kirati khim is the homestay in tabakoshi, In this article you will get to know the detailed information about the homestay and the place tabakoshi.
Why named as kirati khim?
kirati khim the name has been chosen, because the karati is the name of the group of people belonging to the kiranti tribe and the word khim means home in karati language. When combining these two words makes kirat people’s home.
Location
It is located in the foothills of Darjeeling in the village tabakoshi which is 5km away from the main market Mirik at an altitude of 3800 ft form the sea level.
The homestay is surrounded by the famous tea gardens around it which produce the finest tea in the world. It is located just beside the hilly rivulet.
The best part of the kirati khim is that it is located at distance position from the tabakoshi village and provide the quite environment inside the homestay premises. If you seek to reconnect with mother nature then we would recommend you to stay in kirati khim at least once to explore and experience the wildness of nature.
It also has the riverside garden as shown in the picture above with varieties of plants while decorating the garden area. Plants consists of seasonal flowers, trees like cherry blossom, orange trees, orchids and different varieties of pine has been used.
As mentioned before our homestay is on the river bank your can just hear the sound of flowing river and feel a cooling breeze from it in the summer season.
You can have a scenic view of the mighty hills of tea garden, orange garden, river and the village around it from the veranda.
And in the evening kirati khim also provide the Bonfire with chicken BBQ inside homestay premises, if the guest demands to do so. Bone fire starts at 5:30 pm to 70:30 pm. We do provide musical instrument like guitar if the guest wise to play and sing a song while enjoying the bonfire.
History of Tabakoshi
As I’ve mentioned most of the time the word tabakoshi, now it is the time to dive more in detail about this wonderful place near mirik bazar.
Before moving any further, We need to take a look back at the year 1989 for the better understanding. Before 1989 this was an unknow place for the travelers because there was no proper mode of transportation and many other reasons but somehow the late chairperson of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) Sri. Subhash Ghising got and eye for this place.
In 2nd December 1989 Late Sri. Subhash Ghising laid the foundation stone of the tabakoshi tourism. He gave the name tabakoshi for this place. The word Tabakoshi has its own meaning in the local (Nepali) language the word taba means copper and the koshi means mountain river.
During the monsoon season Rangbhang khola (the main river of tabakoshi) collects all the mud along with it and turns its color like reddish brown and looks like the copper from the distance position. This was the logical reason why the name was chosen for the region.
After the 17th December 1989 many development works like the tabakoshi park and the two hindu temple were constructed in order the grab the attention of the traveler to visit the place.
One of main and the most important project was started on the supervision the chairman the Tabakohsi Iron bridge.
In today’s date this bridge has its own significant role to play in the mode of transportation as it connect the two valleys from the different side, Many place now uses this lane as a mode of transportation, Which make the tabakoshi one of the famous offbeat tourist destination to visit in today’s date.
Tabakoshi lies exactly at the center of siliguri and the darjeeling (Queen of hills) which is just a 2 hours road ride.
Unfortunately for two decades no tourism development took place in the region, somehow in the recent year 2014 tabakoshi started to attract tourist as an offbeat destination in the darjeeling hills.
Locals of the tabakoshi started to construct the homestay for the better accommodation for the visitors providing the organic homemade food and the number of the homestays and the visitor increases each year.
Climate
- Spring – February to April Max temp ( 15 to 18 degree )
- Summer -Mid may to June Max temp ( 23 to 26 degree )
- Monsoon – June to mid August Max temp ( 17 to 20 degree)
- Winter – November to January Max temp ( 2 to 5 degree)
How to reach:
By Air
The nearest airport is Bagdogra airport which is approx 50 kms from tabakoshi and takes about 1hr 45min to travel by road (via mirik).
By Train
The nearest railway station is NJP (New Jalpaiguri Staion) about 58 kms from tabakoshi and takes 2hrs to travel by road(via mirik).
By Road
Tabakoshi is approximately about 46 kms form siliguri (via mirik). Private taxies are available on regular basis for hire or on shared basis.
Sightseeing in Tabakoshi
Tabakoshi is a small hemlet but you’ll need to have at least one full day to expoler properly. Let us see more in detail below 😉
Tabakoshi park – Just beside the river Rangbhang you’ve the parkland with lush garden which consists of seasonal flowers, flowering trees, pines and cypress. It is surrounded by the green vegetation of tea garden, hills and rivers.
Temples – On the riverside there is temples dedicated to the Hindu God Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. You can visit, Visitor come here to worship and enjoy the scenic view of the green vegetation. In fact this is only the Lord Vishnu’s temple in the entire district of darjeeling.
Tea Gardens – Tabakoshi being the part of Gopal dhara tea garden there are also several famous tea garden of Darjeeling. You can also see the tea plucking during the harvesting seasons which starts from may to September while walking through the tea garden trails.
River Rangbhang hiking – The mountain river flows through tabakoshi named as rangbhang you can take a short trek through the river valley it takes half day to reach the origin of the river which is named after the village achalal busti.
Public pool – There is a large public summing pool in the tabakoshi park where local and tourist enjoy their summer together.
Village tour – The villagers of tabakoshi practice the organic farming, you can take a village tour and see how the organic farming is done. Mostly farming like orange, ginger, and cardamom is done in the large scale. Most of the green vegetables is been grown in there respective plot of land.
When to visit:
You can visit tabakoshi any time of the year as the location and altitude being comparatively lower then other region of Darjeeling.
However the high peak season starts from mid march to June which is spring season and October to November which is an autumn season, everything remains perfect as the place, weather is pleasant with the bright blue sky and the clear scenic view of the green vegetation.
