[Wimwian]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

TBasically I plan to go to Barnwapara Sanctuary, which is before Raipur actually (any input on the sanctuary from any one will be a bonus).

I visited the Barnavapara sanctuary in December 2007 with my parents (they stay in Raipur). To reach there, you would have to take a left turn from NH6 about mid-way between Raipur and Bilaspur. There are two routes to the place - the road on the shorter one was being relaid at the time, so was not motorable with the Ikon that I was driving. The longer one was in decent shape. I’ve forgotten the names of the two places where these routes start, will ask my Dad and let you know. It took us about 4hrs from Raipur to Bar village.

Unfortunately the less said about the condition of NH6, the better – the highway was being widened to a 4-lane when I was there, pretty sure the work is still going on. Till last December, widening was complete for approx. 15kms outside Raipur city limits, after that work was going on for another 15kms or so. This stretch was quite narrow since the idiots had dug up both sides of the road at the same time, there was just enough space for two vehicles to cross each other. A small mistake and you’ll end up in a 1-foot deep ditch.

Beyond this stretch, the road was just about OK… be careful though, it’s peppered with potholes here and there so driving beyond 80km/hr is not recommended. There are 2-3 small stretches (each about a km long) where the highway disappears completely and it looks more like a village road. But fear not, the trucks will show you the way There are a lot of small towns en-route where one can stop for refreshments.

About the sanctuary – it gets its name from two villages, Bar and Navapara. There’s a small tourist village in Bar with 5-6 two-roomed huts, 2 two-roomed VIP suites and a one-room Safari lodge. In addition, there are two temporary tents with attached permanent toilets (not joking, that’s exactly what it is!!). No electricity, everything runs on solar power – lights are switched off after 9 PM. A cook is available and will prepare lunch, dinner and snacks provided you inform him in advance. Make sure you book well in advance and try to get the VIP suite or the Safari lodge… the huts and tents are not exactly for us city folks Booking can be done at the Raipur forest office (near the railway station). Also, you would need permission to enter the forest area which again will be available there for a small fee.

You are not allowed to enter the forest area without a guide. Local village guys also double up as forest guides for a paltry sum (I think it was 50 bucks), the caretaker at the tourist village will fix one up for you. If you don’t want to take your car, Gypsies are available for 300-400 bucks or so. Forest roads were quite good in December… didn’t face much trouble with the Ikon except for a slight scraping of the chassis once or twice. But do keep in mind, these roads go for a toss every monsoon and are rebuilt manually after that. I’m not sure how much work would be complete by October. Unfortunately, you don’t get to see too many animals in December – we saw some cheetals, barasinghas and bisons apart from the usual peacocks, monkeys, lemurs etc. October would be better in this respect. Also, it was quite cold in December (2-3 degrees centigrade at night).

There are a few other places you can visit there – get a pamphlet from the Raipur forest office. We only visited one of them – a temple on the top of a hill. You’ll have climb some 500-600 steps but the view from the top makes up for it. All in all, it’s a nice place to relax– get away from city folk and mobile phones for chill out under the clear sky. I can bet the view of the night sky from there will take your breath away!!

Happy to help if you have some other queries.



Cheers
Wim

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Couldn't find a single encouraging response from anyone, which makes me wonder if it is worth the headache. My friend who looks after logistics for a large national company and deals with truckers all over the country also said that average travel time from Kolkata to Raipur for trucks has increased manifold. The road from Kharagpur to Jamshola is particularly bad because NH 60 beyond KGP is closed and trucks are taking the detour via Bahragora-Jamshola.
I also realised that Barnawapara is closed in October. Therefore even if I go it will not be before November.
Thanks for all the responses though.

[rajatmakar]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

average travel time from Kolkata to Raipur for trucks has increased manifold. The road from Kharagpur to Jamshola is particularly bad because NH 60 beyond KGP is closed and trucks are taking the detour via Bahragora-Jamshola.

Thanks Sudipto for the update. I suggest keeping this thread open and following up till Oct-Nov.

If the conditions stay the same, even I would do a COP and return via NH5 from Kolkata to bangalore in October end.

Rajat

[ethereal]

Hi All,
I am planning to drive down from Mumbai to Kolkata on 1st Jan-3rd Jan 2010 in my new Manza. ( Its expected to be delivered by 18th Dec). May I request some help on Route as well as Log Books ( if some one has already done this route in recent past). I have gone through the reports which were of 2007.
Was curious if any one has done this recently to have the latest report on road condition.I want to reach Kolkata latest by 3rd Jan i.e Sunday.

