If you are looking for a place off the beatan track for your next holiday ,  Bhitarkanika could well be your destination, for sea, sand, wildlife and adventure . Pristine isolated beaches, exotic birds, tens of thousands of giant turtles, fearsome crocodiles, narrow creeks that meander past deltaic islands, Wildlife and not a soul around, that is what Bhitrakanika is .

Situated at a distance of 130 kms from Bhubaneswar, on the eastern cost of India, Bhitrakanika notified as a sanctuary in 1975 and declared as a National Park in 1998, is spread over 650 sq. kms. With a forest cover of 380 sq. kms ; including the mangrove forest of 115.50 sq. kms.  Surrounded and Dhamara and criss crossed by several creeks Bhitarkanika presents a unique environmental and ecological wonder .

Few destination in the world have so much to offer at one point . For the admirers of nature, Bhitrakanika remains as a treasure house . Widely acclaimed for its biodiversity, Bhitarkanika stands as one of the few swamps having a compact mangrove eco-system in India, next only to Sundarban in West Bengal . >> Read more…

At one time the capital of Bengal Suba , Murshidabad formerly known as Makhusabad, is named after Nawab Murshid Kuli Khan, a Diwan of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa under Emperor Aurangzeb . Murshidabad , on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi ( Ganga ) is intimately related to events that ultimately changed the history of India . Nawab Siraj-ud-daula lost the battle of Plassey against Clive , the architect of the British Empire in India and gradually power passed onto the hands of the British . Murshidabad is only 222 kilometres from Kolkata and is connectd by both train and road .

The district got its present name in the early eighteenth century and its present shape in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the earliest evidences of history in the district date back to the pre-historic days perhaps as early as circa 1500 B.C.

The capital city of Sasanka, the great king of Gouda (comprising the most of Bengal) in the seventh century AD and perhaps that of Mahipala, one of the later Pala kings of Bengal, were in this district too. The Nawab Murshid Quli Khan made Murshidabad the capital city of Sube Bangla, comprising of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The East India Company reigned from here for many years after the Battle of Plassey; Travellers extolled its glory through ages.

Here thrived the cultures of many races and of religions like Buddhism, Brahmanism, Vaishnavism, Jainism, Islam and Christianity. Here settled the European traders like the Dutch, the British, the French and the Armenians. >> Read more…

Malda has many medieval historical relics. The nearby Gour which came into prominence as a kingdom during the reign of Sasanka was once the capital of ancient Bengal for several centuries . In the 12th century A.D. and it is during the reign of Senas that Gour became known all over India as a seat of learning art and culture . During the reign of Lakshaman Sen, Gour was invaded by Bhakhtiyar Khilji during early thirteenth centuary A.D. and after the conquest of Bengal by him, the fourtunes of city was plundered by Sher Shah, the last independent Sultan of Bengal . Most of the monuments in Gour today are the remains of the Muslim period , and a number of them are constructed with materials taken from Hindu temple . The city of Gour was once compemently fortified by a high earthen rampart, the top of the wall beign covered with buildings .

PLACE OF INTEREST :

AT GOUR

The Baroduari or the great golden mosque, the largest of the monuments in Gour, was erected by Sultan Nasrat Shah in 1526 A.D. This mosque is a massive rectangular building of brick. The Dakhil Darwajah, the main gateway to the was probably built in early 15th century . Its four corners are topped with 5-storied high towers. The Chika Mosque, a single domed edifice with Hindu idols featured on the stonework of doors and lintels is in an obliterated condition. Firuz Minar, an impressive monument stands 26 metre tall . The Tamaltola at Ramkeli – shri Chaitanya , the great religious reformer of Bengal , arrived here on his way to Vrindavan during the reign of Sultan Hussain Shah . The Lattan Mosque was constructed by Sultan Yusuf Shah in 1475 A.D.

>> Read more…

So, we witnessed a historical treaty today and everyone is hoping for the best. This writeup is not meant to discuss the if’s and but’s, neither we are going to go into the Tarai – Dooars controversy. The most important thing is everyone is hoping for the best. Here stands and lies the basic question, why everyone? I don’t think there would have been this much of interest, if this kind of understandings were reached in respect to any other places. We all are watching and interested because the place is Darjeeling. Somewhere, we all feel, its our Darjeeling too and we want to revisit this enigmatic queen of hills again and again and again. Darjeeling along with Puri has always been part of Bengali’s travel facet, its major share in Bengali’s travel nostalgic thoughts had always driven us to keep thinking, worrying, wondering about the place and may be we have seen a light of hope.  We are happy, exited that we can go to this place again.

