms (approx ) drive to Basohli. ....just was enjoying the drive up and down the high mountain road following the Ranjit Sagar lake. ...The lake is so so huge that as we drove ahead ,I could see it from various angles from top of the mountains. ..jungles of fig trees , dates kept on coming and going but hardly we could find any tress of settlements on the way .....
Atlast we reached Basohli, it was almost 1.30pm and my husband insisted me to have lunch there itself. It's a small town, famous for its miniature paintings , but those caves thar had those paintings seems to be drowned into the lake waters after the dams where built on it.
Now another 88kms left for Bani.... but as we left Basohli, the landscape changed totally....now it felt that we r really on the Himalayan track. ...just beautiful, I can see ..not much of traffic, simply we two ...unknown road , high mountains, chill in the air during such hot and humid climate of July in jammu. ...just so romantic, I said to myself.....We hardly remembered , how long we were driving by then ... its BANJAL, THE GARDEN OF NATURAL FLOWERS "...... so beautiful, colourful mountain slope with flowers growing as wild..then the Glacier bed, which was really difficult to drive thru , though there was no ice but the leftover rocks and gravels. ... bur we were just too excited to see it as we drove towards BHOOND.
Now we were heading towards BHOOND AND KAHAROD. .,hardly aware that we will be experiencing more and more beauty...oh , those clouds, I just was amazed covering our way ahead ...Driving thru the clouds , almost zero visibility. ..just so so exciting. but surely my husband on the steering wheel was just becoming to worried about the drive ahead. ..but I was on top of the world .....felt as if lost in the high mountains, not aware where we were heading too .....just the thrill of an adventurous drive. ....the road was good upto few kms and then couldn't understand whether it's a road or a trek route. ...now had to be very conscious as even a wink of an eye, one will be down into the gorge below. ...hardly anyone around and silence really was making us both bit scared...
The pics on the top of my writeup will speak for itself..... at Kaharod , we entered the rain forest zone , just made me recall my journey in Arunachal pradesh (Tawang trip )....just lively but slowly it was getting dark and we were getting worried about reaching Bani. ..was not aware of its proper distance as hardly I could find much info on this place on the Internet. Slowly, even my husband was getting restless after driving for so long .....oh , that's the NHPC PROJECT dam at Bani, I told him as my camera lens picked it's first glance , so we aren't far off ... then it was another 6/7kms drive to Bani valley which was situated amidst nature,thick forest,waterfalls and meadows..... we had to halt the night at the Forest ranger guest house at Bani town ..... at last a long journey of 250kms, came to a halt at almost 5.30pm. ...with a cup of tea , we stood by Sewa river and keep enjoying a lovely evening amidst dense jungle, chill in the air and the smell of the chir and the pine trees....so peaceful away from the hussel bussels of our everyday lives. ....the bells at the famous Shitala mata shrine echoing across.....just loved it all.
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