Gorumara National Park is a hidden gem in its true sense. It is located in Lataguri North Bengal, and most of the Bengali’s skip it in the lure of hill stations such as Darjeeling or Gangtok. If you ask me even the West Bengal tourism board doesn’t do justice to this beautiful national park. Gorumara National Park is medium size national park mainly famous for it’s one horned rhino and tea gardens nearby.
When to visit Gorumara?
The best time to visit Gorumara National Park will be November to March, when it will be colder. The park remains closed during monsoon season that is June to September.
How to reach Lataguri?
You need to fly into Bagdogra airport from any other part of India first. If you are tight on a budget then opt for an overnight train to NJP ( New Jalpaiguri Station).
Once you are in the airport or NJP station, you can hire a cab to Lataguri or Gorumara National Park. It will take you max 2hrs of serene breathtaking drive to reach here.
How many days needed?
Gorumara National Park or Lataguri is a very good option for a staycation or longer stay if you like slow travel but for regular traveler you can chose 2 night and 3 days to see it all and enjoy it fully. If you can plan around a long weekend then nothing like it.
Where to stay in Gorumara National Park?
When we went there we stayed at Tuskers Den Forest Resort and our stay was comfortable and rates were reasonable. The resort is bang on opposite to the safari booking gate, so booking a safari on the fly is very easy if you are staying here. They also offer package meals at a reasonable rate that you can pre-book.
Where to eat?
If you are staying near the national park then there are not a lot of eating options. The safest bet will be to book your meal package in the resort or hotel you are staying. It will be a complete non-vegetarian or vegetarian Bengali meal. You will also have few options in front of the safari main gate which will not cost you more that 100 rupees for a full unlimited fish/chicken meal, which will have two choice of fishes, vegetables, daal, rice, roti and chutney. When we visited we got meal at 40 rupees.
Things to do in Gorumara National Park
If you are planning your trip to Dooars then Lataguri can be a grate place to stop for a day or two. When we were there we stayed here for two nights only and had a great unwinding time. Below we have listed few things you can do or see if you are visiting this small and peaceful national park.
- Safari – Gorumara National Park is located in Dooars area in West Bengal, which is home for many other national parks. You need to do a must safari in one or more national park. What to expect in your sighting is One horned Rhino, Leopards, Gours, Elephants and Spotted Deers. If you opt for safari in Buxa National Park then you might get lucky in sighting a tiger. The jungles are lush green and you will have a great time in your safari.
- Shopping – You got to shop handcrafted wooden items and bags in front of the Gorumara safari gate, do bargain. Even if you suck at bargaining it doesn’t matter the craft items are really cheap and best of quality as in the past 7years the products I got from here looks brand new.
- Tea Plantation visit – There are many tea estate and plantations in the Dooars area where you can chose to halt and enjoy a day trip. If you want you can even opt for a night stay at these tea gardens. Few of the tea estate names are Appu Tea estate, Dharanipur Tea Estate and Chengmari Tea estate.
- Cultural dance – If you are opting for evening safari then you get a tribal dance and evening snack included along with it, which you can enjoy. The santal dance is one of the event to look out for, you can even join the dancers if you like to grove.
- Visitng Murti River – Murti river is banks is a best place to be to enjoy sunset. Gorgeous blue river flowing midst of pebbles near the river bed is a perfect picnic spot for you.
- Jayanti Mahakal Caves – These caves are located near Jayanti river banks. Jayanti river is famous for its white pebble stoned river bed and it’s gorgeous views. It’s really popular and t it was featured in many movies. If you have time then you can explore the Mahakal caves as well as the jayanti river bank. One tip here if you can book your stay near Jayanti river bank during a full moon it will be gorgeous. If you do and liked it do share a photo with us and thanks us later.
