Chilapata - Dooars - Beautiful Colours of West Bengal - Destination East - Incredible India

Chilapata

We are now going to the Chilapata forest. It is located near Hasimara town. Chilapata means where little sunlight enters. So we can assume it is a dense forest. Geographically the Chilapata forest is the same part of forest that the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary belongs to. The river Torsa has divided the forest into two parts. One side of the river is the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary and the other side is known as the Chilapata forest. 

We have taken a guide with us. We are informed that taking a guide is mandatory to enter the forest. Our driver Hasanur seems very familiar to this area. I suppose he has given his service to numerous tourist groups to show the different Dooars forests. His home is also located in the Dooars area.

 Road map from Jaldapara to Chilapata

( Please don't judge by scale ;) )

The road condition is good. There are few local transports we have seen on the way. But they are very few in numbers. So the road is almost empty and our car is running fast and smooth.

We are now going through the Chilapata forest and we are moving a bit slower now. Our eyes are searching for the sight of wild animals. We are now taking a diversion from the main road and entering the jungle on our left side. 

We have covered a lot of distance in this forest. There are many places where we have seen signs of elephant movement. We have seen the guide to guess the timing of elephant movement judging the freshness of the signs. Our driver Hasanur is also seems very expert of understanding the forest. 

We have now come back to the main road and going to other part of the forest that is on the other side of this road. We are moving ahead silently. The condition of this car is very good. We can see Hasanur maintains it well. We reached to a place where a stream divides the road. A bridge is under construction so we cant cross the stream. We have stopped the car and have started a stroll. We are now crossing the bridge and going to the other side of the stream. This side is so dense that light is not reaching the ground. We are standing on the road and watching around. We can see the glowing sunlight on top of the trees but nothing can be seen near the ground. Its so much dark inside. And now we can feel why its called Chilapata. 

The under-construction bridge

We are spending some time here and clicking snaps of the jungle. Now we are going back to our car to take another road.

  

The stream disappears in the dense forest

Now we have taken a road which goes by the forest periphery. At the jungle side, we can see two peacocks are eating something from ground. We are a bit happy to see a wild animal at last. We have already covered many kilometers of distance inside the jungle. 

Now we have reached at the bank of the river Torsa. We have seen a cottage nearby. Sun is about to set and we are having a stroll on the road parallel to the river. Soumya is taking pictures of the orange sun. We are facing the river and the sun is hiding behind the jungle on the other side of the river. That is the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary. And on our backside, its the dense Chilapata forest. It feels beautiful standing here at this time.

After sunset

We are having a stroll. Hey look! What is that coming from the river? It seems like a rhino! Yes it is indeed. Its covered with mud all over. The mud is dried completely and the rhino is looking whitish. It is approaching towards us! Oh it wants to go back in the jungle after a playful day on the river bank. We are standing right on its way to jungle. We are thrilled. We have come some distance away from our car. If the rhino charges we can not jump into our car. What we are gonna do then?

The rhino looking at the visitors who are standing on their own feet

We are standing still and watching the rhino silently with lot of excitement. The rhino is coming near to us. It has now stopped and watching us. Probably it has not seen us before. Now after seeing us it has stopped moving. After some time we are slowly moving to our car. 

We are now going inside of our car. By this time another car with full of tourists has arrived. Our guide is trying to communicate with the other car's guide about the presence of the rhino. But after being informed about the rhino, the other tourists has began making noise due to the excitement. Now Hasanur has started our car and we are beginning our return journey.
Next part:   Murti

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Youtube video link:
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Next part:   Murti

Previous part:   Khairbari Tiger Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre

Khairbari - Dooars - Beautiful Colours of West Bengal - Destination East - Incredible India

 Khairbari Tiger Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre

We are taking rest in the lodge at Madarihat which is located near the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary entry gate. We have returned back to the lodge after a nice jungle safari with an amazing elephant riding experience. We have now completed our breakfast phase. Right! we have done the long jungle safari with empty stomach.

We have booked a car for the rest of the trip. Soumya has done the arrangement from Kolkata. The driver's name is Hasanur. He has drived from his home which is far from here. He was waiting outside the lodge with his car when we were returning from Jaldapara jungle safari.

We are now ready for the next journey. We are getting into the car. It is a Maruti Omni. Soumya is now sitting in the front seat. We are going towards South Khairbari. We are going to visit the animal rescue center there. 

We have taken a diversion from the main road after a half an hour drive. This path is narrow and going through a jungle. I am playing songs on my mobile phone. Its a Micromax X235 model. I am playing it on loudspeaker mode and the sound is nice. Now it playing the song "Labon ko Labon pe sajao". We all are having a nice time.

 Road Map from Jaldapara to Khairbari

( Please don't judge by scale ;) )

We have now reached at the Khairbari Tiger Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre. There are many people who has come to visit the centre. Probably they have come from nearby places for an outing. We are now going inside of the rehabilitation centre.

The animals which are rescued from nearby places or from other places in the North East India are kept here to rehabilitate. There are mainly leopards and tigers are kept here. Some of the animals are rescued from tea gardens or some from circuses. It is a nice initiative taken.

A leopard rescued from tea garden

There are many visitors for the animals. We can see many families with there kids. So this tiger rescue and rehabilitation centre is serving as local zoo for this people. Its a nice place for the kids.

Some Tigers are kept in cages. I was expecting them in bigger enclosures like the leopard in the above picture is enjoying. Probably there is reason behind this accommodation. The animals are seemed quite accustomed with the visitors.

A tiger in the rehabilitation centre

We are now returning from the Tiger Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre. Our car has reached to the main road now. We are feeling hungry. Now our immediate goal is to satisfy our hunger.

Hasanur has stopped the car at a roadside Dhaba. We have ordered Thali (a combo meal) for us. Here a Thali comes with rice by default. Not sure Roti (chapati) is available or not here. We are not interested either. Hasanur is sitting separately and ordered his meal. As per our contract we need not to bother about our driver's fooding and lodging. It is included in the overall fare for the hired vehicle.

We have completed our lunch and now returning to Madarihat. We know that there is a place called Totopara at some distance away from Jaldapara. Usually people who come to visit Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary also visit Totopara. It is a village which is home to the Toto tribe which is unique in the world. But we do not have the time to visit Totopara. So we are skipping this sightseeing.

We have now returned to the lodge. We are taking some rest now. After some time we will check out and start for our next part of the tour - Chilapata jungle safari. 
Next part:  Chilapata 


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Next part:  Chilapata 

Previous part:  Jaldapara Part-3