Sittong and Latpanchar: Oranges, Hornbills and Homestays

The Riyang valley in brief

East of Kurseong, the ridges fall away into the valley of the Riyang river, which runs down towards the Teesta. Its slopes are farmed rather than planted with tea: terraces of maize, ginger, vegetables and, above all, orange trees, with government cinchona plantations on the higher ground and the forest of Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary along the top. Sittong lies in the valley, spread over three land blocks known locally as Sittong I, II and III. Latpanchar sits higher, at about 1,400 m, on the edge of the sanctuary. Ahaldara is the viewpoint above Latpanchar, and Namthing Pokhri the seasonal pond in the forest nearby.

None of these is a town. There are no hotels to speak of, only family homestays, a few shops, a church and a school or two, and roads that are narrow and sometimes rough. That is the point of coming. For two or three nights you live with a farming family, eat what they grow and walk where they work.

A few manners help. Ask before picking fruit or walking through a family's orchard, even if the path seems public; the oranges are the year's income. Dress modestly near the church and the small temples, keep music low in the evenings, and take your rubbish back to Kurseong or Siliguri, since the villages have no collection. Hosts eat early, often by 8 pm, and appreciate guests who are on time for dinner.

Oranges and cinchona: the valley's story

Sittong's fame is the Darjeeling mandarin, a small, sweet, loose-skinned orange grown on terraces and around houses all through the valley. When the fruit ripens from about mid-November, the slopes turn green and orange, families pick into baskets, and traders come up from Siliguri to buy. Sittong had 3,098 residents at the 2011 census, most of them living by farming, and the orange crop is a large part of the year's income. The Directorate of Cinchona and Other Medicinal Plants has organised an orange festival at Sittong in December in past years; dates are announced locally, so check current status before you travel.

The cinchona story is older. From the 1860s the British planted cinchona at Mungpoo, a few valleys west, to make quinine against malaria, and the plantations spread across the slopes of Latpanchar and the Riyang valley. They still belong to the West Bengal Directorate of Cinchona, and many families have worked on them for generations. Villagers in Sittong will also show you their church, which local accounts say began as a bamboo building more than a century ago and has since been rebuilt in brick; it serves the valley's Christian families alongside Hindu and Buddhist neighbours.

Latpanchar and the hornbills

Latpanchar is the highest part of Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, which was notified in 1959 to protect gaur and tiger and covers about 159 km² between the Teesta and Mahananda rivers, from 166 m at Sukna up to about 1,500 m here. The old trees around the village draw great hornbills, Oriental pied hornbills and, the prize for most birders, the rufous-necked hornbill, listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Males have a rufous head and neck; females are black.

The best months are March to May, when birds are active and calling. Go out at dawn with a local guide, who will know which fig and fruiting trees the hornbills are visiting that week; a dawn session costs about ₹1,000–1,500. Several Latpanchar homestays are run by people who guide birders themselves. Keep your distance from nest trees, do not use playback recordings to call birds, and remember that the sanctuary closes to visitors in the monsoon.

Ahaldara and Namthing Pokhri

Ahaldara, about 5 km above Latpanchar at roughly 1,500 m, is a grassy shoulder of the ridge with a view straight down the Teesta valley to the plains at Sevoke and across to the ridges of Kalimpong. On clear mornings from mid-October to January, the Kanchenjunga massif rises behind the foothills to the north. Most visitors drive up before sunrise, ₹600–1,000 return from Latpanchar, and walk down after; there is a short walk from the car park to the top. Take a flask of tea from your homestay.

Namthing Pokhri is a shallow forest pond at about 1,370 m, partly dry in winter. In the monsoon it fills, and Himalayan salamanders, dark brown newts about 16–18 cm long with knobbly orange-brown warts along their backs, come to breed. Scientists described the Himalayan population as Tylototriton himalayanus in 2015. The salamanders are protected: keep to the edge, do not handle them or step into the water, and go with someone from your homestay. A car from Sittong costs about ₹800–1,200 return.

What a stay costs

These are indicative 2025–26 prices. Homestay rates are per person per night with dinner and breakfast; cars are per vehicle.

Getting there and choosing a homestay

Most visitors hire a car. From Siliguri, the usual route to Latpanchar goes up the Sevoke road and climbs steeply through sanctuary forest from near Kalijhora; Sittong is a short drive beyond. Teesta valley roads have had long closures and repairs since the October 2023 flood, so check current status before you travel. The other approach is from Kurseong via Bagora and Mahaldiram, about 25 km to Sittong. A few local jeeps link the villages with Kurseong and Siliguri, usually leaving early and returning in the afternoon, for about ₹80–250; many homestays also arrange pick-ups at a fixed price.

Sittong has many homestays and Latpanchar a handful. We do not name properties because they change often; recent traveller reviews and your Kurseong contacts are the best guide. Choose by location. Houses on the upper road have easier access and better phone signal; those lower down are quieter and closer to the orchards and river. For birding, choose a Latpanchar house near the forest edge whose host can arrange a dawn guide.

• Ask about attached bathrooms and hot water before you book
• In December and January ask for extra quilts; nights fall to about 6–8 °C
• Carry enough cash; there are no ATMs in the villages
• Confirm the road is open the day before you travel, especially from June to September

A three-night plan

Night one: arrive in Sittong by early afternoon and walk through the orchards and down towards the Riyang with someone from your homestay. Night two: drive to Namthing Pokhri in the morning, visit the church and spend the afternoon on village paths, then move up to Latpanchar. Night three: Ahaldara for sunrise, hornbills at the forest edge after breakfast, and a slow afternoon. Leave for Siliguri or Kurseong on the fourth morning.

With only two nights, drop Namthing Pokhri outside the monsoon and stay both nights in one house, using a car for Ahaldara. It saves a move and usually a little money.