With the in-numerous mails we are receiving on Darjeeling, we are sure, in no time, its going to retain it crown. Just let it happen and please do not destroy this place.

A) Govt. Lodging -

1. At Kisli – MP Tourisms Baghira Log Hut –
Rates – Two bedded A/C Rooms – 4290/-
Two bedded Deluxe ( including food-lodging & Tax) -5290/-
In tourist Hostel 24 bedded Dormitory is also available @ Rs.890/- per head with food.
2. At Mukki – MP Tourisms Kanha Safari Lodge -
Rates – Two bedded Air cool Rooms – 2990/-
Two bedded A/C Rooms – 3890/-
Room Rent increases @20% during peak season from 23rd October to 31st October & 17th December to 2nd January.

B) Private Hotels at Kisli –

1. Mogli Resort –
Rates – Two bedded Non A/C Rooms – 1500/-
Two beddedA/C Rooms – 2500/-
2. Bison Resort –
Rates –
Economy – Air Cooler -650-/
Deluxe  – Air Cooler= 850-/
Super Deluxe – Air Cooler-1200-/
VIP Suite – Air Conditioned-2200-/
3. Kanha Resort –
Rates – Non A/C Rooms – 1500/-
A/C Rooms – 2000/-
4. Panther Resort –
Rates – Non A/C Super Deluxe Rooms – 1250/- & 4 bedded rooms -1450/-
5. Motel Chandan -
Rates – Non A/C Rooms – 950/- to 1100/-
A/C Rooms – 1500/-
6. Vanvihar Resort –
Rates – 700/- to 800/-
7. Krishna Resort -
Rates – Two beddedNon A/C Rooms – 2400/-
Two beddedA/C Rooms – 2900/-
Also A/C Rooms @ Rs.3600/- are availableinclusive of food for 2 Persons.
8. Forest Resort Continental -
Rates – 2200/- to 4400/- ( Both at Kisli & Mukki )

For booking this Hotels Contact at 9830788403

The irresponsible attitude of some tourists visiting Corbett National Park created chaos when a group of them thrashed a jeep driver and a guide who protested when they were flouting park regulations.

Police had to resort to firing bullets in the air to disperse a crowd of guides and locals who roughed up the tourists in retaliation when they came out of the park. The tourists, who hail from Delhi, have been fined a sum of `10,000 by the national park authorities.

A group of young men and women from a college in the Capital entered Bijrani tourist zone of Corbett National Park in a hired jeep on Sunday. When they were in a sensitive forest area, two male tourists got down from the jeep and climbed on the bonnet of the vehicle, apparently to click photographs.

When the driver of the jeep told them that they were breaking the rules and directed them to get back inside the vehicle, the men started misbehaving with the driver. When the guide, Shailendra Rawat, tried to help him, both were beaten up by the tourists.

When the locals and guides learnt about the incident they gathered at the Amdanda gate of the park. Fearing trouble, local police also reached the spot. When the tourists came out of the park, they were manhandled by the group which even resisted the police. Seeing the situation snowballing out of control, police fired three rounds of bullets in the air to control the situation.

National park director Ranjan Kumar Mishra and Kotwal RK Farswan reached the site. Mishra found the tourists guilty of flouting park regulations and fined them `10,000. All brochures and signboards inside the park direct visitors not to leave their vehicles inside the national park area. Observers say the incident has exposed the irresponsible attitude of tourists many of whom often consume alcohol inside the park which is strictly banned.

In our last visit last February, we halted a day at Gairal and have witnessed liquor being consumed to some young lads from Delhi and around. Upon enquiring, we learned that “Sab milta hai, Sahib, Chahiye kya?” We fail to understand in which ways does someone’s pride gets heightened by breaking restrictions. Do they feel smart by saying – “I have not followed such and such guidelines”. Typical Ego maintenance crisis.

