Rambling inside the forests of Jharkhand

cr4nkshaft · 29th May 2014, 16:41

Hi,

Well, this is my first long(ish) trip planning by car. Office work, being the eternal source of boredom, led me to search for some nice places to visit by car around Kolkata, preferably at a single day's distance, and outside West Bengal.

I had heard of Hundru and Jonha falls near Ranchi, so started searching along that line, and was amazed to find out that Jharkhand has ten waterfalls in total!
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...s_of_Jharkhand)

The plan is to reach Ranchi on day 1 by car from Kolkata, spending day 2 around that place, leaving for Netarhat on day 3 and reach by noon, explore Netarhat on day 3, and leave for Kolkata on day 4, and be back home by afternoon. This trip would hopefully be undertaken sometime in the last week of June/first week of July, in a Friday-Weekend or a Weekend-Monday format.

Kolkata to Ranchi is 400 kms, 6 and a half hour as suggested by G-maps.
Ranchi to Netarhat is 145 kms, 2 and a half hour. Netarhat to Kolkata is 546 kms, nearly 9 hours of driving on the last day.

Quoting from Wiki, "Netarhat has several places of tourist interests including Magnolia Point (10 km from Netarhat, ideal site for viewing sunset), Upper Ghaghri Falls (4 km from Netarhat), Lower Ghaghri Falls (10 km from Netarhat), Koel View Point (3 km from Netarhat), Lodh Falls (60 km from Netarhat, the highest waterfall in Jharkhand), Sadni Falls (35 km from Netarhat)."

Also from Wiki, Ranchi has a lot of places around, including Hundru and Jonha falls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranchi#Tourist_attractions).

Well, that's the plan.

At this point we are two drivers (me and a fellow TBHPian), and maybe my wife, on my friend's Palio 1.9D. If my friend opts out, I'll take my Polo 1.2P.
Other TBHP members are very much welcome to join, we can have a 3-day spanning TBHP meet across 2 states!

Questions:
1. Any update/idea about road conditions?

2. Late June/early July would mean monsoon would be here. Is this a bad plan from that perspective?

3. From FE point of view the diesel model seems sensible, however the Palio 1.9D is around 10 years old, and it's a 1.9. My guess is that it would return 13-14 at max. The Polo was bought back in December, around 5000kms on clock, returns 17-18 on highway, has a 12V output (to me, this seems important for highway drive). So which vehicle is preferred?

Any other pointers, suggestions, changes and teaming-up requests are welcome!

29th May 2014, 16:41	#61
cr4nkshaft BHPian Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Kolkata Posts: 200 Thanked: 806 Times	Waterfalls of Jharkhand from Kolkata-planning and suggestions.. Hi, Well, this is my first long(ish) trip planning by car. Office work, being the eternal source of boredom, led me to search for some nice places to visit by car around Kolkata, preferably at a single day's distance, and outside West Bengal. I had heard of Hundru and Jonha falls near Ranchi, so started searching along that line, and was amazed to find out that Jharkhand has ten waterfalls in total! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...s_of_Jharkhand) The plan is to reach Ranchi on day 1 by car from Kolkata, spending day 2 around that place, leaving for Netarhat on day 3 and reach by noon, explore Netarhat on day 3, and leave for Kolkata on day 4, and be back home by afternoon. This trip would hopefully be undertaken sometime in the last week of June/first week of July, in a Friday-Weekend or a Weekend-Monday format. Kolkata to Ranchi is 400 kms, 6 and a half hour as suggested by G-maps. Ranchi to Netarhat is 145 kms, 2 and a half hour. Netarhat to Kolkata is 546 kms, nearly 9 hours of driving on the last day. Quoting from Wiki, "Netarhat has several places of tourist interests including Magnolia Point (10 km from Netarhat, ideal site for viewing sunset), Upper Ghaghri Falls (4 km from Netarhat), Lower Ghaghri Falls (10 km from Netarhat), Koel View Point (3 km from Netarhat), Lodh Falls (60 km from Netarhat, the highest waterfall in Jharkhand), Sadni Falls (35 km from Netarhat)." Also from Wiki, Ranchi has a lot of places around, including Hundru and Jonha falls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranchi#Tourist_attractions). Well, that's the plan. At this point we are two drivers (me and a fellow TBHPian), and maybe my wife, on my friend's Palio 1.9D. If my friend opts out, I'll take my Polo 1.2P. Other TBHP members are very much welcome to join, we can have a 3-day spanning TBHP meet across 2 states! Questions: 1. Any update/idea about road conditions? 2. Late June/early July would mean monsoon would be here. Is this a bad plan from that perspective? 3. From FE point of view the diesel model seems sensible, however the Palio 1.9D is around 10 years old, and it's a 1.9. My guess is that it would return 13-14 at max. The Polo was bought back in December, around 5000kms on clock, returns 17-18 on highway, has a 12V output (to me, this seems important for highway drive). So which vehicle is preferred? Any other pointers, suggestions, changes and teaming-up requests are welcome!
	(1) Thanks