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Jungle tales

An overnight train from Sealdah landed us into New Mal Junction -- our first railhead, on the way to Murti -- our first halt.

Murti is a small hamlet off Malbazar town. It is also the gateway to three important national forests -- Gorumara, Chapramari and Khunia.

West Bengal Forest Development Corporation runs a wonderful guesthouse named Bonani on the banks of the Murti river. Rooms ranging from Rs 650 to Rs 1,600 per night are available to suit all budgets. Entry passes for all three national forests are available from this guesthouse. The food available was just fine in terms of price, quantity and quality. Rented cars were available at the guesthouse on request, but we had already booked a car from New Mal Junction, which proved to be cheaper.

The first afternoon we devoted to Gorumara National Forest. We only spotted bisons, peacocks and one wild elephant. It was disheartening not to find a single rhino. Rhinos are the centre of attraction here for tourists and jungle lovers.

Text: Aniruddha Sen
Image: The Murti river
Photograph: Aniruddha Sen
Also read: On top of Kudremukh

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