Thanks in advance

Cheers

[hvkumar]

I did the drive in Apr 09. At that time, Orissa had some road sections, but in general it was a smooth drive. Recently, those who have driven reported improvement in Orissa roads but deterioration in CG roads. A friend of mine will be driving that section next week, so I will give you an update soon.

Here is the log book for that route:
NORTH EAST 2009 - hvkumar | Google Groups

[ethereal]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I did the drive in Apr 09. At that time, Orissa had some road sections, but in general it was a smooth drive. Recently, those who have driven reported improvement in Orissa roads but deterioration in CG roads. A friend of mine will be driving that section next week, so I will give you an update soon.

Here is the log book for that route:
NORTH EAST 2009 - hvkumar | Google Groups

Thank you very much Sir! This is going to be my first long trip on brand new car. I am planning to drive at least 900 km a day. Would you be able to share any special care that needs to be taken as the car is brand new & I 'll get first (1000 km Service Done) before I start for this journey.

Thanks in advance.
Ethereal

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ethereal

Thank you very much Sir! This is going to be my first long trip on brand new car. I am planning to drive at least 900 km a day. Would you be able to share any special care that needs to be taken as the car is brand new & I 'll get first (1000 km Service Done) before I start for this journey.

Thanks in advance.
Ethereal

Nothing special except to follow the engine running-in instructions. Keep a watch on engine heating and any oil leaks through the drive.

[Sommos]

Digging up a very old thread.

I am doing a Bhilai-Kolkata-Durgapur trip on 16th or 17th Oct. 2012. The original plan is to drive straight to Kokata through NH6 and halt there for 2 days. I'll have to cover the trip to Kolkata on a single day, by starting early and driving till 10/11 at night. I know the road condition upto Bargarh in Orissa, but beyond that I have no idea. I need feedback from members about the present condition of the roads.

In case my leave gets delayed I am thinking of driving directly to Durgapur. In this case one option is to take NH60 through Mednipur-Bankura-Durgapur. Please help with the present road condition of NH60 or is it advisable to go via Kolkata then NH2 to Durgapur.

Thanks in advance.

[scuderiamania]

Originally Posted by Sommos

Digging up a very old thread.

I am doing a Bhilai-Kolkata-Durgapur trip on 16th or 17th Oct. 2012. The original plan is to drive straight to Kokata through NH6 and halt there for 2 days. I'll have to cover the trip to Kolkata on a single day, by starting early and driving till 10/11 at night. I know the road condition upto Bargarh in Orissa, but beyond that I have no idea. I need feedback from members about the present condition of the roads.

In case my leave gets delayed I am thinking of driving directly to Durgapur. In this case one option is to take NH60 through Mednipur-Bankura-Durgapur. Please help with the present road condition of NH60 or is it advisable to go via Kolkata then NH2 to Durgapur.

Thanks in advance.

I recently went to chandipur in orissa and used both the highways, NH-6 and NH60. The road from kharagpur to kolkata is great except for the part were you will cross Kolaghat bridge. One more irritant about the NH-6, unlike on NH-2, there is a lot of chaos happening just of the highway shoulder. On 2 separate occasions newbie riders wobbled there way on the top lane and stalled right infront of us! About NH-60, although the road is in great condition, the culvert crossings on the highway are very weird. They have laid a layer on aspault on top of the concrete on all culverts. Over time parts have got eroded and you are left with 50m sections which are impeccably rough. Another thing, some ultra-idiot in the planning team thought it would be wise to put rumblers on highway every 2 kms or so between balasore and jaleshwar. Chances are high that you are going to hit one of them at very high speed. My suggestion, if you spot them too late, release your brakes just before you are about to hit them. The car will take care of the rest.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by Sommos

Digging up a very old thread.

I am doing a Bhilai-Kolkata-Durgapur trip on 16th or 17th Oct. 2012. The original plan is to drive straight to Kokata through NH6 and halt there for 2 days. I'll have to cover the trip to Kolkata on a single day, by starting early and driving till 10/11 at night. I know the road condition upto Bargarh in Orissa, but beyond that I have no idea. I need feedback from members about the present condition of the roads.

In case my leave gets delayed I am thinking of driving directly to Durgapur. In this case one option is to take NH60 through Mednipur-Bankura-Durgapur. Please help with the present road condition of NH60 or is it advisable to go via Kolkata then NH2 to Durgapur.

Thanks in advance.

