The Dooars Chronicle

“Flash maat use kijiee.. chalao gari jaldi.. niklo jaldi.. .” translated to english stands out something like this , “O come on ..stop using the flash, move now..”.

In one breath those words came out from Kanchan-ji our Jungle Safari guide, and the gypsy driver abided.

All while we were awestruck by our first animal interaction with the mighty Indian Bison,at Gorumara National Park.

Our fellow travelers were carrying a huge kit which went clickety click and flashes spread out.

Result was two grumpy fellow, the bison we just saw made a grunting noise and moved inwards the jungle and our guide, took us forward with the safari . Instant lesson, one is not supposed to use flash while in a jungle safari.

Meanwhile my shaky hands along with a simple Nikon lens in the cold January morning was able to capture a glimpse of the Indian Bison.

SpinningWheels have reached the North of West Bengal, and while this story is just getting started here, it is actually quite a start from the middle.

So, time for how things happened so far. You are already aware we(me and wify) are in Gorumara National Park of Dooars region in West Bengal.

Roadtrips are addictive, and this trip is nothing but a result of such a fixation. When you get high only by open roads, sound of revolving wheels kissing on asphalt laid tarmac , shifting gears, revving engine , pressed accelerator, changing landscapes you have to be out on the road in your favored machine. So there I was, having this long time craving for a drive from Kolkata to North Bengal , got the opportunity for implementation on a long weekend aided vacation leave, amidst all official and personal pressure points.

Naysayers were all around, reminding me of the audacity I was about to show , being the solo driver , accompanying a lady , what happens if car runs into issue ? What happens if this and that happens !? Why can't you take the train till NJP , or flight till Bagdogra ? Okay you wanna enjoy roadtrip, take the Volvo bus plying regularly form Kolkata to Siliguri !! Handful of folks told me to go ahead without worrying a bit.

Having heard all of them and smiling at the back of thoughts, ensured Sheena (I christened my car, Sheena) is ready for the trip, studied Google Maps, chalked out routes, short cuts, and also ensured contingency plans and speed dials are in place (glad never had to use any).

Since this was quite a long jump for me, decided to break the onward journey into two parts, 1st part Kolkata to Malda, halting overnight, 2nd part being Malda-Lataguri!!

It was pretty intense, till D-Day came , well D-Day needs a special mention here, it was our 2nd Marriage Anniversary as well

Route opted for onward journey ,

Day 1 : Kolkata--NH2--Burdwan--SH7--Moregram--NH12(NH34)--Farakka-Malda (342 KMs)

Day 2 : Malda -- Raigunj--Botolbari--Dhantola--Gajoldoba--Fulbari--Kranti--Lataguri (277 KMs)

We started around 7 AM in the morning on 20th Jan 2018 and reached our night halt destination at Golden Park Hotel and Resort in Malda in the evening around 5:30 PM. Traversing several districts so far in our journey, it was Malda which grabbed our attention. Malda is famous for so many historical places, which for obvious time constraints we were unable to visit and long queues of Mango Orchards , but its the place itself which will make you look at it twice. The town has a old world charm even for today, some where you will feel you are lost in time, wanna proof, check out the below picture of the very common modes of goods carriage option available in Malda.

Next morning we started from Malda for our uphill journey, amidst intense fog(had to start at 10 AM instead of planned 8 AM start), and took the infamous Botolbari Bypass till Dhantola to avoid the huge long traffic queues of Dalkhola, Google Maps held us tight with regular advises on upcoming traffic situation and suggested the feasible alternate routes, a big Shout out and Thank you to Google Maps for that.

Eventually we took the canal road from Gajoldoba, going over the Teesta barrage, and while you drive on your left is the greenish blue water of Teesta and and on the right you are speeding across jungles and small human settlements in between. The air is fresh, landscape is beautiful, fantastic corners to maneuver, truly a drivers delight !!

We reached Lataguri late afternoon and checked into our hotel, Aranya Jungle Resort and gorged on to excellent lunch with the must have Boroli fish curry !!

The hotel staff helped us to sort out an early morning Jungle Safari next day to the adjacent Gorumara Natioanl Park and then a whole day program-me for visiting the nearby hotspots, for which we opted for a MUV the resort provided.

