Trip to Nainital, Mussoorie and Jim Corbett National Park with Kesari Tours :- Day 8

26th May 2009 :- We started in the morning at around 9 am and visited Hanumangarhi temple. It is a temple located on a hill offering excellent views of the valleys below. It is situated at a height of 6401 ft and was built by Neem Karoli Baba who has built several temples in this area. The one we had visited the previous day in the green valley was another temple built by the same Baba. Located across the hill is a temple of Shitala Devi.

We next visited the Nainital Zoo which is located on the hillside beside Nainital Lake. Vehicles belonging to the Zoo carry one from the main road close to the entrance. It was a short steep walk to the entrance that then continues within the zoo.

The zoo houses a Siberian tiger, Snow Leopard, Himalayan Black Bear, wolves, sambar, leopard, pheasants and few other forms of wildlife.

Nihar enjoyed clicking photographs of the leopard (tendua) and ran around from cage to cage with excitement. Nihar and I spent extra time clicking photographs of the leopard and shopping. We thus were the last to get out of the zoo, few minutes beyond the time that we were to gather at the exit. The zoo was good but nowhere near the San Diego Zoo in terms of foliage, variety of animals etc. Nihar however thoroughly enjoyed the short stay here. We then headed back to the hotel for lunch and a nap.

In the afternoon the plan was to get to snow view point via a cable car. After lunch we spent some time playing ping pong, carrom etc. Nihar had made a few friends and together they engaged in these games to entertain themselves. It was quite a wait for the cable car that took about 10 passengers to the top. It was rush time and about 2 additional passengers were placed into the cable car. This particular one was a standing car and went in two or three hops to the top of the mountain. As the cable car came to the top the kids shook the car so as to make it dash against the guards placed to guide the car to smooth halt.

We had a drink and headed to the area where there were games for kids. Nihar took part in kids trampoline jumping, dashing car, rope sliding and the like. Snowview point is located at the top of a ridge known as Sher-ka-danda. Nihar had become a pro at sliding along the rope and attempted it with ease here and that too by himself. The ride that operates like a bouncing ball was another one that he enjoyed twice. An attempt at bouncing on a trampoline however seemed to be a painful one for him as is evident from the photograph below.