Gorumara National Park –
the ranked 1 national park in india.
It took near about two hours to reach gorumara through birpara and binnaguri from jaldapara wildlife sanctuary. For two nights rooms were booked at Jatra Prasad Wild Resort at east lataguri. The resort location was very nice as the forest starts from the front of the resort itself. The resort was very small with only four rooms made out of wooden planks. The feelings was staying within the forest. Next morning came with the chirping of birds. We started early for murti. Within half an hour we reached murti. It is actually a hilly river bed on the background of forest and hills. Murti river is flowing in a speedier pace. A few modern resorts and a west bengal forest development corporation (wbdfc) bungalow were there. The ambiance was very calm and peaceful. The sound of water and wind enchanted us. Then we moved to chalsa. A typical small town on the lap of Himalayas. It has a rail station and a few hotels. Any body intends to go to gorumara can get down at chalsa or new maynaguri by rail, then to lataguri by bus or hired vehicle. Lataguri is the entry point of gorumara. A large area of forest and teagardens with rivers can be observed from the chalsa view point. We started for sultankhola through meteli and samsing. The roadside tea gardens on undulated lands till my vision permits are really mesmerizing. The plucking of tea in the gardens put an extra beauty to the scenario. Within an hour we reached sultankhola. Our vehicle was not allowed till the river. We walked past the beauty of quite hills through a kilometer. It is a small falls with roaring move. The sound of water was heard from a distance. We did not expect such a heavenly place in such vicinity. Two resorts are there, managed by wbfdc. There are also some village guest house type lodges in the top. These lodges are in beautiful locations, very cheap, absolutely neat and clean with all modern amenities. It took nearly an hour to return to gorumara. We took the lunch in front of the safari booking counter. ‘mashir hotel’ gave us a nice treat in the lunch. We started to prepare for the gorumara car safari.
There are two types of car safari at gorumara. One is available from the car safari booking counter and another is available from the nearby office of the forest range officer, lataguri range. Both the safaris started at 3 pm. We opted for the later one. The booking time for both the safaris started at 2 pm. At 2 pm ‘lataguri gypsi owners association’ reserved a car for us, number rhino – 53 at the office of the forest range officer, lataguri range. Distribution of car is done through first come first serve basis. Only nine cars are available for this type of safari in each session. On a car six passengers, one guide and one driver is allowed to enter. Car hiring charge was rs 840. Subsequently this car distribution was authorized by the said forest office. They charge rs. 50 for the vehicle entry fee , rs 25 is the per head entry fee, still camera charge is rs 20. We were allowed to stay inside the forest from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Guide charge was rs 100. In the next three hours the safari car kept touring throughout the jungle in search of the wilds. The guard and driver were very innocent and informative. This safari is not available on Wednesdays. Moreover the jungle closes for any type of entry, except the official purposes, on 15th June. In winter the afternoon safari starts at 2 pm and continues till 5 pm. There is also a morning safari which starts at 6am in summer and 7 am in winter and continues for 3 hours. The other type of safari takes the tourists to a particular observation tower from available 6/7 towers, keeps them at the tower for the rest of the time and again returns back to the starting point. For each tower a prefixed number of tourists are allowed for each session. Tourists are to select a particular tower subject to the availability. Car for the safari can only be booked after getting the permission for going to a particular tower. This safari is not available on Thursdays. All the entries must be accompanied by a guide provided by the ‘gorumara national park forest guide association’. Only the pre-licensed cars of ‘lataguri gypsi owners association’ are allowed to enter for this type of safari. Under this type of safari tribal dance is offered at some towers. At ‘madla’ tower bullock cart safari within the forest is also available. Outside cars are also allowed up to the ‘madla’ tower, but to enter through ‘ramsai’ range. Unfortunately, even after searching a long we could not find even a single rhino. But we found innumerable birds and peacocks. Also a group of few elephants. The jungle was dence, wind was muddy and the ambiance was cool. We enjoyed the trip very much.
Next morning we start for jhallong. The way runs through the chapramari wild life sanctuary. Within an hour we reached sipchu – recently became renowned for police firing on gorkhaland agitators led by gorkha jana mukti morcha. A martyr’s monument has been built on the firing spot. We advanced towards jhallong with a heavy heart fot the agitators. We moved towards jhallong with river ‘jaldhaka’. The beauty of the valley with hills and the forcing river is beyond my expression. Jhallong housed a hydel power station. We took our lunch at Green Island. It is a nice tiny island on river jaldhaka surrounded by tall green mountains. A local man has built few lodging cottages for the tourists. These cottages has all the modern amenities and very neat and clean. Also very cheap as long as the location and the services are concerned. The food was also very nice. Contact: 9474391835, 9434171710, 9475082597 and 9474876793. Anybody would enjoy the stay and the food. The next destination was ‘bindu’. Took 1 hour steep hilly driving from jhallong. It is on the border of India with Bhutan. A major river dam project on jaldhaka is another attraction of bindu – though access is restricted. The beauty of bindu will always take back you to this remote hilly point. A few local lodges have been constructed like other spots. This is a new development in the hills of west Bengal proving much needed income and employment to the poor peoples of the hills. These people are very innocent and simple. Their sense of courtesy and friendliness is beyond question. Now it is time to return to cooch behar. It took near about three and half hours. 0n the way we entered south khirbari nature interpretation centre. This centre can be entered through madarihat or jateswar. South khairbari houses a beautiful children park, a picnic spot, an observation tower and a tiger rescue centre. This centre closes at 5 pm. We reached cooch behar at 8 pm. The journey was memorable with the nice guidance and driving of our expert driver kamal subba. His contact number is 9932590283. Kamal is a charming personality with always smiling face. We could not have enjoyed the tour had it not with kamal.
