Primulas below the Lhonak La Pass, North Sikkim

In the summer of 1987, I think it was late May, I walked with Brigadier Sidhu and Major B V Naresh of the Indian Army from Thangu in North Sikkim to the village of Muguthang in the Lhonak Valley. The route to Lhonak leads over the high Lhonak La pass which had a lot of snow even in  May. I remember reaching the top of the pass and then finding a sheer snow slope on the other side! Rather than cutting steps and walking down the snow slope, I just sat down on my bottom and slid down the slope reaching the bottom in record time!

About an hour after leaving Thangu we came to this  meadow at the bottom of the pass. . These primulas were blooming on the meadow.  Since that spring day in 1987, I have looked for these huge primulas elsewhere  in the Himalaya but am yet to find them  - they were perfection!

Looking at them, I was reminded of R.L. Holdsworth's comments in Frank Smythe's book The Valley of Flowers which I reproduce here.

" All of a sudden I realised that I was simply surrounded by primulas. At once the day seemed to brighten perceptibly. Forgotten were all pains and cold and lost porters. And what a primula it was! All over shelves and terraces it grew often with roots in running water. At the most it stood six inches high, but it's flowers were enormous in stature and ample in number.... In all my mountain wanderings I had not seen a more beautiful flower than this primula....."

My sentiments as well on seeing these primulas bloom below the pass on that misty May morning with snow threatening!
For more photographs of the Sikkim Himalaya please do visit http://www.sujoydas.com/Sikkim-Himalaya

The Source of the Teesta Trek in North Sikkim: Lachen to Cholamu

Looking south from the high point of Dorji-La over the North Sikkim plateau

Prologue

In the summer of 1987 I was extremely lucky to receive the hospitality of the Indian Army to trek from Lachen upto Cholamu Lake, the source of the river Teesta in North Sikkim. This road is now jeepable and the army uses the road for ferrying materials, supplies etc. to their higher camps. Travel companies from Gangtok also arrange permits for tourists and take them up from Lachen for the day upto Thangu and Gurudongmar Lake.  However, it is a bone-jarring ride and to enjoy the magnificent mountain scenery, the sweeping views across the North Sikkim plateau towards Tibet and the plethora of bird and animal life in the Trans Himalayan region, this trek is highly recommended but I am sure it is permit restricted at the moment.. The trek starts in the southern side of the Himalayas at Lachen and crossed the Himalayan watershed at Giagong where it enters the Trans Himalaya. The trail them travels along the North Sikkim plateau with the plains of Tibet to the north and the main Himalayan range to the south. On the way to Cholamu it passes the sacred lake of Gurdongmar which is a place of worship for the Sikhs.

I was able to climb upto the army high point at Dorji la, which is a peak about 5650 metres north east of Cholamu lake. It was mid June, the onset of the monsoon. To the north of Dorji la the plateau of Tibet stretches for miles as far as the eye can see a brown barren wasteland.  And to the south the high point looks down the Lachung valley   and in the distance, flickering flashes of lightning could be seen far below lighting up the valley in the midst of the inky night. It was a surreal experience as though one was seated at one of high points of the globe. 

Sikkim: Lhonak, the Home of the Herdsmen in North Sikkim -Usually off limit to tourists and trekkers alike, Lhonak is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Sikkim separated from the main Teesta valley by the Lhonak La pass, a formidable barrier for all but the most intrepid. This is an essay shot many years ago in the two weeks that I spent in the valley one summer.