Told in the hills
A river that comes down from Neora
The Murti drains the southern slopes of the Neora Valley and the hills around Samsing. In the monsoon it carries huge quantities of water and stone out of the hills, spreading them across a wide braided bed. In winter it shrinks to a few clear channels between gravel bars. That cycle explains the landscape: the stony riverbed, the grassland that rhinos and gaur use along its banks inside Gorumara, and the rich alluvial soil where tea was planted.
Villages along the Murti include Rajbanshi, Adivasi and Nepali families, many connected to the tea gardens and forest work. The Dhupjhora area near the river has been home to departmental elephants and a forest camp. Today the riverbank is shared between farmers, fishers, forest guards, picnickers and the guests of the lodges, and its condition depends on all of them.
Pinned to the board
Did you know
The Murti rises in the hills of the Neora Valley and flows along the north-eastern edge of Gorumara before joining the Jaldhaka.
Gorumara's Medla watchtower stands above the Murti river and is reached by bullock cart from the forest camp.
The forest corporation's Murti Banani lodge has 17 cottages and tents beside the river, about 73 km from Siliguri.
