[anjan_c2007]

More pictures from Sharukh's collection. All these pictures are clicked by team members who included S/Shri Ashish Limbanna, Shahrukh Cassad, Dr Vinod L. Thakur, Ahmed Panjwani,Shiraz Dooongaji and Yohann Doongaji.
Its back to Mumbai and then beyond:





Flag off at Kandivli, Mumbai by Shri Vivek Nayar, Sr Vice President, M&M, Marketing (Automotive Sector), Shri Bijoy Kumar seen alongside

Entering Orissa through the NH 6

The Sevoke crossroad- goes straight to Rangpo/Gangtok inSikkim and a right turn takes you to the North East viz. Assam and beyond

The Kaziranga View point

The Lohit River, Arunachal Pradesh

Tribals in Arunachal Pradesh- the woolen cap, pouch and knife are a part of their traditional tribal attire

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by amrisharm

Wow, the teaser pictures look very very interesting! An epic journey it truly is. I just have one request, that is please, if possible, provide detailed maps of the places and routes that you all took. thanking you in advance .

Originally Posted by amitwlele

Couple of questions:
- How was this team formed for the expedition? Any selection process? Is this a every year affair? Keen to know so that if possible would love to be part of it next year.
- Did Mahindra sponsor the entire trip?

amit (your second query unanswered by me) and amrisharm: I am talking to the team members and will let you know about your queries soon.
The pictures continue:

The Mithoon- a buffalo like animal native only to Arunachal Pradesh

A bridge built by the Border Roads Organisation- only one vehicle at a time is the golden rule here!

En route to Kibithu

About Kibithu

Signboard in Kibithu

The team at Kibithu

Heliport at Kibithu. In the background is China

Tawang Monastery

Flag off at Tenga by the General Officer Commanding Fifth Mountain Division,Maj Gen Anil Ahuja

Ferns, creepers and the verdant greenery in Arunachal Pradesh

[anjan_c2007]

Continuing with the pictures:

A beautiful spectrum of the rainbow arc going across the mountain range

The Yak Restaurant in Lohitpur. Chicken Momos are served, not Yak meat!!The team also visited the National Research Centre on the Yak,Nyukmadong, Arunachal Pradesh, the only one of its kind in India.This Centre is under the ICAR. A picture has appeared in a previous post.

This is a beautiful, dense and green forest that is sadly going to be chopped off its trees to make way for a four lane highway and a six km long bridge.

During the rains- near rowing here!!! In Arunachal Pradesh

A dry river bed crossing in Arunachal Pradesh

River crossing in Arunachal Pradesh

The underbody getting a thorough wash here

The go back westward point- turning point... the team returned from here and went to Bhutan, Sikkim and beyond.

River crossing by ferry where no bridges exist and the water is fathoms deep to drive through

Dr Vinod Thakur points to the place they started on the ferry from.

Thats a man with a (not golden) gun. Most of these are of 19th century vintage!

A back pack and hat made of cane. these are weather proof and are used all year round.

This intricately woven hat costs a Bomb! It lasts a lifetime if worn all year round.

A cloudy and rainy drive

A short span bridge built by the Border Roads Organisation. The nails thereon can puncture tyres as the team found out in Lohitpur

Tribals with a wild mountain goat that they had hunted for a village feast

The team members pose with locals who are armed with ancient rifles and knives of these tribal hunters

A massive mithoon resting near a milestone reading "DON 7kms"

[BIKER BSA]

Hi Anjan,
Thanks for putting up a lot of snaps and starting a new thread of THE FIRST TRANS-HIMALAYAN MOTORING EXPEDITION - SAVE THE YAK 2011.I will be adding new pics which will bring everyone closer to the realities of traveling in the Himalayas at high altitude for days together. I hope everyone enjoys & experiences the excitement and thrill, the dangers and risks that are routine on a trip like this in their lifetime. I will also be putting up the route we took on this trip.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by BIKER BSA

Hi Anjan,
Thanks for putting up a lot of snaps and starting a new thread of THE FIRST TRANS-HIMALAYAN MOTORING EXPEDITION - SAVE THE YAK 2011.I will be adding new pics which will bring everyone closer to the realities of traveling in the Himalayas at high altitude for days together. I hope everyone enjoys & experiences the excitement and thrill, the dangers and risks that are routine on a trip like this in their lifetime. I will also be putting up the route we took on this trip.

Welcome Bikerji. Hope the thread will be enriched with your experiences plus your pictures.

[anjan_c2007]

More pictures of the adventurous trip:


Yohann Doongaji tries to hold a basket like the locals do!

