Glimpse of Zuluk,East Sikkim,India.

Name of Place:Zuluk,East Sikkim,India.

altitude:9700ft.

Nearest airport:Bogdogra,west Bengal

Nearest Railway station:N.J.P,Weast Sikkim

How far is from Gangtok:3hrs drive.

where can we get permit:Rongli/Gangtok check post.

Things to see in Zuluk:Sun rise view,old silk road,view of Kanchendzonga,lakes,birds wildlife(Red Panda),64 bend turning road and rare birds.

Thing to take:warm clothes.

 

Photo credit:Guest of Gopal Pradhan's homestay.

Interview with Gopal Pradhan

 Mr. Gopal Pradhan started homastay(Dil Maya retreat) in Zuluk village seven years back in the year 2006 with few domestic tourist especially kolkatta tourist. Last year,the number of tourist who visited that year crossed the mark 1400 and for this year he already received booking till October.Once remote border village now it turned into prosperous village with number of homestay mushrooming since it was open to domestic tourist.Tourist from Punjab,kolkatta,mumbai,Assam and Delhi had already received  the hospitality of Mr.Pradhan's Homestay and feedback can be found all over the online forum.

With no formal education he is running his homestay like a management graduate,creating employment to local youth,  who in future want to open their own homestay.After meeting him my definition of education has  changed,education has nothing to do with success,if you have vision  and put effort to  achieve whatever you have dreamed then success will follow you.

T2S:Mr. Gopal tell us about Zuluk?
GP:Well zuluk is a pictureque village,sort of heaven on earth,its a place where one  can come close to nature.Zuluk is a home to some of the rare birds of Indian subcontinent like Himalayan monal,Blood Pheasant,Satyr Tragopan and so on.Morning here begin with magnificent sun  rise and morning view of Mt.kanchenzonga.64 bend turning is something you would not  see elsewhere.

T2S:When did you started your homestay and why? 
GP:I started ,my  homestay in the year 2006 because earlier some of the homestay here in Zuluk were not able to give good hospitality,so i started my own.

T2S:What type of the tourist come here in Zuluk?
GP:Tourist usually come here to escape from their busy life and want to  be close to nature.They come here  for kanchendzonga view,sunrise view,lakes and for Birds.Most of the bird watcher who come to zuluk stay here for 4-5days.

T2S:How much do you charge for room here in your homestay?
GP:Here we charge Rs.700 per person which include breakfast,lunch and dinner.

T2S:Thats pretty cheap,don't you think?
GP:Yeah.Most of the toursit ask me the same question but i want to make our room affordable to all the tourist.

T2S:Is your family also involved in running homestay?
GP:My whole family is helping me.My son has done his computer course from kolkatta under capacity builiding and now he is looking after all this.

T2S:Tell us about your earlier life?
GP:I have no formal education.Thirty years back i used to work as GREF labour  and then as a tourist vehicle driver and now i own four tourist vehicle and i am an entrepreneur.

T2S:Any information to tourisit who want to visit Zuluk?
GP:Do visit Zuluk,its a beautiful  and peaceful place.Explore the hidden world of Sikkim.And for the bird lover,this is the right time to see some of the rare birds of Indian sub continent,who knows what would happen in future.For information regarding Zuluk tour and booking you can contact me at 9609860266/ 7872883264.

Highland bird survey-II

Meggie that we ate in the kyongsala.

Like last year,this year too members of SOS(Sikkim Ornithological Society) organised highland bird survey to Tsomgu lake and zuluk,East Sikkim on 9^th march 2013..It has became the tradition for SOS member to go for highland bird search every year.Last year they did survey of Gurudogmar lake area and lachen and they recorded one the species called Terek sandpiper which was recorded for the first time in sikkim.

