Introduction |
Itinerary| Site Details |
Systematic List |
Other Wildlife
References |
Contacts
By
Mike Prince on
31 December 2002
INTRODUCTION
This is a report on a birding trip to North Bengal. The participants were
Delhi-based Alpana Khare, Bikram Grewal, Bill Harvey, Mike Prince and Sunita
Chaudhry, plus Kolkata-based Sujan Chatterjee and Sumit Sen. We spent nine
days there in total, our itinerary involving three main areas: the lowland
Gorumara National Park and nearby Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary, the hill
areas of Lulagaon, Lava, Rishyap and Neora Valley National Park, and the
Sandakphu trek (Singalila National Park) on the Nepal border. Logistics
regarding sites visited, travel and accommodation were organised largely by
Sujan and Sumit in conjunction with Raj from Help Tourism, and we are all
very grateful to them for a superb job done.
ITINERARY
Thursday 21 November 2002: Alpana, Bikram,
Bill, Mike and Sunita flew from Delhi to Bagdogra, Sujan from Kolkata, met
by Raj from Help Tourism and Sumit who had taken the overnight train from
Kolkata. After lunch at airport, drove to Gorumara Jungle Camp, birding
nearby in the late afternoon. Stayed at Jungle Camp.
22 November: Morning in Gorumara National Park,
afternoon at nearby Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary. Stayed at Jungle Camp.
23 November: Morning birding near the Mahakal
Trail, Gorumara; then drive to Lulagaon, birding en-route and at Lulagaon
late afternoon. Stayed at Lulagaon.
24 November: Morning birding same area at
Lulagaon, afternoon spent at Rishyap. Stayed at Rishyap.
25 November: Whole day spent at Neora Valley
National Park, morning birding the upper trails and afternoon the lower.
Stayed at Rishyap.
26 November: Morning birding from road near
Lava. Drove to Darjeeling, afternoon spent at Darjeeling Zoo. Stayed at
Cedar Inn, Darjeeling.
27 November: Morning drove to Manebhanjang
where transferred to two jeeps. Then drove Sandakphu trek to summit, birding
at various stops along the way. Afternoon birding near summit. Stayed at
Sandakphu.
28 November: Early morning birding around
summit, (and enjoying sunrise over Everest and Kanchenjunga), then drove
down to Gairibans, stopping frequently, for late morning birding. Afternoon
continued driving and birding down to Tunling. Stayed at Tunling.
29 November: Early morning birding at Tunling,
then drove to Bagdogra airport, stopping occasionally where we saw birds and
passed spare time before flight at Bamunpokhri. Alpana, Bikram, Bill, Mike
and Sunita flew to Delhi, Sumit to Kolkata.
30 November: Sujan birded at Phulbari Barrage
before taking train back to Kolkata.
SITE DETAILS
Site information is generally well described in Kazmierczak & Singh [3].
However, this does not include the lowland reserves of Gorumara National
Park and Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary.