Cycling in Darjeeling(Senchal wildlife sanctuary)

Chatakpur, the first mountain bike park of India was inaugurated on year 2017 . The route for chatakpur starts from Jorebunglow where we rented 5 mountain bikes from Bunk and Trails and also booked the hostel which made it easier for us to leave early in the morning to hit the trail (situated right on the way to the Senchal forest, it's a backpackers hostel which has a theme of mountain bikes and the owner also conducts Mountain bike tours).  The trail goes  through the Senchal wildlife division which is the ride through the reserve forest. The forest road is beautiful with the possibilities of encountering  birds ,pheasants and other animals on route. The main attraction of this route are Senchal Lake of Senchal wildlife Sanctuary and Chatakpur. Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary is the place of the imposing hills, towering conical trees the cloud bearing sky and murmuring water flow. Being Situated in the vicinity of the ‘Queen of the Himalayas, it is endowed with all the grandeurs of the hills of Darjeeling and something more as it is the garden of the ‘ God of Small Things’. Those who desire to look at the nature at her creative best must choose this route to Ride Mountain Bike through Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary to take a look at these unique ‘Small Things’. Chatakpur is a beautiful place maintained by the forest department. One can also stay there and enjoy overnight in the lodges of the forest department or can also just visit there go around and return the same day as the complete trail took us about 7 hours. We could have done the tiger hill trail too but the difficulty level is higher as the road to tiger hill is very steep and if one is familiar to riding mountain bikes, he or she could easily ride to tiger hill and watch a magnificent sunset.

Next day we took the day route from Ghoom to Lamahatta and made our way cycling through lush green tea gardens and crystal-clear rivulets. The zigzag trail had many some hairpin bends for us to get our adrenaline pumping. We even got to cycle through the dense forest and stop for some fresh Himalayan spring water all the while hearing the crashing Teesta in the distance – a treat to the senses and an emotional rollercoaster. The trail was through the main road so we had to be careful of other vehicles plying on the road.

Bunk and Trails