This year Niraj sir,Karma sir and myself  voluntar  in the survey and we  were able to record some total of 33 species of highland bird in their list.Among them were Blood Pheasant(male and female),Kalij Pheasant,white winged grossbed,coal tit,Rudy shelduck,upland buzzard,grey creasted tit,mallard,grey wagtail,Eurasian treepcreeper,large billed chow,tufled duck,winter wren,shikar and many more.some of birds  like Pink browed Rosefinch,ruddy shelduck,white browed,winter wren and white winged grosbeak were common in surveyed area.Himalayan monal,national bird of Nepal which is found area like zuluk was in top of the list this time but they could find it because the weather was not in the good mood this time.

 During our visit we  interacted with the locals regarding the status of birds in their area .At last it was a wonderful experience.

Big Bird Day Celebration 2013

Big bird day is a yearly birdwatching event celebrated all over the Indian subcontinent in association with Delhi bird club.This year it was held on 24th feb 2013 , WWFsikkim and sikkim ornithological society in association with delhi bird club observed here at Bulbulay,Gangtok.It was organized for the first time in Sikkim but Delhi bird group has been doing annually since 2004.It was aimed at gathering data about birds from all over the region.Birders form small team ,watch birds in certain area and report the sighting at the end of the day so that it would be complied into a commulative list.

At the wee hour of the morning,birders around gangtok gather here at Ganesh tok for the big bird day celebration.This year they took the trail of Ganesh tok-Hanuman tok and enchey gumpa.Even though weather was unfavorable birders were able to spot 32 species of birds.Next year we are hoping to organise in a bigger scale .Among the the participant were Dr,Partho sarthi gosh,WWF Sikkim,Aishwarya maheshwari,WWF Delhi,Niraj Thapa and Pempa Tsh.Bhutia from SOS,Mr.Santosh sharma from gurukula kangri university doin his PHD on birds of sikkim,Mr.Palden zongpo Bhutia from penlong secondary school,Jiwan dorjee,Shyam bhajgai,Sangay Passang Bhutia and Lok bhadur dorjee all four from Tokal Bermiok,south Sikkim.
List of birds were:
1.Red billed leothrix
2.Rofous sibia
3.oriental turtle dove
4.leaf warbler
5.rofous winged fulvata
6.whiskered yuhina
7.blue whistling thrush
8.green tailed sunbird
9.white capped redstart
10.sparrow hawk
11.fire tailed sunbird
12.olive backed tit
13.white throated faintail
14.grey headed canary flycather
15.long billed wren babbler
16.large billed crow
17.blue rock pigeon
18.house crow
19.great barbet
20.green backed tit
21.whiskered yuhina
22.rofous vented yuhina
23.red tailed minla
24.chestnut tailed minla
25.mrs Gould sunbird
26.grey headed canary flycather
27.white spectakle warbler
28.rofous breasted accenture
29.olive backed pipit
30.red vented bulbul
31.white browed fulvatta
32.chestnut crowned laughingthrush

wake up to nature by WWF,Sikkim

wake up to nature by WWF,Sikkim

Last week i attended the nature camp organised by WWF in collaboration with CMD(centre for mountain dynamic)at kaliampong from 7th-8th of feb.2013.This was the first time that i  with have attended such camp and it was wonderful experience and it definately change our way of seeing thing and method of teaching.
After three hour journey from Gangtok to kaliampong we were really exhausted and once we reached there we were really surprised to see the place that we were going to spend.The place is 15 minute walk from nearest road and the venue is peaceful and one can hear different sound of birds,perfect for birders.First we had a introduction session and the Mr.Partho gave presentation on bird watching.
On second day birds call from nearby place wake up all the bird watcher and we gather there in the hall and then Mr. Basant and Mr.Partho separated two team of bird watcher . One group headed by Mr.Basant went toward uphill and another group  headed by Mr. Partho went toward downhill.I was with first group and after covering 15 minute radius, we sighted almost 21 birds like great barbet ,green billed mahkola,white creasted laughing thrush,blue throated barbet,asian barred owlet,jungle babbler,lessewr neckleced laughing thrush,oriental white eye,grey headed canary flycather,black creasted bulbul,rofous bellied niltava and many more.After coming from field we had a breakfast then birders helped our team leader to make common check list and it was 23 birds were sighted within 15 minute radius of CMD.The game about nature was played before lunch and after that we again went for butterflly watching in nearby place though we didn't find much birds as compared to birds but we enjoyed a lot.At last we had a session on zero waste management by Miss lha tsheden and it was life changing experience because we never thought that waste can be change into useful things.
There we were short of time and we even could thank WWF member  properly but through blog i would like to thank on behalf of my friends who attended that camp,Thank you very much.

