Dhaka, Sunday February 26, 2006

 

Gorumara sanctuary

Before going to Darjeeling, we wanted to visit the famous rhino sanctuary at Jaldapara of Jalpaiguri.
To book our accommodation at Jaldapara we visited the office of the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation at Shiliguri. The officer there informed us that all the accommodations have been sold to in advance. However, we can find accommodation at a rest house of a leopard rescue centre near Jaldapara for a couple of days. We humbly declined the proposal and planned a desperate visit to Gorumara sanctuary on our way back from Lava and Loleygoan.
Lara and Loleygoan, the two hill stations of the eastern Himalayas, acquired some admiration from trekkers. We visited both the places from Darjeeling via Kalimpong by jeep through the heart of the Himalayas.
Although both the destination failed to appeal us much, the scenic beauty that the road journey offered was simply splendid.
Driving for five hours through the hills and plains of Jalpaiguri interspersed with tea gardens and patches of forests, we reached Chalsa from Loleygoan in the late afternoon. Chalsa is a small township and gateway to the famous Dooers forest tracts which sustains most of the prized animals of the sub-continent. We drive down another 45 minutes towards south and were fortunate enough to secure our accommodation at a private resort named Gajagaming. It was placed on the borderline of the forest and we saw some peacocks busy picking insects on the edge of the forest.
The manager informed us that we can stay the first night in the resort building but for the next night we have to stay at a tent near the forest. He also informed us that two nights before our arrival two elephants barged into the resort area by pushing a tree on the electrified fence of the resort. The other nocturnal visitors are the leopards and they have snatched away all the cats of the resort.
As our expectation rose high, one information poured water on it. There are three approaches to Garumara forest where tourists are permitted to enter on payment of fees. Each tourist is allowed to stay inside the forest area for two hours -- twice in the morning and once in the evening. The entry permission must be taken a day in advance and tourists on foot are not allowed.
To our dismay, we came to know that all tickets have been sold for the next day from Lataguri forest office. So the manager advised us that only the game warden can permit us inside if we can convince him.
We met the game warden in his office and informed him about our intention. The imposing and well informed warden, Bimal Debnath, showed enough generosity to permit us to stay in the forest for long hours and provided us a forest guard for safely.
Now we have the famous Garumara sanctuary ahead of us to explore. The forest consists principally of Sal trees with patches of grassland and accacians on the sandy bed of Murti river. Cane breaks, elephant grass and reeds abound in the moist areas of the sanctuary which makes attractive habitats for four kinds of deer (spotted, samber, barking and hog), pigs, leopards and lesser cats, gaur, elephant and one-horned great Indian rhinoceros in addition to a great variety of birds.
After a simple but tasty dinner we sat on the balcony of the two-storey resort to feel the forest at night. All the sounds ceased from the forest except the occasional alarm call of peafowls.
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Photo & story: Khasru Choudhury