Dooars in the monsoon



Me and Anirbanda suddenly picked up the plan to visit Dooars in the monsoon,.Kolkata was becoming boring with water, mud and traffic this season, so we headed towards Suntaleykhola on June 23rd. We booked rooms in the WBFDC's Wilderness Camp at Suntaleykhola, the orange country for 2 nights, and got a huge discount at the famous Murti Bunglow for the offseason offer.
We boarded on my favourite train Kanchankanya Express on 23rd in the evening 8.30pm and reached New Mal Jn. next morning at about 11am. The car was awaiting us we took some breakfast and strated for Suntaleykhola. The road was awesome, with cloud capped mountains, and rivers, and the tea gardens everywhere. 
We reached the place, put the luggage in the room and jumped on the small river/spring flowing beside the camp. 




I just in love of the place, the sound of the flowing river was so beautiful. 

The Camp has electricity, but no fan. The food made by the local Nepali boys was too good. I had finished the lunch with the dal and rice only, although there were spicy, yummy egg curry. Dinner we had momo, next day lunch we had some unknown fish, salads and a tasty vegetable, then at dinner we only had momo and thukpa. In between we had chicken soup,pakora, various preparation of noodles, maggi, wai wai and flavoured black tea. I can visit the place another 50 times just for the food.

After dinner we went for a walk over the  famous hanging bridge which connect the camp to the motorable road. If you want to listened to the sound of insects, Suntaleykhola is the place for you. Next morning I woke up at 4.30am, I walked alone crossing the hanging bridge of Suntaleykhola searching for the birds and found few orange bodied small birds, some black bodied birds, a full blue feathered bird and some herons. I must say the place would be birder's paradise. At that time I was attacked by two leeches and I found the place is full of leeches, and the domestic animals those were there had blood in there feet, mouth, nose everywhere. 

That day we went for sight seeing to the Neora Hydrel Project,the Intake, few local villages and some view points of which I liked Laliguras the most. 

Next day we started early for Jaldhaka Hydrel project, village Bindu in the Bhutan border, Jhalong view point and ultimately to Murti Bunglow at the bank of river Murti. 

The road was crisscrossing the Chapramari forest, and the dense green forest mesmerized us.
We were in Banani bunglow at Murti and were having the best biggest room booked. The room had a big attached balcony and a separate living room, but we did not like the food. We took a bath in the river Murti and in the evening had a chat with the Beat officer. Murti was good for a oneday relaxation. 

Morning we had a trip to the same road through Chaprami forest, and after taking bath we moved towards Malbazar to take lunch at the famous restaurant 'Abhiruchi'. The food was indeed very good, and specially the 'murighonto' and the big piece of 'Aar fish'. We boarded the train to Kolkata from New Jalpaiguri Station afterwards.








9 comments:

  1. Hey!thanx for the post..we a group of 5 are planning for a trip at dooars this monsoon, but we came to know that all the forest bunglows there shall be unavailable till Sep'15 how did u you guys manage? We are planning a 3 days trip in Aug. any suggestion??

    ReplyDelete
  2. The sanctuaries are closed, not all the forest bunglows. You should try wbfdc.com to find availability of the forest bunglows. Also WBTDC.com has all the infos on how to book their accommodations. Which places are you planning by the way?

    Regards,
    Avik

    ReplyDelete
  3. we r planning for santaleykhola from there upto neora hydal project. coz it is only 2days trip and by 15th we need to catch the train for kolkata!i have checked all the bunglows near by, it shows either under maintenance or booked :( if u have the ph no.s of the care takers of the bunglow, which they usually give as the cottages do not have phones/calling bells.....we can try calling them and arrange something. I will anyway call up at WBFD office tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Have u checked WBFDC.com? Only Jaldhaka, Bindu, Samsing and Loleygaon bunglows were burnt down during Gorkhaland problem. Neora hydrel is very near to Suntaley and within 2hours u can complete all the sightseeings including neora. Return journey can be made through NMZ, New Mal st. so that you can come to Mal via Jhalong, Bindu, Jaldhaka, Murti and Chapramari. Send me an email, I'll give u the contact nos.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We, a group of 5 friends, explored the beauty of Dooars this month (early January, 2012). We booked the forest bungalows of WBFDC, at Murti and Suntalekhola (samsing) 3 months in advance, in October—Murti 3 nights and Suntalekhola (Samsing) 2 nights. The river Murti was almost dry with little water running close behind the Murti Forest bungalow but on a clear winter day, the ice capped peak of Kanchenjunga and Bhutan Mountains becomes the background of Murti River bed, a full moon in the night makes it a dreamland. We visited Gorumara National Park and Lataguri from Murti. If you wish to visit any of the national parks of Dooars like Chapramari, Gorumara, Lataguri, their entry permits are given either at their entrances or if you are staying with any of the accommodation of WBFDC at Dooars, they will arrange for your permit. This is a good way to get relieved from the tensions of restricted entrĂ©es. They arrange tours twice everyday -- morning and afternoon. The WBFDC has special discount in the rainy season, if you book two nights third night will be free.
    One day, we hitchhiked from Murti to Jaldhaka River on a truck. The truck was going to collect stones from Jaldhaka River bed for the proposed construction site of train line at Lataguri. The driver of the truck picked us up and agreed to drop us on his return journey at Murti Guest house where we were staying. We had no idea that he was to going to pick up stones from the river bed without proper permit. We were taken to a picturesque place deep inside the forest. That place will remain in our memory forever. When the truck was half filled with stones, two armed forest guards came on an elephant and as a measure to punish the truck driver, they took away the key of the truck. The elephant was so trained that it was peeping inside the driver’s cabin for the ignition key. We waited for almost two hours amidst the awesome surrounding of the river, mountains and forests.
    The food and staying was excellent at both the forest bungalows. At Samsing we saw a very unusual beautiful small hotel with 3 rooms, run by an ex-military personnel Mr. Santosh Bhujel. He charges double bedded rooms at Rs 500 (it is nothing if you compare what he offers at that price). It is on the way to Suntalekhola river camp and forest guest house. He took five years to build the exotic place with the taste he has developed on his foreign service. The details if you are interested given here.
    HOMESTAY
    C/O Mr. SANTOSH BHUJEL
    Samsing Fari Suntalekhola
    For Bank Remittance- Bank: SBI Mal Code 2084
    A/C No 31183977509
    Mob 9126788734
    We started our journey from Mal Junction Station to Murti. Maruti Omni charges Rs 400.
    Gorumara conducted tour with tribal dance with snacks Rs 120 per head, morning tour Rs 80 (without tribal dance).
    Murti to Jaldhaka by truck and back for five people Rs 100.
    Murti to Jhalong, Bindu, Paren and drop at Samsing by Tata Sumo Rs 1800.
    Samsing to Mal Junction Station by Maruti Omni Rs 800.

    ReplyDelete
  6. good descriptive details. keep it up

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks.There are many other good spots at Dooars. Hope some of my mates will write them about.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice details with helpful information and good tips on out of the way entertainment.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice post. When you search for hotels in Dooars, you get a number of options to choose from. The tourists coming here can seek accommodation in various hotels. The accommodation options vary here from hotels to mid-range hotels and from tourist lodges to forest houses. Explore all best <a

    ReplyDelete