Landscape of Lava

Whenever visitors from India and around the world travel to North Bengal, India, they visit Darjeeling and Kurseoung. The reason is that those places had become famous due to publicity. At the same time the British Government which ruled India for more than 200 years popularised Darjeeling by making many structures for their own comfort. But other than Darjeeling there are many other tourist destinations which are being explored in the last 10 years and are gaining importance in the recent years. Lava, situated at around 7500 feet above sea-level is West Bengal’s recent high altitude tourist destinations. It has not been unearthed to that extent.

It is situated around 350 kilometers away from Siliguri. Generally visitors travel to New Jalpaiguri station by train and then go to Lava on roadways. It takes around 4 to 5 hours to reach Lava from Siliguri. Those travellers who come to Bagdogra Airport in flight, then can still reach Lava on roadways. Bagdogra Airport is situated 100 km away from Siliguri.

The unique feature of Lava lies in its alpine vegetation. It is situated in the Himalayas. So those trees which adorn the hills are most prevalent in Lava. The Neora Valley Reserve Forest is very close to Lava. The beauty of the forests lies in the diversity of vegetation and variety of animals and birds which stay in this part of the world. Along with foxes, deers, rabbits, sometimes visitors can even see the Giant panda if they are lucky. These days due to crowding of human beings certain shy animals fear a lot to come out in the open. Same has happened with the Giant Pandas. They are endangered species of animals. So if visitors see them, they don’t miss the opportunity of taking photographs of these animals. For those reasons most of the Pandas had stopped venturing out.

As far as weather of Lava is concerned, it is very cold during November, December and January, with temperature hovering around 2 to 3 degrees centigrade. But the summers are moderate with temperatures around 15 to 16 degree centigrade. 

For most part of the year the place is covered with mist and fog. But once the sky becomes clear it becomes a paradise. The West Bengal Forest Development Corporation has its own lodges and tourist houses which are very nice. The Lava Monastery and Lava Glass Factory are two popular tourist destinations of the place. The monks of the Monastery stay in houses situated close to the monastery. Along with Hindus and lot of Buddhists reside in Lava. Visitors should visit Lava to get a taste of alpine landscape and peace and solitude.