Saturday 25 March 2017

Lava - Neora Valley (Birding Trip)



I added another birding place in my list with Lava & Neora Valley. It's in Kalimpong districtWest Bengal (India). I went there in April 2016 and I was very excited for a new place to experience and lots of Himalayan birds to see.

I made this trip with the GoingWild group. I have earlier done a wildlife photography trip with them to Sikkim (Read here) and completely trusted them for this one too. 

It was hot in my city 'Bhubaneswar' and what a relief that I was off to a colder place. As there are hardly any direct trains, I had to take two connecting trains to reach NewJalpaiguri via Kolkata. I reached and met Dibyendu, our tour guide and an excellent birder and photographer himself. We waited for two more companions to join. Mr. Sarbjit ji an Ex. army man and his wife Meena ji joined us. They were an extremely sweet couple. We started off to our destination. I kept dozing off in between and then finally after an 3 hour ride we reached Pedong. We were to stay there and visit out birding destinations and trails of Lava-Neora Valley.

It was a nice staying place called 'Neel Pahari'. Neat and full of flowering plants around. It was partly a primary school and home-stay. So we were surrounded by super cute school children. After some tea we went around for a walk in search of birds. Quite a good birding habitat. It was getting dark and we returned back hoping for good sightings tomorrow.

The overall location was beautiful; like a small town in a far away land. Little houses here and there, furry dogs, flowers everywhere and smiling people. There was also an Army base.

Next day early morning, we started our bird hunt in the vicinity and after some good sightings like leiothrix, thrushes, shrikes, bulbuls, minivets.. we took off in Sumo towards Lava. We did birding all along the way and trails. The roads weren't great but the surrounding region, the trees and the habitat were pleasant. After lunch we were off to a village called Sillery Gaon. The four km stretch was a terrible one. Full of stones and bumps. It was little far but worth it. On the way we got some special birds sighted by Dibyendu, called 'Himalayan Cutia.' The place was so pretty with bright colored houses and flowers all over. It was typically made as a touristy site. As it started getting cloudy, we turned back and it rained heavily. We enjoyed some tea and pakoras and had dinner around 8 over a good chat with my fellow birders, discussing places and birds and own experiences. I had a good time with them.

Following days too went birding from early morning on the trails of Lava and Neora valley till dawn. The places were ultimate. We used to roam in the Sumo and then get around and walk with lots of patience to hear the bird calls and spot them hoping for a good picture too. While birding Sir ji and Meena ji would be talking a lot of things about forest life. About various flowers and trees. I took some interest in various flora too.

We stopped at Lava town and shopped some cute mugs and wind-chimes as souvenirs. Evenings went in making bird listings and searching their names.

One time we spotted a 'Red-headed Trogon'. A rare species which are usually hard to find. It just flew in front of us and sat somewhere in bushes. Luckily  I too got a record shot. I was damn happy.

That night it rained again with hailstorm. There was no electricity and we enjoyed it like that and on top of it we even got Momos (Dumplings) as a treat. Yummy! 

Last day, early morning we again went to that Trogon place and roamed around in search of it. No luck for that but we saw 'Khalij Pheasant' on the way. It was awesome. I didn't get a picture. But loved that I sighted it. It was one of my dream birds.

After rain and hailstorm, the Jungle looked terrible. As if someone knowingly chopped of the trees and shrubs. It looked depressing. I didn't wanted to imagine the condition of birds and animals yesterday night. We did birding around and came back with no Trogon luck. Meena ji had packed and Sir ji and Dibyendu all bid goodbye for they were going to their next trip to Zuluk (Sikkim). I had been to Zuluk last year so I only opted for Lava birding trip this time.

This was a nice tour with everyone. I met amazing people and learned a great deal from them.

After they were off, I had some time in hand before my arranged driver came to pick me up. I roamed around the village area and did some birding there. I unknowingly took some long route and got back to hotel after a long 4-5 km tiring walk. After lunch I met the drive Bhaiya and off we were to New Jalpaiguri. He was a good company, telling me about Pedong, his village Algarah which was on the way and Kalimpong which was another popular tourist hill station. We kept moving towards city and it kept getting hotter. The weather change was so unwelcoming. After hill stations, plains are difficult to take all of a sudden. Literally like low altitude sickness. I was dropped off at Railway Station and after sometime took my train to Kolkata. And from there to Bhubaneswar; my Home!

I overall had an amazing trip with awesome people, birds and location. Traveling to North-eastern India had will always be a pleasure.

Sharing some pictures from the trip. Enjoy :) 


View from our home-stay
The birding group




After the rains

The beautiful green chirpy place

Me :)

A little girl in Lava


Somewhere towards our destination


Sleepy dog




 ~ Birds ~


















You can check out GoingWild guys here: http://goingwild.in


Pedong is 4070 feet, 3 hours (100 km drive) from New Jalpaiguri. Lava-Neora valley is around 24 km (1 hr) from Pedong.


Love 

Tanuja

9 comments:

  1. Hi Tanuja,
    I really enjoyed reading abt your birding trip and seeing lovely pics too.
    You guys go for birding trip, that's really great, I never knew that ppl do enjoy birding trips so much :)
    Looking forward to read abt ur future trips to such exciting places:)
    Love,
    Vandana
    http://www.vandanachoudhary.com/

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  2. Looks like you had a great time! Love all the birds. They're so cute :)

    fashionabejita.blogspot.com

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  3. Wonderful pictures, especially of the birds! <3

    http://couturecase.blogspot.com

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  4. Glad to hear that you had amazing birding trip, Tanuja this valley looks so inviting to search for birds there, you took great photos, especially the bird from 1st photo has terrific color of feathering <3

    http://crafty-zone.blogspot.com/

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  5. Your post reminds me of a movie called The Great Year. Watch it if you haven't already. Hope you travel to may places this year as well. I can see you grew your hair.

    Jenny’s Bicycle-Indian Fashion Blog!!

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  6. Such an interesting post Dear. The pictures are so lovely.
    Wishing you more travel opportunities and more adventures this year. And Keep sharing with us- all about your trips. Would love to read more.

    www.thepositivewindow.com

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  7. Awesome post about your tour, you can use salwar suits & kurtis at travel time..

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  8. Well written...I almost felt I was in the tour :)

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  9. Hi Tanuja,
    I really enjoyed reading abt your birding trip and seeing lovely pics too. Plz help in the end of October month is that time I can get bird

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I keep looking for your comments :)