Kashmir - Paradise on earth

 Rafting @Pehalgam

Nagin Lake early morning. Nagin lake is a much better place to stay at houseboat, very peaceful and away from any kind of traffic.

The bird is fishing for breakfast at Nagin Lake

Floating market - Flower merchant @houseboat door early morning.
Merchants selling all sort of stuff would keep coming to houseboat, they do sell genuine stuff

Gandola @Gulmarg

Amazing Gandola ride, very nicely build cable car, takes you much higher on the mountain towards snow. 

Unfortunately only first phase was open so we had to take horse ride to reach snow covered mountains. 

Hurray!!!! Caught a fish!

Apple Trees - Apply valley road to Pehalgam.

Thousands of Apple trees on the way to Pehalgam from Srinagar.

Betab Valley is one of the most beautiful spots, superb scenery all around

@Aru Valley

Deer Park Pehalgam, heard they have Bear and tigers too

Beautiful lotus flower @Nagin Lake, Srinagar

Rappelling @Dukes Nose, Khandala

Dukes nose is a huge pinnacle which can be seen while travelling between Mumbai and Pune. It’s shape is like a nose or a thumb. The sights from the top are unique and magnificent as one sees a vast landscape and the winding Mumbai Pune Express Highway cutting through the ghats and trains chugging along the tracks. It is famous for rock climbing, valley crossing and rappelling adventure activities. 

We went to Dukes nose rappelling with YHAI (Youth Hostels Association of India)and the team arranging actual activity was YUGA. We wanted to start rappelling early morning 06:30 AM, so we started from Malad at 1 AM on Friday and after resting at Lovavala for 1 hour and reached the base village at 05:30 AM.

 

Sunrise from Duke's Nose Base Camp. Good to be awake at such early hours after long

The rappelling spot view. Rappelling starts from top and goes on till the bet in lower mid portion. There is a 2000 ft steep fall after it which make rappelling even more thrilling

The day started with night trek to the base camp, it took around 1 hour to reach the base camp. The actual Rappelling started at 7 AM after breakfast and team served by YUGA team, early morning hot breakfast felt too good at such location.

The Rappelling was a thrilling experience with 320 ft rappelling hanging on 2000 ft valley. 

Thanks a ton to YHAI and YUGA team for such a thrilling experience. The team is highly technical and experienced; they have been conducting Rappelling at Duke’s Nose for last 16 years. Safety is their first priority and they are very good at what they do.