Binsar & Kausani in Uttaranchal. Review on Ranikhet

Since there is no category for above locations but are close to Ranikhet, so I am putting review about them over here. I went to Binsar and Kausani in March end 2003 and on the way passed through Almora, Ranikhet and Nainital. My companion was a close friend and office colleague. When we started, we had Almora and Kausani in mind but instead of Almora we proceeded to Binsar (30 km from Almora) thanks to the taxi driver who showered praise for Binsar. We hired this taxi from Kathgodam which is the nearest rail-head to all the hill stations named above and there is a convenient overnight train Ranikhet Express from Delhi.

Binsar is actually a protected sanctuary, so there is no habitation inside except a guest house run by KMVN. The drive from Kathgodam till Binsar is very good especially the stretch from Almora till Binsar which passes through a thick forest being a protected area. The unique thing about Binsar is, once you land into the guest house, there is absolutely nothing to do except to roam around in the jungle and watch great views. It wouldn't be inapt to say that time stands still over here. The guest house is built on a strategic location such that its terrace faces a valley beneath and hills beyond. There is a tower built some 1/2 hour walk away on the summit of the highest hill in the area. From there one could get splendid views of snow-capped mountains like Nanda-Devi and Panchchuli on a clear day. There is a forest rest house from the British time where Pt. Nehru once stayed on a sabbatical. A small road from guest house leads to it and make a decent walk. The guest house has no electricity because wires have not come till here and generator cannot be deployed it being protected area. The rooms though are very cosy with complete wooden interiors and good furniture. With candles being lit, we found it to be more charming. The food and service was good and they provided warm water. The guest house can arrange for a taxi from the town if you ask the people over there.

Kausani is also known as Switzerland of India and this title was given by none other than Mahatma Gandhi who stayed here on sabbatical and has an ashram known as Anushakti Ashram. Kausani is famous for its 180 degree view of snow peaks including Panchchuli (five) peaks, Nandadevi and ''hathi parvat'' extending from Nepal border in the right till peaks around badrinath in the left. We reached Kausani in the evening after dark and it was raining. We headed straight to KMVN guest house which is around 2-3 km from town and fortunately had vacant cottages. KMVN guest house here is slightly spread out with sets of independent cottages with small lawn in front. Again the location of the guest house is perfect facing a valley beneath and snow-capped peaks in front. We saw other hotels in town on the way but none of them had such a vantage location. We decided to wake up early to watch sunrise, so slept early. In our excitement we woke up when it was still dark but didn't know that whatever was going to unfold in next few hours is something we never imagined. As the sun rose, silhouttes of mountains became more clear turning their color from grey to orange and eventually white. When the sun rose sufficiently enough what we saw was something we never saw before. Due to last night's rain, clouds had settled in the valley beneath. These clouds were we thick white spread entirely across the valley. The peaks in front too were fully snow-capped. We felt as if we could walk over those clouds and to those mountains. We just watched in awe without uttering a single word among us. We knew, words cannot describe even a zilch of what we are watching. After sometime, when we came back to our senses, we settled down in our lawn with a thermos full of tea. What a setting it was, clouds in the valley, peaks in front, warmth of sun, sounds of birs chirping and smell of wind flowing through trees. Heaven!! Later we decided to take a walk in the town and have our breakfast there. We were fourtunate to get into a shop run by a localite-cum-delhite. He had a telescope setup to watch the peaks and nice ''Aloo paranthas'' for breakfast. We had a nice look at the valleys of Nandadevi from the telescope. We also went to Baijnath famous for its temples which is at a lesser altitude than Kausani. Though there is road till Baijnath, we decided to walk while going and come back on vehicle. We walked through small villages and fields. At this time of the year the fields were green like carpets and wonderful to watch. The temples in Baijnath are decent right next to Gomti river which is just a small stream here. Kausani also has its own variety of tea. It has few private tea orchards though volume is very less. One can buy it from any local shops.

Few points to remember:-

1. Till 31st March Uttaranchal govt. considers it to be off-season, so room tariffs are just 50% of the usual. This is applicable across whole Uttaranchal for KMVN/GMVN guest houses. Even otherwise they are the better place to stay with decent service and food.

   
   




2. Try to be at one location for atleast 2 days to have a good chance of clear sky for splendid views. Rain is not bad, it may clear up the sky the next day.

   
   

Sorry for longish review and thanks for reading.

regards,

Roopesh