Kumbalgarh – Fortress and Hike

24. + 25. February 2019

 

In the middle of the Aravalli Mountains is Kumbalgarh, a fortress with a 36 km long wall (the second longest in the world after the Chinese wall) on a ridge around 1,000 metres high. Inside this fortress were a princely palace, 360 temples, residential buildings and many people.

 

 

Back then, it was easy to defend against enemies (Islam and other Rajput states wanted to conquer). Only if the siege lasted too long did the water inside eventually run out – but this only happened once.

 

 

Hordes of tourists invade today. But because everything is so big, it gets a bit lost. The majority are Indian, but you also come across some rather elderly Western tour groups. And then there are actually a few remaining inhabitants who do a bit of farming.

 

 

 

 

There is a nature park directly away from the fort. You can hike down through it. Which we did, of course. The path is 14 kilometres long and, if you’re lucky, you might spot some animals. I wasn’t so lucky, but I’m also a bit “blind” when it comes to spotting animals.

 

 

I usually only see paw prints. I probably look down too often.

 

 

But there were also quite a few plants. In February, however, it was rather dry. In the monsoon it should be bright green.

 

 

 

The water pools for the animals were still well filled and reflected the vegetation so beautifully.

 

 

I didn’t hike alone. We had two guides, one of whom was specifically for the park on the edge of which he lived and we also visited him at home. I knew him from about 7 years ago, when I had done the tour once before.

 

 

 

In addition to his farming and livestock farming, Uda was often employed as a guide and was thus able to earn some money. He used this to build a new house for his large family.

 

 

There we were given tea to drink and saw lots of children.

 

 

But my favourite photo of the day is probably the one of our permanent guide Abi and a goat.