valley of flowers
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A Glimpse of the Valley of Flowers
Pic's of the Valley
About the Valley
General Info..
Flowers in the Valley
Pic's of Valley in Bloom
The Valley of Flowers
The valley of flowers national park is located in the chamoli district of Uttarakhand and the park is spread over an area of 87 sq kms. The valley of flowers national park is a UNESCO world heritage site and forms one of thr two core zones (the other being nanda Devi national Park) of the Nanda Devi Biosphere reserve. The valley located at an altitude of 3,600 mts is famous for its more than 300 species of wild flowers and butterflies. The valley with its natural beds of multicolored wild flowers and the icy watered mountain streams meandering through the valley provides amazing views that is soothing to the eyes of onlooker and leaves an everlasting impression on his mind.
The valley is surrounded by the marvelous and magnificent snow clad majestic himalayan peaks. The waterfalls falling down from great heights add to the beauty of this pristine valley. The most visited places in the valley are the grave of Joan Margaret Legge and the pushpawati river bed.
Joan margaret Legge was a british botanist who in 1939 after reading a book titled "The Valley of Flowers" written by Frank Smythe (a mountaineer who stumbled upon this valley while returning from the Kamet peak expedition) came to the valley of flowers to conduct a detailed study on the flora of the valley. Unfortunately this lady while collecting seeds of flowers fell from a ridge in the valley and died there. A grave has been built in the valley amidst a large bed of multicolored flowers to honor the work of Joan Margaret Legge. Visitors to the valley of flowers never forget to vist this grave and pay homage to the lady.
The pushpawati river originates from the tipra glacier near rataban and flows through the valley of flowers. As per 'Mahabharata' the pandavas during their exile came to the lower reaches of this valley and saw flowers flowing in the river. They named this river pushpawati and sent Bhima to find the source of the flowers flowing in the river.
At about 5 kms inside the valley the pushpawati river bifurcates the valley and the large and wide stretch of the riverbed is adorned with beautiful red colored flowers. In the first fortnight of august the whole stretch of riverbed is adorned with flowers so systematically laid that the mind of the onlooker is compelled to believe that the 'Celestial Gardner' is an expert and never misses the minute details to glorify the nature.