Valley of Flowers National Park in India

The Valley of Flowers is a national park located in the upper reaches of the Himalayas. It is famous for its outstanding natural beauty, endangered animals and endemic alpine flowers. The park is a true paradise for botanists and anybody else who loves the glory of nature. It stands true to its name, with several species of exotic flowers to be seen here.

Nestled in the west Himalayan region, Valley of Flowers covers a vast expanse of 87.50 square kilometers with myriad alpine flowers. It is situated in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand state of India at an elevation of 3,658 meters above the sea level. The region remains completely covered with thick blankets of snow during winters. However, it comes alive with a riot of colors with blooming flowers in summer which appear as a bright carpet of color against a mountainous snow capped background.

The main Valley of Flowers is a glacial corridor, around five kilometers long and two kilometers wide. You will encounter numerous cascading waterfalls on the route to Valley of Flowers. You need to cover a slightly difficult trek in order to feel the bliss of this national park. Best time to visit Valley of Flowers is from July to August, this is the when climates remain best to trek this beautiful valley.

The Valley of Flowers National Park is the second core zone of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. The park, with its gentler landscape, breath-taking beautiful meadows of alpine flowers and ease of access, complements the rugged, inaccessible, high mountain wilderness of Nanda Devi. This richly diverse area is also home to rare and endangered animals, including the Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, brown bear and blue sheep.

The credit for the discovery of the Valley of Flowers goes to the British mountaineers Frank S. Smythe, Eric Shipton and R.L. Holdsworth who incidentally reached this valley after a successful expedition of Mount Kamet in 1931. The valley was full of flowers and they were attracted by the beauty of the area. Upon their return they named the valley as Valley of Flowers. The Valley of Flowers was established as a national park of India with effect from 6 November 1982 and it is now a world heritage site.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Flowers of India.