প্রথম উত্তরবঙ্গ অভিযান

In 2001, I decided to travel the beautiful North Bengal by Bicycle. I was in college then. In the puja vacation I collected all the equipments very shortly needed for the tour. I was a born rider. My grand fathers came to India from far away Turkey During the Mughal period. In one beautiful morning I set out for north Bengal from Kolkata Monument. It included wildlife sanctuary, reserve forests, rivers, tea gardens, pineapple plantations and many more. People here in west Bengal considers North Bengal as the beauty queen of Bengal. It's lying in the lap of the great Himalayan mountain.

Tea garden

Teesta river

Cloud over darjeeling hills

One ranger bike, two bags, other cycling equipments were with me. I covered 2000 kilometers in 25days. It was a memorable tour and my first ever long range tour . Earlier I traveled many places like the Sundarban ,Bangladesh border area, Delta of Bengal . Anyway I started to ride in a modest speed. In the afternoon I reached Ranaghat about 65 kms from Kolkata. I took rest for the day. Next morning I started early to reach Bethuadohory forest. In the evening reached that small forest where deer, Snakes, wild cats, Peacocks live happily. I spent that night at my friends place. His home was near to the forest and beside the river Jalangi. It was nice place to spent another day .He gave me lots of sugarcanes, some wild fruits.

I enjoyed it very much. Two three days later reached Malda town. I crossed the Ganges at Farakka. A long barrage is made over the river nearly three kilometers. When I was crossing the barrage , I felt the joy of traveling though it was little bit scary. After riding a long way about 600kms I reached Siliguri in the Darjeeling district seeing different kind of vegetation pine apple plantation at Bidhan nagar, tobacco fields, Chopra forest etc. In Siliguri I stayed in the Kanchenjangha Stadium guest house. In the long way people greeted me very well , often they offered me foods, drinks . I had to spent time with these local curious people. After staying two days at siliguri, I set out for the beautiful Dooars, the land of teagarden and orange county. I took the Sevoke road which is lying over the hills and plains . The road was NH-31A.

I halted at Sevoke bridge to have lunch. It was 3000feets high from the sea level. I came down to have the close look of the Tista river. The water was crystal clear and little bit greenish. I washed my face with the cool water and later took bath in the river. I became so fresh that I forgot the tiredness . I took some beautiful pictures of the nice Sevoke bridge and the river. railway bridge was also over the river towards Alipurduar. The view of the area from the Sevoke bridge is just wonderful. It was built by the British years back. For the first time I saw the earth so beautiful in the countryside. Then I rode to Chalsa crossing beautiful landscapes like Bagracotte, Malbazar, Dumdim, Matigara, Odlabari. These areas were totally decorated with teagardens, orange trees, some times local hill trees and many rivers.

It was green green every where. On the way, I met with my friend Babu who was coming to receive me as I was scheduled to stay few days at his residence at Chalsa. His house was like a Bungalow made by woods. There was huge crowd at Chalsa to receive me as my friend told them about my visit. They were very much enthusiastic and happy people. At night I saw the local folk dance which was organized just to honor me. I was overwhelmed by the hospitality of the Himalayan people. They were local tribes , uneducated but have the hearts full of love. My friends house was in the Gorumara forest. There was a forest bung low beside The Murti river. It was a nice little bung low and had a fencing made by electric wire around it. It was in the middle of the jungle and often Big elephants, tigers, deer, beers, rhinos pay visits to the bung low . I saw few elephants in one evening while they were busy destroying the paddy fields.

They used to come near the bung low to have sweet water facilitated by the forest office. After spending a memorable time in the Gorumara forest I headed for the Large forest Jaldapara Wild life Sanctuary. Two days later, I reached Madarihat just near the Jaldapara wildlife sanctuary. On the way I saw places like Banarhat, Binnaguri, Birpara, Nagrakata , Rangalibajna all are green forests and teagardens. Often the road was crossed by the martin rail tracks. I saw martin rails (small narrow gauge rail) were running giving whistle in county. I booked a room in the Holong bung low 8 kms from Madarihat. The road was made by soil and stones and had a fence on both side of the road as to protect tourists from animal attacks. I rode to the Holong bung low and was thinking of animals that could attack me. But fortunately nothing had happened. I reached the bung low peacefully. The forest officers were surprised to know that I was coming from far away Kolkata. They were pleased too. They provided me the best room and arranged for the elephant ride which goes to the interior of the forest to view the animals roaming freely.

I saw lots of animals like Bison, tigers different from Royal Bengal tigers, one horned rhinos, wild bulls, yaks, uncountable deer, many birds, peacock, snakes, wolfs, wild cats and wild hogs . Many people can never see those animals in their entire life. I thanked god for giving me the great opportunity to see them. Actually My tour was to spread aware ness about endangered spices in the North Bengal. I spent 3 days in the forest to study the animals, their food habits and beautiful nature miles away from the Kolkata crowd. Then I started to ride to the far north near the Assam state border. I went to Alipurduar, Cooachbehar, Hasimara Jungle. I spent time with the soldiers at the Binnaguri military base (Asia's largest) . I saw war planes, artillery, cannons, soldier's practice session with helicopters . Few days back I headed for my home through different road. I still remember those wonderful days in the forest. It is so memorable to cherish for the whole life. Two years later I left my home again for my Indian safari...........