Tea · Jaldapara National Park
Plains tea gardens around Birpara
West of Madarihat, the highway runs through some of the Dooars' oldest plains tea gardens around Birpara and Banarhat. A morning drive with stops on the estate roads shows how flat-land CTC tea is grown under tall shade trees.
The Dooars tea industry started in 1874 at Gazaldoba and spread east along the foothills over the next decades, with gardens cut from forest and grassland and workers recruited from Chota Nagpur. Around Birpara and Banarhat, the gardens are big and flat, with lines of shade trees, drains and the garden lines where workers' families live.
In the plucking season, from about March to November, women and men move through the sections with baskets, and the factories run long hours, mostly making CTC tea for the Indian market. Stop at a roadside stall for a glass of milky tea from the gardens around you, and ask the stall-keeper which garden is which.
Gardens are private workplaces. Stay on public roads and estate roads where walking is clearly allowed, ask before photographing anyone, and do not enter factories or the garden lines without an invitation. In August or September, Karam is celebrated in many of these gardens.
Cost: Car ₹1,200–1,800
Questions people ask
Good to know
Can we visit a tea factory near Jaldapara?
There is no regular public factory tour in this belt. Some gardens let visitors in on request during manufacturing, depending on the manager and the day's work. Ask your lodge to enquire. Never walk into a factory or the labour lines unannounced.
What tea is grown around Birpara?
Mostly CTC, the strong, granular tea used for Indian milk chai, with some orthodox leaf tea. Gardens here grow on flat land at low altitude, unlike Darjeeling's steep hill gardens, and produce large volumes for the Indian market.
When is the best season to see tea plucking?
From about March to November, with busy flushes in spring and the monsoon months. Parks are closed from mid-June to mid-September, so March to early June and October to November combine tea and wildlife best.
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