CHOOMTI TRAVELLERS The
Travel Division of Choomti Trekkers Private Limited Bringing over 28 years experience to Independent Travellers in
India
Providing that personal and individual service to each Client
This (boutique) hotel surpasses expectations delightfully! You will have
the most memorable stay.
At 2,000m, Kalmatia Sangam perches 7km
above Almora, an old British hill station, 380km northeast of Delhi.
A colonial-style house with nine cottages, the resort is scattered round
a two-hectare site; verandas, terraces and hammocks make the most of the
mesmerising view: a 400km-long chain of ice-bound peaks, stretching deep
into Nepal. Visibility is best from mid-September to April.
First thing you will notice about
this place is the very visible absence of a "reception" area.
In its place is a warm, inviting area looking out to the snow-covered
peaks, which have a few tables and comfortable chairs, a library full of
books about the region, games and a wood-burning stove to heat up the
room.
So cosy! you will want to spend many hours here reading, playing
scrabble, enjoying freshly brewed masala tea and biscuits!
Steep stairways connect the hillside site,
including the restaurant. There are no lifts.
Location
Imagine a pastoral Himalayan landscape, its valleys hiding stone-roofed
villages set in groves of walnut and pomegranate trees, its terraced
wheatfields and neat vegetable patches petering out towards a distant
horizon that cuts the sky like a saw.
This is Kumaon, part of the Indian state of Uttaranchal. With
neighbouring Nepal so unstable and Bhutan so expensive, this corner of
the west central Himalaya provides a blissful, hassle-free escape...
Relaxation after high-level
trekking; a gentle alternative to the serious stuff; or a mountain
retreat to combine with visiting Corbett National Park or Ananda at
Rishikesh.
Forests of pine and wild rhododendron, tumbling waterfalls and tiny
temples are set against a panorama of some of the highest peaks in the
world.
Accommodation
Accommodation facilities in Kalmatia Sangam
consist of 9 cottages. The cottages are
constructed with a minute eye to quality, comfort, and beauty. Not one
cottage resembles the other. All cottages have individual verandas or
terraces. While one of the cottages offer
sunrise view another offers a view of the sunset.
The charming rooms (almost like cottages) are dotted around on a
hill-side.
Fresh greenery adorns the front doors - it is magical!
The living and sleeping areas are
mostly separate and furnished with taste and elegance not forgetting
modern amenities. Rooms are large,
comfortable and have a very rustic feel to them.
Most chalets have separate living and
sleeping areas with wood-burning stoves. The owners, German designer
Dieter Reeb and his Indian wife Geeta, have kept things simple, with
cane furniture, handwoven rugs on stone-flagged floors and striped
cotton covers on excellent beds.
To begin with you may wonder where the snow
capped Peaks are and lo and behold the next morning you will awake to
the view from each cottage to the fabulous snow covered range of
Nandadevi and her sisters! Beautiful !
An amazing perspective on size! The
balcony doors open out to exquisite vistas of the mountains and the
countryside beyond and it is a lovely place from which to view the
sunrise.
The rooms and the resort are very clean.
The surroundings are nature untouched.
Geysers in each room so in effect running hot water, toilets, clean
towels, soap, even a shower cap.
En-suite but fairly utilitarian: showers, no bathtubs, but plenty of hot
water and pleasant herbal soap.
The resort has electricity and back up but if for some reason it fails,
there are many candle in each room.
Each room has a rustic local kind of fireplace for wood fires and each
room is provided with a heater.
The Nine "Cottages"
Eagle's Nest
- Appropriately named and built in two floors, this perch has the most
astonishing view of the Himalayas.
Himalayan Magpie
- Octagonal and built completely in stone, the Himalayan Magpie is also
a cozy and romantic cottage.
The Scarlet Minivet
- The only cottage on the south side is the Scarlet Minivet. It also has
a wonderful view of the sunset and the night lights of Almora.
Peasant
- Adjoining cottages, Pheasant and Partridge share only the balcony.
Pheasant is built on the east and the sun greets you each morning.
Partridge
- Partridge being on the west is more suitable for the evening person.
The dormer windows on the first floor are built so that you can see the
Himalayan range even lying down on the bed.
Hoopoe
- Hoopoe and Cuckoo are cottages built on two levels. Facing the entire
Himalayan range, the cottages have separate entrances and the only thing
they share is the view!
Cuckoo
- Cuckoo, built on the top, has a huge sunny terrace and bay windows to
facilitate the view.
Goldfinch and Rosefinch
- Goldfinch and Rosefinch are two adjoining cottages and are suitable
for single occupancy or couples.
Dining
The meals are
superb - a little on the healthy side but interesting and different. The
service is very nice. A lot of the dishes made with produce grown in the
farms of the local folk and meals were a simple and very tasty affair!
Chef Dhiren's speciality is the warming
mountain food of the area.
Staples include rotis made with finger millet; brown lentils; unpolished
rice; curries sizzled in mustard oil. No wine, but beer is served. Don't
miss the rhododendron juice !
"Sangam" Restaurant is
the confluence of traditional and international cuisine. Freshly
baked bread, pastries and cakes, home made pastas, locally harvested
fruit preserves, pickles, mustard and mayonnaise, as well as herbs from
the hotel’s herb garden is offered.
Tandoori and other menus which include Mexican, Middle Eastern and
Mediterranean inspired buffet lunches where one can sample humus,
babaganoush, pita bread and tatziki. Or ratatouie, tomate a la
provencale, pizza, stuffed vine leaves and fresh pasta is prepared. And
for desert the French "floating islands", meringue or fresh
fruit pastries and tarts.
With a magnificent view of Nanda Devi and the Great Himalayan Range,
this uniquely designed restaurant allows guests to dine in splendor and
comfort whilst enjoying the impressive natural surroundings.
After a gala dinner, an evening sitting around a blazing bonfire makes a
perfect end to the day.
For snacks, freshly baked bread, pastries, home made pastas and pickles
are also available for a small cost.
Activities
Fabulous walking country. Take a hotel
picnic and listen to the birds; 250 species at last count. It's a few
minutes' drive to Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary and 34km to Jageshwar's
medieval temples.
Adventure lovers have the options of hikes,
treks and nature walks. A guide (a local from the nearby villages) can
accompany you on a 5-6 hour trek in the surrounding valleys/mountains,
enjoying the heady scents of pine and cedar forests, and through fields
of mustard, spinach and millet.
You can visit villages (pumpkins and gourds drying on their
terraces/roofs is a lovely sight), waterfalls and rivers and the hotel
will organise a picnic lunch for you - which you can enjoy sitting on
big boulders in a river-bed.
The option of a four-day "soft"
trek, a stiffish but short and well-supported hike based on the little
resort of Kalmatia Sangam near Almora, brings it all within reach. The
hotel has gone half shares with three village home-owners in renovating
their houses - each some six hours' walk apart - to standards of minimal
comfort: providing webbing beds, squat loos and bucket showers. The
hotel lays on the porters who cook and carry kitchen gear, food and
bedding. This example of low-impact, eco-friendly tourism (limited to
four trekkers at once) takes you to the heart of an open and friendly
Pahari mountain community.
Other things to do
Breathtaking Himalayan views can be enjoyed from Kalmatia Sangam.
