Shangharh

Shangharh is a village in the Sainj valley of the Great Himalayan National Park(GHNP). We spent a few days here earlier this week. There is a forest rest house in Shangharh where we stayed. Shangharh was recommended to us by my PhD advisor who has visited this place multiple times since 1990s. However, a road has now been constructed all the way to the village because of which we could bring mummy-papa to the rest house with us. They stayed in the rest house for three days while we went off on a 2 day trek to Lapah and back. Shangharh is famous for its Sinchul Mahadev temple and the meadows around it. We spent some time in the meadows and the boys loved rolling on the slopes and chasing cows. The village is small enough that we felt that at the end of our 3 day stay, a lot of people in the village knew us and we also got to know of a lot of local stories. We also had a chance meeting with Ankit Sood, a consultant with the HP forest department and had long interesting discussions on various trekking routes in the state.

Here are pictures of our time in Shangharh: a lot of family portraits, some pics from the meadows and the village homes, school and panchayat office.