Page 197 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

UT T AR PR ADESH & UT T AR AKHAND  195

y Kausani
Almora district. 431 km (268 miles)
NE of Delhi. @ n Tourist Reception
Centre, (05962) 258 067.
Kausani was Mahatma Gandhi’s
favourite abode in the hills.
After a long stay here at the
Anashakti Yoga Ashram in
1929, he remarked on how
unnecessary it was for Indians
to visit the European Alps for
their health, when they had
the beauty of Kausani at their
Ranikhet’s nine-hole golf course, offering fine mountain views doorsteps. A 400-km (249-mile)
uninterrupted panorama of the
This is an impressive complex t Lansdowne Nanda Devi Range can be seen
of over 100 splendidly carved Almora district. 240 km (149 miles) from the old Circuit House.
stone temples, dating back to NE of Delhi. £ Kotdwar, 45 km
the 11th century. (28 miles) SW of town centre, Environs
then taxi or bus. @ Baijnath, 20 km (12 miles) north
of Kausani, is known for a cluster
r Ranikhet The cantonment town of of temples, now in ruins, built
Lansdowne is one of the few in the 11th century. The main
Almora district. 367 km (228 miles)
NE of Delhi. @ n Tourist Reception hill stations that has managed to attraction is the Parvati Temple,
Centre, Mall Rd, (05966) 220 893. remain wonder fully unchanged with a 2-m (7-ft) high image of
over the last century. Away from the goddess, dating from the
Primarily a cantonment town, the main tourist circuit, the town 12th century. Bageshwar, 41 km
Ranikhet is home to the Indian has been spared the frenzied (25 miles) east of Kausani, lies
Army’s renowned Kumaon building and modernization that at the confluence of the Gomti
Regiment. Not surprisingly, the has crept into other pop ular and Saryu rivers, and was once
army is the town’s most visible destinations. A loosely spread- a major trading post between
presence, its many red-roofed out jumble of bungalows and Tibet and Kumaon. Although
bungalows spreading across shops, it is set the link with Tibet no longer
the wide “Queen’s Field”, on gentle forested exists, local merchants still bring
a literal trans lation slopes of pine, wool and animal hides to the
of the town’s deodar and silver oak. town’s annual Uttaryani Fair.
name. Sadar The Army’s Garhwal With its stone temples dedicated
Bazaar is the main Rifles have their to Shiva, Bageshwar is also an
market, while the regimental centre important pilgrimage centre in
Upper Mall leads A green bee-eater here, and a visit Kumaon. Nila Parvat (the “Blue
away from the with its catch to the beauti fully Mountain”) stands proudly
bazaar to the quieter maintained between the two rivers, and
part of town. Chaubatia, regimental mess is a must. A locals believe that it is home to
once a British sanatorium, lies pleasant walk leads to Tip-n- all the 330 million deities of the
further along The Mall and Top, a lookout point 3 km Hindu pantheon. Many visitors
now houses the Government (2 miles) from town, with to Bageshwar are en route to
Fruit Garden, which grows excellent mountain views. the Pindari Glacier (see p193).
200 varieties of fruit. Ranikhet’s
true allure, however, lies in
its untrammelled Himalayan
views offering a spectacular
vista of nearly 350 km (217
miles) of the Greater Hima layan
Range. The Army Golf Course,
6 km (4 miles) down the
Almora Road at Uphat, is
one of the country’s highest
golf courses, and was original ly
a racetrack. It welcomes
visitors who are willing to
pay green fees, so take no
notice of the signboard
that threatens trespassers. Pumpkins drying on a slate roof below the peaks at Kausani

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