NH60 from Kharagpur to Durgapur is in a pathetic broken state with lots of local traffic. This is because this part of NH60 doesn't qualify as GQ. It would be better if you stick to NH6 till Kolkata and then follow NH2 to Durgapur. Major bottlenecks would be the Kolaghat bridge on NH6 and crossing Panagarh on NH2 before reaching Durgapur. In both cases try to time your drive such that you cross those places at off peak hours. Off peak hours are either after midnight till 8 AM in the morning and after 11 AM till 4/5 PM in the afternoon. The Kolaghat bridge is slightly better compared to Panagarh and you should not have major issues even if you miss those timings by a little. But Panagarh can be a pain. Still NH6-NH2 is the route to follow.

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by scuderiamania

I recently went to chandipur in orissa and used both the highways, NH-6 and NH60. About NH-60, although the road is in great condition, the culvert crossings on the highway are very weird.

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

NH60 from Kharagpur to Durgapur is in a pathetic broken state with lots of local traffic. This is because this part of NH60 doesn't qualify as GQ. It would be better if you stick to NH6 till Kolkata and then follow NH2 to Durgapur. Major bottlenecks would be the Kolaghat bridge on NH6 and crossing Panagarh on NH2 before reaching Durgapur. In both cases try to time your drive such that you cross those places at off peak hours. Off peak hours are either after midnight till 8 AM in the morning and after 11 AM till 4/5 PM in the afternoon. The Kolaghat bridge is slightly better compared to Panagarh and you should not have major issues even if you miss those timings by a little. But Panagarh can be a pain. Still NH6-NH2 is the route to follow.

Though I am receiving conflicting reports about the condition of NH60, I was also of the opinion that it would be better to continue straight on NH6 and then take NH2. I hope that I can stick to plan A i.e. halt at Kolkata for a couple of days.

Thanks to Samarjitda and Scuderiamania for your prompt response.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Sommos

In case my leave gets delayed I am thinking of driving directly to Durgapur. In this case one option is to take NH60 through Mednipur-Bankura-Durgapur. Please help with the present road condition of NH60 or is it advisable to go via Kolkata then NH2 to Durgapur.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,
As suggested, don't think of KGP - Bankura.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2824314

Also, Sambalpur - NH42 - Cuttack (and GQ) might be a better bet. Amongst other things, the OR Road tax extortion seems to have stopped at Jaleswar, but there are intermittent reports of it still continuing at Jamsola.

Regards
Sutripta

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Hi,
As suggested, don't think of KGP - Bankura.

Regards
Sutripta

Your advice is accepted Sir, would stick to NH6 till Kolkata.
The same route has been suggested by Samarjit Dhar also.

Thanks.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Hi,
As suggested, don't think of KGP - Bankura.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2824314

Also, Sambalpur - NH42 - Cuttack (and GQ) might be a better bet. Amongst other things, the OR Road tax extortion seems to have stopped at Jaleswar, but there are intermittent reports of it still continuing at Jamsola.

Regards
Sutripta

Originally Posted by Sommos

Your advice is accepted Sir, would stick to NH6 till Kolkata.
The same route has been suggested by Samarjit Dhar also.

Thanks.

As suggested by Sutripta da if you are coming by NH6, at Sambalpur take NH42 to Cuttack and then NH5-NH60 till Kharagpur. Though it increases the distance by about 120 kms it can potentially save your car and additional harassment. NH6 after Sambalpur has been reported to be pretty broken right up to Jamsola which is the OR-JH border. It can be a real car breaker. Additionally at Jamsola the RTO guys from Odisha are known to extort money from non-OR cars in the name of road tax which is totally illegal. Instead from Sambalpur if you take the NH42-NH5-NH60 route your drive will be much smoother and when crossing Jaleswar at OR-WB border you won't face the extortion issue. The only problem in Jaleswar is the huge truck jam at the OR-WB border. I have a separate travelogue http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...sha-coast.html where I have discussed how to avoid this truck jam by going directly through Jaleswar town. Hope it helps.

[shabahmad]

As suggested by Sutripta da, take Sambalpur-Cuttak Nh42.
I travelled 1.5 yrs back from Durg to Kolkata completly on Nh6. After Sambalpur there is hardly any proper facility on Road for food/toilet (If you are travelling with family) also the whole route bears an empty look and scares some time. You will harldy find any hotel till Kendujhar. Also roads at border crossing at OR-JH & JH-WB is not good for cars.

While returning i came via Cuttak and it was much better road. Also there is no tension of maoist activity in that route.

If you are going with a lady then suggest you to take Nh42.