An upcoming resort near Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh

With Ms Naba Basumatary,President , Rotary Club, Bongaigaon

Tsirang, Bhutan

Entering Thimpu, Bhutan

Clean,Orderly and Disciplined Traffic

Main Square, Thimpu

A Hotel on the outskirts of Thimpu

Team member Mr Ashish Limbanna (extreme left) poses with Bhutanese students

[BIKER BSA]

The First Trans Himalayan Motoring Expedition-Save The Yak 2011 was organized by The Himalayan Explorers & sponsored by Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.,Mumbai.

At the very outset we knew that we would be traveling on some of the most treacherous, desolate, rough/bad roads and off-road in the country far away from any help or assistance and where no other traveler would normally travel. We also knew that we had to drive carefully and safely, saving our vehicles from unnecessary wear & tear, avoid breakdowns at all costs to be able to complete our trip as per our plan & route. So, over-speeding or over taking another SUV in the convoy was strictly banned. If any vehicle had a breakdown, everyone waited till the problem was attended and sorted out. We carried with us sand/snow ladders, spades, a high capacity compressor, puncture repair kit for tubeless tyres, tow rope and a tow bar along with various other spares. Though we luckily did not need the tow rope ourselves we used it to recover a Maruti 800 at Jalori Pass and to pull out a Tempo Traveller at Baralacha Pass.

We also acknowledge the hospitality, permissions, help & assistance readily given to us by various personnel of The Indian Army and The Indo-Tibetian Border Police during the course of this expedition and thank them for the same. Himalayan Explorers salutes these brave & tough men of our country who guard our borders amidst vary hostile & adverse climatic conditions for months at a time. One has to be there to really appreciate the hardships & difficulties that these men face with a smile on their faces.

Initially, seven of us started from Nagpur in a fleet of three comprising of one Scorpio & two Scorpio Getaways.
Two of our members joined us at Guwahati & one at Tezpur. After completing leg 1 four members of the team left due to various reasons so six of us continued in one Scorpio & one Getaway.

The names of the six who completed the trip are given below.

1] Dr. Vinod L.Thakur- Leader.
2] Shahrukh J. Cassad
3] Shiraz K. Doongaji
4] Ashish V. Limbanna
5] Yohann S. Doongaji
6] Ahmed Panjwani


This is the route we took for Leg 1 of our journey.

Nagpur – Raipur – Sambhalpur – Howrah – Siliguri – Tezpur – Rupia – Walong- Kibuthu– Walong – Lohitpur – Teju – Amarpur Ghat ( crossed river Dibang river by ferry) – Pasighat – Aalo (Along) – Daporijo – Zero – Itanagar – Tezpur – Dhirang – Sela Pass – Tawang – Sela Pass- Dhirang – Tenga Valley – Tezpur – Guwahati – Bongaigaon.



The names of places in bold are the places where we had our night halts.

[rahul_sinha]

A great initiative and an incredible travelogue. NE has always been so mystique and fascinating and provides a great hatke experience. Rated 5 stars.
Wish I could do a cross country from Pune (West) to Tibithu (Eastmost)!

[BIKER BSA]

The idea of driving across the entire Himalayan Range in one single mammoth trip had been initiated by Mrs. Avril Khambatta Thakur, President of Himalayan Explorers, in 2008.But we lacked the will and purpose to do such an arduous & long trip. Then Dr. Vinod Thakur,a vet with the ITBP, met the scientists of the National Yak Centre, [ located at Dhirang, Arunachal Pradesh} which is trying to increase the number of fast dwindling Indian yaks. Being a Govt. of India body they had severe limitations of spreading awareness amongst the yak shepherds and the local population on the necessity of yak conservation. The shepherds just do not trust the Govt.scientists and vets though that is slowly changing as their herds grow & become healthier. The Himalayan Explorers thought ‘SAVE THE YAK’ to be really a worthy cause to take up. Some figures to ponder over. The ONE & ONLY yak farm in India has less than 200 yaks. The actual figure varies between 180 to 190. The total yak population in India is claimed to be 65000 which is highly optimistic according to persons connected with yak conservation. Now the Chinese figures. China has numerous yak farms with population of each farm being 25000 yaks plus. The total population of yaks in China is 5 million. Yes, that’s right-25000+ & 5 million. So, this expedition was basically an effort in Creating Awareness of the need of yak conservation.

[BIKER BSA]

When Himalayan Explorers approached Mr. Bijoy Kumar of MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA Ltd. with the idea of sponsoring a trip across the mighty Himalayas, M&M readily agreed to provide three vehicles for the trip. We thank MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA for their vehicles, support & help provided for this expedition.