TOI reported that the Rajasthan State Tourism Minister Beena Kak on Thursday spotted a Tigress and two cubs with the help of a powerful camera, when she noticed a would in the hind portion of the mother which was life-threatening. “The tigress was restless inside a pond. I zoomed in and saw a red mark on its back,” said the minister.
It turned out to be a deep, life-threatening wound that had invited hundreds of maggots. At stake was not only the animal’s life but also that of its two cubs. What followed was an hour-long operation on Thursday before the tigress was back with her cubs again. “I felt disturbed when I
saw what I had clicked. I went back to where I had seen the tigress first. I took some more
close-ups and realized that blood was oozing out of the deep wound. I called up the
divisional forest officer,” explained the minister.
Once confirmed that this was a fresh wound, instructions were issued to tranquilize the animal. “It was a 4-inch-deep wound and thousands of maggots had collected there. If left unattended, the tigress would have died in two days,” said Kak.
Doctors from the Jaipur zoo and Sawai Madhopur cleaned the wound and carried out a minor surgery. “On Friday came the news that the tigress had killed the bait and reunited with her cubs,” the minister said.
Forest officials and wildlife activists have praised the efforts of the concerned minister. “It was a great effort. The minister has, in fact, managed to save three tigers,” said Rajpal Singh, member state wildlife board. Holidayhomeindia too expresses its gratitude to Ms. Kak.

According to a PTI report, Himachal Pradesh which received a record number of 1.33 crore tourists during 2010 is planning to make tourism a key revenue earning sector by 2015.

“The growth of tourism sector has been phenomenal during past three years and if the same tempo is kept up, this sector is set to add Rs 300 crore annually to the GDP,” said Arun Sharma, Tourism Director, Himachal Pradesh, adding that, the state government is planning to make tourism key revenue earning sector by 2015.

Arrivals (FTAs) in the country during 2010 grew by 9.3 per cent at 55 lakh visitors as compared to 51 lakh during 2009, an official statement said today.

The 9.3 per cent growth rate in FTAs for 2010 over 2009 for the country is much better than UNWTO’s projected growth rate of 5-6 per cent for the world during the same period.

Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from tourism has also registered a huge jump of 24.6 per cent to 14,193 million dollar during the concluded year as compared to 11,394 million dollar during 2009.

During 2010, a total number of 6,549 Visa on Arrivals (VoA) were issued under VoA Scheme.

The Scheme of ‘Visa on Arrival’ (VoA) was introduced from January 1, 2010 for citizens of five countries–Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore– visiting India for tourism purposes.

The number of visas issued under this scheme, during January-December 2010 for nationals of the five countries were Singapore (1814), New Zealand (1944), Japan (1457), Finland (1263) and Luxembourg (71).

Total number of VoAs issued during December, 2010 were 905 with New Zealand (340) recorded the highest number followed by Japan (216), Singapore (191), Finland (140) and Luxembourg (18).

During the year 2010 (January-December), the maximum number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (3493), followed by Mumbai (1511), Chennai (1211) and Kolkata (334). Well, everybody knows that Delhi has much more importance in terms of geographical location but Kolkata with under 10% of Delhi definitely proves the gap in promotion of tourist places in the east and north east as well. Hope the tourist ministry at the respective state’s looks at this figures.

Speaking at the ‘Billy Arjan Singh Memorial Convention’, organised by NGO Tiger and Terrain on the noted wildlife enthusiast’s first death anniversary here, Salman Khurshid, Union Minister for Corporate and Minority Affairs said that opening of core areas to tourists would go a long way in curbing poaching.

He, however, noted that “entry to core areas must be strictly regulated and some criterion need to be laid down to allow such entry”. With the present system prevalent in some of the forests like Kaziranga where one can only notice uncontrolled and over tourism which is destroying the park in the non core, the case of regulated tourism must be first ensured.

Wildlife enthusiasts at the convention earlier sought to draw the minister’s attention to the fact that the core areas of wildlife parks and sanctuaries had turned into the safe haven for poachers. Some experts believe that poaching although being a great cause of concern, one should not dilute the issue of industrial pollution hazards that have endangered many animal species.

“Since there were not enough functionaries and those too inadequately equipped, core areas remained unfrequented even by the staff, with the result that poacher gangs could easily slip in and carry out their nefarious activities,” Tiger and Terrain secretary Kaushlendra Singh said. His views found favour with the minister, who is himself a wildlife enthusiast.

Ranjit Bhargava, who has been honoured with Padmashri for his wildlife conservation work, stressed on the need for diversion of a rail track and a highway from a 25 km stretch of Uttar Pradesh’s Dudhwa National Park, the second largest wildlife reserve after the world famous Corbett Park in Uttarakhand in north India. Same is in the case of Kaziranga where the National Highway is too close to the Park area and too much of non obeying traffic is certainly disturbing habitats at the Park.

Former Uttar Pradesh chief conservator of forests Gian Chand Misra expressed deep concern over the dwindling numbers of deer, which is the favoured food of tigers.

