I can't believe it but it is true, I was standing at a place from where the world's highest peak 'Mount Everest' was visible and on the other side India's highest peak named 'Kanchenjunga' was shining. After the rain at night, I started feeling that we would not be able to see Everest in the morning. Let's go and find out which place I went to from where this view was visible.
Best Bengal state is situated in the east of India, this state and the country of India share its borders with the country of Nepal. Rimbik is a small village in West Bengal which comes under Darjeeling Hill Station. Now if we talk about National Park, this place comes under Shingalila National Park. Nearest airport is Bagdogra from where Darjeeling is at a distance of 60 km and it takes about two and a half hours to cover this distance because the entire route is hilly.
The distance by road from Darjeeling to Manebhanjan is 25 km and it takes about 40 minutes to cover. This is a matter of breaking opinions, now let me tell you why I have come here. For the last 4-5 years, a 'Trail Run' is being organized in Shingalila National Park and I have come here to volunteer in this event. One category of this event is 65 km long which will start from Rimbik village and go to Sandakphu from where it will reach Phalut and then straight to Rimbik and finish.
In this event, I have to go to Sandakphu and get 4 hydration points set up, after which I have to do photography of the runners. Well, let me tell you that Sandakphu, whose height is 3636 meters above sea level, this peak is the highest peak of West Bengal and because of getting this title, many tourists come to Sandakphu to spot Everest and Kanchenjunga. It is a very funny thing that after reaching Sandakphu, the eyes remain less on the earth and more towards the mountains.
The ridge extending from Sandakphu to Phalut which is 21 km. I buy hydration for the long ride and hop into the car with my 3 other friends. A 32 km long road has been built from Manebhanjan (1928 m) which is located on the India-Nepal border to Sandakphu. But at this height of the mountains, it feels less like a road and more like a roller coaster ride. If you have the problem of motion sickness, you will throw out the eaten food from your mouth very quickly. Neither did I eat food nor did I feel the problem of motion sickness, hence I reach Sandakphu safely.
After reaching Sandakphu, I along with my friends take down the stuff from the car at the hydration point set up here and keep it in our room. We have to set up station at 05:30 am and the race will start at 4 am from Rimbic. This place is only 18 km away from the start point but in this 18 km one has to fight an elevation gain of 1950 meters. According to me the first runner will arrive here between 05:30 and 05:45. After dinner, we do all the planning and go to sleep so that we can wake up early in the morning.
As soon as my eyes opened, it started raining. I woke up at 11 o'clock in the night and looked outside and saw that it was raining heavily. I think positively and get into my quilt again thinking that the rain will stop and tomorrow I will see Everest along with Kanchenjunga. The temperature here is in minus. I sleep when it stops raining, it stops around 3 o'clock. In the morning, I get up before the alarm rings and start my work by saying good morning to my colleagues.
We set our hydration point at 05:20 minutes and it was as expected. The first runner reaches here at 05:35. It was very dark at 5:30 but within the next 10 minutes the place was caught by the sunrise. The sunrise came from behind us, by now even the clouds in the sky had gone. Now the hope of seeing Everest and Kanchenjunga had increased even more. It is believed that the best time to see the view from here is from November to February. After February, light rains start, due to which there is dense fog almost all the time in which leave alone Everest, one cannot see even 10 feet away.
As soon as I see the sun on the horizon, my happiness knows no bounds because in my north I can see Kanchenjunga covered in yellow light, while in my west I can see the world's highest peak Everest. The first rays of the sun have made this view golden. I feel as if the entire mountain is made of gold. Of course, I made some amazing clicks with the camera, but to stand in front of this huge view with naked eyes was a great and honorable thing.
The tourists present here get up and stand on the roof of the hotel to watch the sunset, admire Kanchenjunga and shake hands with Everest. Our team is working faithfully in their hydration points, so I tell them and move a little further on the route from where a clear view of the mountains can be seen. After going about 2 km further, I found a spot where I could click photos of the runners along with Kanchenjunga and Everest. Here the wind is cold and the temperature is very low, so I am wearing gloves on my hands because the body of the camera has become so cold as if I am holding ice. I am afraid that the camera's battery may get drained in this cold.
Clouds are dancing on the ridge extending from Sandakphu to Phalut, sometimes everything gets lost in the clouds and sometimes everything is visible very clearly due to the strong wind. This game of hide and seek continued until my work here was completed. For this reason, photos of some runners could neither be taken with Everest nor with Kanchenjunga. Some runners even waited for the clouds to go away but it did not happen. Overall I manage to click photos of 61 runners. Now it remains to be seen how many runners will reach the finish line and wear the finisher's medal around their neck.
Runners have to reach Sandakphu within 7 hours as per the cutoff time of the race and if the runners do not reach here within 6 hours of the start of the race, they will be disqualified. By 10 am, when all the runners cross from here, I start walking back from here towards Sandakphu. On my way back I meet a motorcyclist who is from Nepal and is going towards his shop. According to the Government of India and the Forest Department, only 4x4 vehicles can drive here, these vehicles have a permit to drive in Shingalila National Park. Two wheelers are prohibited from running on Indian soil.
Let me tell you one thing, Land Rover cars of British era still run on the road built in this National Park. It has been more than 70 years since these trains have been running here. That is a different matter, now these old vehicles have been fitted with the engine of Mahindra Bolero, which is an Indian car manufacturing company. And this was done because it was impossible to get parts for such an old vehicle. Most tourists use these cars to reach Sandakphu and Phalut. Some enthusiasts also cover this difficult route on foot and by bicycle. Actually, I also enjoy walking a lot and if I did not have this responsibility today, I would have liked to do this trek on foot.
I see a high rock on the way on which people stood in the morning to witness Everest. In main Sandakphu, someone has converted a van into a food truck. I felt like eating something but now is not the right time, so I start walking back towards the hydration point. Our companions have packed the hydration and now the car will come again to collect this luggage which had dropped us here yesterday and gone to Phalut. From here I and a videographer will start descending towards Rimbik on foot while the remaining two volunteers will stay here and go to Manebhanjan with the car.
Now let me tell you some facts here. 226 mountain peaks are visible from Sandakphu, the highest peak in West Bengal. Mainly Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lohtse, Makalu and Nuptse are visible from here, meaning a total of 4 mountains are visible from here which are higher than 800 meters. Peaks of India, Nepal, Bhutan and China are visible from Sandakphu. The road distance from Sandakphu to Phalut is 21 km and all these hill peaks are clearly visible throughout the way. From here the smallest peak named Devithan Dada is also visible whose height is only 385 meters.
That's all for today's post, in the next post I will write about the journey on foot from Sandakphu back to Rimbik. I hope you liked this post.
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Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to tranlate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from Sony A7iii & Canon 77D and edited in Lightroom/photoshop.