Nelong Valley expedition to be flagged off on World Tourism Day

DEHRADUN: On the occasion of World Tourism Day on Tuesday, the tourism department is conducting a special two-day tour of the Nelong valley situated on the India-China border.
The valley, which was opened for tourists only in 2014 after being off-limits for many decades, requires special permits for a visit.
It is expected that almost 150 tourists will visit the region as part of the two-day special package.
The expedition will also give a chance to tourists to visit regions of the India-China border which are under permissible distance from the border.
Uttarkashi district tourism officer, K S Negi said, “Since it is World Tourism Day we wanted to spread the message that apart from being a religious tourism destination, the Uttarkhand state is abundant with possibilities of adventure tourism and travel enthusiasts must come and explore the beauty of our state.”
Concurring which, Where Eagles Dare founder Tilak Soni said, “It was in 2014, that we had gone for a recce with a small group to the valley and had submitted a report to the government and tourism department about this region but it was only in May, 2015 that the valley was actually opened for tourists. The Nelong valley region is indeed abundant with possibilities of huge scope of extreme adventure. From now onwards, this Nelong Valley expedition will be a calendar event to be held every year on the occasion of the World Tourism Day.”
It is leant that the Nelong valley in Uttarkashi district, which had been out of bounds for civilians since the 1962 Indo-China war was made open for tourists in May, 2015. The valley, situated in the picturesque Gangotri National Park (GNP) at an altitude of almost 11,000-ft, has a mountain desert landscape much like Lahaul-Spiti, with sparse treeline and a rich wildlife comprising rare animals like snow leopard, Himalayan blue sheep and musk deer.
“I was just reading about this Nelong valley expedition and will definitely go for it next year. It seems really exciting. We’ll be able to explore such unchartered territory of the beautiful state of Uttarakhand” said Anuja Joshi from Mumbai, a travelling enthusiast.
The flag off of the expedition will be at 8 am on Tuesday and after crossing Harshil at 12.30 pm, the travelling group will halt at Nelong post on September 27evening and on Wednesday morning, the members will leave for Jadhang -a small hilly village in Uttarkashi district which used to be an ancient trade junction and will reach back to Harshil by 1 pm and from there to Uttarkashi by September 28 evening.