Birding trip to Thin jhura,Part 2

In the morning i was surpise to see the view of morning sunrise because i haven't heard about it .It was really "wow",first sky changes into orange colour and then sun come out.After breakfast we went for birding to nearby place and we saw many birds including yellow billed blue megpie which is very common in that place.list of bird that we saw there is given at the end.
At nine we started to trek and on the way we saw many birds and even heard the sound of many wildlife.Trekking route was virgin but you woun't get lost ,mark has been given there to show the way.After walking for almost 2 hours not so uphill,its totallyt uphill walk and sometime you have to crawl .I must appreciated Amor from kolkatta friend of karma Tempo for his gut.At around 12:15 we reached the top finally.There is three storeyed tower and walking up stair in that tower make you feel like as if you are going to heaven.We were so excited to reached that hill which took 3 hours walk from Goalitar and the starting place can be seen from that tower.Mt.kanchendzonga was so huge from there and Gangtok town is more beautiful .Well trekking down one of our friend(sameer)got injured in his ankle but he made it.when we reached log house some friend from lal market group whoi choose not to trek offered us tea.

checklist:
Olive backed pipit...........many time
Rofouse breasted accenture..............many time
White throated laughing thrush.......many time
 Chestnut crowned laughing thrush...many time
Scaly breasted wren babler........once
Rofous sibia....many time
Sparrow hawk....one time
Serpent Eagle....one time
Yellow billed blue megpie...many time
Rofous napped yuhina......many time
Fire breasted flowerpecker....once
Whiskered yuhina...many time
Yellow checked tit.....once
Khalij pheasent...once
one not identified

Birding Trip to Thin jhura,Part 1

Thin jhura is a hill top located at an altitude of 3360mts.from where one can  see view  of whole gangtok town,Mt.kanchendzonga and tiger hill.Since it is located in the Fabongla wildlife santuary,birding  and trekking to hill top would be  lifetime experience.On friday we got permit to do camping in goali tar and the fees was  not so high,they charged us  Rs.50 per tent,Rs.25 per person as entry fee and Rs.20 for camera.They have even  opened online booking and if you want to book  log of Golitar then you must book in month in advance.
On Saturday at 2pm, we started our journey from Tashi View point and from there it is 5km drive to sanctuary gate.Weather forcast was also not showing good sign  but we were very hopeful.As soon as we reached Fabongla gate ,our car tire got punctured and we had to struggle for at least 15min to replace it because we thought if we left it for tomorrow then it would be difficult to replace after 4hours trekking and we did the right thing.Again it took 20 min walk from gate to Goalitar,carrying all food stuff ,tent and sleeping bag was pretty tiresome .We all were excited for this and for  all  my friend it was there first experience but for me it was a third time,first was in Singba sanctuary,yumthang,second was in Pangthang .Even though it was my third time i haven't pitch tent by myself and i was not sure how to do it.When it was a time to pitch a tent,we checked  tent bag and checked all item first,first we got confused.So i called my friend Madan fro help but got network problem but later we could manage to pitch it our self .when  our tent was ready, Care taker of santuary brought some firewood for camp fire and we gave him Rs.400.By the ,it was already dark and we headed toward log house for dinner for which we have brought cup noddles.There we meet some guys from Lal market,Gangtok and they were there for trekking to Thin jhura and they used to come to place annually.They were very nice and friendly and they even offered us their dinner but we feel not accept first but when they insist us again ,we said ok.Food was awesome and never expected that for dinnner and thats the thing about camping.Afer dinner we did camp fire and went to sleep early.

Birding Trip to Thin jhura,Fabongla wildlife santuary