Singalila National Park

Listen for a moment. The wind moves through bamboo and oak with a dry, papery hiss. Somewhere below, a bird calls once and goes quiet. The air up here is thin and cold, and it smells of damp moss, wood smoke, and wet stone. Under your boots, the trail is a mix of packed earth and loose rock. Welcome to Singalila National Park, a long, high ridge of forest and meadow in the far north of West Bengal, India.

Let us get our bearings first. This park follows the Singalila Ridge, a spine of mountains that runs north to south. The ridge marks the border between India and Nepal. In many places, the trail is the border. You can walk with one foot in each country, and nobody will stop you. Small stone markers along the way show where one nation ends and the other begins. Few borders in the world feel this relaxed.

The most famous point on this ridge is Sandakphu. It is the highest point in the state of West Bengal, at roughly 3,600 metres above sea level. People come here for one reason above all others. On a clear morning, Sandakphu offers a view across four of the five highest mountains on Earth. Kangchenjunga fills the northern sky. And far to the west, small but unmistakable, stands Everest.

It helps to know what you are looking at. Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world, and it sits on the border of India and Nepal. Locals and guides often point out a shape in the range they call the Sleeping Buddha. The peaks form the outline of a figure lying on its back, with a head, a chest, and folded feet. Look slowly from left to right. Once you see it, you cannot stop seeing it.

Now to the Everest group. Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu appear together as a cluster of pale points on the western horizon. They look surprisingly small from here, because they are very far away. That is part of the surprise. Many visitors expect a giant wall. Instead, they find a quiet row of distant peaks, just touching the edge of the sky. Clouds often hide them by mid-morning, so early light is your best chance.

The area became a national park in the mid-1980s, though people had walked this ridge for generations before that. Shepherds, traders, and travellers between Nepal and the Darjeeling hills all used these paths. Today the park protects a band of Himalayan forest that changes as you climb. Lower down, you pass through bamboo and broadleaf trees. Higher up, oak gives way to fir, and then to open grassland near the summit.

Here is a detail many visitors miss. This forest is one of the places where the red panda still lives in the wild. The red panda is a small, rust-coloured animal with a long ringed tail, closer to a raccoon in size than to a giant panda. It spends much of its time in the trees and is shy of people. Sightings are rare and never guaranteed. But the bamboo around you is exactly the kind of habitat it needs.

Other animals share these slopes too. Barking deer move through the undergrowth, and their sharp, dog-like call can carry a long way. Himalayan black bears and leopards are recorded in the park, though most trekkers never see them. Birdwatchers come for the pheasants and the many small forest birds. If you hear rustling in the leaves, stop and wait. Patience matters more here than speed.

If you visit in spring, the ridge changes colour. Rhododendrons bloom across the slopes, in deep red, pink, and creamy white. Some of these are not bushes but full trees, taller than a house. Magnolias add pale flowers among the dark leaves. In autumn, the flowers are gone, but the sky is often at its clearest. Many travellers believe autumn gives the best mountain views of the year.

Now, a word about how people reach the ridge. Most journeys start at Maneybhanjang, a small town at the foot of the climb. For decades, old Land Rovers have carried visitors up the steep, rough road toward Sandakphu. Some of these vehicles are older than their drivers. They rattle and groan over stones and hairpin bends. Many people still choose to walk instead, and that is how you feel the ridge properly.

Along the route, small villages and stops offer shelter. Names like Tumling, Tonglu, Kalipokhri, and Gairibas mark the way. Kalipokhri means black lake, after a small dark pond beside the trail. In the simple lodges, you will find hot tea, noodle soup called thukpa, and steamed dumplings called momos. Many lodges are run by local families. Sitting by their stove at night is part of the experience.

The ridge does not end at Sandakphu. Beyond it, the trail continues north toward Phalut, another high viewpoint with a closer, wider look at Kangchenjunga. That stretch is quieter and more remote. Fewer people walk it, and the grasslands feel open and empty. Weather can change fast up here. A clear sky can turn white with cloud within minutes, and then clear again just as quickly.

Before you move on, look around you once more. Notice the colour of the grass, the shape of the ridge running away to the north, the line where clouds sit below you in the valleys. Feel the cold on your face and the slower beat of your breath at this height. The mountains will still be here tomorrow. For now, take one more long look, and then follow the trail, one careful step at a time.