With an area of 1,200 sq. miles, the district is shaped like an irregular triangle, the southern region, the base, comprises the Terrai, a marshy low-lying area at an average height of 100 m above sea level; the apex is formed by the Phalut ridge where Nepal meets India. The eastern frontier lies along the rivers Tista and Rangeet, beyond is Rishi-La and Bhutan. The lower regions of the labyrithine hilly forest-clad ridges, have been cleared for the cultivation of the world famous Darjeeling tea. Started in the area of only 14,000 acres in 1872, it had risen to 7,87,000 acres by 1956. The town itself laid out by Lord Napier of Royal Engineers, is at an altitude of 2,134 m (lies between 26° 31' and 27° 13' North Latitude and between 87° 59' and 88° 53' East Longitude); moving up the hills one is greeted by smiling tea gardens, changing to firs, pines and fast moving torrents, while around 4,000 types of flowering plants and 300 varieties of ferns, including the rare tree fern. Beyond the town itself, modern elegant and sophistacated, lies nature in the raw in hills, valleys and forest, unbroken and untamed.

THE FLORA & FAUNA The forests in and around Darjeeling have delightful flora and fauna. It is a plant lover's paradise. Four thousand species of flowering plants, three hundred varieties of ferns, including tree fern and countless types of flowerless plants, mosses, algae, fungi, birches, and of course, the prize orchids, wild and cultivated. There are oaks, chestnuts, cherry, maple, birch, alder - all fine and large trees of excellent growth. In the upper hill areas and the alpine zone are the magnolias, buck-landias, pyrus and conifers such as webb, Himalayan firs, English yews, Sikkim spruces, larch, which is the only deciduous conifer, weeping tsuga brunoniana and junipers. Ivy is common. Rhododendrons changes the face of the place.

The fauna is similarly varied - monkeys, wild cats, tigers, leopards, civets, jackals and foxes, wild dogs, bears, otters, martons, weasels, squirrels (including the Himalayan flying and Assam giant varieties), porcupines, hares, barking deer, samburs, chitals and the very rare pangolin. In the foothills and the Terrai forests, in the sanctuaries (Jaldhapara and Gorumara in the neighbouring Jalpaiguri) can be seen the gaur or Bison, elephants and the single horned rhinoceros.

Darjeeling is the home of six hundred varities of beautiful birds like flycatchers, fairy bluebirds, orioles, finches, sunbirds, long-tailed broadbills, woodpeckers, rufous piculets, emerald cuckoos, three-toed kingfishers, long-legged falcons, Hoogson's imperial pigeons, emerald doves, besides a large number of seasonal migratory birds on their way to the plains.

Tiger hill:Tiger Hill and the Famous SunriseThe trip to the summit of the hill is through Ghoom, the highest railway station on the D.H. Ry. The elevation of Ghoom is 7,407 feet from sea level, while the altitude of the top of this hill exceeds that of Ghoom by 1,100 feet. In the fast receding glimmer of the night, the spectator finds himself standing on the mound bedewed with sparkling frost, plunged in hush and silence and steeped in frigid cold. A traveller whose vision has not been entertained with the two sights, the Taj Mahal by moonlight and sunrise from Tiger Hill, has missed a pleasure that does not lend itself to be substituted. The altitude of Senchel (water reservoir for the supply of water to Darjeeling town) and Tiger Hill are 8,163 and 8,515 feet respectively. The first rays of the sun shoot ahead and shed light upon the twin peaks of Kanchenjunga and gradually paint the whole of its snow body with a beautiful orange colour. From Tiger Hill, just the top of Mount Everest (29,002') is visible, peeping out through two other peaks standing by its side. The peak that looks highest is that of Makalu (27,799'). These three peaks are seen to the north-west a little left of Phalut. Everest looks smaller than any of its two sisters, although Everest is not only higher than either of them, but the highest peak in the world, the distance in straight line of Everest from Tiger Hill being 107 miles. This phenomenon arises from the fact that Everest is several miles beyond them. Kurseong is visible to the south. In hazy distance are noticeable like so many silver bands, the Teesta, the Mahanady, the Balasun and the Mechi, meandering down to the south. Chumal Rhi mountain of Tibet which is by far the most beautiful mountain in the world is seen in the north-east, 84 miles away as the crow flies. It looks like a great rounded mass over the snowy Chola Range. One comes face to face with this peak of superb beauty from Phari Jong which is 129 miles away from Darjeeling.KanchanjunghaKanchenjunga - The World's Third Highest Peak"Kanchenjunga is one of the world's most massive and spectacular mountains, and still a virgin peak". - First Over Everest."Kanchenjunga is the very queen of mountains. The view of it from Darjeeling is the finest in the world. No other can compete with it" - Everest the Challenge.To a spectator from the Observatory Hill who runs the eye over the great Snowy Range that in a magnificient cirque borders the horizon from east to west, Kanchenjunga appears to be mighty upheaval of snow and ice from the interlinking system of the main Himalayan Range. The phenomenon is , however, an illusion. The dazzling whiteness of snows coupled with distance mars the perspective effect of comparative proximity and remoteness.Godwin Austin, named K2 by the Survey Department of India, is its only rival claiming to be the second highest peak in the world. Whether K2 or Kanchenjunga stands second to Everest in height, the loftiest peak in the world, is not yet definitely settled, as would appear from the following figures.Lastly, comes the south-western face of the mountain, so distinctly visible from Darjeeling. This seems to offer an access from the Talung saddle, after the head of the Yalung Glacier is ascended. This last route is through the state of Sikkim, necessitating, however, a brief march along the skirts of Nepal.

Itinerary Sikkim and Darjeeling; from 3 to 5 days