We had planned to drive from Dawn- to- Dusk only but this was not always possible due to some reason or the other. When circumstances did force us to travel after dusk we were extra cautious as weather conditions in the mountains usually start to deteriorate afternoon onwards. We missed out on the beautiful scenery by driving in the night and the terrain made night driving all the more risky. Twice we had to sleep in the cars. Only once we were stopped by Nepal Police to check our luggage otherwise we were not stopped /challaned by the police anywhere during the entire trip. When we talked to the Nepal police they forgot all about checking our luggage and ended up happily posing for photographs.

Vinod is as natural to the high altitudes as the yak having worked there for over 16 years. Vinod & I had been on the “ZERO 2 SUB-ZERO EXPEDITION” to Dorzila, North Sikkim –the highest motor able point at 18,750 ft above msl. Vinod had then lead a team of fifteen members in assorted types of 5 cars- a Maruti Esteem, Maruti 800, Chevy Tavera, Land Rover Defender 110 and a Toyota Innova. When our friends/associates got to know of this forthcoming expedition, many of them expressed their willingness to join. When they got to know the ground realities of bad/no roads, lack of oxygen, proper food, sleep they did a quick rethink. The others were chosen for their qualifications as good drivers or their technical skills. Ashish is owner of a motor workshop in Nagpur & a rally driver. The two youngsters, Yohaan & Ahmed, joined the team as first timers but came out with flying colours as true professionals. The eldest in the team was Shiraz at 54 and the youngest was his son Yohaan at 20. We knew that what we were attempting to do was really tough and call for all our reserves of physical stamina & endurance, mental toughness & determination.

I hope that this answers the doubts/questions forming in many minds.

[BIKER BSA]

These pictures are taken in ASSAM.


At Bongaigaon.

[akaush]

Good start to the travelogue !
46 days is a long duration. It would be fun to read the long travelogue day by day living your experience. Looking forward to the rest of the travelogue.

[BIKER BSA]

We started from Nagpur at 6.30am onto NH 6 and reached Sambhalpur in Orissa at 7.30 pm in the evening. After a quick meal we had a very comfortable night at the guest house which was located on the top of a small hill. The view of Sambhalpur was really beautiful in the night from our rooms. Now that, finally & truly, we were on our way we relaxed a little and went over our plans for the next few days.

Next day, it was 6.00 am by the time we got rolling. At 12.30pm we stopped at Kendujhargarh for a very tasty meal. Then just after Kharagpur we encountered heavy /lashing rains with the visibility dropping to less than fifty feet. We crawled along for almost 60-70 kms. and then realized that everyone was stressed out. We found an abandoned petrol pump and parked under its welcoming canopy. After waiting for an hour or so the rain finally reduced to a steady drizzle so we continued at a steady pace only to get a traffic jam ten kms. later. It appeared that everyone had stopped and were now in a mad rush to reach their destination causing chaos on the highway. If only we can learn to have patience and display better road sense & road manners can such situations be avoided. The situation is similar at railway level crossings and temporary one way roads. Anyway, we checked into the Hotel at Howrah when the receptionist spotted a lone lady amongst us & refused to hand over our room keys to us. Even when we told him, that the lady had been married for 12 years and was traveling with her husband, he wouldn’t budge & demanded to see their marriage certificate! Only when we talked to the owner did we finally manage to get the room keys. Phew, some guys are most unreasonable and demanding when you are tired and ready to hit the bed.

We started from Howrah at 7 in the morning and left NH 6 to get on to NH 34 up to Dalkola and then NH 31 to Siliguri. After a hearty breakfast of ‘paranthas & eggs’ we continue along an “apology of a highway” slowly and steadily. We didn’t stop for lunch that day due to the slow progress we were making. Finally at Kishanganj at 9.30pm we stopped for dinner. Fortunately, four-laning has been completed in this sector so we were in Siliguri by 1 am. It will take a couple of years for the four-laning work to complete on NH 31. We thought we had seen the worst of the highways but we were in for a big surprise in the coming days.

Next day, we checked the vehicles into KHOKAN MOTORS, MATIGARA for washing & a general check-up even as some members spent time relaxing & shopping in Siliguri.

[BIKER BSA]

Some snaps of the West Bengal /Assam / Arunachal sector.


Mr. Ashok Goyal of Siliguri,an old friend and our guide into Nepal. He survives on just cigarettes & tea. He doesn't eat & also thinks others do not eat!


A break at Lohit river view point.


A beautiful massive rainbow across the mountain top in Arunachal.


A village welder welds the front bumper brackets and refuses to take any payment for his work.He finally accepts Rs.50/- after a lot of persuasion. A real generous fellow.


Father Shiraz & son Yohann stand in front of the waterfall for the family album.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by BIKER BSA

Some snaps of the West Bengal /Assam / Arunachal sector.

Hope to get more and more details about your unusual and usual experiences during the 42 days. Please also tell us more about the endurance of the Scorpios along the 16000 kms of treacherous and better terrains.