Coming back to where we left off with the bison , it was cold January morning, gypsy passing through the national park, trying to locate the next animal. Well briefly, about the park, its spread across 80 sq kms, have several wild animal, the Indian Bison, Wild Boar,hog deer, barking deer, The mighty elephants, the one horned rhinoceros, etc and several species of birds. Peafowls are very commonly seen, and there are the beautiful peacocks. Hornbills are easily spotted too.

As per Kanchan ji,our guide, the primary carnivore of the region is the leopard, he also mentioned, female Leopards are often seen in the tea gardens as they use them mostly to give birth and to take cover from prying eyes of their male fraternity.

A few shots below taken during the safari .

Taking a walk is never allowed, however, after convincing the concerned folks we were allowed to walk around and soak in nature.

Trust me when I say, if you have to take a feel of the jungle you should walk through it, yes there are murky roads but when you keep going, its then your mind and body gets the real taste of adrenaline and it is totally worth the risk. Once in our lifetime we should take a walk in the jungle road, smell the air, hear out the jabbering and tweeting birds, enjoy the solace and feel blissful about it. I also realized why there is a quotation about taking the difficult path as we walked around taking snaps here and there.

As far as animal sightings are concerned, we roamed around for another hour or so and was able to spot deer, wild boar and peacocks.

Only Peacocks gave us the time to capture a few shots .

It was time for us to leave the jungle safari and head back to our resort for the heavy breakfast that we were desperate about.

As pre-decided our plan to visit the nearest favored spots were about to start in a couple of hour.

Our hotel lobby had the below map of North Bengal, where I've roughly highlighted(marked in yellow) the spots we were about to visit for the day.

Our first stop for the day were tea gardens, many well known brand of tea , like Duncans, Goodriche have their tea gardens lined up here.

Tea gardens are always scenic, pleasant for the eyes, well maintained plantations, following a specific plan, a chain of events and awaiting outcome, quite reminds me of my office, however, mine is concrete filled with electronic circuits and semiconductors whereas this is nature.

The drive to these tea gardens, through rippling and undulating roads set amongst small villages, picturesque landscape is mind soothing.

There are few homestays, with perfect blissful landscapes in front, to leisure for entire day, for anyone interested.

However, there are certain aspects which one might overlook in places like these, am talking about those people who are working in these estates at the grassroot level. They are a hard working bunch of people with true, grit and determination to win the struggle of life, having said that, they are also those people who are happy with little things, in exact words of our driver for the day , "Eeder chahida ta kom".

Respect and Salute to you all, for showing us how hardship and happiness can be clubbed together.

We stopped at Samsingh for a few customary photo-ops of tea garden.

Our next stop was, SuntaleKhola, a word of Nepalese origin, meaning "Suntale-River". An easy hiking trail will lead you to this location,one can also opt for local taxis(read boleros) to reach the spot, yes your car is not allowed to climb up to this place. Either you will have to walk or hire a taxi, I will recommend the walk. Technically SuntaleKhola falls in Kalimpong district and is a picturesque hamlet. The first welcoming feature of this place is a hanging bridge above the river, which being winter is almost pacified in terms of water. Quite nature, beautiful birds, fresh air , music of nature embellish this place

Our next destination was another place of rocks and river, the Rocky Islands, not sure why they call it an island, but the place is real rocky, Murti flows through the rocks and can be said is the staring point of river, actual origin of Murti is a 3 km rocky hike from the usual tourist stop. The place seemed to be ideal for camping, where there will be open night sky, huddled group of friends over bonfire, some classic rock music over strums of guitar with overlooking stars of the sky and few sips of river water cooled beer and of-course the flowing music of Murti river herself, aint a delight ?

Spending some time while dipping your feet in the cold refreshing water is recommended at this place. This is the most effective way of rejuvenating your feet and breathe in the fresh air for your lungs. In short, this is another must to visit place if you are around.

We move on, as we are supposed to meet another river , the Jaldhaka river. The Jaldhaka, earlier known as "Dichu" is another river flowing through the foothills of Himalayas, and has its origin from a glacial lake in Sikkim. Being a glacial river, wherever it goes it makes meandering banks and mesmerizing flora and fauna around it. One such hamlet of this river is a place called Jhalong.

The below is a top view shot taken from the official Jhalong View point. On the other side of the river is the magical Kingdom of Bhutan.

