Soul of a Traveler

Travel is something which is a very unique experience. A traveler is a traveler by birth - no matter whether he  has been to different places or not. The passion for traveling runs in his blood right from his childhood. A person who just loves to travel will never never bother about small obstacles like heat or traffic or mode of travel. He can travel in a bullock cart as well as in a Mercedes if lucky enough! If anyone asks a traveler why he travels then there is no answer to that. It is almost the same as asking a nightingale why it sings, or questioning a baby why it always looks for its mother's lap! A traveler doesn't travel to achieve or prove anything - he does it for himself, as if he is simply destined to see the world and love it as it is! There is no question asked, no logic, no give and take. A traveler has no goal to reach, no hope to carry, no burden to deliver, no one to specifically meet. Traveling is basically a soul searching, kind of an introspection. If a traveler, at all has any thing to get from globetrotting, then that would be searching his own self, to dig deep into his inner soul. A traveler is a very happy and unique creature in himself. A true traveler knows how to accept whatever comes in his path as it is. Nothing can dampen his spirit.

Jalpaiguri, Dooars, Jaldapara, Bhutan

Day 1: 2nd April

We all got ready within 8:30am and settled all the dues at the reception. We started journey at 9am and we were heading for Siliguri. The road was running parallel to the toy train rails. We were directed to take the Pankhabari road by the traffic police. The problem with the road is that it is too narrow and risky and as a result accident prone. Anyway we managed to reach Siliguri almost in time spite of heavy traffic in the opposite direction. 

the widespread Tea Garden on both side of the road from Darjeeling to Siliguri

From Siliguri our plan was to hire another 8 seater cab to Jalpaiguri, but the cab drivers there were asking some absurd amounts 1000/- bucks or 1500/- bucks for Siliguri to Jalpaiguri, whereas the same distance in Bus is only 25 bucks per head, totaling to a mere 125/- for 5 persons. So we boarded a private bus, which was indeed the worst and silliest blunder we did. That bus took 2.5 hrs to reach Jalpaiguri. Never ever get in any private bus if you are traveling from Siliguri to Jalpaiguri like us.

Anyway, we had our plans to stay in a hotel for that day and to shift to Jaldapara Jungle Resort on the next day. But unfortunately we couldn't find any decent clean hotel there nearby. So we changed our plan and directly reached one of our relative's house. Next day morning we started our journey towards Jaldapara Jungle Resort. We reached around 11:30am and checked in our respective rooms. We booked two (2) wooden cottage for 2 days and per wooden cottage the rent was 2500/- per day. There were normal cottages also and their rate was cheaper, around 2300/- per day.

the entry path, wooden bridge over the nullah surrounding the resort

Initially we had plans to book rooms at Holong Jungle Bungalow. But since it is at a far better location, i.e much deeper inside the jungle itself, there is more demand and rooms are filled up quickly. To book rooms in Holong Bungalow, need to have some hold in the Govt. Tourism department, and that too have to book from Kolkata office.

 

What we did, we simply kept our luggage there in room and then came back to reception to finalize and book the elephant safari, next day early in the morning. They couldn't confirm, because some VIP guests had come so the availability of elephants were little problem. They requested us to wait till evening 7pm to get confirmation. Otherwise we have Jeep Safari option. The difference between Jeep and Elephant safari is, Jeep cannot go in some areas where Rhinos generally comes out for food, but Elephants can. And elephant safari is costly too.

Monastery @ Phuntsholing

Since there was no work for that day, other than waiting to the safari booking in the evening so we called our driver to take us to Phuntsholing @ Bhutan. It took another 1:50hrs to reach Phuntsholing. The distance from Jaldapara to Phuntsholing was not at all far, "but" the road leading to Bhutan was so bumpy that driving a car on the village road rather would feel like a cake walk to you! It was less of a road and more of a death trap for both the ride and the rider, because of the sheer number of pits on every meter of the road. By the time we reached Bhutan all of us were tired of continuous jerking. We directly went to the monastery and spent some time there. Check out the snaps of the monastery...

The Main Monastery @ the top of the hill

On both side of the Indo Bhutan gate there are markets, restaurants, shops selling varieties of different products. We had lunch at one such restaurant. I got 2 Bhutanese notes, as I asked the cashier to give the return changes in Bhutanese currency. :)

We came back to resort around 6:30pm and got to know that there was no elephant available for safari. Altogether 3 Elephants were there and all were booked by the VIPs. Then got some inside information that, if you are really desperate to go for elephant ride then you can book it from their kolkata office itself. So we booked Jeep Safari and paid Rs.1700/- for one jeep. There is no sharing option, since for a whole group one jeep is  allotted. In one jeep 7-8 average adult can seat, so for a bigger group (> = 10 members) you need to book more than one jeep.

