Travel style · Garhwal
Wildlife and birds in Garhwal
Snow leopards, red pandas and black-necked cranes
Winter snow leopard trips in Ladakh and Spiti, red pandas in Singalila, cranes in Bhutan's Phobjikha and Arunachal, hornbills in Namdapha and the birding ridges of Kumaon. Timed to the season, with trackers who live there.
Photo: Alok · CC BY-SA 3.0 · CommonsMountain wildlife is shy and seasonal. Snow leopards come down to lower valleys in February and March, cranes arrive in Phobjikha around late October, and the Kumaon forests are loudest with birds in spring.
Garhwal is the western half of Uttarakhand, where the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rise and join to become the Ganga. Come for the Char Dham shrines, Valley of Flowers, Tungnath and Rishikesh. Go May–June or mid-September–October; avoid July road travel. A saver week by UTC bus and GMVN dorms costs about ₹2,000–3,000 a day.
Trips
Wildlife and birds trips in Garhwal
Photo: McKay Savage from London, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Saver
Valley of Flowers and Hemkund by bus
UTC and GMOU buses, shared jeeps and walking
2 places
Where to go
Photo: Alok · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Chopta & Tungnath
Meadows, rhododendron forest and the highest Shiva temple
Photo: Original: Rohit Sharma Derivative work: Unpeti… · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Valley of Flowers & Hemkund
A UNESCO hanging valley that blooms in the monsoon
Experiences
Days that fit the style
Photo: AjitK332 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Sunrise climb to Tungnath and Chandrashila
A pre-dawn climb on the paved path from Chopta to Tungnath temple, then the steep last 1.5 km to Chandrashila, above 4,…
Photo: MMohanty · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Morning walk to Deoria Tal from Sari
A 2.5–3 km climb from Sari village to a forest-ringed lake at 2,438 m, where Chaukhamba reflects in still water early i…
Photo: Vvnataraj · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Birding for monal in Kedarnath sanctuary
Walk the forest edges and meadows around Chopta at dawn with a local birding guide to look for Himalayan monal, Uttarak…
Photo: Original: Rohit Sharma Derivative work: Unpeti… · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
A day in the Valley of Flowers
From Ghangaria, walk past the forest checkpost, cross the Pushpawati and climb into a hanging valley of alpine flowers.…
Photo: Satbir 4 · Public domain · Commons
Climb to Hemkund Sahib and its glacial lake
A steep 6 km climb of about 1,100 m from Ghangaria to the star-shaped Gurdwara Hemkund Sahib and Lokpal Lakshman temple…
Photo: Vinayaraj · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
The trek from Govindghat to Ghangaria
A busy stone path of about 9–10 km up the Lakshman Ganga from Pulna to Ghangaria, shared with Sikh pilgrims, pony train…
Where to sleep
Stays in these places
Wildlife and birds elsewhere