The river bed seen below is an ideal place for picnic, informed our driver. He also mentioned, we will catch a closer glimpse of the river, as we move towards Bindu.

A closer look of Jaldhaka river, somewhere in Jhalong. On the left side of the flowing water is India, on the right is the Kingdom of Bhutan !

It was already late afternoon, famished, we went for lunch at a view point , known as the Apple View Point !! A single huge rock resembling an apple,overshadowing Jaldhaka, with a small , limited but fresh food joint. You will definitely not find them listed in Zomato, but if you are up in this circuit, please enjoy the view and have your lunch here, its really that good !!

Post lunch it was time for visiting the last point, "Bindu" , its the border village marking the end of Indian Territory and start of the Kingdom of Bhutan, separated by Jaldhaka and the Bindu Barrage, maintained by WBSEDCL, a part of the Jaldhaka Hydel Project.

Previously, tourists were allowed to cross the barrage and enter Bhutan for few minutes, however, the same is no longer applicable today. Villagers from the other side, do visit this place bi weekly for the market place and those days it comes alive with a cross border market feeling.

PS : 1. You can buy Bhutanese alcoholic and non- alcoholic beverages from the shops lined up here.

2. Doklam region is not very far if you are allowed to walk into Bhutan from this side of the border !!

After enjoying the scenic solace of Bindu and refreshed by the soaked feet in the waters of Jaldhaka, we realized we have reached the dusk zone for the day. Our cab driver, informed we should start back for Murti, he also mentioned by the time we reach there, it will be absolute dark, and he will be taking us around the Chapramari forest and if Lady Luck is happy we might catch a glimpse of animals crossing the road.

We decided, to put our luck into test.

Soon , in about an hour or so it was absolute darkness, clouded by dense forests on both sides of the road and we are crossing Chapramari forest.

The pitch black asphalt in front of us are lit by our headlights and the reflectors laid in a geometric pattern is helping us by marking the road, as if fireflies sticking to the ground and shouting out loud, stick to the middle of the track. The entire ride back we were very attentive and tried to check out any if any sort of wildlife crosses our path, but seems we ran out of luck for that day for a vantage point of an animal.

When we reached the bank of Murti, it was around 6:30 in the evening, and nothing was visible for obvious reasons.

So Murti was crossed, thanks to the bridge on top of it but it saddened both of us, as we have heard so much about it yet missing its aura, inspite of being there. However, it was time for return to our base, as we were supposed to leave early morning next day and drive back to Kolkata.

Uneventful dinner happened and we called it our last evening at Dooars!

Ahoy! Next morning, beautiful as it was yesterday, perhaps more today, with bags all packed, and filled up boot of Sheena, we decided, Murti cannot be missed, whats the use of bringing your car if you do not go for a small spontaneous detour !! So instead of heading towards home, we checked out from the resort and headed towards Murti!

Murti was happy to see us as well, and welcomed us with wide stretch of boulders laden river bed, where due to seasonal effect, river is extremely placid and makes you grin. If only I could write few words which will exactly depict the chirping birds, the clatter and gurgle of the flowing river, the mooing of cows trying to cross over the river, butterflies playing around and the impeccable clarity of the water , I could make you understand what we were feeling. We decided, next time we come around, we will be choosing a place nearer to this location.

Murti being our last stop for Dooars, we were set for our return journey home.

Any return journey of a vacation, is always a bit downbeat, so was this, but every good thing has an end. The long drive back home commenced around 8:45 AM in the morning and we reached around 10 PM . This long duration, gave us the opportunity to look back on the entire trip. There were so many first timers done, so much planning involved, patience and tenacity at times. We now have another story to share, another experience to explain. We may have not seen much of wildlife, but we have seen and soaked in nature.

Walked the forest, climbed a few huge stones,dipped and felt the wanderlust rivers, collected colorful pebbles, ran after butterflies on the bank of Murti, drove wrong way into the forest and many small meaningless stuffs, which is nothing if you look at it logically, otherwise from my perspective it is nothing short of meditation.

Get out there, travel, behold, observe, perceive, spot, feel, enjoy and share your experience, that's the message from all of us at SpinningWheels for now, Chao !!

#Dooars #GorumaraNationalPark #KolkatatoDooarsroadtrip #Murti #Jaldhaka #Jhalong #Bindu #Samsin #SuntaleKhola