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| Mouchuki Beat Neora Valley |
Neora Valley National Park is one of the last few virgin forests of India. Due to its location which is primarily on the higher reaches of eastern Himalayas, it has been able to preserve its pristine beauty.
Neora valley national park is divided into two ranges. The lower range can be accessed from Samsing, the headquarters of Lower Neora Range, and the upper range can be accessed from its headquaerter Lava.
Our first destination was Samsing. Samsing is a beautiful forest village on the foothills of Himalaya.
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| Road from Metteli to Samsing |
The journey to Samsing is always delightful. From Metelli, the remaining 10 kilometer road wanders its way past some of the beautiful tea gardens in the region. The forest village is situated just after crossing the Jalpaiguri district, and inside the Kalimpong district. We stayed our first night on the beautifully decorated WBFDC forest rest house in Samsing.
Althrough most of the tourists stay at Sunatelykhola which is 4 kilometers uphill from Samsing, I have always preferred staying at Samsing forest rest house.
There are only 8 rooms on a two storied bungalow in the middle of the forest in Samsing FRH. The rooms are wooden finished and really big. The caretaker here really takes care of the guests, and prepares some delightful food. There is no set menu, so you can request for the local food, which will be beautifully prepared by them. We just loved the local chutney they served with Aloo paratha, during the breakfast.
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| WBFDC Samsing Forest Rest House |
The other benefit you get by staying here is, the office of the lower Neora range is just a 5 minutes walk, so you can easily obtain the permits for entering the Neora valley forest from here.
We stayed for 1 night in Samsing forest rest house, and visited the usual popular sight scene spots such as Rocky Island and Laliguras. Laliguras provides a beautiful view of the dooars region below samsing. The place is situated inside a tea garden. From here you get to see the beautiful Murti river flowing down the valley and also the nearly hills. Its a beautiful sunrise spot as well. In fact the sunrise at Laliguras is as beautiful as from many of the popular sunrise spots in India.
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| Beautiful Hills at Laliguras |
Next day we walked down to the nearly forest office, and obtained the entry permits for going inside the Mouchuki forest rest house. Mouchuki forest rest house is situated in the Mouchuki beat, inside the Neora Valley NP. The place is 8 kilometers inside thick forest and the ride through the forest is absolutely thrilling.
From Samsing you have to first come to Fari Busty, and from there you have to take the unmetalled road towards Mouchuki. Its a proper off-roading track, as most of the route is made up of rocks, and you really require a skilled local driver and preferably a 4WD car to negotiate this stretch.
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| Road to Mouchuki Forest Rest House |
From Samsing the elevation changes sharply, as you continuously climb uphill. Because of the road condition, climbing the road with speed is difficult, so a 4WD always helps to get the proper traction.
However we were not complaining. Seldom you get a chance to travel through such a road, and the beautiful thick forest which was surrounding us made the entire place drop dead gorgeous. The weather was cloudy that day, so as we were climbing uphill, fog and cloud started to engulf us. It was really a surreal feeling.
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| Beautiful Lower Neora Range |
We stopped at numerous occasions to enjoy the forest. When you switch off your engine, inside the forest there is complete silence. Only the rustle of leaves and occasional tweets of the hill birds were breaking the silence. The forest is absolutely pristine , with a dense undergrowth of fern and other shrubs. In such a forest it is very difficult to spot wildlife. However if you want to enjoy the beauty of tall trees and dense foliage, this is the place for you.
Samsing to Mouchuki takes more than an hour, because of the road condition. Just before Mouchuki Forest rest house, there is a checkpost where you have to show your permit.
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| Mouchuki Beat Checkpost |
After showing our night stay permit at the checkpost, we drove for another 10 minutes, and reached Mouchuki Forest rest house. One of the reasons to visit this place, is the outstanding rustic charm of the Mouchuki Forest rest house. Built like a chalet, the wooden structure blends beautifully with the surroundings.
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| Mouchuki Forest Rest House |
Its situated on top of a hill, and from the rest house you get a beautiful view of the Samsing village below, and the dense woods of the Neora valley NP.
On the backside of the rest house are lofty hills of Bhutan. On that particular day, those mountain tops were covered with dense clouds, making it look even more beautiful.
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| The Clouded Hills of Bhutan |
There are only 4 rooms in the rest house. all double bedded equipped with western toilets and geyser. However please understand, the facilities here are basic as the place is extremely remote. Please use the water sparsely, as there is water shortage. However the hospitality of the staffs are very good.
On our arrival, we got our rooms readily, and the caretaker immediately prepared a beautiful Darjeeling tea for us. on the first floor there is a common living space, with a big window, where we sat and enjoyed the sublime mountain views.
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| View From Mouchuki Forest Rest House |
After lunch we rested for a while. In the meantime, it rained and luckily the weather cleared up, revealing the beautiful vistas around.
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| Views Around Mouchuki |
Benjamin, the caretaker, showed us the trek route that goes from Mouchuki beat to Lava via Thosum beat. Its a hard trek route, which takes couple of days. The route is absolutely surreal. From here you can also trek towards Rachela Peak, at almost 11000 feet, it's the highest point of Neora Valley NP.
There were thick bamboo groves, a natural habitat of the elusive red pandas. Red Pandas are extremely shy animal and mostly ventures out at night, so in day time, its almost impossible to get a glimpse of them on those deep forests.
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| Mouchuki to Lava Trek |
Some of the areas are so dense that hardly any sunlight enters the forest floor. This is the reason Neora valley is very moist, and a heaven for the leeches. Whenever you are trekking through these kind of routes, beware of the leeches, they are kind of omnipresent here. We walked on that route for half an hour enjoying the beautiful views and the thrill of the forest. Slowly its was becoming tough for us, as the gradient was increasing, so we decided to came back.
The rest of the day were spent sitting on the living room, with typical adda, music and sharing travel stories from our past experience. Places like Mouchuki are meant for that. There is no network, So you can get the gift of digital detox, and connect with people, share your experience and breathe nature!!
