[TaureanBull]

Every Trek to Shiroi is blessed with Rains!

Source for the Technical Data : Internet and self knowledge.

Geography

Shiroi Village is located 15 kms away from Ukhrul. This village is one of the oldest villages in Ukhrul District, having a population of 1000 persons and consisting of 200 houses. Shiroi is famous for its flora and fauna.

Accessibility :By Air. It is 110 kms from Tulihal Airport.

By Rail : The nearest railway station is Dimapur, Nagaland (330 Kms).

By Road : 100 kms away from Imphal. It is located on the NH-202, which runs through the village.

The height of the Shiroi Kashong is about 2986 meters from the sea level. This place also experiences mild snowfall every year in the months of December, January and February.

Shiroi Kashong Peak

Shiroi Kashong peak and the adjoining area are famous for their mineral deposits. There are heavy deposits of Chromite, Sapphire and other precious Stones. The total geographical area of Shiroi Hills is 56 Sq Kms.

Flora

Besides Shiroi Lily, more than 1000 different flowering plants including the rare Orchids, Rhododendrons viz Horamwon, Shirungwon, Khongwon, Kokruiwon, Sirawon, Nuisiwon, Phamwon, Yangyirwon, Sikrei-Sikrawon, Maiyaiwon, Tipkhawon, Kongsangwon etc and herbs grow on the grassy slopes and in the jungles of Shiroi Kashong range. During the blooming season of Shirungwon in the months of March-April, the sweet perfume of the flowers cover the entire Kashong hill range and its surroundings. Horamwon bloom during the rainy season in July and August; Khongwon & Kokruiwon in April; Shiroi Lily in May and June; Nuisiwon, Sirawon & Yangyirwon from September to November; Sijrei-Sikrawon from December to January and Maiyaiwon & Kongsangwon from February to March.

Fauna

Some rare birds like Trangopan, Blythii, Hornbill (local name Fashong), Fangui, Nuisi, Shiri, Vaying, Ngathava, Kokrui, Fabut, Fatong etc are found at Shiroi Kashong. Some of the birds are known to be migrating from Siberia.

Besides the flowering plants and rare birds; Shiroi Kashong is famous for wild animals, like Bears, Boars, Stags, Monkeys, Deers, Jackals, Fox, Hyena and snake like Cobra and Python.

Watershed

Over and above, Shiroi Kashong hills is also the main source of water for the District of Ukhrul as all the four river nalas, viz, Yangul Kong, Shang Kong, Razik Kong and Ngayani Sira kong (Namba Lok) are originated from this peak. Hence, Shiroi village is also known as “A land of four rivers”. Out of these four rivers, one river runs to eastern part of Ukhrul to Myanmar, two run to northern part of Ukhrul to Myanmar via Nagaland and one river nala runs to Western and Southern Ukhrul and Imphal valley which is known as Thoubal River in the Manipur valley.

The water supply project of Ukhrul District HQ is from the water source of Shiroi Kashong. The rivers as mentioned above are the main source of survival for Tangkhuls as well as the Meitei people of the eastern valley of Imphal town, Thoubal district and eastern Nagaland districts.

Tourism

Every year around 20-25 thousand tourists from different Districts of Manipur and rest of India trek the Shiroi Kashong Peak to see the beauty of Shiroi Lily and other variety of flowering plants. From the peak one can see the panoramic view of Myanmar, Ukhrul Town and Saramati mountains of Nagaland.

There is also a local belief that, if one stands on the Shiroi Kashong peak and makes a wish, it surely gets accomplish with God’s blessing.

[Nonstop-driver]

I see some beautiful colours coming out of this Tlog. But shouldn't you've started it in the Assembly line section, completed it and then requested mods to move it to Travelogue section?

If you wish, you can still do that probably and in that case I'll be happy to get this (my) post deleted so as to maintain the continuity of the log.

[TaureanBull]

Shiroi Lily



Shiroi Lily, a typical variety of Lily is grown on the top of Shiroi Kashong peak. Shiroi Lily was declared as the State flower on 21 Mar 88. Since then Shiroi has been included in the tourism map of India.

Local name of Shiroi Lily is Timrawon. It is a rare and endemic specie grown only on the Shiroi Kashong Peak. Due to the peculiar climatic conditions and mineral rich soil content, these plants are not found anywhere else in the world.

Lilium Mackliniae is the botanical name of Shiroi Lily. This name of the plant was given by Mr J R Sealy in honour of late Frank Kingdon Ward’s wife Ms Jean Mackliniae. Shiroi Lily is a seasonal flowering plant. The flowering season is from second week of May to first week of June. The plant is 1-1.5 feet tall and has a maximum of six-seven flowers. The flower is light pinkish in colour. The beauty of the flower lies in its bell shaped petals in bowing position like worshiping to the Almighty God.
In 1946, the Shiroi Lily was discovered by Frank Kingdon Ward who came to Manipur Hills for botanical collections on behalf of the Newyork Botanical Society. In January 1946, he found the plant in fruit, which at that time he considered it to be a Nomacharis and not a Lily. He brought seeds of the Shiroi Nomacharis bulbs and sent it to the Royal Horticultural Society in London. The seeds which he sent home were germinated under protected enviornment and flowered in June 1947. In early 1949, late Mr L Yarteo of Shiroi village was engaged to dig up nearly 300 bulbs 300 numbers and send about 200 bulbs to England to introduce the Lily in a big way. Col F C Stren, an old friend of Frank Kingdon Ward, an expert on lilies and famous in the botanical circle, grew the lily for eight months. He exhibited a plant in full bloom at the Chelsea Flower show in 1950. Lilium Mackliniae received the Royal Horticultural Society’s coveted Award of Merit and prestigious prize.

