In Forests of Dooars, North Bengal

[Rishi]

Day 3. Date: 04/01/2019
We were to go for safari in the afternoon. In the morning we went to a place called Bindu at India-Bhutan border.

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Although  road to Bindu was very picturesque, but IMO the forest patch has way too many roads through it.
A road (not in map) get out fro the NH-31C & heads north along the length of the forest that joins Neora with Gorumara. The area where every single of these roads pass through are designated as "Reserve Forests". Thus technically there's no roads passing through the "Protected Areas"! Clever... but not in a good way.

Anyway, the road leaves the main forest & heads towards Bhutan through the fringes. First Department maintains some small plantations of rubber, medicinal herbs etc. to generate employment for people of the forest villages.

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Only a few quiet hamlets on the road to Bindu, where there's a hydel-barrage jointly constructed-operated by India & Bhutan on the Jaldhaka river which demarcates border between the two nations.

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Yep, that's Bhutan on the other side.

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Night stay at Samsing Nature Resort. These govt. lodges have been upgraded in the recent years & from some of the worst, have become some of the best I've ever seen.

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Don't have many rooms or other facilities, only 2-3 staff who act as cook & waiters & cleaner & manager. If you're not looking for lavish service, then highly recommended for just staying!
Trust them to cook only local dishes & some generic Indian cuisine though.  

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Day 4. Date: 05/01/2019

After some local sightseeing in the morning we returned south by the same road through the forest the as day before & back to Chapramari (right side of the road)..

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The entrance to Champramari WLS core.

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Only about 500m inwards from the road is the Chapramari Forest Lodge...

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...& just to the right is a watch tower...

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...overlooking a pond & salt lick, about 300m ahead. Behind it you can see the first hills of Himalayas (don't know India or Bhutan).

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These forests are mostly woodlands & rhinos are rare here.
About 50 live in grasslands at core of Gorumara, where Murti bifurcates the forest. Them & the elephants both prefer the plant species abundant in the grasslands. The elephants on the other hand, prefer to migrate & raid crops along the way.

The pond is the only permanent success of fresh water between it & the Murti River on the edge of the forest. A salt lick is where they dump salt in the soil for the herbivores to help themselves by licking or eating the dirt.
Don't know if this was a natural one originally, but this practice has been going on since the British era.

When we arrived there was a few pigs, young deers & a single herd of elephants with some more coming out of the thickets to join them. 

(The sun was setting to the left & it was cloudy too. So the the lightings will keep fluctuating. Buckle up...)

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The jumbos slowly left for the jungle one by one. 

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We waited, hoping for some gaurs to show up.

Instead big stags with gorgeous antlers started coming out at this point. There was a large herd inside & they all came out to graze in the open.

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Another elephant herd crossed that^ gap between trees at this point. These ones had multiple little calves.

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More deer.

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More pig.

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More peafowl.

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Then suddenly... a gaur matriarch peeps out!

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Within minutes.

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