West Bengal, India

Text by Ken Kram is a Canadian educator living and working in Singapore; executive summary by darmansjah

Misty Mountains

I recently returned from a six-day trekking adventure to Singalila Ridge, located mostly in the Singalila Ridge National Park west of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. The journey started  with a two-hour jeep ride from Darjeeling to the head of trail in a small village and ended with a four-hour jeep ride from Rimbick to Darjelling. Basically it took two days to climb up to Singalila Ridge from Manebhanjan, the starting point; two days along the ridge at elevations between 3,300 and 3,650 metres and then down from the ridge to Rimbick. This picture was taken from a hill above Sandakphu (3,636 am telling me that there were no clouds and the mountain views were very good. I joined him and we climbed the hill for the early morning mountain views but when I looked down towards the village, the mist was just rising and the village was mesmerisingly picturesque.

 The highest point of the Singalila Ridge, Sandakphu offers some amazing views, which on clear days can include sight of Mount Everest