Dooars: The shared custody

Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary is a habitat of the rare one-horned rhinoceros, the mighty bison, leopard, spotted deer, sambar, hog deer, reptiles, huge wild tuskers, wild boars and the rarest variety of animals and birds including plenty of peacocks. Elephant riding through the Jaldapara forest in search of wild animals, particularly the one-horned rhinos, has become a craze among the tourists to this area.

A birdwatcher's paradise. Gorumara park located on the bank of rivers Murti and Raidak has vegetation of riverine grasslands interspersed with savannah woodlands. Much of this forest is moist deciduous and sal (shorea robusta) is the most common and valuable tree. Teak, Simul, siris, Khair are also found here. The park is breathtaking with its rivers and mountain ranges. Besides the one horned rhinoceros, the fauna of the park include Indian Elephant, Indian Bison, leopard, different species of deer, turtles, pythons, monkeys etc. and more than 200 species of birds.

Lataguri is the base for your tour to Gorumara National Park. Tourism around Gorumara started in Lataguri and its surrounding area although today large number of tourist accommodation has come up all around the forest including in Murti, Ramsai and other area. Even today most tourists prefer to stay around Lataguri. There is a Nature Interpretation centre at Lataguri which issues ticket for day visitors inside forest, known as forest safari. Cultural programs such as tribal dance etc. are organised at the centre in the evening. There are watch towers for viewing the animals inside the park. They are Jatraprasad Watch tower (named in memory of a legendary elephant of that name), Rhino observation point in front of the Gorumara forest bungalow, Old Khunia Watch Tower near the Murti forest bungalow and Suksukia Bird watching Point. Rhino observation point is the best place to observe wild animals like rhino, elephant, bison and deer as they regularly come to the salt reservoir just below the tower. From Gorumara it is only a two hours ride to Jaldapara wild life sanctuary which is also located in the dooars.

Time, the cruel mistress did not allow to wind up our trip with a nice finishing touch of Bhutan. Although the Indian-Bhutan border had quite the charm as well.In view of the long-standing political disputes and border confrontations between India and China, Bhutan has long been part of India's strategic defense plan. In the view of some Indian strategists, Bhutan was a weak link in India's defense against China. Although we managed to sneak in the borders for a few peeks of the King's palace and some breathtaking sights.