Most speakers felt that the official tiger count was “highly inflated”. However, Misra was of the view that fudging of tiger figures would come to an end once the modern counting system based on DNA match is introduced in all the parks. Think of this years report on tiger density by an NGO at Kaziranga, a whooping level of 32.64 per 100 sq. km. to Kaziranga with Corbett being the 2nd in the world with 19.2, well from where did the number rose so much. At least the locals in Kaziranga doesn’t seems to be impressed with the figures. The argument of “One of the key reasons for the high tiger density in Kaziranga is an abundance of prey animals including hog deer, sambar, swamp deer and wild buffalo.” is not acceptable enough as everybody knows that by eating more tiger does not produces more cubs at least. So, did they migrated from any other forest? From where then? there is no such forest area which is contagious to Kaziranga? Many questions answered.

A Collaborative study on problems of tiger straying in the villages of  the Sunderbans was conducted by Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS) and their observations are as under:

A Collaborative study on problems of tiger straying in the villages of  the Sunderbans was conducted by Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS) and their observations are as under:

Tadoba Andheri Tiger Project is one of the famous Tiger reserves in India. The Tadoba National Park is among the India’s 28 Project Tiger Reserve with an area of  623 sq.kms. It is the oldest National Park of Maharashtra situated in the Chandrapur district. Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve includes Tadoba National Park and Andhari wildlife Sanctuary. Tadoba has been named after the local God, “Taru” who was killed in an heroic fight with a tiger.The   local people offer their prayers  to “Tadoba Deo” with a belief that by offering prayers to Tadoba Deo and sprinkling the water of Tadoba lake on agricultural fields, there crops will be safe from any disease or pests. The Sanctuary is named “Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary” in the name of river Andhari which flows through the Sanctuary. Area of Tadoba National Park is 116 sq.km. & Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary is 509 sq.km. comprising of total  625 sq.kms. Tadoba was established in 1935 and declared a National Park in 1955 with 116 sq.km. area. Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary was created in 1986, and in 1995, both the park and the sanctuary were merged to establish the present Tiger Reserve. Tadoba reserve comprises of the Chimur Hills, and the Andhari sanctuary covers Moharli and Kolsa ranges.

Tadoba National Park is a paradise for Wild life enthusiasts and it is also known as the ‘Jewel of Vidarbha‘. The wildlife sanctuary comprises of a varied range of flora and fauna such as Teak, Ain, Bija, Dhaoda, Bamboo, Haldu, Arjun, Tendu, Salai, Jamun, Mahua along with rare variety of indian wildlife.

Wild Life in Tadoba -

In Tadoba there are 80 species of mammals, 280 species of Birds, 100 species of Butterflies, 26 species of spiders, 30 species of Reptiles including 25 species of snakes, 5 species of Amphibians, 23 species of Fishes evidence.  There are 280 species of birds recorded in Tadoba which includes 50 species of migratory birds and 158 species of resident birds. During winter Bar-headed Goose migrates from Ladakh and Tibet at Chargaon and Sitarampeth tanks near the Protected Area. Tadoba has around 50 tigers along with some rare Indian wildlife such as, Leopards, Sloth Bears, Gaur, Wild Dogs, Hyenas, Civet and Jungle cats, Wild Boar, Four-Horned Antelope, Wild Dog , Langoor, Nilgai, Ratel, Flying Squirrel, Palm Civet, Indian Civet, Leopard Cat, Rusty Spotted Cat, Pangolin, Jackal and many species of Indian deer like Sambar, Cheetal, Nilgai, and Barking Deer. In Tadoba there is also a lake which has natural habitat of many water birds and Marsh Crocodile which were once commonly found in Maharashtra. Tiger, Panther are the major carnivores in this area which feed on the herbivores.  Sambar, Chital, boars and Gaurs are the most preferred prey hunted by the Tiger. >> Read more…

Zuluk is steadily growing tourist destination situated at an altitude of  3000 meters [ approx. 10000 feets] above sea level near Indo-China border. This beautiful small rocky terrain is situated in the lower himalayas of the East Sikkim and was famous in olden days for historic “Silk Route”. The route starts from Kalimpong passing through Pedong, Aritar, Zuluk and Jelep La to Chumbi valley in Tibet. The “Silk Route” being the Official corridor between India & China in terms of trade in earlier days was closed since long after the Chinese aggression in the area.

For centuries, merchants and others journeyed to and from China and the Middle East on ancient routes through some of the most testing landscapes in the world. These ‘highways’ – stretching some 4,000 miles – collectively came to be called the ‘Silk Route’. >> Read more…