Travelling is in our blood but in my case it's offbeat places that I love to travel. This time I along with my younger brother and two other friends visited Buxa Fort and Lepchakha (A small hamlet on the foothills of Sleeping Buddha Ranges).
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| Lapchakha Hamlet |
When we were planning to take a break from our day to day life and get lost into wilderness we had two things in our mind, pristine jungle and isolation.
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| Buxa Fort |
According to our plan we visited Lapchakha on the first week of September, 2015. We boarded Kanchankanya Express at around 9.50 pm from Sealdah Junction. An interesting fact to share is that we started our journey from Sealdah but were not sure about our destination station. Through out the journey we argued about where to drop down whether at Siliguri, Jalpaiguri or Alipurduar Junction.
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| Members of Lepchakha Expedition |
Finally we all came to a conclusion and dropped down at Alipurduar Junction.The train journey was more or less pleasant. We reached there at around 12.30 pm.We finished our lunch at a local Indian restaurant. Our target was to reach Santhal Bari on that day but sometimes things don't go according to the plan.As there is not much transport facility from Alipurduar to Santhal Bari we had to wait for long. On top of that as it was the pick of rainy season so local transports were prohibited from entering the core areas of the jungle which added to our miseries.
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| Overview of Santhal Bari |
Santhal Bari is a small hamlet within the dense jungle of Buxa Tiger Reserve. The bus dropped us at a convenient point near the Buxa reserve where we spent a quality time shooting photographs of the nearby jungle and wildlife before the weather turned for worse.
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| Way to Buxa Fort |
It started to rain so heavily that we were unable to move any further. We got help from Rastriya Sena Bal while they were on their daily patrol. They picked us up on their way to Santhal Bari. It was an amazing experience altogether. They shared their thoughts and feelings about the place, animals and last but not the least locals living there. We got enriched.
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| Ever green jungle of Buxa Duar |
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| Hamlet of Santhal Bari |
Finally we had to make a tough decision whether to halt in Santhal Bari or to move up and stay at Lepchakha crossing Buxa Fort which was 2 hours trek from current position. Finally we decided that we would go up further to Lepchakha. The very next moment we were back to trek again. Finally we reached Lepchakha in complete darkness guided by a local and his son. We quickly finished our dinner and then sat in the balcony of our small hut, chatted for hours reflecting the day's experience. Finally we retired to our bed at around 11 pm. It rained very heavily that night but when we woke up next morning, an amazing scenic beauty welcomed us.
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| Lepchakha Hamlet |
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| The small hut where we sheltered for the night |
I was so tired after the previous day's exhaustion that I woke up at around 9.30 am. It was a bit too late to wake up in a place where normal routine begins from 4.30 in the morning.
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| An unknown river that snaked between Buxa Tiger Reserve |
On that day, we decided to visit the Buxa Fort known for it's historical importance. As we were running late we had to rush soon after having our breakfast. Down hill was comparatively easier as we reached the Buxa Fort within the next forty minutes. It was a mind boggling experience.
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| The Buxa Fort |
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| A place with immense historical importance |
After reaching there one thing that touched my heart is how a place with such historical importance can be situated at such a remote place. It was only the ruins of the fort that was left and the rest is surrounded by dense jungle. There was an eerie feeling at that place as the place is completely vacant and covered with shrubs. The place is historically so rich that every thing we touched had some kind of history to share with us. We left the place early as there were lot of leeches and snakes at that time of the year. Although it enriched our experience a lot.
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| Standing by history |
As we were going round that place, we met a local who was also a guide for birdwatching. He arranged chicken for us and invited us on a birdwatching expedition some day if we ever return to that place again.
With overwhelming experience and fond memories we left Buxa Fort and trekked our way towards Lepchakha. It was only dark when we reached our hut. The owner of the hut told us that we need to leave the hut by next day as they had bookings from another party from the next day. So on the very next day our priority was to find a new hut to shift. Fortunately we got a better one next day.
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| A lonely hut on outskirts of the hamlet |
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| Surrounded by clouds |
Next morning we decided not to go to any other place though we had our plans to visit Phungseling in Bhutan. Instead we decided to enjoy the homely village atmosphere. We had our lunch with rice,soya bean and egg curry. After lunch we visited the local jungles and water falls.
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| A mountain stream |
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| An engineering way of drinking |
Soon time flew by and we were in the verge of returning home. Mostly when people plan for a holiday their priorities are living in luxurious rooms, eating delicious foods, marketing and going round comfortably. But honestly speaking,with my experience I have realised that these are only partly true. I would rather say spending a quality time with the poorest of poor families, sharing their daily lifestyle, happiness and experiencing their food are far more appealing to me.I feel when god takes away one thing from any person, he tries to fulfil the gap with other things.For instance, people here don't have money but what they have, money can never buy. One can surely disagree with me but as the old proverb says, "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder".
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| Near Buxa Fort |
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| Look for the bare necessities |
Lepchakha will stay for long in my memories but what will stay for ever are the people living over there and the tender love that they showered on us.
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When you find out you can live without it,
go alone not thinking about it. |
( Picture Courtesy : Sandipan Mandol, Piangshuk Mukherjee and Arijit Ghosh)
