A Whirlwind Visit to Neora Valley

Time visited: May 2024

Time spent: Three nights

West Bengal is perhaps the only Indian state with mountains crowning its head and the sea skirting its feet. This year Kolkata became so unbearably hot in May that a trip to the mountains was inevitable. My mother was already there for a trip with her friends, so my father and I decided to join her. We left on the 27th of May, the day Cyclone Remal hit Kolkata. We managed to reach Howrah Station just in time to catch the Vande Bharat Express to New Jalpaiguri Station. The journey took eight hours. We reached New Jalpaiguri at 1:35 in the afternoon, joined my mother and started towards Neora Valley. The journey was pleasant and as the weather became cooler, I was relieved to have escaped the hot weather experienced in the past few days.

We crossed the hill town of Lava to enter the Neora Valley National Park, a UNESCO heritage-listed protected forest area. We had to show our identification cards and declare the length of our stay. Then we continued. The road was terrible. I felt like I was being tossed in a pan, and since it was already six in the evening, the road was completely dark and felt spooky. We came to a fork, where the road diverged into two - one leading to the Changey Falls and the other to the Neora Valley Jungle Camp. It was so dark that we nearly missed the gate to the Jungle Camp! I heaved a sigh of relief when we finally reached the camp.

The Jungle Camp consists of six cottages along with a restaurant area. The dinner we had was simple but excellent - rice, capsicum and potato curry, chicken curry, and Rashomalai for dessert - and we fell asleep as soon as we returned to our cottage.

Day 1

The next morning, we had a magnificent view of the Kanchendzonga and its surrounding peaks.

We had a busy day ahead of us. We started at 10:00 in the morning. We could not go in the car that brought us to the camp the night before since only a 4x4 car could handle the terrain we were visiting. The owner of the hotel arranged for an appropriate vehicle.

We first went to the Neora Valley National Park. It must be confusing since I said we entered Neora Valley National Park last night. That's true. When we entered, we came upon two roads, one going to the National Park, and the other to the Jungle Camp and the village below. To enter the Park, we first had to go to the Range Office of the Forest Department in Lava to show our identification cards to get a permit and pay for the tickets, which were around Rs 150-200 per head.

The trail inside the National Park was dangerous. We reached the forest guard’s station because the Jungle Safari was not by car but by foot. The guard who took us was very helpful. But it had just rained a few minutes ago and the path was extremely slippery. My father and I gave up, but my mother continued the 500-metre trek. On this trek, they take you to a viewpoint at the top, where you can also see the Kanchendzonga. The trek took nearly 45 minutes to complete. The forest guard gave me a pine cone as a reward!

We went back to Lava to have lunch at a small shop and then took the same road as last night's to Changey Falls. We reached there around 3:00 in the afternoon. My mother and I, and the driver-cum-guide, whom I called uncle because he was much older than me, went down the steps to the falls. The falls were absolutely mesmerising. The hike down did not take much time, but the hike up felt terrible. While we were coming up it started raining again. We came up completely drenched and panting like angry gorillas. This was the end of a tiring day.

Day 2

We visited three places the following day: Lava Monastery, Rishop and Nokdara Lake. We started at around 9:30 in the morning. Lava Monastery was the nearest, so we visited it first. There was a beautiful path surrounded by flowers of various kinds and colours leading to the monastery. It was a shame that a group of people were disturbing the silence of the beautiful monastery. We did not tell them anything, or else we could be in trouble, so we carried on.

When we reached the monastery, classes were in session. We quietly entered the temple. In the centre, there was a huge idol of Lord Buddha surrounded by various other gods and goddesses of Tibetan Buddhism. Large volumes of Buddhist scriptures were kept around the figures. The decoration both inside and outside the temple was extremely intricate and exquisite. We had to leave soon because the temple was to close from 10:30 to 11:30 am for the regular debate practice of the monks. We saw a part of the debate from outside. It was quite interesting as it was not like the normal debates we have at school.

Then we went to Rishop. It is a viewpoint and has some homestays and hotels. Before entering there, we had to buy tickets for Rs 60 each. When we reached, we could not find any parking since there were SO MANY cars. It was crowded to the brim, and we could not even see anything because of how cloudy it was. Also, there was this 'I Love (whatever place it is)' sign, where people were literally pushing each other to take pictures.

Our final destination was Nokdara Lake. The road to this lake was okay, but the signage was confusing and even broken in places. We reached the man-made lake at 1:30 in the afternoon. We took a stroll on the walkway around it. There were two restaurants, but both were closed and looked non-functional. We also saw some families paddle-boating on the lake. We avoided it as there was a long line of visitors. We then had our lunch at a shop outside and returned to the Jungle Camp.

We got to see some bonus places which we had not planned to visit. These places were like bonus points! One was a monastery on the way to Nokdara Lake, but I am not sure of its name. It was a small and cosy monastery, and there was a beautiful golden statue of Lord Buddha atop a small hill. Another was the River Chel. Its water was crystal clear. I even collected an interesting rock from the riverbed. Then we visited the Oodlabari Tea Estate. There were tea plants as far as the eyes could see!

On the following day, the 30th of May, we caught the Vande Bharat Express from New Jalpaiguri to Howrah Station and reached Kolkata shortly after 10:00 at night.

The trip to Neora Valley was a special one because of the interesting places we visited and the friendly and helpful people we met. However, we did face some problems while travelling, but here are the solutions for them:

1. The biggest problem was finding a clean washroom. I would recommend using the Pay and Use washrooms; they are the cleanest.

2. Please always carry cash because the mobile network in the hills is not very strong, so online transactions will not always be possible.

3. While travelling to the forests of this hilly region, especially during the monsoon season, you'll find a lot of leeches. Please carry some salt with you. In case of leech bites, put salt near the leech’s mouth and it will immediately fall off. Do not try to pull it off because it will hurt.

About the Author

Rai is a high school student, a dancer and a painter, and has a keen interest in history and love for nature. She lives in India with her parents.

The photos were taken by Debjani and Ratnanka, Rai's parents.