Back with my final episode of The Dzukou Valley series. This blog will be more about my personal experience in Dzukou and less about traveling. I had too much fun sharing these pocket stories of my expeditions which I actually thought would be locked in my memory bank for ever. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to let it out to the world to such a full of energy and supportive audience.
Keep showering your love!!! Now kindly scroll down to unhook the tale of two Abla Naris. You must be confused first Bahubali then Abla Nari?
After we reached the starting point of the trek and were on our way towards our final goal we came across a group of boys coming down from the valley who literally advised us to go back saying that two girls won't be able to complete the trek alone carrying so much of luggage. They tried to demotivate us to an extreme level only because we were girls. We were dumbstruck as they looked like they were from the educated lot but still lacked sense and were proud owners of demoted mentality. Moving on from their nuisance we went ahead with more boosted enthusiasm and determination towards our second goal which was 'Woman Empowerment'. (Don't get sick of my sarcasm already)
The first one hour trek was highly steep and tiring mainly because we carried huge loaded bags with us. We reached the top where we saw a waiting shed till where there is network availability.
The view from that spot cannot be expressed through words. Neither can be captured in photographs. It can be described as a painting of fantasy , one that captures your soul , mind and body forever . I had my love at first sight moment. You need to be there at least once in your lifetime otherwise you are missing a lot without any doubt.
After having a light snack and some energy drink we started towards our rest camp. The trail after that was straight through 30-40 mountains which took us around 3-4 hours. An extra hour because we got lost in the middle since there were no signboards to guide your way so it is better if you go with someone who had visited dzukou before.
We finally reached the rest camp just before sunset and were lucky to witness another magnificent view. That was just a cherry on the cake.
All sort of accommodation is available. You can book single-bedrooms , double-bedrooms or even dormitories. We chose to stay in one of the dorms and took extra blankets, mattress and pillow. The dorm is about Rs. 50 per person. And the price of all the other necessity ranges from Rs. 100-200. The single or double bedrooms ranges from Rs. 1500-2000. We freshened up and interacted with the other trekkers coming from different parts of the world. We all expressed our own share of happenings and were glad that we met such amazing souls under the same cloud. After sunset dinner was served early by 7 in the evening. There were trekkers coming to the rest camp even after dark. After dinner we went to sleep since we were heavily tired by the whole day's trekking. Wait a minute this is not the end of the night.
Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost! Around at exactly 3:15 am I felt someone waking me up. To my surprise my friend woke me up saying she felt someone touching her in the dark. There is no electricity there. I hurriedly turned on my flashlight and could see how scared and frightened she was. I was shivering because of the cold and she because of the fear. After some time one of the trekker who was sleeping beside me woke up suddenly seeing our flashlights on. She asked out of concern if anything had happened and when we told her the story she replied back saying very casually that it might be rats. Yes there were supposed to be rats in the dorms according to the facts known so we made ourselves belief that was the case and passed the night. Next morning we enjoyed the beautiful sunrise with a cup of warm tea. It felt like I belonged to that place. The captivating views , the dense forest , the mesmerizing valleys all seemed to me as a full gift-wrapped parcel. There is another way ascending from near the rest camp down to the valleys which again takes around 3 hours approx where there are natural caves. So with a heavy heart we packed our things towards our way back again to the starting point of the trek where we already called up our taxi back to Kohima and then back home.
We gained something so amazing and one of the places from my bucket list got ticked with absolute pleasure and fulfillment even though we encountered some unusual events too which I think makes a story more intimidating and unforgettable . What matters in the end that you safely come back home and cherish those memories your entire life without any regrets. Few tips : 1. Avoid carrying too much of luggage. 2. Pack yourself with 2-3 layers of clothing because no matter which month of the year you visit the place it becomes too cold at night. 3. For emergency carry necessities like a torch , rope, matchbox or lighter ,water bottle, a small knife and at least one extra pair of clothes. I hope you all enjoyed my story. I will be back super soon with another of my soul gripping and exhilarating episode of another part of the world. Till then stay tune! Stay connected! Stay Home! Stay Safe! Spread more love _/\_
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