A Sudden yet Memorable Trip to Dooars

As we all are now at home because of locked down so thought to share my travel experience in Dooars, which we planned suddenly. So it's happened like this in 2017 we thought to visit Bangladesh but just the day before our journey we had to cancel our trip for some reason and then thought why not use our already approved holidays to visit any other place in India. And we started searching for tickets availability in train for round trip. After lots of searching we found tickets to NJP (New Jalpaigudi Station). And then we started to plan our tour, here we have two options first visit to Lava-Lolegaon or second Dooars along with Jhalong and Bindu where one can take the experience of wildlife sanctuary as well as hill stations. Finally after lots of discussion we decided to take the second option. Then within one week we packed our bags and started our journey.

First day we take train from Kolkata station which is "12517 Kolkata Guwahati Garib Rath express" till New Jalpaigudi Station, here I want to mention one thing that the whole train is AC 3A but one problem is side births also have three seating and sleeping arrangements so there is little space problem mostly who are tall and broad physics and also they don't provide pillow or bedsheets like others if you want you have to pay for it.

We reached at Jalpaigudi Station next day exactly at 8:30 am. Here I want to mention we don't book our car before but there is plenty of travel offices out side of the station and from there after a little bargaining we booked a eight seater car for us and started our journey to Jaldapara National Park. Here what we did is asked our driver dada to take a little de route and go via Sevoke and trust me the journey is awesome, Teesta looks at it's best. Like every unplanned trip we don't have any booking for hotels also. So after a little help of internet and recommendation from the travel office, decided to stay at Jaldapara Rhino Resort just beside the jungle but don't worry as the resort is surrounded by brick wall and the gate is always locked.  We reached there around 1:00pm and after a little relaxation, we freshen up, had our lunch and started our local sight seeing for the day. Today we visited Totopara and Khayer Bari.
Totopara:- 30km from Jaldapara a small village on the banks of River Torsha bordering Bhutan is the only habitation of Toto, a primitive tribe in Dooars.
Khayer Bari:- South Khayer Bari is an animal rescue center of Dooars situated just 15km away from Jaldapara. From parking lot to entrance around 200km we walked. Here you can watch from Royal Bengal Tiger to Leopard.  One can go for boating also.

On the way back to our hotel we stopped at Jaldapara National Park safari booking counter just beside the West Bengal government's Jaldapara tourist lodge. Here you have to carry xerox copy of your identity proof duly signed and here you can avail both Jeep and Elephant safari but as there is less number of elephants available so in pic season chances are low. But if you booked room at Holong Tourist Lodge you will get the first chance for elephant safari. We were lucky enough that we could booked second shift elephant safari and first shift Jeep Safari. After booking done for next day we went back to our resort have our dinner and went to bed.

Our morning started a bit early today. At 4:30am we started our journey for  Jeep Safari from our resort (with some extra charges they come to your hotel for pickup). After some documentation which done by the driver and guard themselves our Jeep Safari started. But we were not lucky enough to watch plenty of animals but we do see Peacock, Rhino, Langur and lots of bird. Still the experience is wonderful when we watched sunrise in between the jungle. And here is some pictures

After Jeep Safari we headed for our Elephant safari and there also we couldn't watch more still the experience was great

After completing the safari we returned to our resort and had our breakfast as soon as possible because our car has already reached to take us for our next destination Jaigaon and Phuentsholling.
Jaigaon:- This is an India-Bhutan border. From here an Indian citizen can enter Phuentsholling which is border area of Bhutan without any permit.
Phuentsholling:- Here at first we visited at a crocodile park and then headed to Karbandi Monastery and while returning halted at Zengtopelri a Buddhist temple.

Fourth day was planned for Coochbehar visit. As planned before we packed our bags and get ready to started our journey to our next destination. Before starting the car our driver asked us about the route because there was two options one is from Sevoke which we already covered and second is in between the Chilapata Jungle and we choose the second one. So after some time when finally our car enter the jungle it had a amazing view like this...

