Prelude
After a long, me with two of my closest friends Subhajit & Suvendu planned to go for a weekend trip to Ravangla, Sikkim. As we didn't have much time, planned for a short day-trek to Maenam & Valedunga, which is said to be a nice trek route through dense forest. Although it's a day trek, but not so easy because of steep climbing and about 25 Km walking in a day...
We had booked our train ticket in Darjeeling mail on 25th May, 2011.
25th May, 2011: At scheduled time we gathered at Sealdah station & the train departed sharp at 10.05PM from platform 9B (as usual).
26th May: The train was late by a few hours & we reached NJP around 11AM.
After having our lunch, we started searching shared jeep for Ravangla. But because of the off-bit destination (people usually go for Darjeeling, Gangtok etc.) & it was already too late (the usual peak hours of shared jeep to Ravangla is till around 10 in the morning as people were telling), we could not manage any share. So went to Tenzing Norgey bus stand & found that there is a bus at 12.30 for Ravanga. Without hesitation we booked 3 tickets, each cost Rs. 130.
The only problem with the bus journey is that it takes more than 6 hours to reach Ravangla, whereas jeeps usually take less than 4.5-5 hours. We reached around 7PM. The weather was fogy & it was raining little bit along with biting cold. Managed to find a hotel of Rs. 900 per day. The hotel manager arranged everything for next day's trekking, e.g., guide cum porter, permit etc. After having dinner, went to bed at 10 PM.
27th May: It was really a fine morning with blue sky & awesome view of Kanchenjunga from everywhere! The porter cum guides came to our hotel in the morning & we started around 9 AM (along with packed lunch & water bottles for the whole day). We reached the permit office (where the trails starts) in next 30 minutes.
After the initial paper works, we started the trek. Initially we were walking in light mood & the path was easy. But as we were moving further, the forest became dense & the path turned steeper.
It was a really fine blue sky morning. Sometimes when the forest was less dense, Kanchenjunga was visible clearly.
The distance to Maenam top is 12Km & Valedunga is 5Km more from Maenam. So we had to & fro trek of total 34 Km & must had to come back before evening. Otherwise the jungle could be dangerous as there are bears and other wild animals along with few leopards. So we had to walk fast, although it was very tough because of the steepness.
Some strange species of plants we had seen in the forest.
We should have carried salt with us because of several blood sucking leach in the jungle. Had to pay the price of this mistake in terms of our blood to the leaches. Sometimes it was so dense that we had to make our own way. Without any guide it might be very risky because anyone can lose his way in the jungle any time!
There are few resting places (camps) on the trek route, although these places are not safe for night stay. We had some light snacks in 2nd camp.
After the end of dense forest, we experienced fogy weather. Our guides were telling that in visible weather Darjeeling can be seen from here, which is just opposite to this mountain.
The trek route was awesome. Pine trees made it really majestic.
It took about 4/5 hours to reach to Maenam top. The altitude is about 12,000 ft. There were some military camps nearby.
Rested on Maenam top for sometime & had our packed lunch. My friends were already tired & declined for Valedunga trek further. So me along with a guide left for Valedunga, about 5Km trek from Maenam top.
The road towards Valedunga was more beautiful. By that time I had already walked 15Km, & was little bit tired. But still didn't loose my enthusiasm. Reached Valedunga top after an hour.
It was an awesome view from the top. The guide was telling in absence of fog this place is the best to see Kanchenjunga range. Stayed there about 15 minutes. Again came back to Maenam top & joined my friends there.
While returning back, the bad weather started. It started raining heavily when we were in dense forest. It was practically impossible to walk at that time. The roads were extremely slippery & dangerous, moreover we were completely wet in chilling weather. In addition, it was almost evening & we were really in a dangerous situation. One of my friend got ill badly at that time. He couldn't move a single step as he lost sensitiveness in his lower body part. But somehow we had managed to come back around 7PM & it was already dark at that time.
After coming back to hotel we had to devote a few hours to find out leaches in our cloths. I myself discovered at least 10 in my body. Took dinner early & went to bed immediately.
28th May: The bus was scheduled to depart at 8 AM. We reached NJP around 2.30 & had to wait for long. We reached Sealdah next morning at 7 & came back home after a few hours...
This was the first short trek in my life & was a nice experience. If anyone has strength to walk 20/25Km & want to have a short trek, then I will recommend to go for this trek route. It's really nice!
