Netarhat

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Netarhat, is described as the Queen of Chhota Nagpur plateau. It is situated at an altitude of 3671 ft. at a distance of 156 km from Ranchi. Netarhat is covered with thick virgin forests and is an excellent health and holiday resort. Netarhat Residential School has given India some of the top brains in many fields.

Reach: The best way to travel to Netarhat is by personal vehicle, preferably some SUV like Tata Sumo because the roads are not good and there are a lot of places where small streams flow down the mountaneous walls onto the roads making them very slippery. There are buses, but very infrequent.

FROM KOLKATA: Take the Ranch Hatia Exp which leaves Howrah at 10:15 at night and reaches Ranchi next morning 6:30; you can expect a delay of 30 minutes to 1 hour for the same. The return travel can be done by the same train which would leave Ranchi around 10 at night and supposed to reach Howrah at 7 next morning.

The approach from Ranchi to Netarhat passes through a place called Ghagra. This is the last place on the way to Netarhat that is well populated with a thriving populace and good trade and business. Almost all the basic amenities that you require is available here. You can hire a vehicle from this place to Netarhat. But to be safe you can hire a vehicle from Ranchi itself but that may be much costlier.

The whole place is situated in the Chota Nagpur plateau region. Being a plateau the weather is pleasant and you won’t feel hot even during peak summer. The weather is pleasant once you leave Ranchi. Even when in Ranchi you can feel a mild chill in the morning air. As you move away from Ranchi towards Ghagra you can feel a mild drop in the temperature. The mountains start a few kilometers from Ghagra. Ghagra being the last place with the facilities, remember to stock yourself well with food items and drinking water because you may not get proper drinking water once you leave Ghagra.

Once the mountains start you can start enjoying the natural beauty. The mountains are densely populated with a wide variety of plants and trees. We did not see any animals on the way to Netarhat except some monkeys. The roads are not good and you have to keep yourself secure by on holding on to something. You can feel a significant drop in the temperature on your way up to Netarhat.

Once you reach Netarhat you can see the clouds moving around among the trees. If you look closely you can see that the trees have got rich algae and moss growing on their barks on account of constant exposure to moisture from the clouds. I found this really spectacular. It seemed as if the clouds were playing hide and seek with the trees.The tree cover is good. But like all forests, this place has also fallen prey to illegal felling of trees. You can see a lot of tree stumps showing the ugly face of humanity. Locals say that the existing tree cover is hardly half of what it used to be even ten years ago.

The magical thing about the place is that as soon as you reach here you will feel rejuvenated and the tiredness of the travel all the way from Ranchi just vanishes. The atmosphere is not polluted at all and the dense cover of trees ensures a constant rich supply of oxygen. So the moment you reach here all the body cells get an abundant supply of oxygen. You can run a few kilometres and yet not feel much out of breath due to the oxygen rich atmosphere.

There is a rudimentary bus-stop cum market place. You can find a few shops selling some food stuff, cold drinks, cigarrettes and also some STD booths. There is a good number of guest houses and small hotels. Also there are the government tourist department hotels where you can find pretty good food and accommodation.

The charges of the hotels and lodges vary depending on the amenities they provide. Amenities includes power and hot water. Power supply is infrequent and not reliable. So the big hotels maintain their own generators for their guests. They also provide a cable connection in the rooms using the DTH platform.

Food: You have to order food in these hotels as there are not many food stalls outside in the locality. The charges will be a bit higher,but they provide a decent fare. You can have vegetable curry, daal, chicken curry and chapatis or rice. They will cook the country chicken that are locally bred and not the usual broiler ones that you get in the cities. The local variety tastes really good. Almost all the local hotels will cook up a spicy hot curry for you. Believe me you will enjoy the food in that environment.

Once you settle down in your rooms, you will start feeling the chill. Be sure to ask for blankets even if you are going there in the summer. Try to be inside your accommodation once the darkness falls since there are few streetlights and roads are not very safe with dense bushes and trees all around. Try not to venture out after dark, especially if you are alone.

Netarhat has several places of tourist interests. A few of them are mentioned below:

Magnolia Point, 10 km from Netarhat, is an ideal site for viewing sunset. Everyday you can witness a different view of the setting sun. When the setting sun enters into the lap of Vindhya hills, allowing the evening to descend slowly in the valley, the natural scenic beauty of the place is beyond any description.
Upper Ghaghri Water Fall, a picturesque picnic spot located in a beautiful valley, is 4 km from Netarhat. The overflowing water of Netarhat Dam make a lovely, small waterfall.
Lower Ghaghri Water Fall, 10 km from Netarhat, is surrounded by deep and dense forests. The mass of water falling down 320 feet makes a majestic waterfall. The forest around is so dense that even sunrays find difficult to pierce through it.
Koel View Point, 3 km from Netarhat, gives a magnificent site of the Koel River, particularly at the time of the sunrise and during moonlit nights.
Lodh Falls, 60 km from Netarhat, is deep in to the forest. The Burha River makes a fantastic and majestic water fall of about 468 feet, the highest waterfall of Jharkhand. The thundering sound of the fall is audible even 10 km from it.
Sadani Fall, 35 km from Netarhat and surrounded by loving hills, hillocks, forests, streams and waterfalls is a dream destination to relax. The charms and beauty of the place is so enchanting and profound that it is called a "Mini Pahalgam".

There are a number of orchards and you can buy the fruits directly from them. You can go into one of them and ask the caretakers to pluck the fruits for you or you can do the honours yourself.