Banjara Camps and Retreats

As the great poet William Wordsworth once said, "Nature is a comfortable refuge from the dull, dreary life of the city din". So pack your bags and head for the hills.

Imagine living on a hill surrounded by trees and bushes feeling the fresh morning dew, inhaling the pure air and enjoying the sounds of mirthful birds. Banjara Camps and Retreats provides the opportunity to be amidst nature and enjoying its bounty. For this Banjara holds various camps at various places, including the Himalayan range.

To enjoy nature to its fullest the Banjara camp provides retreat in tents set up in the heart of the mountains where there is no intervention between nature and you. Each camp is a delight offering with picturesque surroundings.

Picture yourself perched contentedly on the fresh green grass, lost in the symphony of of the chirping birds and your eyes continuously gazing at the star embellished sky. What a beauty! Banjara camp offers the unusual experience of staying in a tent retreat amidst the cool, shady citrus grove near the Sultanpur Lake.

Those majestic mountains basking in their beauty are certainly the apt place to holiday. What a wonderful sight it would be to have vast mountains around you and the plain blue sky.

The Serene Sangla Camp

The camp at the serene Sangla Valley in the Kinnaur district is worth a shot. There is a lot to enjoy. You can climb the meadows, view the breathtakingly beautiful snow peaks, walk across the green valley around you which houses an amazing variety of rare herbs and spices, exotic fruits and flowers. You can even find beautiful apple orchards spread over the whole of Kinnaur.

Watch the furious Baspa river gushing through the gorges and then gently settling into fine streams. There is an abundant of trout and rainbow fish in the river. For the adventure seekers, there is paragliding, to have a bird's eye view of the mountains.To have the real essence of the place, walk to the nearby villages of Batseri and Rakcham and meet the local inhabitants - Kinnauris (as they call themselves).

In the evenings, you can enjoy the comfort of tent and bonfire.

Camp at the Mysterious Tabo
As you climb higher the civilization gets thinner and the bounty of nature gets thicker. You can feel yourself one with nature. There is a sudden and unexpected change in the terrain. From the luscious green mountains the climb leads to an arid, cold and rocky desert. But the properly sculptured rocky mountains will leave you speechless. The only signs of life here are the furious rivers which dash and tumble against the rocky mountains.

The camp at the Tabo is for the daring and the spirited. The place is hostile and rugged. It appears as though the time has stopped forever and the mountains have been the same ever since the origin of mankind. Besides its barren mountains, it is known for its Buddhists monastery, which is second in importance to the Tholing Gompa in the entire Himalayan region.

Camp at the Royal Chail

This exotic place in the Himalayan range has always been the favourite of the Maharajas. It is famous for its pictorial beauty. Chail with its superfluous greenery also boasts of having the highest cricket pitch in the world. From the heights of Chail one can see the twinkling lights of Shimla and from the other side one can get the view of the highest peak in this region of Himalayas, the Choori Chandini which means "the mountain of the silver bangle".

The Banjara camps provide all the facilities. The tent is an independent Swiss deluxe, hard enough to sustain the strong winds. They also provide you dining tents, recreation tents and bathroom tents too.

In the wilderness with Banjaras can be fun and exciting.

Address: Banjara Camps and Retreats, 1A Hauz Khas Village,
New Delhi - 110 016
Phone: 685 5153, 686 1397

- Avni Sood