Dec 26, 2012 03:47 PM
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For space constraint I cant put the whole review here.Apologies for the same
please read it from here
https://thetravellerweare.blogspot.in/2012/12/gorumara-dhupjhora-day-with-eleph
ants.html
This blog is about our fantastic stay at Gorumara, Elephant Camp.The camp is located in Dhupjhora in the Dooars region of West Bengal.The amenities and hospitality we got was simply outstanding.This time we had a time constraint so we stayed in Dhupjhora just for a day and could not explore the whole of Dooars. The beauty of the place left us wanting for more.....
So next time we will surely go there with ample of time in hand. Day 4
5 AM in the morning.
It was a long line of trucks and buses. And we were stuck. We were on our way back from Gorumara. It was so much foggy that we could hardly see the truck in front of us, from our vehicle. Tired and exhausted from the long 18 hours drive, both of us were drowsy. And the queue of trucks were moving very slowly; 10 -20 meters in 10 minutes. Perhaps all these were reason enough for me to fall asleep; for both of us to fall asleep.
Day 1
5:15 AM in the morning.
It was dark still. The day time in winter is short in Kolkata. So 5 O' clock in the morning was still dark. We set off for Gorumara on the sparky; my father in law's sparky. As we were in Kolkata, we didn't have the chance to take our own Sparky; so my father in law generously provided us with his ride. It was a long 700 Km drive to Gorumara.
Our onward route was like this: Tollygunge-2nd Hoogly bridge->Kona expressway -> Delhi road -> Panagarh -> Malda -> Kisanganj -> Siliguri -> Gorumara. I did a good amount of research on the available routes and found this to be the best one.
At around 9 O' clock we reached Panagarh and took the usual right turn at Darjeeling more. We grabbed a quick breakfast there and were planning for the road ahead. As we are more familiar in driving around Bangalore and Karnataka, our estimations were based on our previous voyages there. So a 700 km was estimated to be covered within 10-11 hours. Utterly wrong estimate.
The next 100 Km of journey was terrible, and that is to say the least. I was not able to get more than 20 km/hour and at that speed also, the chassis got hit several times. Although it is referred to as a National Highway, mud roads in remote villages would surpass it any given day. It was horrible. Anyway, by the time we reached Malda town, it was sundown. I know its unbelievable, but that's what it was.
From Malda to Kishanganj, the road is better. Don't get me wrong here, but better here means better than the previous stretch. So we could get to 50-60 km on an average. From Kishanganj to Siliguri the road really lives up to be called a National Highway, and 100 km/hour is pretty easy on the driver.
By the time we reached Siliguri, it was 11:15 PM; so our idea to get to Gorumara Elephant Camp was far flung. What we needed was a shelter. We checked into Air View hotel at Rs 1000/- for a double bed room. We were dead tired and retired to bed as soon as we entered the room.
Day 2
6:30 AM in the morning.
We ordered for tea and meanwhile completed our ablutions. The plan for the day was to get to Gorumara and convince the Range Officer to allow us to stay in the Elephant Camp. In case if that fails we planned to take the safari ride and head for Cooch Behar. So we checked out from Air View hotel and headed out for Gorumara at around 7:15 AM.
Gorumara is about 80 Km from Siliguri and the road is pretty well compared to what we faced last day. There is an odd 7-10 Km stretch which is not so good. Before entering Jalpaiguri we took the bypass on the left(that took us straight to Lataguri through Mainaguri) to avoid Jalpaiguri traffic.
A little background is needed here. To book a cottage or tree-house in Gorumara, one has to make a draft of Rs. 2400/- or Rs. 2800/- (for tree house) and send it over to the Range officer of Lataguri. If time is short, you can fax it. On reaching the camp, you have to pay for the food. Our draft was for for the tree house at the elephant camp. But the trouble was that it was for the previous day; and we couldn't make it to Gorumara the previous day.
So our only hope was to convince the Range office and transfer it to the present day. As we reached Lataguri Nature Interpretation Center (office of the Range officer), we approached the gentleman in change there. And gentleman he was indeed. He talked to the Range officer first and then we were summoned to this office. The Range officer, a bold middle aged man with heavy voice, greeted us and asked us to take seats. We told him about our journey from yesterday. We were surprised to find both of them so helpful. They told us that having a vacant tree-house or cottage is purely on luck, and they checked their register to see if anything was available.
Lucky for us the tree house was still empty for that day. And the Range officer quickly assigned us the tree house and completed the paperwork. We took the gate pass from him and greeted him a good day ahead. It will be injustice on my part if I fail to mention the extreme well nature and helpfulness of the two gentlemen. They could have easily avoided us. But they didn't. And that's why we could enjoy the best part of our journey.
The gate to Gorumara Elephant Camp is around 10 Km from Lataguri Forest Interpretation Center. It's a large gate on the right with a big rhino statue in front After signing the security post we were allowed in. We already started to feel the jungle.
The road from this gate to the camp is around 2 Km from the deep jungle. You could hear hundreds of types of birds all around you. The trees are huge and create a canopy in some parts. The road is pebbled and narrow, broad enough only for one vehicle. Just before entering the camp we were stopped by the local heroes there. A herd of Elephants were returning. Their mahouts, the one in control of an elephant, took them off the track for a brief while to make room for us to pass. And now we were in the camp.
We reached the camp and completed the formalities there. Food charges where Rs. 300 /person which included lunch, dinner, snack and breakfast. We inquired for some tea at the cafeteria and were instantly offered with two cups of freshly made tea. The people at the camp were immensely helpful.
Soon we found ourselves following one of the camp personnel He was guiding us to our tree house, Teesta. This was the only tree house in this camp and the closes one to the jungle. It took us very little time to explore the exotic tree house It was made at around the middle of two Sal trees, supported by multiple wood pillars towering from the ground. This was our first tree house experience and it was amazing. The house was made of wood. It had all modern amenities inside and still looked antique. To our surprise, the room had one attached balcony where you could sit and relax during the evening. There was a camp schedule printed inside the room. We quickly got freshened and got ready for lunch. Although we were really hungry, but the real urgency was to see what was scheduled next.
For space constraint I cant put the whole review here
please read it from here
https://thetravellerweare.blogspot.in/2012/12/gorumara-dhupjhora-day-with-eleph
ants.html
