The local story
Nineteen houses in a 1915 sanctuary
Chatakpur sits on a shelf of the Senchal ridge, the long forested spine that runs from Tiger Hill towards Sonada. Senchal was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1915, which makes it one of the oldest in India, and its lakes still supply much of Darjeeling's drinking water. A village inside a sanctuary is unusual. Like many forest villages in these hills, Chatakpur is generally described as a settlement of families who lived and worked in the forest under the forest department, growing food on small terraces cut into the slope.
For most of the last century the village stayed poor and almost unknown. Around 2012 the forest department and the villagers' forest committee set out to turn it into an eco-village: homestays in family houses, an entry fee for visitors that goes to the forest department, organic farming on the terraces, and rules on waste and noise. Today about 19 households and roughly 90 people live here, and almost every family runs a homestay. Bookings are confirmed in advance; there is no walking in to look for a room.
What you get is a working hamlet rather than a resort. Mornings start with the Kanchenjunga massif across the northern skyline, if the cloud allows. Days are for the forest, the terraces of potatoes, maize and greens, and the medicinal herbs some families grow. By 8 pm the village is quiet, and on most nights the only sound is the wind in the trees. Come for the quiet, and leave the music speaker at home.
