Ajodhya Hill and Forest Reserve Area - hill in West Bengal, India

The Ajodhya Hill and Forest Reserve Area is home to the magnificent Ajodhya Hills in the Rarh region of West Bengal.

Understand

It is a part of the Dalma Hills and extended part of Eastern Ghats range. The highest peak of Ajodhya Hills is Gorgaburu. The nearby populated town area is Bagmundi. Distance from Kolkata is 332 km.

This area has become popular with tourists. Winter gets maximum tourists, with a few tourists visiting the other months for various tourism interests, like trekking nature trails, to enjoy the rains and the cultural diversity. It's a popular place for young mountaineers to learn the basic and advance course in rock climbing.

History

Landscape

The area is a mix of hills with mid dense forest; in some places the forest is deep. It is part of Dalma Forest and part of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. Hills are rocky and surrounding plan lands are mixed boulder zone with steep landscape. Hillocks range from few hundred feet up to around . There are 9 dams and water reservoirs in and around the hill region. Few water streams and 3 waterfalls get water during the rains and keep flowing through the winter till the summer heat dries them up.

Flora and fauna

Mostly Sal and Segun forest mixed with species like Palash, Kusum, Mahua, Neem, Kend etc. Plants like Aswagandha, Satmuli, and Vrigoraj, Haritaki, Amla, Bahera, Karanj, Neem, Bamboo, Kendu etc are commonly found in the Forest region. 14 species of orchids are found there.

There are 39 species of mammals (5 in Schedule - I: Pangolin, wolf, leopard cub, leopard, elephant), 9 species of amphibians, 27 species of fish, 9 species of mollusks. The most interesting is the Madras tree shrew, found on the top hills of this ecosystem and nowhere else in West Bengal. Ajodhya hill ecosystem hosts few numbers of mega-mammals like elephant. Though major elephant habitat is engulfed by PPSP, in 2018 the number of such resident elephants was considered to be 8-10. Seasonally, herds of elephant from nearby Jharkhand forest take shelter in this area for days together in different seasons of the year.

Besides, it's a place of various species of birds and snakes.

Climate

Get in

Depending on the route, the Ajodhya Hills are about 30-40 km from Purulia town.

Fees and permits

Get around

See

• Gorgaburu. The tallest peak of the Ajodhya Hills. 2022-11-13

Do

Buy

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Lodging

• Kushal Palli Resort, Kuchrirakha (42.2 km from Purulia Junction via Ajodhya Hills Rd), 23.201461°, 86.125992°, +91 933 023 6876. Check-in: 11AM, check-out: 11AM. Luxury resort nestled within the forest. From ₹4600 2021-02-13

Camping

Backcountry

Stay safe

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