About Us - The Banon Family

Capt A.T Banon an Irish gentleman, disturbed by the British reprisals against the Indians during the 1857 uprising, bought himself out of the British army. He went to the Himalayan shrine of Badrinath and there studied astrology under the head Priest. He married the head priest’s daughter and eventually settled in Manali in the 1870’s. He imported English apple and other fruit saplings, planted them, and started Himachal’s famed apple orchards. The Banons played an important part in making Manali known to the modern world. The descendents of Capt. A.T. Banon built roads, bridges, generated electricity which was also supplied to the circuit house during the late Indian Prime Minister, Nehru’s visits and were the pioneers of the tourism industry in the Kullu Valley.