Lava is a beautiful birdwatching destination. It is not only the birder’s paradise but a very nice place to spend your holidays. In this article, we will focus on certain things like how to reach Lava, what to see as sightseeing places, where to stay in Lava, budget hotels and homestays of Lava, etc. Lava is a very beautiful and ideal place for nature study and birdwatching.
How to reach Lava
From Kolkata: If you are going by train then your starting location will be Sealdah and your departure location could be New Mal Junction. The distance between New Mal to Lava is 56 km only whereas the distance from Siliguri or New Jalpaiguri station is 133 km. Our train was the Kanchankanya express. We had a ticket up to New Mal junction but we were confused about the availability of any shared car or private car from New Mal junction to go to Lava because our train was running late. So we suddenly decided to get off at the Siliguri station.
We knew that Tenzing Norgay Bus Terminus is adjacent to the Siliguri railway station. So we can just walk for 2 mins from the platform and take a bus from the Tenzing Norgay Bus Terminus up to Kalimpong. Had we not gotten off there, we would reach Lava much before than this route but we had no idea that this break journey is going to take a couple of more hours than we expected. We took 3 tickets to Kalimpong and took the public bus from there at around 11 am. ticket price was only Rs.120. The bus was running very slow and we got the last seat which made our journey a bit tough. After reaching the Kalimpong market area we found that the Lava share car is already left the market in the early morning and the next car will start at around 2:30 p.m. so we had no choice other than to take a private cab which took Rs.1300 from Kalimpong to Lava hotel. It was a nice journey. There are local markets, and local people working together in different places and we saw their lives, their homes, and how they live there on the way to Lava.
Our Stay at Lava – WBFDC Eco Tourism Cottage, a Perfect Place for Birdwatching
We reached our Lava hotel at around 1:45 p.m. Sky was partly cloudy. The light condition was so poor that we could not take any good pictures from there. After coming out of the private cab just entered the reception area where the caretakers were there and they immediately assisted us with the proper documents to allocate our room and also helped us to reach the room which was almost inside the forest area.
We booked this online from www.wbfdc.net. Tariff for double bedroom cottage – 2000/night. GST 12%. Total 2240. It was around 100 Feet way down from the reception area where we stay in a nicely decorated room.
I am also giving some pictures of the hotel area so that you can understand how beautiful it was there were a lot of greenery in the whole area which consisted of Pine trees and different kind of forest trees.
It was so cold in the evening that we were in real need of some hot tea or coffee along with some pakoras. We initially were searching for some food area or canteen inside the hotel just when the local caretaker came to us and told us that they cannot prepare the lunch today because we are already so late and we haven’t informed them from early morning. So it is to remember when you book this stay, that you will get the reception phone number and you can call them to book your lunch so that you can just reach there and get the food in time.
Exploring the Local Area of Lava
All it help us to explore the local food areas or hotel when we went for lunch. Within a few minutes’ walking distances we found a local restaurant named Gopi Bagha restaurant where we can take lunch. So we just entered into the restaurant and found that where there are a couple of food arrangements available like thali or separate food items which you can order for a group of people.
The price was reasonable and the food quality was also good. We were really hungry as we could not manage any heavy breakfast early in the morning. We took three thalis where we got a decent amount of rice dal omelet and some mixed vegetables.
After having lunch we just went downwards towards the local Lava monastery and try to check the monastery area from the outside. We already knew that the Lava monastery was closed for a couple of months due to the covid-19 situation. We had news that the Lava monastery may open very soon.
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Lava Homestay
We also found a lot of local properties or hotels here where you can stay. We already had information that there is a nice hotel in Lava which is just beside the Lava monastery and it is run by Shantanu da who is the owner of our kolakham homestay also. So we had a curiosity to visit that hotel and find the location whether it is good or not. To our surprise, we found that the hotel is in a brilliant location.
The rooms are spacious and the bathrooms are also very clean. There is a hanging Varanda and a nice rooftop in this hotel from where you can take a lot of bird pictures. You can also view the Kanchenjunga peak from here if the sky is clear. I was really curious to know about the hotel amenities and price. So I immediately called Shantanu da and inquired about it and found that it is decent in terms of costing and providing any kind of amenities like pickup cars or local site scene cars etc. I am providing the details here just below the article.
Birds of Lava – How to Do Birdwatching
We found a few birds and butterflies here on that day just before coming back to the hotel in the evening. We started checking the pictures from our cameras that evening in the room. As per, our evening order the guy came with some pakoras and hot tea in our room. They generally charge 10% extra for the room service but in the case of evening snacks, they just ignored it. For the dinner, we ordered some roti and chicken. It was awesome. We planned to go for a local bird watching early in the morning the next day.
So we inquired about some local greenery where we can take some nice bird photographs and enjoy the moment of being together with nature at Lava. Some local people told us that there is a point around 10 minutes walking distance from our forest rest house behind the forest area which is called a ‘Suicide point’.
So our main target was to go at that point and look for some beautiful Himalayan Birds. Going down the narrow roads behind the hotel we suddenly found some beautiful birds like Gold-naped Finch, Dark-rumped Rosefinch, Rufous-bellied Eagle, Olive-backed Pipit, and many more like this. It was a nice experience to explore the Jungle behind the hotel area. It was a long road calm and cool with the astonishing beauty of nature. No single person was walking with us. We took some videos also from here to prepare documentation of the birds who were calling all around and some of them were also collecting nesting materials.
Himalayan birds are always beautiful in their colors. So I love to go to the Himalayas in some different places where the greeneries are still there. If you want to see the bird documentation you can go to the YouTube link mentioned here.
I have also explained in the youtube video how to go there, how can you book the hotel, and how to move around in Lava to watch those Himalayan birds. Our Next destination was Rishop. We took a car from the Lava syndicate and went to Rishop which costs us Rs.1000 only.
List of Birds We Found in Lava
Oriental Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia orientalis)
Large Hawk-Cuckoo (Hierococcyx sparverioides)
Rufous-bellied Eagle (Lophotriorchis kienerii)
Great Barbet (Psilopogon virens)
White-throated Fantail (Rhipidura albicollis)
Ashy Drongo (Dicrurus leucophaeus)
House Crow (Corvus splendens)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Striated Bulbul (Pycnonotus striatus)
Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)
Himalayan Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys)
Tickell’s Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus affinis)
Blyth’s Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus reguloides)
Whiskered Yuhina (Yuhina flavicollis)
Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush (Trochalopteron erythrocephalum)
Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea)
Gray-winged Blackbird (Turdus boulboul)
Rufous-bellied Niltava (Niltava sundara)
Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassinus)
Blue Whistling-Thrush (Myophonus caeruleus)
Green-tailed Sunbird (Aethopyga nipalensis)
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)
Kalimpong to Lava Drop
Driver Ramesh – 8348188192
Hotel Hills View – LAVA
Lodging & Fooding – Only Rs.1000/day per head
Call: +91 9007033740 +91 6291 741 113 +91 75858 48267
Do u opt any bird guide in lava? If yes give me the details pls..
Hi Gayathri, Thanks for your message. You can talk to NorthEastTravels – 8972247306
They arranged most of our birding trips with guides, accommodation, food and transport. They are reliable and experienced. Thank you