Kumbhalgarh - More than a Gigantic Fort

 

The massive yet beautiful fort of Kumbhalgarh

This weekend was amazing; India won the Cricket World Cup, which I also enjoyed along with a visit to an interesting place Kumbhalgarh, located in the heart of Aravali mountain range in Rajasthan. The place is world famous for its gigantic fort of ‘Kumbhalgarh’ from which the place got its name. However I visited the place to explore more of its surroundings, which offers interesting hiking/walking experience in the wild along with beautiful insight of tribal lifestyle of Rajasthan.

I started early from Jaipur to reach Kumbhalgarh in time, as my first walking experience was scheduled for the day. The drive was comfortable on a well paved road and turned further more interesting once we left the highway, roughly 30 kilometers before Kumbhalgarh as we passed through small villages, green fields and periphery of wildlife sanctuary.

Beautiful jungle landscape

The journey started from the ruins of an ancient temple from where I started walking towards another temple located in a narrow gorge between two hills, walking on a well paved path. I continued walking on gentle pace, enjoying semiarid forests, low-lying ridges, water channels and witnessing the tribal lifestyles of Rajasthan. By lunch time I reached Ranakpur and after enjoying my meal, I visited the world-famous intricately carved white marble Jain temple of Ranakpur with 1444 pillars— no two are alike. (14 kilometers, 6-7 hours hiking).



Leopard Paw spotted during walk



Second day was also full of adventure as we start trekking through Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, a dense forest in the most rugged region of the Aravali Hills. The 380-square-mile park is home to Panthers, Leopards, Sloth Bears, Wild Boars, Barking Deers, Antelopes and hundreds of beautiful bird species like the Golden Oriole, Grey Horn Bills, White Breasted kingfishers, Long Tailed brown Magpie and Plum Headed Parakeet.

I was only able to spot pug marks of Panthers, Leopards and Sloth Bear but was not lucky to see any of them L, however different variety of birds and beautiful forest made my day. We also saw carcass of Sambhar on the way, which was presumably killed by a panther as told by my traveling companion (a local villager who accompanied me for this leg of trek).  

Later we reached forest rest house situated by the lake, where we took a small break & saw different kind of birds along with a massive reptile at the shore of lake. The walk continued upto the ancient Jain temple of Muchala Mahavir, passing through villages of Grasiya Tribes and homes. (16 kilometers 7 hours hiking), which was the last point of this walking tour.

It's an amazing hiking experience and can be clubbed with your Rajasthan trip. For more details do contact us on info@voyagesworld.com or visit www.voyagesworld.com .