Jayanti Tour in West Bengal

Nandan, great photographs! A few of them are awesome, I would say! It is heartening to see my fav place (ABAKASH) in intact condition. Any idea, what is the latest on ABAKASH!

An IGUANA just in front of our rest house(Nature Hut).......



on the way BUXA....

Dear all,

I was always eager to visit jayanti and have heard a lot about its natural beauty. However I have hard from my relatives and friends that the rooms and toilets of resort had some queer kind insect / animal (larger size of lizard type )which made some sounds also. Till then I cd not dare to make prog fr jayanti.

Have anybody experienced such thing in the rooms in recent times?

There is a report in today's newspapers regarding ban imposed by the Supreme Court on tourism within the core area of Tiger Reserves........that means tour to Jayanti will not be possible any more, as Jayanti is within the Core area of Buxa TR. The enthusiasts will sure be disappointed.

I had visited Jayanti multiple number of times. Haven't encountered such lizard even once. I have heard sound of various known as well as unknown wild animals/beast/lizards, which is quite common in any forest. Once we heard তক্ষক (sorry, I do not know what it is called in English) calling... initially it sounded a bit weird though! But if you love forest, you should love with all inclusive, here you can not afford to be selective.

Don't worry sudeeptanusree, nothing will happen, please do visit Jayanti at least once, you will be immersed in the beauties of that place!

Ashis kaku ,you are absolutely correct , THAKSHAK , these lizards are present there and they pretty harmless . They make peculiar sounds and this creates a fear amongst us . But they are absolutely harmless .
Ashis kaku , you could remember after reaching Jayanti more(bengali) , where bus stops , one road goes to st. one towards rt.(ABAKASH SIDE) and one left towards PHE bunglow ,Banante etc.etc.
On the left side road there telephone booth inside a house , I have seen those lizards in that house and they took care that that their habitat is not disturbed .

Hi Himadri!

I'm equally perturbed about likely fallout of Supreme Court Order. But, on a second thought, I think as long as public habitat is allowed to exist (as in the case of Jayanti) in Tiger Reserve area, there is no way to stop people visiting that area. May be there will be some restriction imposed on forest safari following the judgement.

Hello Dooars Lovers!

One of our friends need the contact phone number of the Caretaker of Mendabari Forest Lodge very urgently. I had the number with me, but unfortunately I lost it somehow. Can any one help me please? Thanks.

Thanks Ashis kaku for posting in favour of me .

thanks asisda and nn for your replies,

staying with TAKSHAK in a same room!!!!! cant bear the sight of a lizard here

what about WBFDC resort at Buxa? are they clean and free of these creatures? can i stay there and cover jayanti from there?

Ha ha ha .... no, no, (even it is there) you won't find them physically. We have just heard it calling, it didn't come to my views. My wife was little curious initially, but that's all!! But if you travel to Dooars, or for that matter to any forest, you will surely come across such elements once in while and you have take this in your stride...and go on enjoying the beauty of the place!

Anyhow, coming back to your other quarry, the WBFDC Lodge is not at Buxa, it is located at a place called Raja Bhat Khaoa, which can be called gateway to Buxa Tiger Reserve. For you & your team, I think it will be a better proposition. The property is fairly good and had an attached kitchen also. You can hire cabs (Lodge people will help you to get the cabs) and roam around Jayanti, Santrabari, Alupur Duar etc. at your own pace. You can even go to Coachbehar, Rasik Bil etc. It will be a real laid back kind of holiday. Just go for it.

Dear Asishda,

Thank you for your encouraging and prompt reply. As advised by you for the places i can visit from rajabhatkhawa, can you please frame me a suitable itinerary and also please advise how many days trip I should make. Do you advise to make this place rajabhatkhawa as the base ?

@ sudeeptanusree!

Basis:

No of days: Not indication by you. I have allotted as per my opinion.
Pace of trip: Laid back type, no hurry, slow paced.
Accommodation: Govt. Lodge(WBFDC).
Base: Raja Bhat Khaoa

1st day...arrival at New Alipurduar, hire a cab to reach RBK. Check in, freshen up, lunch, rest and in the late afternoon go to a nearby place called Sikiajhora. Basically, it is a waterbody coupled with mangrove forest, locals use it as picnic spot. Check: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...count=8&ref=nf
Come back to Lodge, dinner, end of Day-1
2nd Day.. breakfast, take a cab, go to Jayanti and on return come via Santrabari (on the way to historic Buxa Fort, trekking to Buxa Fort starts from here)
Return to Base, have lunch, rest
3rd day ... breakfast, hire a cab, proceed to Rasik bill, then to Cooachbehar (attraction: King's palace, which happens to be birth place of Rajmata Gayatri Devi of Jaipur clan, Madanmohan temple etc.). You can have your lunch enroute, preferably at Cooachbehar.
Return to base in late afternoon. Rest, dinner, end of day-3
4th day ... Basically a free day, but I suggest to take a cab in the afternoon, go to Jalpensh temple and have a stroll around Alipur Duar, retrun to base, dinner, end 0f day-4
5th day ... Return journey from New Alipur Duar station.
6th day ... Reach Kolkata.

Point to Note: This program is for a part of Dooars, the other part containing Jaldapara, Gorumara, Chapramri, Chilapata forests, Samsing, Bindu, Jallong, Murti etc. have not been covered for which, may be, another program would be necessary.

Hope this helps.

Thank you, Dada.

brilliant suggestion, well planned to cater our requirement.

now if we want to make it 3 nights will it be too hectic?

also can you give me a rough estimate as to the tentative car cost for the entire trip ?

No, I won't call it "too hectic". At best it may call "packed", but it's okay. You can, however, drop one or two places like Rasik Bill, Alipur duar, Jalpesh temple etc. Regarding cab cost, I am sorry, I have no idea about current rate, but I reckon it will be around 1000-1200/- per day of 8 hours, max it may go up to 1500/- or so. But I think you should negotiate for the total program on lump sum basis including dropping back to New Alipur Duar Station.