The Tale of a Lonesome Lamaland

Dear Reader, have you ever lost yourself inside woods, far away from the world you belong to? Have you ever appreciated silvery snow on mountains glittering in moonlight from a lonely valley? Haven’t you? Just gift yourself a break of 5/6days around a full moon night and set out for an adventurous trek to Maenam La. A memorabilia for lifetime is waiting for you.

Situated at an altitude of 10,300ft, Maenam hilltop offers a mesmerizing view of Kangchenjunga, Kabru, Pandim, Narsing etc. Ravang or Rabongla, a small Tibetan and Nepali settlement of South Sikkim, is the base camp for Maenam trek. The trekking trail is stretched through Maenam Wildlife Sanctuary. Maenam literally means "treasure house of medicines" and as the name suggests, the sanctuary is densely populated with varieties of medicinal plants. The sanctuary is also abode of some himalayan fauna like Bear, Red Panda, Leopard, Himalayan Pheasant etc. At Maenam top, there is a monastery established by the Rgyal-mo (Queen of Sikkim) in 1969. Apart from Maenam top, another attraction nearby is legendry Bhaleydunga (10,500ft), a jutted spur remaining suspended above a village Yangyang.

The venture begins from Maenam Forest Checkpost after completing registrations and clearing payments. We were a team of four, my fellow-travellers Abhisek, Niladri, our guide Mr. Mani Giri and me. The uphill trail was through a dense and humid forest. The narrow as well as slippery trail was barring us from walking moderately and freely. Luckily the distance to cover (approximately 12-13km) and the decision of staying at Maenam overnight favoured us. Within an hour we entered a forest, so dense that even the sky above us was hardly visible. Sometimes we crawled to pass through the narrow gap among shrubs, bent to protect ourselves from thorns, stepped carefully to cross over moist roots of age-old trees. Sometimes we had to stop in front of some blind lane and look for marks of some human misdeeds like toffee wrappers, chips’ packets etc. for tracing the correct direction. Moreover poisonous insects like leech, honeybee etc. demanded extra attention. But when Kanchenjunga beckons and the fresh wild smell from greeneries acts as catalyst, such obstacles are merely insignificant. We halted at a shed to energize us with some food. From here the forest was a bit less dense and teemed with tall trees. The rocky trail from here was more trekker-friendly. We reached Maenam around 1:30PM. Maenam is a small and beautiful valley-like area,

When the question of a night shelter arrived, we told Mr. Giri about the monastery at Maenam top, but he insisted on staying anywhere other than the monastery probably due to sanctity of the place or some religious prohibition or prejudice. He assured that there is a single room available on the ridge joining Maenam and Bhaleydunga for night staying. The clock was ticking around 2:30PM when we caught the first glimpse of the silhouette of our lorn night-shelter inside the woods, through a thick layer of cloud.

Having finished our packed lunch, we left for the monastery, while our guide engaged himself in collecting firewood for campfire. We reached the monastery through another narrow trail in 30 minutes. The small monastery has only one room with a bronze statue of Guru Rin-po-che (it seemed so). There was another small area in front of the monastery from where we caught the bird's eye view of Rangit river basin and Ravang. Due to overcast sky we missed mighty Kangchenjunga at the backdrop.

After the dinner we could not help enjoying the awaited loneliness accompanied by the silent serenity under the sky at 1/2degree centigrade, being wrapped by a feather jacket over a pair of sweaters. Blinking lights from the hamlets, far away, was the only proxy to the world floating on the flow of time. After sometime as the sky was getting clearer, the moon of Shukla Dvadashi (12th night of the bright fortnight of lunar month) with millions of twinkling stars started unveiling themselves. At the same moment Kangchenjunga and its buddies started uncovering their beauty. In moonlight we could easily recognize Kabru, Pandim, Narsing and partly eclipsed Kangchenjunga. Our expedition arrived at its climax at this auspicious moment. We could only stand still and admire the surreal beauty until we put ourselves into the sleeping bag. Blessed we were, to be allowed to encroach into the divine land to spend a divine night with Kangchenjunga.

Next morning we hiked another 2-3km. to Bhaleydunga - the sunrise point, to observe first rays on the snowy peaks. Witnessing an unparalleled sunrise over the mountains and silvery peaks turning into reddish and then golden, we felt blessed for the second time. At Bhaleydunga there was an open air temple-cum-monastery where we tied a Tibetan prayer flag and prayed for removing evil spirit from everyone's life. I dare say that here, the place of worshipping, is actually made to bow down in front the supreme Lord, the creator of this astounding beauty. We kneeled down to touch our head on this sacred soil and departed for Ravang with lots of memories to reminiscence later.

Grade: Easy.

Max. Altitude: 10,500ft (Bhaleydunga)

Season: Best time to visit March-May and October - December.

Accessing Ravang: Ravang is easily accessible from Siliguri. Shared cars from New Jalpaiguri station are available. From Siliguri one can travel to Singtam/Namchi in a shared car and then from Singtam/Namchi to Ravang in another shared car. Public buses from SNT bus stand, Siliguri run daily. But reserving a car from NJP station is always the best choice. The journey should take 4.5-5hours in a reserved car.

Accommodation and Fooding: Plenty of hotels are available in Ravang. Tents and shades are the only option at Maenam. Trekkers MUST carry packed foods and SUFFICIENT DRINKING WATER to Maenam. Throughout the trail, there is no source of water.

Other links you might like :-

• Ravang La & Maenam La photologue

• Annapurna Base Camp, Nepal travelogue.

• Har-ki-doon, Garhwal, India travelogue.

** Information on Maenam La and Bhaleydunga is collected from Sikkim Tourism’s booklet.