Karol Tibba |
While
traveling through road on Kalka-Shimla NH 22 highway, you will get to see a
highest peak at 7,000 ft near Solan. The peak is commonly known as Karol Ka
Tibba in local language. There is a unique and breathtaking trek to this place.
Tibba in English means the topmost point of a mountain. Karol Tibba and Meteol
Tibba are located next to each other. Local people in Solan believe Karol to be
the most prominent place in the whole city to visit. Every year, there are a
huge number of trek addicts and nature lovers who come to explore this
incredible mountain. A few medicinal herbs including Sanjivni Buti are also
believed to be found on Karol mountain.
History of Karol: The
tibba is famous for its ancient Pandava times stories. A mysterious Pandava cave,
the destination of the trek, is hard to reach. Some trekkers took 3-4 attempts
to reach this magical cave because of the dense forests in between. It is
believed that this cave exists from the time of Mahabharata, the Indian epic.
The cave is believed to be the longest and deepest cave in the whole
Himalayas. Its one end is in Karol and other closing end is in Pinjore, 47 Km
away from Solan.
Some scientists carried out an experiment in which they poured
some colored water at the Karol opening and found the water rushing out in
pinjore through other end. This confirmed the length of the cave. It is
believed that the cave has some magical powers and one has to remove all the
leather items from body before entering the cave.
Journey starts: 6
Kms from Solan on NH 22 comes a village called Chambaghati. You can reach Chambaghati by bus or auto from Solan. There is a narrow lane in between some
shops that goes uphill towards Karol. This is the starting point of the trek.
Chambaghati, starting point |
Me
and my two other friends started our trek from there right at 11 am. On that
day, we were alone who were trekking to that mountain. We started climbing the
steep mountain with our SLR camera to take pictures of the scenic beauty.
Within first half an hour we were so tired that we were unable to feel our
legs. Up the hill, there comes Jarash village after a trek of about 2 hours,
last village of that mountain.
Jarash Village |
Jungles of Karol |
The
Karol tibba was full of oak trees. After a one and a half hour trek, we entered
the dense forests of Karol. Locals told us about the existence of mountain
lions and stripped hyenas in the forests but to our luck those animals haven’t
attacked any human till date. Within few minutes of entering the dense oak
forest, we lost out track like everyone does here. We were horrified because of
the hallucinations we felt thinking of the wild animals. One of my friends even
heard the roars of tigers there. We used our mind to its fullest to get back on
the track again. I must prefer that you should not go there with any minors as
you may have to face some big problems while crossing the jungle. We were
really tired of the trek and still we have to trek for 1 more hour. Our water
bottles were emptied but somehow we manage to gather some water from caretaker
of that ancient temple there. There were just 2 people in there who took care
of temple’s well-being.
We
asked him the way to another temple which was adjoined with the Pandava cave(our
destination). We walked down the jungle for another half hour to reach Pandava
cave and the ancient mandir.
Magical Pandava Cave |
Reaching
the cave was itself out of the world experience. Temple’s caretakers told us to
remove our shoes and leather items from our body before entering the cave
because of its religious entity. We tried entering the cave but unable to go
more than 20-25 feet inside as it was dead dark inside. Some big bats flew
towards us right from the inside of cave and we ran out of there totally
frightened.
Some people say that the cave is magical and if someone after
consuming alcohol or non-vegetarian stuff tries to enter the cave then he/she
will surely disappear inside. We filled our bottles with the chilled and clear
water and asked the caretakers to guide us the way through jungle. They gave us
a few hints for finding the way. For your information, I want to say that the
place is literally a labyrinth.
Inside Pandava cave |
One should take help from the locals otherwise
you will surely mislead your way inside the jungle. Also, you must have to
reach the city before darkness because it is impossible to stay up there at
night due to presence of wildlife over there.
Trek Ends: On
our way down the forests, we found some traces of some wild animals faeces. We
were totally horrified again. Somehow, we managed to find the correct way
through jungles and by 5 pm we reached the Jarash village.
Then we had a sigh
of relief. We took some pictures of the astounding beauty of mountain belt. We
reached Chambaghati by 6 then boarded a bus directly to Chandigarh for our way
back to home.
The Karol trek will always be in my memories and I wish to
conquer this mountain once again in my life.
Rememberable Photo session |
Trek starts and ends here |
Well, I had a similar trek to Karol Tibba when I was getting back from Sadhupul. Time I started was 3 PM, and believe me, I was all alone. Though there was little light while climbing up, but when I was getting back, it was total dark. Only thing I had was a bamboo stick, which care taker gave me at temple. I kept beating the stick with rocks on the way, just to let Tigers know that I am around. They usually avoid if they know you are around, and attack if you come in front of them from nowhere.
ReplyDeleteI have documented my experience here: http://rajputrider.com/a-cave-where-pandavas-lived-during-agyaat-vaas/
Hey Mekey. Just read your story. Your experience was more thrilling than ours. I just revisited the cave a month back.
DeleteBro You need to have Complete Camping ⛺ gear I am a local From Solan And it's totally safe To camp out there at night We have Done that
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI m planning to go alone this weekend.You mentioned about animals.Is it safe to go alone.
Hello, Thank you for giving me this beautiful blog.
ReplyDelete