Lupinus or Lupine, a wildflower that grows in the tourist spot of Gulmarg around this time of the year is attracting tourists by the droves.
Comments and information available on social media have revealed that this wildflower primarily grows between mid-June and the end of July.
These beautiful wildflowers bloom in various shades of purple, pink and white across Gulmarg, providing visitors with a breathtaking sight and make this place one of the most exciting spots to click photographs.
Tourist guides in Gulmarg confirmed that hundreds of tourists are visiting Gul-marg to see this vibrant blanket of Lupine flowers. They also said that the Gul-marg Development Authority and other stakeholders should come up with new steps to encourage the growth of these wildflowers on a larger scale.
A Brighter Kashmir team visited Gulmarg recently and spoke to a couple of tour-ists. One couple from Mumbai in particular said they were completely mesmer-ized by the natural scenic beauty of the flowers.
“We decided to visit Gulmarg because we were attracted by the beautiful colour of the Lupinus flowers. People should at least visit this place once to experience the scenic natural beauty of this place. This is heaven. Kashmir to us means heaven,” said a woman tourist.
“I have come here from Mumbai. To my mind Kashmir is paradise. It is so beau-tiful and to me the most if not one of the most beautiful places on earth. I can’t fully explain my feelings and thoughts about this place,” said her male compan-ion.
Asked how was the behavior of the people with whom they had interacted, he said, “The people here are very hospitable and cooperative, and they provide us with all the guidance and information we need.”
He also informed that this was the last stage of their stay in the Kashmir Valley.
“We have been able to visit most of the prominent and popular places in the val-ley. We visited the Amarnath Shrine first, we have been to Sonmarg, the Dal Lake, Gulmarg, there are so many places that we have visited that I can’t even remember all the names,” he added.
He summed up his visit to Gulmarg by saying, “Seeing these flowers reminds me of flowers in paradise. I was driving past this area and saw the flowers from a distance. I just told the driver that I want to go near them.”
A visit to Gulmarg during the summers is an absolute must if you want to see the Lupines bloom in full glory.
Tourism department officials said Lupine is the latest attraction in Gulmarg and the places where it grows virulently include the Gulmarg Golf Course, St. Mary’s Church, Highland Park and other places.
Tourists were seen making and taking videos and photographs of the flower and uploading them on their various social media platforms to share with their friends and family.
Other popular flowers that grow in Gulmarg include Primrose, Focus Glow and Narcissus (Daffodils).
Meanwhile, in a related development, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta has urged tourism department officials to promote destina-tions other than Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Patnitop as attractive tourist spots and improve facilities for stay at these locations.
Addressing the 94th Board of Directors (BoD) meeting of the J&K Tourism De-velopment Corporation (JKTDC) last week, Mehta said there was no reason why the JKTDC with so many prized properties across the Kashmir Valley and Jam-mu should not do more to promote them.
“All tourist places across the UT should be properly maintained and their opti-mum utilisation must be achieved,” Dr. Mehta said.
He urged the JKTDC to organize night stays for tourists, introduce adventure sports like rock climbing, zip line, paragliding and water sports.
Dr. Mehta further said that golf was one sport that had enormous tourism poten-tial.
“Golf Courses in the UT are the best in class and have a potential to attract golf lovers from across the nation,” he said.
He called for creating a robust calendar of golf-related activities and offer them as a package to visitors.
Emphasis was also placed on giving a facelift to tourist spots in Kokernag, Ver-inag, Daksum, Betab Valley, Sanasar, Sarthal, Bani, Basholi, Baderwah and other places.