Re: Bihar - A Bullet ride to Sonepur Mela & a Safari drive to Valmiki National Park Quote:
Originally Posted by tsk1979 This is quite a wonderful log. Very different from the trips we normally do! |
Absolutely and may be still this can be termed as an "expedition" of a different kind! Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheel Despite being from Bihar, I never visited Sonepur, but have heard many wonderful things about this mela.
Thanks adc for putting up this wonderful log I think I would want to visit it next year, even if it is for a day. | Quote:
Originally Posted by me_sid ADC da, beautiful depiction of the rustic charm of festivity. For 2013 this has been added to my drive list. Is there any fascility of boarding and lodging or its a daily commute from Patna? |
A visit here will be different from what travel we normally do. Most pleasant was the fact people are most welcoming and there has not been a single incident where I faced animosity while taking photographs.
Since stretches of one side of Gandhi setu is always on repair, frequent jams take place - the reason as to why I stayed at Hajipur to cover the Mela. Otherwise, on a normal day it takes at least 1 hr each way from Patna and double the time if stuck on the bridge.
At Hajipur the best and quite good is Hotel Anamika [ http://hotelanamika.com/ ]
I stayed at Hotel Mayur, a budget one at Rs 800 per night, big and clean double bed room but spartan - majority of the time anyway I was outside roaming around in the mela ground. Travels to Bihar - 2. Valmiki National Park of West Champaran dist, of Bihar --- Safari Dicor VTT -TMT family drive and journey to the lesser known - near the Bihar-Nepal, February 2011 Quote:
Valmiki National Park is located in the West Champaran district of Bihar state, India. The extensive forest area of Valmikinagar was previously owned by the Bettiah Raj and Ramanagar Raj until the early 1950s.Valmiki tiger Reserve (VTR) is one of the nature’s virgin recesses in east India is situated in the North West corner of the State of Bihar. The Pristine forest and wilderness of VTR is an excellent example of Himalayan Terai landscape. VTR comprises the Valmiki National Park and Valmiki Wildlife Sanctuary. The VTR forest area covers 899.38 sqkm which is 17.4% of the total geographical areas of the district West Champaran.
The Valmiki National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary lie in the West Champaran district of Bihar. Name of the district has been derived from two words Champa and Aranya – meaning Forest of Champa trees
Total forest area comprises about 900 km2., out of which expense of Valmiki Wildlife Sanctuary is 880 km2. and spread of the National Park is about 335 km2. area. In north, the protected areas are bordered by Nepal while the Indian state Uttar Pradesh bounds the Wildlife Sanctuary from western side. Wikipedia |
This was a travel done in February 2011. Starting from Kolkata at night, a massive drive was undertaken whereby we travel across Bengal, Jharkhand to turn right at Barhi to reach Patna in morning and then to Narkatiyaganj and finally to the VTR. Will be starting on this travel story after the holiday season. Some highlight images.
A stupendous travel to a remote forest, two of our good friends also came along. We even made a banner for it. Image clicked by a forest guard.
The forest borders the Indo-Nepal border. For trek through the forest, we took the narrow gauge railway line with ticket price of Rs 2 [!] to Nepal - alighting at the border station of Bhiknathori.
An absolute remote forest and a trek from the Nepal side -- through the core area of a tiger reserve, no where in India you get this.
Many and us too have seen a tiger on a safari ride, but the experience of seeing a tiger roar yet not seeing it while on the trek through the core area of a forest is a hair raising event. All tense and we stop on the trek as we hear a tiger with cub roar somewhere in the undergrowth ahead.
And of course, just like any other tour, we pushed the Safari VTT-TMT 2wd to its limit.
As said, will be starting on this travelogue - returning after the new year holidays.
Last edited by adc : 23rd December 2012 at 20:43.
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