After  reaching Coochbehar first we visited at Madanmohan Temple as my mother and grandmother wanted to offer pray there so first we visited there and if you visit before 12:00pm you can book Mahaprasad. There is different kind of tariffs for Prasad which you can book.

Madanmohan Temple:-  This temple is constructed by Maharaja Nripendra Narayan. The main deity of this temple is Lord Krishna, who is called as Madanmohan.

After offering the prayer and book our Mahaprasad and started our journey to another place and that is the Palace. Here I wanted to mention though they does not check much (I am telling about the time when I visited here) but please don't click photos after you entered the Palace, you can click pictures from outer part of the Palace like the front side and garden area. There is a museum in palace which is a must visit place.

Along with Madanmohan Temple and the Palace one can visit "Sagar Dighi". We also did the same, spend some time there and then headed to the temple. There we have the Prasad then started our journey to Gorumara National Park. We did not stay there but if you want you can.

Today as usual I get up early in the morning (only when I travel) and decide to explore the places around. Because yesterday we reached pretty late so couldn't see much. There is a tea garden just beside our resort along with the last point where the dense forest end, so you can imagine my level of excitement. And while roaming clicked some pictures like this....

After roaming around the place for some time I returned to my room to get ready as we had planned to visit Jhalong, Suntalekhola, Samsing along with Jaldhaka hydel project.
In today's visit first we visited at the bank of Murti river and spend some time. The crystal clear water with the soothing sound of running water made that place so serene that one can spend hours just seating there or can went to visit the jungle opposite banks of the river if want to add some adventurous experience to their memory.

From there we headed to Jaldhaka hydel project and the route was yet again beautiful because we had to cross "Chapramari" forest range of "Garumara National Park" here one thing I want to mention one can book tickets for safari here and the watch tower is far from the localization so the chances of watching wildlife is more. So we cross the range and our car headed to our next spot but on the way we found a rubber factory so request our driver to stop for some time. Then we roam around the factory and rubber garden and with this we get to see some coffee plants which is unexpected.

Again we started our journey and after some time find a Momo center beside the road so we decided to stop and relish the test of Momo in North India and trust me you can't find the taste here in Kolkata. From there we started and finally reached our second destination Jaldhaka hydel project. After spending and roaming around we started to our next point Suntalekhola. But because of our little expedition here and there on the way so the lunch time had arrived and we decided to have our lunch at "Apple stone restaurant" just beside the giant Apple stone rock and we had our lunch along with watching the beautiful view from the restaurant.

From there we headed to Suntalekhola without any further stop. After reaching and visited Jhalong and Bindu two villages of West Bengal under the Kalimpong subdivision we headed to our next point Samsing.
Here you have to book a local car to visited the places around so we did,  and also clicked some beautiful pictures...

Here our today's journey completed and we headed back to our resort at Garumara National Park by Chalsa.

Today we only decided to go for jungle safari one in the early morning and other in the late evening and roam around the local place with some shopping. Our second safari started at 4:00pm as per the guidance from forest officers and some locals we booked tickets for Jatrabasak watch tower because this is also little far from localization so chances are more to see some wildlife.

As recommended we do see some bison, deer,rhino, peacock and birds. I am sharing tariffs for the watch tower below....

on the time of return we went to watch tribal dance which is included in tariffs if you take late evening safari.

and we called it a night because tomorrow we have train "Teesta Torsha express"from NJP to Kolkata.

As this is our last day precisely morning here so we again went for some last minute shopping have some local cuisine and in afternoon started our journey to station. On the way we stopped at Gajodola just beside the Teesta barrage, have our lunch with "Boirali macher jhal"(one must try dish in North Bengal for all the fish lovers), roam around, clicked some photos. (If you have time you can go for bird watching by booking a boat).

And here our beautiful journey come to it's end.