Day 1
It was a cloudy morning. Things looked perfect for a monsoon drive. We set off at around 7-45am. Soon it started drizzling. The feel was great with few old songs being played from the pen drive. Nh6 was relatively empty and we were smoothly cruising at around 100km/hr. In less than two hours we crossed Kharagpur and from there the four lane highway ended and it was the starting of single lane road. The road condition is good though. After the Jhargram crossing, we crossed the Lodhasuli forest and stopped at a place called Highway inn for break fast. The service was late but the paneer pakoda's tasted awesome!
Post breakfast we crossed Baharagora and entered Jharkhand. Surprisingly the border was devoid of traffic and we crossed it in jiffy. The Dalma range greeted us on the sides of the highway. The scenic beauty was great all around. Soon the rain changed its mode from drizzling to torrential and my wiper mode changed from intermittent to fast! It looked like its a made to order rain drive for us planned by the rain god! By 11-30am we crossed Ghatshila and by 12pm we were crossing Jamshedpur. Our stay at Dalma was 6kms after Dimna Chowck at Jamshedpur. The traffic around Jamshedpur was slow moving. By 12-30pm we checked in to our hotel.
We checked in at 10th Milestone as recommended by a Bhpian friend, SouraC. The location is excellent with safe parking. The property is great too with awesome food & comfortable rooms. The only flip side is, the service is a bit slow.
The view from the resort.
Soon we got freshened up, had lunch and set out for a drive to Dalma hills top. Generally the forest department guys do not issue permits if it rain. So we were a bit skeptical. Reached the check post and asked for the permission. The person in charge told it will be a bit risky as the roads are slushy and a herd of 15-20 elephants are roaming inside the forest. We requested him for the permission and he agreed but warned us to be careful.
Along with us 6 guys came in three bikes and even they asked for the permits to go till the top. The forest department guy issued them the permits too and told us to go together but to be very careful.
These guys reminded me of my college days bike rides. In the slush there bikes skidded several times but still they were smiling and it didn't dampen there spirits.
When they were hearing the sound of the elephants they were all getting busy searching the elephants inside the jungle instead of running away!
I went till the Dalma top only because these guys were there and they even told me if my car gets stuck in slush they will push it out!
Thanks guys. You all rock.
The first few kilometers before the climb up had few bad slushy stretches. But on driving carefully the Figo handled the slush quite well. There were no tarred road on the hills. It was muddy all through out with few concrete slabs in few places. Taking the hair pin bends on fine layer of thin slush turned out to be more tricky than driving on thick slush! With minimum throttle input and in one place by taking a second attempt i managed to climb up till the top. Through out the climb up mine was the only car with three bikes with none others. It was a bit scary. In few places we could see freshly broken branches by the elephants on the road. Had to drive over them. Around 5 kms before reaching the top it became foggy! The fog kept on increasing and later the visibility came down to 10-15 feet. Driving on slush inside the jungle and climbing up the hill in thick fog turned out to be difficult with slight drizzles.
Sharing few pics en-route to Dalma top.
At Dalma Top.
It showed 3020 feet.
The view from the watch tower atop Dalma hills.
Me & Figo chilling at the top!
The bike guys decided to stay there till late afternoon and then return. But we wanted to return before sundown. So from there we bid adieu to them and started the climb down.
Few pics on the way back.
By 5pm we crossed the forest check post and reached our hotel by 5-30pm. First time we felt lucky not to spot any elephant!
The way Figo looked after a slushy drive!
Had not much to do in a resort located in the lap of nature, away from the city. So apart from enjoying the tranquility of the surroundings took few pics around the resort with the back drop of the beautiful Dalma range.
While going to have dinner, i just went outside the resort to have a walk and saw this Scoripo 4WD with Raid the Himalaya stickers parked in our resort parking. Would have loved to meet the owner but had no clue about whose suv it was.
Soon we had our dinner and retired for the day.