Placid Pangot
Adjust your altitude!!
My recent trip was to Pangot, a beautiful hamlet in the Kumaon hills, Situated in the midst of beautiful high rise hills. Pangot is the right place for nature-lovers, bird-watchers and people who like the peaceful life! It’s 15 kilometers from Nainital at an altitude of 6500 meters. A scenic drive, occasional clouds encasing the roads and the desolate hills; it’s a stark contrast from buzzing Nainital. Typically Pangot is a small town, a beautiful temple, a village post-office and population of around hundred people !! Yes, you read that right !!!
The best part, you get to experience life before mobile phones! Yes!! It’s a no network area! No mobile Connectivity and no social media!!! Shocker for an addict like me! But after spending 2 nights there, I cherished the serenity of the place and the much needed social media detox!
Almost 150 bird species have been recorded at Pangot and surrounding areas. You almost immediately fall in love with the tranquility of the place!!
We stayed at the Jungelore Birding Lodge. There are other resorts too, but this one is closest to nature. A beautiful and warm retreat. The interiors are wooden and really snug. The Dining area specially is exquisite and cozy, you just want to spend your time sitting outdoors and savour “ Dolce Far Niente” Italian for The Sweetness of doing nothing! Home cooked meals is what you can expect and nothing fancy or elaborate but comforting.
They also have an in house naturalist and she’s a delight to spend time with and know more about nature and her experiences over the years ! Views of the Himalayan range are breath taking !
There’s absolutely nothing to do in the quaint little town, except take a walk and meet a few locals. Go for birding treks in the morning, there are different trails depending on how much you want to walk. The weather changes at the drop of a hat and its pretty exciting to see the clouds coming in from a distance and getting closer to you slowly and giving a cold hug right into your patio!
Apparently, it was raining cats and dogs on our second day… and there are times when it starts raining it doesn’t stop for days on end. Imagine, being freezing cold in the midst of summers !!
Althou, we were pretty close to Nainital we decided to skip it, didn’t want to mess around in our heads with the traffic and tourists after the composed state of minds we were in post Pangot.
A must-visit destination as per me if you want to Go Offline from the World!!!
