A Jeep compass Journey to Morni Hills | Special feature

MORNI HILLS, WHY IT ROCKS

Morni Hills is only for those tourists who love to be in the arms of nature. Unlike the hill destinations of North India like Shimla, Nainital, Mussourie, Kasauli, Kullu, Manali, etc where hills have been stripped bare of trees and land, where ugly monstrous hotels of all sizes accommodate hundreds and thousands of uncouth tourists who rather binge on beer and loud music, the Morni Hills are for those in love with tranquility, peace and beauty.

We wanted to be away from the city’s hustle and bustle, away from our computers, our office desks and chairs. We wanted to just stare at Mother Nature in her eyes and adore her beauty, her hills, her trees, her rivers and streams and her winding paths. In fact, the moment we reached our destination, we unpacked, put our stuff into our rooms and went trekking. It was at this point when some of us realised we had not walked in such pure air. No smog, no pollution, no traffic, ho harsh sounds of blaring horns and thankfully no loud disco music.

We trekked for a short time, over a distance covering barely a couple of kilometres. As long as the winding rocky path took us down, we were happy and content but when we had to trek back, we realised the true meaning of stamina. The fat ones among us were left behind and as they huffed and puffed, we continued our way up to our hotel, perched atop a hill.

TIKKAR TAAL LAKE

Morni Hills is popular for its two lakes, the Tikkar Taal lake. The two small lakes are separated by a small hill and it is said that these two lakes are interconnected through some natural underground tunnel. This means that the level of water in both lakes remains quite balanced. Boat rides are popular for tourists at these lakes. We drove down to the Tikkar Taal lake in our Jeep Compass and had the opportunity to test the capability of the vehicle over some very thick slush. A tweak of a knob on the centre console of the Jeep Compass is all what is required to change the vehicle from the Auto Mode to a 4-wheel mode or to any other mode like snow, sand or mud. We turned the knob to MUD mode and surprisingly the vehicle simply kept moving with considerable ease.

Once the Jeep Compass was parked strategically, we took out our drone and let it fly. It rose to great heights to capture the lake and we send it across the small hill to even capture the other lake which was not at all visible from where we stood. As one of the boys gleefully controlled the drone with the help of a joystick, I noticed the scenic beauty of the place on the small screen that showed the recording being done by the drone which by now was not visible to the human eye.

For the next couple of days, we simply spent our time at the lake. A Haryana Tourism hotel by the side of the lake wore a deserted look. I wondered why people in India hated secluded and scenic places and rather preferred crowded hills dotted with a million shops.

GHAGGAR RIVER

Morni Hills has also got an Adventure Park for tourists which I guess, is best for families with children. We did not bother to even explore the park. We were now keen to drive our Jeep Compass closer to a river bed and as luck would have it, we saw a rough path leading us to the Ghaggar riverbed. We noticed there was a large area under a bridge that could easily accommodate our Jeep Compass. We cautiously drove the vehicle on to the slightly rocky place. Now, it was the turn of the 4x4 mode to be deployed. As we parked the vehicle at a safe place with the river water gently caressing the tyres of the Jeep Compass,  we took off our shoes, stepped into the fresh waters and spent our time taking pictures and videos of the Jeep Compass and the surrounding valley.

There were not many people in that area. We were so happy about that. An occasional head or two would pop up on the bridge above and look at us curiously. But when our drone began its journey to explore the valley around us, we noticed that a gaggle of children had gathered around gazing at the drone. The drone had by now become a craze for them as they yelled gleefully every time it picked up speed and touched new heights.

With loads of photography and videography done, we drove the Jeep Compass out of the water and up the steep path and off we headed to our hotel. Another place we liked immensely at Morni Hills was the small museum managed by the forest department.

MORNI FORT MUSEUM

A museum may sound quite boring when you are on a visit to a hill destination. We were skeptical about visiting it, but our hotel supervisor insisted that we visit this place. We kept it for the last day of our stay at Morni Hills. We reluctantly left for the museum in the morning in our Jeep Compass. The museum is situated atop a hill literally as the cemented path leading to it is extremely steep. But again, when you are driving a vehicle like the Jeep Compass, there is really nothing to worry on the road, however steep it might be.

The museum really was a big surprise for us and that too a peasant one. Inaugurated in November 2017, this museum is such a compact little place, yet it teaches us so much. The museum is built around a small fort which overlooks the Morni village. The original fort was built sometime in the 17th century when the Meers of Kotaha ruled the place. It was a very modest fort but it was augmented in 1814 when the Raja of Simur sought refuge in the fort following his ouster from Nahan by the Gurkha invaders.

The forest department has now transformed this Morni Fort into a nature museum cum learning centre. In this small museum, in separate rooms, visitors can get to know about ways to conserve nature, about endangered species of animals, insects and environmental threats. I feel that this is a must-visit place for families on their journey to Morni Hills because there is so much to learn and so much to appreciate here. Let me tell you one thing that I learnt during my visit to the this museum—The two highest flying bird species on record are the endangered Ruppell’s Griffon Vulture, which has been spotted flying at 37,000 feet (the same height as a coasting commercial plane), and the Bar-Headed Goose, which has been seen flying over the Himalayas at heights of nearly 28,000 feet. Interesting?

THE RETURN JOURNEY

Our journey back to the traffic infested city of New Delhi was something we were dreading. But we had tons of work to do for our anniversary issue of Motown India magazine. As we drove on the highway back to Delhi, we could see reckless drivers, over speeding maniacs in their cars and nasty tourists flinging their empty “Uncle Chipps” plastic packets out of the windows of their cars. As one of my office colleagues drove the Jeep Compass at a decent pace, I pushed back the backrest of my chair and closed my eyes. I did not want to spoil my mood looking at the silly car drivers around. I closed my eyes and dreamed of the green hills of Morni.