Cherrapunjee is a town in the East Khasi Hills district in the Indian state of Meghalaya. It was considered to be the wettest place on Earth. Now nearby Mawsynram currently considered as the wettest place.
Journey to Cherrapunjee:
Shillong is at a distance of 220 km from Silchar and can be reached from Silchar by bus. It took approximately 10 hours to reach Shillong due to bad road condition. It takes 2 hours from Guwahati and the road communication between Guwahati and Shillong is very good. Shillong can also be directly reached from Kolkata by flight. The bus left from Inter State Bus Terminus , Silchar at 6 pm. The ticket price was 500 INR from Silchar to Shillong. The bus passed through the narrow road through the mountain. It was night while traveling and both side of the road are looking dark. The dropped me at Civil Hospital Shillong at 4 am. It was the month of Oct and it was extremely cold. After waiting for 1 hour in front of the Hospital, I walked to the Police bazar which is at distance of 2 km from the Hospital. It is better to catch a Shillong bus from Silchar which has stop at Police Bazar Bus stop. Shillong public transport service bus deport is located at Police bazar. All the bus to other cities is available here. After reaching there I stayed in a hotel near the Police bazar. I visited the first day in Shillong. On the second day at 7 am I went to the Meghalaya Tourist Information Center which is located just in front of the bus stop and booked an one day tour package for Cherrapunjee. The sight seeing tourist bus started at 7:45 am from Shillong Tourist Information Center. The bus passed through the curve road on the mountain. In one side their is high mountain and other side there is deep gorge. The road condition is extremely good. In the mid way we stopped near a bridge which has a beautiful natural scenic of mountains. After relaxing at this point for 20 minutes, we moved to Cherrapunjee and arrived at Cherrapunjee after traveling 50 km.
Place:
Cherrapunjee is located at the top of a Khasi hill. It is a small town having many water falls and natural beauties. Eco park and Seven Sisters Falls:
Our first tourist destination was Eco park. After purchasing the entry ticket, I enter the park. The park is well maintain with many facilities for tourist. The seven sister fall is located inside the park. It was winter and almost no water was flowing in the falls. In rain, the falls became active and looks alive. After spending 1 hour of time, we came to the bus and moved to our next place. Mausumai Cave:
The bus stopped at the entry point of the cave. We purchased the ticket and enter the cave. The cave is made of limestone. The cave has many bats on the roof. We walked one and half kilometer inside the cave. In some places the path is very narrow. Finally we came to the other end of the cave. Nohkalikai Falls:
After visiting the cave, we came to Nohkalika falls which is the 4th highest water falls in India. There is a park at the nearest mountain from where the view of the lake is wonderful. We enter the park and came to the view point to watch the water falls. There is a steep step going down to the foot of the mountain. I tried to go near to the water falls. But it was so tiring and time was very short. Hence, I return back to the park. Ka Khoh Ramhah :
After Nohkalika falls, the bus took us to the Ka Khok Ramhah which is a famous tourist destination. The rock pillar of Ka Khok Ramhah is the most popular attraction of the place. From this place, the Bangladesh plain is clearly visible. After visiting Ka Khok Ramhah, we returned to Sohra to visit Ramkrishna mission. It has a museum displaying the photographs of Cherrapunjee, different life style of Meghalaya tribes. After spending some time at the Ramkrishna Mission, the bus returned to Shillong at about 5 pm. The journey was enjoyable.
It is good to visit Cherrapunjee during monsoon when there is rainfall. Monsoon makes the water falls live. Water falls and caves are the major attraction of Cherrapunjee. Water falls from the mountain with cloud touching the mountain top makes the scenic beauty adorable. Traveling by the tourist bus is the most convenient way to explore Cherrapunjee. However, the time is limited for each location. If someone want to spend more time at each tourist spots, it is better to book a cab from Shillong. There are other places which are worth of visiting. Double Decker Living Root Bridge is the most popular and worth of visiting. Mawlynnong village is another tourist attraction and this village is the cleanest village in Asia.
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28 Oct 2012
About me
Tapan Kumar Pradhan Post Doc Researcher, IIT Kharagpur PhD, IIT Kanpur http://tapankp.weebly.com Distance:
Shillong-Cherrapunjee = 50 km. |