National_Geographic_Traveller_India-May_2018

MAY 2018 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 83

WEST BENGAL

MANAN DHULDHOYA

GETTING THERE

A drive to Sandakphu from Bagdogra

airport and back takes four days. The

writer travelled with Blacktop and

Beyond, a company specialising in

off-road trips (www.facebook.com/

blacktopandbeyond, 9830021275;

`45,000 including pick-up and drop to

Bagdogra/Siliguri, meals, and stay).

STAY

Shikhar Lodge provides basic rooms

in Tumling. Meals are hearty and are

enjoyed with other guests around the

hearth in the kitchen. Don’t forget to

ask Nila di for her special tongba (+97 7

8742655352, doubles from `1,000).

With its combination of comfy, wood-

panelled rooms and jaw-dropping

views of the valley from Sandakphu,

Sherpa Chalet takes some beating

(9932592516, doubles from `1,500).

of mine—a Mumbaikar’s almost
pathological need to keep moving,
within and without.
Drives to Sandakphu also include
Phalut, West Bengal’s second-highest
peak (11,810 feet). It lies 21 kilometres
from Sandakphu along a mostly flat

but bone-rattling road. It had its

advantages—we drove along dreamy

meadows and forests of oak, fir and

rhododendron. Bare branches wore

beards of moss and the trees formed a

guard of honour above the road. The

picture was completed by the horses

trotting over the knoll to consider our

rumbling ride. Phalut felt more like

Fangorn. We turned back so we could

reach Sandakphu before nightfall (even

the foolhardiest Hobbit knows better

than to brave Fangorn after dark).

Later that night in Sandakphu, tucked

into bed with a hot water bottle, I

flipped through my camera to confirm

if I had indeed seen a Tolkienesque

vision come alive in a way that had

nothing to do with Peter Jackson.

Goodbyes are never easy. At

Sandakphu, they’re tougher still. On

the last morning, as I nuzzled goodbye

to Dombey, the resident puppy, I finally

understood why. After all, who wants to

go back to navigating boundaries when

you’ve spent a few days discovering that

they needn’t exist at all?¾

ESSENTIALS

A sign en route to Tumling, Nepal, is proof
that travellers indeed cross a national
border on this thrill-packed trip.

The drive to Sandakphu
is the stuff of off-
roaders’ dreams. With
hair-raising bends and
steep inclines, the
journey crosses the
India-Nepal border and
is an adventure in itself.