Told in the hills
Mule bells on the road to Jelep La
From the late 19th century until the 1950s, Zuluk was a night halt on one of the busiest trade lines in the eastern Himalaya. Mule and pony caravans carried wool and furs down from Tibet, and manufactured goods back up from Kalimpong, the market town where most of the deals were struck. The track ran from Kalimpong through Pedong, Rhenock or Aritar and Rongli, climbed past Zuluk and Nathang, crossed Jelep La at about 4,270 m and dropped into the Chumbi Valley on the long way to Lhasa.
The same pass carried bigger history. The British mission to Tibet led by Francis Younghusband went over Jelep La in late 1903, and in 1910 the 13th Dalai Lama came the other way across it, escaping a Chinese army, and spent the next two years in Darjeeling and Kalimpong. Earlier, in 1888, British and Tibetan troops fought at Gnathang, the high meadow above Zuluk now usually spelt Nathang. Trade over the pass ended after the 1959 crackdown in Tibet and the 1962 war, and Jelep La has stayed shut since.
Today the mule track lies mostly under Border Roads tarmac, and the army, road work and tourism are the village's main livelihoods. Older residents still talk about the caravans, so ask your host over dinner, but do not expect a museum or a plaque. The best way to feel the old route is to stand at Thambi before dawn and follow the road with your eye up towards the passes, where loaded mules once took days to climb what a jeep now does in an hour.
Pinned to the board
Did you know
Zuluk lies in the Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary area, a 124 km² reserve set up in 2002 that runs from about 1,760 m to 4,390 m and links through forest to Neora Valley National Park in West Bengal.
The Rangpo River, which you cross lower down at Rongli, rises at Menmecho Lake just below Jelep La, a short distance above Zuluk.
Zuluk can get three to five feet of snow in winter, while summer days rarely climb much above 20 °C.
