Discover the beauty of Gajoldoba and Gaurikone

On the invitation of Ranjan Majumdar (my brother), my wife and I set off on a journey to one of Bengal's favourite tourist destinations, the Dooars, with a little touch of Nepal.

- NISITH SINHA ROY

This time, our destination was the Dooars region in Jalpaiguri. Jalpaiguri itself offers numerous places to visit, like the Gorumara National Park, Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary, Lataguri, Jatileswar Temple, Gairkata and Jalpesh Temple.

And of course, the entire Dooars, as it's dotted with tea estates.

For this trip, we had added some new spots to explore, like the early morning light of Gajoldoba, the Gaurikone eco-tourism park, and a sacred pilgrimage site, the 'Bhramari shakti peeth', the Devi Chaudhurani temple and the Damdim Buddhist temple.

From there, we planned a day trip to Nepal.

As I mentioned earlier, due to my writing commitments, it is no longer feasible to take long trips of five or six days.

On top of that, there's the weight of our age.

But yes, there is the mental strength to carry on.

Armed with that strength, we set off on a delightful three-day, two-night getaway through the Vande Bharat Express from Howrah to the New Jalpaiguri station.

Ranjan Majumdar and Subrata Dutta, another friend of ours, were already waiting in their car.

After we crossed Siliguri, we stopped by the roadside for a fresh cup of tea, as we had already had lunch on the train.

Our first stop was Gajoldoba.

We reached the picturesque Gajoldoba, surrounded by the lush forests of 'Baikunthapur' and 'Opalchand'.

While driving through the dense sal forests, suddenly, we stopped the car.

Ranjan pointed out a wild elephant with her calf grazing on the grass by the side of the road.

It was one of those rare moments seeing a wild elephant in its natural habitat.

Soon, two more tourist vehicles stopped as well, all of us watching in awe.

All the tourists had gotten out of their cars.

There's something uniquely special about seeing wild animals in their natural habitat, in the grandeur of the forest.

Phones and cameras just wouldn't stop clicking.