Sandakphu : Woodlands

Sandakphu trek route reaches the highest point of West Bengal, Sandakphu at 3636 m/11926 ft, inside Darjeeling district. This trek follows the famous Singalila Ridge, a prominent spur of high ground that lies at the southern end of a long crest, which runs down from the Kanchendzongha massif and forms the border between Sikkim & Nepal. One of the unavoidable necessities of trekking in Himalaya is that the best views are had from high up but the trek along this ridge, passing through small settlements, is perhaps the one of the most scenically rewarding in the Himalaya. This is indeed an ideal trek for the beginners with a tea-house style but a must visit for the experienced trekkers also. There are spectacular panoramic views of Nepal Himalayas including Kanchendzongha range, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Jannu, Chamlang, Baruntse and a host of Sikkim peaks all seen in one stretch. The famous “Sleeping Buddha” formation of peaks is a delight for all.

Day 0 "THE PLANNING"

Being a photo enthusiast and a travel freak it is like as if I am sitting in home for more than 2 months it starts to bug me a lot. More over being a landscape photographer and staying in Kolkata is probably the worst mismatch. So I was actually seeing this trek and was planning to do so but initially with my friends. But as we all no friends means business and in case your friends are not photographers the business usually lies in GOA. So my last resort is always my family. And the planning started. We collected some information, booked our rooms from the Gorkha land territorial association situated at Salt Lake. I will provide the numbers below incase if you need.

Day 1: "THE JOURNEY STARTS"

We started our journey on 5th May from shealdah via. Darjeeling express. And we reached NJP at 9:15am. The usual way to go for sandakphu is to reach Manebhanjan and from there you have to book cars or hire a trek guide. Thats how it usually goes. No outside vehicles are allowed inside the singalila national park. We planned it differently. We went to Darjeeling instead just to get the feel of the mountains first. Being a bengali Darjeeling holds a very nostalgic part in our hearts. So we stayed there for one night. since it was the month of May the weather was pathetic which I didn't expected to be very honest. More over cyclone "PHANI" ruined it since the low pressure center was situated over sikkim at that time. Unfortunately there was no image Darjeeling that I comfortable with hence I opted not to shot anything.

DAY 2 : "TO SANDAKPHU"

From Darjeeling we took a cab for Manebhanjan which cost us around 1200 INR. ON the way we saw few places like leepchajagat and sukhiyapokhri.

From leepchajagat it is just another 4 kms to Manebhanjan. After reaching there we Booked our car for the entire trip. The cost of the car is as follows :

Manjebhanjan to Tonglu : 2000INR

Manebhanjan to Sandakphu : INR5000

Manebhanjan to Phalut : INR8000

*night halt charges extra- 1000 for the first night/ INR1500 second night onwards.

We booked for phalut trip which cost us 13000INR including the night charges.

The car was a 20th century Land Rover. Retro at its best and uncomfortable at its best too :P. Any ways, the entry to the Singalila National Park is great. The roads were great and the beauty was fantastic. After driving for 1hour we reached a place called Meghma, what a beauty. The meghma means the land of clouds. No wonder why it was so named. It was clouds everywhere. We had our breakfast over there and proceeded our journey further towards tonglu.

We reached Tonglu at around 11am. There is only a small GTA hut for trekkers. The only reason to select Tonglu over tumling(located 1km further downhill)is only because of the tranquility of the place and the view.

To be very honest the actual view with the hut-lake and Kanchenjunga in the background would have been breathtaking but my luck is always on the other side so I gave a moody atmosphere with a near 0 visibility.

Never the less, being a photographer I was not extremely disappointed. The wind blowing at near 80km/hrs speed and was extremely difficult for us to cope with. For people who would like to go there for photography get one thing clear there is no electricity in the whole of singalila region. the only of power is solar. So have adequate power supply with yourself.

The Night was amazing. The wind was blowing but the sky was absolutely clear. Being under the dark sky and seeing the whole galaxy infront of you is a feeling that one can ever describe.

It is absolutely freighting to stand in the middle of no where, to be true. But you can cherish for the rest of your life. We had our dinner at 8pm. The photo was actually take after 10pm. There was lot of planning involved behind this shot which I'll discuss later.

I was actually wishing to see the Kanchenjungha in the morning but couldn't. It was extremely cloudy. I was certain that the whole trip will be like that. So I concentrated on things which other wise I would have been ignored.

KALIPOKHRI :

After spending a night at Tonglu we went ahead for Kalipokhri, a beautiful place which lies near the Indo Nepal border. The place is famous for the dark lake also known as Kali(dark) pokhri(lake).

There are many homestays and lodges that provide both food and lodging. Charging can be done over here, but the source of electricity is sun.

This is actually guarded by the BSF and there are few restrictions as well. Just in case if you are luck, you can spot red pandas here.

This is one of the best place to witness the night sky as the skies are dark and its also safe to be outside. wild dogs are common but non of them would bite.

We stayed there of 1 night and went on for Sandakphu.

Sandakphu :

The route to sandakphu was really hard if you are on the landrovers and the entire paths are full of boulders and the cars are not at all comfortable. It takes around an hour to reach sandakphu from here.

The entire path is full of rhododendrons here, and the its a treat to the eyes.

We reached the top by 9am and it was all cloudy as usual.

We decided to not continue till Phalut as the weather was not in favor of ours. Hence we decided to go down and have some coffee at Darjeeing instead.

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