Day out with Nature in Sikkim.... Part II

After spending a few hours near the river and grabbing lunch at Tenzing's farm, we were off to a beach of sorts. Along the way, we drove near a raging waterfall, that seemed to put even the Niagara falls to shame... The bends and curves on the raw roads had us holding on to our seats, and finally we reached a point where there was no road ahead... It was all water..

On the right was a mountain range and ahead was what the locals call "The beach". Came to know that there was a enormous landslide in 2016 which led to the formation of the beach. The Mantam landslide in 2016 has created an artificial lake in the river Rongyoung by almost blocking the river. A massive silt-sand bar has been formed which the local people call the ‘beach’ is what Tenzing told us when I probed. There was a also a bridge that helped people get to the other side which was washed away and now in its place sits a make shift metal bridge. So, people looking to go to the village beyond the river, come by car, get off where we had parked, on this side of Dzongu, walk through waist deep water, with coolies [ local boys who carry their luggage] , get into another car waiting on the other side in the sand and make their way beyond... 

Tenzing told us this is the beach, and we would be doing some fly fishing here. I was tad sceptical, considering the water was flowing albeit in a peaceful pace. But then, throwing caution to wind, decided to join the others, with the bamboo fishing pole acting as my third leg. The water was till my mid thighs [ am 6ft tall], so for Tenzing who is under 5ft, it was nearly chest high. The sand was white, with pebbles strewn all across [ from what must have been once been the river bed]. It was fun walking on the sand, enjoying the flowing river on one side and nothing but emptiness on the other side. We paused for a while along the water, when a cute pup came over to say hello.

Btw, on the other side of the river is the remaining part of the beach, and one can access it via the makeshift wooden bridge, and doing a bit of trek along the water.. I passed up on the opportunity and chilled by myself for a while near the water. Soon after, one of the girls came back and suggested we head back to the van, which is when we noticed the water levels had gone up quite a bit. It was now till my waist... We did see lorries/heavy duty trucks drive through the water to the road, dripping oil into the water, making it dirty... 

After an hour or so, the others returned and we made our way back to the property [with thoughts of the steps lingering in my mind all through the journey, but this time it was lot easier than the 1st two..yayy] Phew, what a fun day it had been~!! Talk about pushing boundaries and doing things I would never have gotten to do... 

And onto another story.... stay tuned...