Barot, being very isolated hill station of Himachal Pradesh, is popular place among nature lovers, backpacker and families who love picnics. Extremely rich in terms of Natural beauty, traditional values and Trout Fish. Few days back we had shared some of the landscapes form Barot and this Photo Journey is more about this small town...
We were staying in a home stay near to the river and thought of a round of Barot town during evening. We started walking towards Hydro-Electric project in Barot which is under Punjab Government. Yes, Punjab administration takes care of this project in Himachal. When Himachal was created from some part of Punjab, there was pact that all Hyderal projects will remain under Punjab Administration and that is happening till date. Anyways, this part of Barot looks amazing with different types of water splashes, dams & high pressure canals. Photography is not allowed inside the project area so we don't have anything to share here. But of course you can go inside and see how things work there.
After taking a brief tour of Hyderal project and dams, we crossed the bridge over Uhl river and went to other side of the town. There is a small market around this bridge and most of the daily use stuff can be bought from this place. After crossing the bridge one needs to climb up to catch main road of Barot Town, which is mainly used for public transportation. Above photograph is clicked from the main road and showing Medical Center of this town which also takes care of surrounding villages in this part of Mandi District.
Just next to Medical center of Barot, there is a huge fish farm from where you can buy famous trout. One can go inside this fish farm and see how breeding happens between various water ponds. People can buy fish seed from this farm. Seed is basically small trouts which can taken to different place for farming. This center also facilitate consultancy to local folks for fish farming. There are some private fish farms in this region, which comes on the way from Jogindernagar to Barot.
There are some small scale industries or shops where people create shwals or other types of warm cloths using a typical technology called as 'Khaddi'. 'Khaddi' is a wooden machine, where it's various parts are tied with strong nylon strings. Different threads are aligned on it's base and different designs are created out of multicolored threads. Stuff created in these small factories is usually warm and cheap as compared to others, but they are usually not very fancy.
Barot comes under a Wildlife Conservation Boundaries. Although we didn't see much wildlife around this place but some interesting and colorful birds. A grey bird with long tail was available in abundance.
Here is a photograph of Uhl River shining with beautiful light rays crossing through hill-edges and hitting fresh surface of flowing water. This photograph shows opposite side Barot. There are houses in both sides of the river. Both of the sides are connected through one main bridge and a wooden bridge to reduce travel time from one side to another. Crossing this wooden bridge can be an adventurous activity for non-residents of Barot.
A closer look at Houses in Barot Village. Most of the houses are in old style, which are made up of wood... There are some concrete houses as well, which are created as per modern architecture we usually see in big towns/cities. Although old style is considered as better from weather point of view.
It was time for schools to close and kids were coming back home with wonderful smile on their faces. Two girls walking down the streets of Barot, while coming back home from their schools. In hills, mostly school time in 10am to 4pm and duration is less for small kids as compared to the ones who are in 8th + class.
Also it was time for folks to come back home from their regular duties and continue with other stuff at home. Usually these folks spent other half of the day in fields or with cattle. All this sounds exciting but lot of hard work goes in their lifestyle. Life in such hills is not that easy, because many times they loose connectivity with the world due to some small weather changes or landslides...
A boy cycling towards market of Barot Town in Himachal Pradesh with a lovely smile on his face. Barot is clean & colorful place with freshness all around. It feels great to be at such place which is far away from fast moving cities with polluted air and lot of sounds all around...
There are some wonderful nature-walks around Barot Town of Himachal Pradesh. Town is surrounded by various hills covered with high Cedar Forest and wonderful colors all around. This region is also a sensitive area, as it's known for wood smuggling but there is no impact on local residents as such. This particular region is important for forest department and they keep sharp eyes on this part of the state.
Here is another photograph of Uhl River which flows in the middle of Barot Town in Himalayas. This river makes this town more beautiful. This one of clicked from main bridge which connects two sides of Barot in Mandi region of Himachal Pradesh.
This dress used to be traditional dress of this region and this also makes sense by looking at the weather conditions of Barot. Over time, most of the other hill stations are hot during day time and it's pleasant during mornings/evenings. But in Barot weather is pleasant in day time as well, not sure about the months of May and June. Temperature remains low during evenings at Barot. We talked to this lady and she was really sweet and invited us for tea next day :)
With this evening walk around Barot ended and it was time for ordering Trout & some late evening fun at guest house. It was getting very cold outside, so thought of going back and enjoy evening snacks... More photographs from Barot are yet to come...
If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
- Manage your waste well and don’t litter
- Use dustbins. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
- Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
- Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
- Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite
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