[BhaskarG]

Introduction:

Dima Hasao is a hilly, tribal district in Assam; beautiful yet very less visited by outside folks. Halflong, at about 350 kilometers distance from Guwahati, is its headquarter town with a British era heritage. There are ample locations for medium difficulty trails to very hard treks within 1 to 2 hours drive from Haflong.

Cure for the Itch:

I noticed that my boots had started to itch, out of the blue . And it wont go away, so I had to take out my boots for a long walk to sooth that itch. I had been to some amazing road trips in the last few months, even one with bhpian gunin. But when your boot wants to walk, and your car wants to rev, you have to oblige. So there was an effort to please both my boots and my car:

[BhaskarG]

Getting to Haflong, Dima Hasao:

The famed VistaDome trains go right up to Haflong town. But as you know, my car too was upset with me, and so I had to take it for a drive to calm it down . Hence I drove the 750 kilometers, no other option.

Roads from Guwahati are fantastic to near Dima Hasao. You will find rows and rows of shops selling handicraft items and coconut water along the highway:





But roads start to deteriorate as we approach Dima Hasao. This is the outcome of last years' devastating floods in Assam. More on this later.



The Maibang Tunnel, as we neared Haflong by late evening:

The stay at Haflong:

Thanks to a fellow bhpian that I found maybe the second best property in Haflong to stay. The heritage property is built by renovating a British era Post Office building:

[BhaskarG]

Onward to Tumjang trail:

Next morning, we started for the Tumjang Village/Sielkal Peak trek. This is a short, but moderately hard trek. However, it is doable without any physical training, if you have an otherwise fit body. Tumjang is a remote village, which cannot be reached by motor vehicles. Halfway on this trail, there is a separate extremely scenic climb which leads to Sielkal Peak (4000ft above sea).


The drive:

We drove out from Haflong to a place called Mahur, which is less than one hours' driving distance away. Mahur is the last place where we can buy food, water and other essentials for the Sielkal trek.



We then drove for about 40 minutes to the last motorable stretch called P Leikul, and parked our car. On foot now onwards!




The Trail:

We walked the narrow trail which leads to Tumjang village. This part of the trail, though no steep climbing is involved, is quite narrow at places, any slip will result in a fall of hundred feet below.

The Seilkal Peak:

Halfway along the route, we need to take a diversion towards the beautiful Sielkal Peak. This is a hard trek after this part, as some steep climbing is involved now onwards. But it gets extremely scenic here onwards. So, no more words. We were out of breath, literally due to the climb. But you please enjoy the view:


The Ascent:










The Peak:

It was windy and cold at the top. View from the peak:








Thankfully, there is a resting area on top:






The Descent:

Descent was much more difficult than the ascent. We reached P Leikul after sunset.










The Itch:

We walked the entire day. The itch in my boots was now gone!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Yogi..Reeturaj]

Good one Bhaskar. Dima Hasao is indeed scenic. The heritage stay is one of the best in terms of location and comfort.

[BhaskarG]

Other (in)significant things:

The Lock-out:

A set-back happened during the trip. Quoting from another thread:

Originally Posted by BhaskarG

I had gone for a trek to a remote hilly part of the country, some 350-400 kms away from the city, a place where the nearest bazaar is a minimum one hour drive away.

I drove till the last motorable road, and then I parked and locked my car (Venue SX+ DCT) at the base camp for the trek. I carefully placed the car key inside my trekking backpack, and started climbing. By 5:30 in the evening, I returned from the trek, exhausted, finally relieved at the prospect of resting in the comfort of the car. I pressed the boot door button, and the boot opened without a fuss. I took out a clean towel and water. Wiped my face, and then put back the towel along with my backpack inside the boot. Then I closed the boot. Car indicators blinked showing that it is locked. The car got locked with the key inside the backpack.

It was already in my knowledge that the boot door of Hyundai Venue gets locked/unlocked independently if the key-fob is nearby. But I was pretty tired from the trek, and these things escaped my mind.

The car did not detect that the key-fob is inside, and locked me out on a remote land with no sign of help. finally after futile trial of some common old-school methods for some hours we had to break a glass, to rescue the key-fob from my backpack.

There was the option of unlocking through Bluelink, but my phone was in the back pack, too!

Re-visiting the Devastation:

The New Haflong Railway Station is located at a beautiful place among the hills. However it is too close to the ravine created by the Dayang River. During last year's devastating floods station was all over the news and whatsapp forwards.

Location of the station:



At the station. note the broken quarter glass.



On the foot over bridge now:



The exact same spot, one year ago: (ANI photos)





Some roads are still damaged:





Some bonus photos:

To cheer you up, some favourite photos from the trip:

A tribal house:



Stone house at Maibang:



A hilltop Church:

[gunin]

Beautiful pictures and very crisp narration Bhaskar. Our hill districts of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao have so many hidden gems- like the one you have shared. I was not really aware of the beauty of this place. Thank you for sharing and hope to visit it some day.