Now was the time to have some fun with the flora and fauna of Shimla Water Catchment Sanctuary. I was on the way to one of my beloved destinations for wildlife. Lying to the north of the Kufri and adjoining to National Highway 22, Shimla Water Catchment Sanctuary is located 12 kilometers away by east of Shimla. It takes around 20 minute to drive from the main city and reach the sanctuary. I passed through the Sanjauli-Dhalli Tunnel of Shimla. It was an unsurpassed experience to drive down the sanctuary. The site houses a fairly steep catchment for the water supply to Shimla. The water supply through series of steam pumps was once firstly reputed of its kind in India. Today the sanctuary is known to be the richest in the reserve of Himalayan flora and it bounds the tourists into its immaculate and undisturbed atmosphere. It was under Municipal Corporation of Shimla since 2006 and then taken over by the Wildlife Division of Shimla in the year 2009.
To get the best hidden views that cannot be achieved by the vehicles is by trekking or hiking through the trails. These trails are easily covered on foot within the time period of 3 to 4 hours. Chharabra offers exciting wildlife sightseeing while leading through the trail. There is small cabin for the tourists to get their permits for bicycles and cars which is charged Rs 25 and Rs 200 respectively. I hired a bicycle to ride the forest from the wooden cabin. I could not express my sentiments as that was something which I never deed before. I was little terrified but excited at the same time.
A guide was also there to show us the right path as there were other visitors too with whom I was accompanied. I mostly prefer to travel in group as I love to interact with them related to their work and hobbies. A wide variety of wild animals, birds and pheasants can be observed with great interests as they are available in some of their rare species. It took few hours to complete my expedition of Shimla Water Catchment Sanctuary and I caught another destination of an amusement park.