Stay on Skill meetup at Tirthan Valley

Hello Beautiful people!

Back again with the story of one of my favorite humans on earth. Who else but Stay on Skill tribe.
It was their 1st birthday and they planned to celebrate it in the beautiful and not do popular Tirthan Valley. After Amritsar meetup, I promised myself to be a part of their meetups as and when possible. So yeah, got lucky this time.
Reasons I wanted to be a part of this meetup:
* Exploring Tirthan Valley was always in my bucket list
* I was 1000% sure that only with SOS, I will be able to explore the valley in real sense.
* Just because it’s about travel. Do I actually need reasons? Lol.

Let me tell you how the meetup was.

This time, the group had a good mix of bloggers, photographers, landscape architects and filmmakers.

Day 1

We reached Tirthan at 11 am and were welcomed at a beautiful wooden cottage – Sunshine Himalayan Adventure. It is situated just on the bank of Tirthan river. Just when we entered, we got lost in the mesmerizing beauty and stated clicking pictures, went to the river side. Yeah, we didn’t even go inside.
A talk with locals (the homestays owners) and village walk was planned for that day. After lunch we went out for the talk and were welcomed with Rhododendron (state flower of Himachal Pradesh) juice. Few members from TTDA (Tirthan Tourism Development Association) were present there. The main concern of the talk was – to discuss about responsible tourism and how they can promote the valley in a way that it attracts right kind of people.
As they say – “this place is not for everyone”. They have maintained the sanctity of the place and they have compared it directly with famous and spoiled tourists spots like Manali, Shimla, Kasol etc.
It was a good brainstorming session and after that, we all went out for village walk. The village is beautiful, with old colorful wooden structures all around. (we also did river crossing with the rope which was hell scary)
Tirthan Valley is also know for it’s rich Flora & Fauna all over the world. Few expert researchers were invited at the cottage to talk about that. Again, it was an interesting session where they were telling us about the new species of fishes & squirrels found in recent past. All in all, it was a day full of Gyaan!

Day 2

Trek to Great Himalayan National Park was on the list. Well, this place is full of history and stories. We started at 11 in the morning and reached the gate of GHNP at 3 pm. It’s an easy level of hike. Also, the views are just breathtaking. This place is home to various species of amphibians, reptiles, birds, insects & mammals. It is spread over an area of 754.4km². There are so many undiscovered & un-named lakes & peaks. Just 200 meters before the entry gate, there is a beautiful Hippo waterfall. This is one serene, and extremely beautiful waterfall I have ever seen. For a moment, I was lost!
After coming back to our cottage (Sunshine Himalayan Adventure), we celebrated SOS’s 1st birthday followed by some really interesting stories by Mr. Panki Sood, who was the host at cottage.

Day 3

Good morning with sound of river (and phone calls by Arjun).
We all were already overwhelmed with the beauty of Tirthan and the stories associated with that place were equally fascinating. Chhoie Waterfall was on the list that day. It’s a 45 mins trek to Chhoie waterfall from the main road. And the trek is tiring! But the place is worth it. We were so tired after that and the good food was need of that hour. And we all were invited at Tirthan River View Homestay for lunch. We had Siddu, Rhododendron juice, and few locally grown veggies. Then we went to Tirthan Nature Camps for the night stay which is located on river side. The hosts are extremely welcoming there. Spent some good quality time doing bonfire & music session.

Day 4

This was our last day at Tirthan and we were already feeling nostalgic. I was happy with the fact that we explored the valley with the locals in the most authentic way possible. It wouldn’t have been possible without Stay on Skill. Lots and lots of stories,
Few were captured, and few just saved in mind & heart,
Newly found friends for life,
Wooden houses, birds, sound of river,
Not to miss, THE BEST & authentic himachali food,
Fun, Learning, Gyaan,
This all sums up Tirthan SOS Meetup!

You can also have a look at my Amritsar meetup experience with SOS.