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Dooars or Duars region is the foothills of the East Himalaya
connecting Bhutan. It is believed that the name has been derived
from the word DWAR, locally meaning gateway. As this region was
densely forested, being the flood plains of the mountain rivers,
there were 18 established entry points to Bhutan. There were regular
wars in the past regarding control on this region, but now it falls
in the North of West Bengal and the Bodo Territorial Council of
Assam.
In the North Bengal portion, with the initiative of the
entrepreneurs during the British rule, several Tea Gardens were
established between the forests in this region. Gradually, these
islands of development amidst of beautiful, virgin and wild
landscapes became centre of attraction for visitors, who often
combined it with their visit to the Darjeeling Hills. Today, this
region is all year round goldmine for the tourists.
One such Tea Garden was established as Barrons Tea Estate, which
later came to be known as Damdim, deriving its name from the flies
which the Bhutanese and Tibetans called ‘Dema Dema’. The oldest
section of this garden or estate dates back to 1927. Prior to 1963,
this estate was under the UK based James Finlay group, which since
1964 was known as Tata Finlay group and the same by 1983 was
established as Tata Tea, with its headquarters at Kolkata
(Calcutta).
It was towards the end of 2006, the Tata Tea administration with the
technical support of Help Tourism, an East Himalaya based ecotourism
organization, decided to convert one of their assets, a Tea Bungalow
at Damdim Tea Estate for tourism purposes. For visitors to the
Sikkim, Darjeeling & Dooars region, Damdim Tea Estate is a must
addition, as it not only provides an authentic British Colonial
Planter’s hospitality and tea experience, but also serves as the
base camp for wilderness experience.
The southern boundary of the estate is separated with the
Baikanthapur Forest Division by the Chel River. The landscape
towards the north is dominated by the legendary Neora Valley
National Park, the east by Garumara National Park and the West by
the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary. In November 2006, our first guests
from the BBC Natural History division, with the support of the Help
Tourism Team, chose the Damdim Tea Estate to shoot ‘the migrating
elephants of North Bengal’, which they have described as one of
their best experiences in India.
For the GOLFERS, the neighboring Western Dooars Club, a heritage
club serving since the time of the British Planters, provides a nine
holed golf course in the lap of excellent scenery of the East
Himalaya. The club also has facilities of card table, billiard
table, table tennis board, dancing floor and a bar. As guests of
Tata Tea, you have an easy access to the club facilities against a
temporary membership fees.
ACCOMMODATIONS
- Green Encounters.
- Tea Package.
- Transit Halts.
- Cultural Show.
Facilities
There are presently three air
conditioned double bedded rooms with private toilet and bath at ‘The
Damdim Tea Bungalow’ with lots of sitting area, dining space,
library, exclusive lawn and a Machan (Tree House). Our chef is a
second generation serving the Planter’s Bungalow and has a team of
local youths from the Estate to look after the guests in the
bungalow.
...Room View...
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