Khotang district, Nepal: A Paradise of Nature

What do you think when someone mentions Travelling? Let me guess, visiting a famous tourist destination, taking pictures and uploading them to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. or making a video perhaps? Spending some time with nature, warming up your soul with the campfire, having a glass of drinks, spending nights at the hotel, seeing some cultural and religious places, tasting some local food, trying some adventures and finally, returning to your own world. Does that sound about right?

But for me, travelling means much more than that. For me, it means visiting a far away, remote, unique, and unexpected destination, and enjoying an experience of a lifetime!!!

It means leaving the digital world and listening to your soul; embarking on adventures that no one has ever done; jumping into an unknown stream; napping for hours in the branches of the tall trees, walking in wild jungles, running in the hills, bathing in the waterfalls and so on; means visiting a village, spending the night at the house of unknown villagers, hearing their stories, sharing the smiles, tasting their handmade food, having a glass of drinks what they offer, making the talk sitting near to the fire and living a lifestyle of their life; means sharing the happiness, sadness, grief, emotions and feelings with the strange local people, you meet on your way; means listening to the voice of your soul by sitting at the “Chautari” of that new place; means performing their culture and feeling it; means praying at the religious temples for the well-being of local people. It means exploring some weird experiences and empowering yourself with inner peace!

Enjoying the view of Vulvuley Waterfal

With this self-generated meaning of Travelling, I was hoping to go to my birthplace and my homeland. Due to busy study schedules and rush daily lifestyle, I was unable to travel there in previous days. On the occasion of Visit Nepal 2020, I was planning to visit there and out of nowhere in February, 2019, I got the time to make my hope, a reality to experience. Far from this city of concrete structures, crowd, polluted air, noisy city-blocks and my own daily rush lifestyle, there lies a place, my birthplace, my homeland which is exactly the synonym of heaven, ‘Khotang: A Paradise of Nature’.

Khotang, located at a distance of around 280 km. from Kathmandu, in between Solukhumbhu, Udaypur, Okhaldhunga and Bhojpur districts, is popularly known for the ‘Halesi Mahadevsthan Temple’. It will take about 6-8 hours of bus ride to reach headquarter, Diktel Rupakot Majuwagadhi Municipality. After reaching headquarter, you can choose where to travel, how to travel and when to travel to the different places of Khotang.

Diktel Rupakot Majuwagadhi Municipality simply called ‘Diktel’ is itself one of the destinations to enjoy. A religious holy temple lying at the top of the Diktel called Devisthan Temple is a place to start your journey. Enjoying the view of Diktel Bazar from Devisthan is stunning. The fresh air, the view, the scenes, the places to visit, the temple to pray and time to spend with yourself.

Diktel Bazar, Khotang

Halesi Mahadevsthan Temple lying at a distance of around 230 km from Kathmandu is more popular amongst the followers of Buddhism and Hinduism. A cave is situated where it is believed that Lord Shiva has spent some time with nature. A ‘Shivalinga’ is also present there where pilgrims pray for their well-being and happiness. Apart from this, there is a monastery lying outside the cave where Buddhist followers pray for peace all over the world. One of the interesting things is that the followers of Buddhism and Hinduism pray together under the same roof sharing the same temple together with a common objective, “Peace for the mind and the World”. True meaning and living example of religious tolerance. Isn’t it?

Haleshi Mahadevsthan Cave, Khotang

Vulvuley Park is one of the recently organized destinations for travellers, situated at a distance of about 2 km from Diktel, you can visit the park like a trek. It will be more adventurous to reach the park by walking than riding. It is a religious, cultural, historic and natural heritage. Religious, cultural and historic heritage because of the old monuments of Kirat Community and it is natural heritage because it lives alone with Nature far from the people. Here lies a famous waterfall of Khotang, ‘Vulvuley Ruwarung Jharna’. In the dark forest of tall trees and wildlife, all of us may have imagined taking a bath at the waterfall. Your imagination will definitely meet the reality there. Hearing the healing sound of Nature, taking the bath with the purest water of the waterfall, enjoying the scenes and living like a life of dream !! One of my favourite places in Khotang. I spent 1 week living with the villagers in Nerpa village, living their lifestyle and learning something from their lifestyle.

Vulvuley Waterfall

Witnessing the struggles that local people made to survive in Khotang made me realize that our struggles in cities are just like a said story. Living with incredible natural beauty and friendly people, I realize that our life is gifted and it is precious to live. Living the lifestyle of how people live there and learning a lifestyle to spend at Kathmandu, I returned to my own world at the end of Magh. Happy Visit Nepal 2020 for you all!!!