[TaureanBull]

Its scorching heat in the North and its cloudy, misty, bit rainy and pleasant out here! The Naga Hills of Ukhrul. Untouched and unexplored, better than any hill station in India. Beautiful people, rich culture and wonderful flora and fauna. Its trekking time!

Group : Family comprising me, my wife, daughters aged 8 and 2 years.

Timings : We went to trekking on 19 May 13. We reached at the reception centre at 0800 AM. We started the climb at 0830 AM with my younger daughter piggying back on me. It took us two hours to climb. We spent about an hour on the top and anticipating rains we started moving back at 1130 AM and back to base by 1215.

Trek : There are three climbs to the top. The first one being the steepest and concrete steps have been built which are in a state of disarray. Due to pre monsoons the trek was slippery and we did hit the ground many a times.

Here goes the visual part:-

Turning Point Right on NH-202 (Imphal-Jessami-Kohima)



Reception Centre cum Ticket Counter



Guest House at the Base (Very Trivial)



Waiting Shed



Both Facilities as Seen from the Height



Tracking Starting Point



Display Board at Starting Point

[TaureanBull]

Flora & Fauna Enroute











Meadows









Tree Full of Orchids

[TaureanBull]

Tourism

Every year around 20-25 thousand tourists from different Districts of Manipur and rest of India trek the Shiroi Kashong Peak to see the beauty of Shiroi Lily and other variety of flowering plants. From the peak one can see the panoramic view of Myanmar, Ukhrul Town and Saramati mountains of Nagaland.

There is also a local belief that, if one stands on the Shiroi Kashong peak and makes a wish, it surely gets accomplish with God’s blessing.



Beautiful Tourists, Enthusiasts Like me

Very Friendly, Fashionable and Lovely People; Most of them Tangkhul Nagas

[TaureanBull]

Finally at the Top and the Beautiful Shiroi Lily

Full Glory in Various "Poses"

The Lily has a max of Seven flowers which have not been seen for years. Even six flowers on a plant are rare. We could find only a couple of plants.









Three Maidens Bowing to the Almighty











Three More Maidens......

[TaureanBull]

At the Summit

Dont know why one needs a tower when you are at the peak of the highest point!



The flowers are only restricted to few acres! This is how it looks like!









Few Noteworthy Points:-

1. The area is manged by Shiroi Village Committee Volunteers who prevent people from plucking/damaging the flowers. Fine is Rs 3000/-.

2. Its prevented to take any flora/fauna/minerals from the area.

3. Tourism is in nascent stage. Thankfully thats what saving the area.

4. The Lily flowers only for three weeks Mid-May to end -May and restricted to few acres.

5. The Lily is very rare and supposed to grow only here because of typical weather conditions and soil content (typical mineral mix).

6. Lilys are scattered but they are very delicate and beautiful. Really a sight to cherish.

7. The area is barbed wired but people do get inside.

8. There is no programme to protect the Lily so far!

9. There are clouds every few minutes on the top and even enroute.

The trekking came to an end by afternoon. The weather held up during the trek. But as it says .....Every Trek to Shiroi is Blessed with the Showers!....It blessed us as we reached the Resting Hut and came an end to the trekking!

[Eddy]

Note from Support: Thread moved from Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing.

[lilMonSter]

Amazing place. wish i had known about it earlier. i was in imphal for 2 weeks and had headed down this highway towards sekmai. had also gone to moreh and myanmar. next time perhaps. Amazing photographs.

[laluks]

Thanks TaureanBull for this wonderful log.
Loved the pictures of lily. They are so beautiful and thanks to you we could also see them.

[jacs]

TaureanBull - Thanksfor bringing Shiroi Lily to our knowledge base with pretty much details. Nice shots enroute as well as the valley.

Did you make any wish standing in the Shiroi Kashong peak ?

[TaureanBull]

Originally Posted by lilMonSter

Amazing place. wish i had known about it earlier. i was in imphal for 2 weeks and had headed down this highway towards sekmai. had also gone to moreh and myanmar. next time perhaps. Amazing photographs.

The period of bloom is only from Mid-May onwards for 15-20 days. Its a good respite from scorching heat of Noth India too! Moreh has lost most of its charm because of the Chinese stuff flooding the market and replacing South East Asian stuff. However, few stuff still has craze around it.

Originally Posted by jacs

TaureanBull - Thanksfor bringing Shiroi Lily to our knowledge base with pretty much details. Nice shots enroute as well as the valley.

Did you make any wish standing in the Shiroi Kashong peak ?

Well...to be true I was so smitten by the beauty that I actually forgot and remembered it when I read it while writing!

[MotoNanu]

Great crisp travelogue there mate!

I love such places. I recalled my beautiful visit to Kas after reading your post. Limited blooming time making it exclusive and all the more worth the visit. Looking forward to more from you about such places. I still feel that a lot of North East is still unexplored and with the kind of nature's beauty together with wonderful people and rich heritage it is a must in most peoples bucket list.

The misty and moist lilys can certainly make anybody day. Thanks a lot for sharing!

[wanderernomad]

Any permits required for visiting the area? Safe for camping? The guest house at the base accepts guests at the spot or some booking is needed to be done? Thanks for the wonderful information and the pictures.