Neora Valley Jungle Camp experience, Eastern Himalayas

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Uninhabited, rugged inaccessible hilly terrain and rich diverse flora and fauna together make the Park an important wilderness zone.

This is the land of the cute Red Panda, and provides shelter and protection to various species of Wildlife mammals, which include the (1) Red Panda, (2) Clouded Leopard, (3) Mithun, (4) Ghoral, (5) Wild Dog, (6) Himalayan Black Bear, (7) Leopard, (8) Leopard Cat, (9) Himalayan Thar, (10) Royal Bengal Tiger. The dense nature of the forest bars the easy sighting of animals.

Neora Valley National Park is extra ordinarily rich in avi-fauna. Due to its change in altitude at places, various species of birds make the park a paradise for bird watchers. There are more than 106 species of birds which include Eagle, Tragopan, Cuckoo, Wood Owl, Barbet, Woodpecker, Babbler, Robin, Thrush, Flycatcher, Jungle Crow, Sunbird, Maynas and Orioles.

Nature has gifted Neora Valley with variety of colourful Wild Orchids. One can get a glimpse of this magnificent flora from 600 feet to 10,000 feet. Some of the Orchids recorded in the Neora Valley National Park, belong to the genus, Bulbophyllum, Cymbidium, Celogyne, Dendrobium, Eira, Gastrochilus and Pleione.

Being a part of the Himalayas, the altitude of the National Park varies from 183 m to 3200 m. the highest point lies on the north bordering Sikkim called as the Rachilla Danda. Small water bodies/Wetlands are scattered all over the Park namely the Jorepokhri, Panchpokhri, Tempola, etc.

Getting there

The Neora Valley Jungle Camp is located at an altitude of 1868m at Kolakham village in the Kalimpong Hills of Darjeeling District, on the fringe of Neora Valley Nationalpark.

The National Park spreads over an area of 88.00 sq. km. in the civil disrict of Darjeeling under Kalimpong Sub-Division. There are two entry points to the National Park, through Lava in the upper, and through Samsing in the lower part. The area between Lava and Kolakham, and Kolakham to Neora Valley is richly forested and supports a good faunal population. The number of villages is also less, and hence an important Conservation Reserve.

A stunning back drop for your Jungle Camp experience.

• By Road
• By Rail
• By Air Bagdogra is nearest international airport.
• By Sea

Other Insider Info.

Neora Valley Jungle Camp was established with the aim to involve the fringe villagers in creating a community buffer for the Neora Valley National Park. The infrastructure work was started during February, 2006 after receiving the offer from a local community leader, who gave us his land to create the model with his family as partner in the initiative. He had the farsightedness and he understood the benefit of the initiative for the local population. The site is in last village adjoining the National Park, called Kolakham, and the infrastructure on the highest point of the village, known as Jure Dara (English translates to Hump Hill).

This was more developed as a demonstration and training centre, so that the unemployed youths of the village can learn the art of tourist handling and develop themselves as service providers. The rest of the villagers can be motivated to take pride in the conservation of the local nature as because of the appreciation from the visitors globally. The process also help to maintain age old traditions, being fast lost in the world of consumerism.

The general population of the village lives below the ‘poverty level’ as per the Indian standards. As the hill is directly exposed to the snow capped mountains, the scope of good agriculture is less, and due to the lack of pastures, cattle rearing are negligible. The school is one of the best located ones, with one classroom divided in two, and the senior children teaching the lower classes to fill in the gap for unavailable teachers. Hence, the camp would act as an activity, motivation and resource generation centre.
The construction of the camp is also very unique, where the major part of the revenue was spent in landscaping by the local people, as this was a steep land full of stones where agriculture and construction was not possible. Even the forest did not grow here. The stones which were dugout were used as foundation, a technique only known to the local people here. The walls were from the leftover barks of the Forest Department, which they usually sell as fire wood after thinning the Dhupi (Cryptomeria japonica) forests to substitute with a mixed plantation. Most of the inside is from the abandoned old houses of the villagers.

Why do we like them?

Help Tourism have been at the vanguard of sustainable tourism initiatives in India for well over a decade. They have developed some incredible adventure and activity programs, including trekking in the Himalayas, tiger, rhino and bird spotting in the National Parks and Reserves networks, elephant safaris and heritage and cultural tours in a fascinating and diverse region of India. Uniquely, all these programs are designed with specific sustainable development and conservation goals in mind. Their engagement with the local communities is a model to be admired - the organization has single-handedly implemented 26 Community Tourism projects in the remote forest and mountain villages of this region.

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