Garden cum sitting area @ Jaldapara Jungle Resort

Anyway, nothing can spoil your mood if you are a true traveler in mind. I specially was happy to see interior of our cottage - it was nicely decorated, with clean soft furnishings, quite spacious (specially the bathroom). But the best thing was the private Balcony. We spent rest of the evening by simply relaxing, chatting and having excellent chicken pakodas and tea. In one plate they served 8 pakodas and the tea was complementary.

Around 7:30pm the management announced for a theme show at the Garden cum sitting area (see below). There are many animal statues placed at different corners of the whole area and beautiful lighting arrangements are done to highlight them while playing a audio voice over to explain about those animals and their specialties. All the animals showcased there, they all are inhabitants of Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary.

Jaldapara Jungle Resort

After that show the management made another announcement to all the guests to come over and have their buffet dinner at the dining area. Their buffet was decent. There is one thing which really surprised me is that, while they serve food, may it be breakfast or lunch or dinner, they play nice Bengali songs, Rabindra sangeet to old famous Bengali contemporary songs. That was indeed a WOW experience for me!

After dinner we came back to our respective cottages around 9:30pm. I just thought of opening a window facing deep inside the jungle and enjoy the nocturnal beauty of Jaldapara. Then I realized that all the windows were fully covered with net, and the window glasses are fixed with the pane, not to be opened. Because it is indeed a mosquito and many nocturnal animal infested area. And here I can't resist myself from getting tempted to forewarn you that, Do not keep your balcony door open at night. Otherwise you will end up sleeping together with "Takshak" (one variety of lizards) and jungle bat (hanging just above your head) and who knows what more! Nonetheless, you will be blessed to be the audience to the excellent orchestra played by huge sized mosquitoes. and Rest assured that these mosquitoes are all female and they wont leave you alone even for a single moment!

Rhino Watch Tow

But thankfully I could sleep quite well and next day we got our wake up call for Jeep Safari at 4:30am from the reception. We got ready and went out where our jeep were waiting for us. We left around 5:30am. Unfortunately it was raining then and we realized what a bad day for us to go to the jungle as all the animals would be hiding somewhere under the big trees or within their shelter. We ain't have no other option except going, since we paid in advance. So we carried on, but were only able to see some Bison, Peacocks, Sambar and Deers. But no glimpse of any Rhino or so! :(

See above, you can see the Rhino watch tower. We were not able to any Rhino though! There are two (2) such towers.

Holong Jungle Bungalow

The tower shown above is the second one and from there generally in a normal clear day you could be lucky enough find out a Rhino family having their morning breakfast at a distance!

Ultimately we realised that there is no way we will be able to see even a silhouette of Rhino. Our driver then took us to Holong Jungle Bungalow, see left. 

After an unfruitful morning safari we cam back to our resort and changed our fully wet dresses.

run baby run !

The rain didn't stop fully, it was continuously drizzling outside. We just went out in the lawn and made ourselves content with these mere statues of Rhinos. Don't know about others but at least I had my fun time!

After all these fun time we came back to rooms and went to the restaurant area to finished our buffet breakfast. There were option of boiled egg, bread, jam, butter, poori and dum aloo, ripe banana, milk, cornflakes, etc. 

After breakfast we packed our luggage as quickly as possible. Around 10:30am we started our journey back to Jalpaiguri. On our way we visited Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary and Gorumara Wildlife Sanctuary.

Deep in side Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary

We learnt from the guards there at Gorumara and Chapramari wildlife sanctuary that every year many baby and adult elephants die under running train at the level crossing near Chapramari. This year also around the month of February as many as 9 elephants died after getting hit by express trains. Generally the elephants try to cross the rail line to come to the other part of the jungle during night and early in the morning. During winter season the line will be covered with think fog which makes it almost impossible for the elephants to see any incoming train. As a result they try to cross the line being completely unaware of the rushing death summon. Anyway, we gathered many unknown information about jungles, wildlife sanctuary, poaching and animals.

 

We started to head back towards Jalpaiguri. Had some tea at a road side stall on our way back. Around 2:30pm we ultimately reached back at Jalpaiguri.