It took near about two hours to reach gorumara through birpara and binnaguri from jaldapara wildlife sanctuary. For two nights rooms were booked at Jatra Prasad Wild Resort at east lataguri. The resort location was very nice as the forest starts from the front of the resort itself. The resort was very small with only four rooms made out of wooden planks. The feelings was staying within the forest. Next morning came with the chirping of birds. We started early for murti. Within half an hour we reached murti. It is actually a hilly river bed on the background of forest and hills. Murti river is flowing in a speedier pace. A few modern resorts and a west bengal forest development corporation (wbdfc) bungalow were there. The ambiance was very calm and peaceful. The sound of water and wind enchanted us. Then we moved to chalsa. A typical small town on the lap of Himalayas. It has a rail station and a few hotels. Any body intends to go to gorumara can get down at chalsa or new maynaguri by rail, then to lataguri by bus or hired vehicle. Lataguri is the entry point of gorumara. A large area of forest and teagardens with rivers can be observed from the chalsa view point. We started for sultankhola through meteli and samsing. The roadside tea gardens on undulated lands till my vision permits are really mesmerizing. The plucking of tea in the gardens put an extra beauty to the scenario. Within an hour we reached sultankhola. Our vehicle was not allowed till the river. We walked past the beauty of quite hills through a kilometer. It is a small falls with roaring move. The sound of water was heard from a distance. We did not expect such a heavenly place in such vicinity. Two resorts are there, managed by wbfdc. There are also some village guest house type lodges in the top. These lodges are in beautiful locations, very cheap, absolutely neat and clean with all modern amenities. It took nearly an hour to return to gorumara. We took the lunch in front of the safari booking counter. ‘mashir hotel’ gave us a nice treat in the lunch. We started to prepare for the gorumara car safari.
There are two types of car safari at gorumara. One is available from the car safari booking counter and another is available from the nearby office of the forest range officer, lataguri range. Both the safaris started at 3 pm. We opted for the later one. The booking time for both the safaris started at 2 pm. At 2 pm ‘lataguri gypsi owners association’ reserved a car for us, number rhino – 53 at the office of the forest range officer, lataguri range. Distribution of car is done through first come first serve basis. Only nine cars are available for this type of safari in each session. On a car six passengers, one guide and one driver is allowed to enter. Car hiring charge was rs 840. Subsequently this car distribution was authorized by the said forest office. They charge rs. 50 for the vehicle entry fee , rs 25 is the per head entry fee, still camera charge is rs 20. We were allowed to stay inside the forest from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Guide charge was rs 100. In the next three hours the safari car kept touring throughout the jungle in search of the wilds. The guard and driver were very innocent and informative. This safari is not available on Wednesdays. Moreover the jungle closes for any type of entry, except the official purposes, on 15th June. In winter the afternoon safari starts at 2 pm and continues till 5 pm. There is also a morning safari which starts at 6am in summer and 7 am in winter and continues for 3 hours. The other type of safari takes the tourists to a particular observation tower from available 6/7 towers, keeps them at the tower for the rest of the time and again returns back to the starting point. For each tower a prefixed number of tourists are allowed for each session. Tourists are to select a particular tower subject to the availability. Car for the safari can only be booked after getting the permission for going to a particular tower. This safari is not available on Thursdays. All the entries must be accompanied by a guide provided by the ‘gorumara national park forest guide association’. Only the pre-licensed cars of ‘lataguri gypsi owners association’ are allowed to enter for this type of safari. Under this type of safari tribal dance is offered at some towers. At ‘madla’ tower bullock cart safari within the forest is also available. Outside cars are also allowed up to the ‘madla’ tower, but to enter through ‘ramsai’ range. Unfortunately, even after searching a long we could not find even a single rhino. But we found innumerable birds and peacocks. Also a group of few elephants. The jungle was dence, wind was muddy and the ambiance was cool. We enjoyed the trip very much.
Next morning we start for jhallong. The way runs through the chapramari wild life sanctuary. Within an hour we reached sipchu – recently became renowned for police firing on gorkhaland agitators led by gorkha jana mukti morcha. A martyr’s monument has been built on the firing spot. We advanced towards jhallong with a heavy heart fot the agitators. We moved towards jhallong with river ‘jaldhaka’. The beauty of the valley with hills and the forcing river is beyond my expression. Jhallong housed a hydel power station. We took our lunch at Green Island. It is a nice tiny island on river jaldhaka surrounded by tall green mountains. A local man has built few lodging cottages for the tourists. These cottages has all the modern amenities and very neat and clean. Also very cheap as long as the location and the services are concerned. The food was also very nice. Contact: 9474391835, 9434171710, 9475082597 and 9474876793. Anybody would enjoy the stay and the food. The next destination was ‘bindu’. Took 1 hour steep hilly driving from jhallong. It is on the border of India with Bhutan. A major river dam project on jaldhaka is another attraction of bindu – though access is restricted. The beauty of bindu will always take back you to this remote hilly point. A few local lodges have been constructed like other spots. This is a new development in the hills of west Bengal proving much needed income and employment to the poor peoples of the hills. These people are very innocent and simple. Their sense of courtesy and friendliness is beyond question. Now it is time to return to cooch behar. It took near about three and half hours. 0n the way we entered south khirbari nature interpretation centre. This centre can be entered through madarihat or jateswar. South khairbari houses a beautiful children park, a picnic spot, an observation tower and a tiger rescue centre. This centre closes at 5 pm. We reached cooch behar at 8 pm. The journey was memorable with the nice guidance and driving of our expert driver kamal subba. His contact number is 9932590283. Kamal is a charming personality with always smiling face. We could not have enjoyed the tour had it not with kamal.
No comments:
Post a Comment