The name of the village is Kolakham

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Darjeeling, Karshiang, Mirik, Kalimpong along with these Silarigaon, Tinchule, Takda, Chatakpur. But the magnificence of North Bengal is not so easy to overcome. The mysteries of nature are so vast that people have repeatedly entangled themselves in the net to find its shores. I reached a small village in Kalimpong in January last year. The name of the village is Kolakham, many may have heard about it, but did not go. Evidence that this could be called as unexplored territory by tourists can be found in the nominal number of homestays in Kolakham. It is quite evident on the roads where there are little to no cars moving, the hill station looks rough. But this small village is building itself little by little without anyone noticing. Located in Lava, Kalimpong District, Kolakham derives its name from ‘Kola’, meaning walnut tree because, walnut tree is found only in this hill station. Earlier only Lepchas lived here but at present outsiders outnumber Lepchas.

It was a trip of four friends, so our level of excitement was beyond imagination. We got on the Teesta-Torsa Express with the joy of peeking into an unknown corner of North Bengal. The destination was of course New Jalpaiguri Junction. From there we booked a car and reached Kolakham by road from Kalimpong. We were totally unaware of what kind of place we were going to stay at. The trip was for two days. Home stay was booked in advance as planned. Between Rs800 and Rs1000 you can get a good home stay here. Almost all of these villages in North Bengal have cottage home stays. We chose a two-storey house made of wood which was indeed beautifully decorated. The house also had an alternative sleeping arrangement by climbing up the wooden stairs.

When reached Kolakhama in the morning, the colour of nature was gray combined with clouds and fog. The beauty of this place was quite different ‘gray’ cannot be applied in the sense of ‘dirty’ in this context in any way. As soon as I entered the house and climbed the stairs, I saw a glass window. As soon as I removed the curtain, I could see the top of the hill through the blurred glass. I opened the window to take a closer look; actually I have a strange fascination with hills and mountains. Seeing from a distance can’t keep me content. I was constantly thinking of getting closer to the hill so that I could touch it. I saw the network was of Gangtok, Sikkim as soon as I took out my phone to capture the hill with camera. After a while, I found out that the road to Gangtok is not far from Kolakham. Honestly, it gave me a lot more pleasure to reach out and discover something new rather than to go around knowing everything.

The first day was spent relaxing at the Home stay. Eggs, meat, etc. were arranged for us for lunch and dinner as we told the owner of the home stay. And tea-pokora was served in the evening. The cost of food starts from 500 rupees per day. You can ask as many times as you want. We ate till it filled our stomach. Only fish could not be found here, if we there were a few more days, maybe it would have been found for us to eat. This place is nature’s own place. Nature changes its form day and night with flowers, birds and greenery. On the morning of the second day, we drove to the Lava Monastery; it was about half an hour’s journey. Surrounded by hills, that monastery had a Buddhist built; it was peaceful, pleasant and heavenly. After spending some time there we went to Dello Park, which is located on Dello Hills in Kalimpong. There is a hill of flowers sitting there. As soon as the clouds parted and the sun shone, the colorful flowers sparkled. From that height, whichever way you look at it, you could only see hills. After visiting Dello Park, we ate Momo and Thukpa on the way back. There was nothing new about ‘Thukpa’ to Bengalis.

After having spent two in Kolakham, it was time for me to go back to my favourite place. Yes, I am talking about Darjeeling. I was forced to extend the trip for one more day before leaving the serene environment of the village. It is 14 km from Lava and 5 km from Kolakham. There are more waterfall-centric resorts in the region than in Kolakham. However, we had no plan to stay. I only wanted to witness the Changey Falls. Kolakham is a really ideal place to rest for a few days, to be very close to nature. However, even though we came very close, we were left out of Neora Valley National Park. No, we didn’t go here, but we found out that this 6 sq km national park, built in 1986, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Everything from red pandas to rhododendrons was within our reach there. You can even stay in the camp. The village of Kolakham is actually located in the Neora Valley. I realised that I would have to go back to Kalimpong to get a taste what was left out, I would definitely go back to Kolakham. Leaving this setback behind, the car finally turned towards Darjeeling.
How to go to Kolakham?

Any train from Sealdah or Howrah to New Jalpaiguri station.
From there it will take about four hours to reach Kolakham by car.
– Soumi Bhattacharya –

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