‘Sikkim is renowned for two things: monasteries and mountains. It is considered a hidden sacred land pilgrimage site throughout the Mahayana Buddhist world. In the scripture it’s written that when Buddhism faces the greatest threat of extinction, the dharma will find refuge in Bayul Demojong (Sikkim) which is exactly what happened after all the great temples in Tibet were destroyed and the Lamas driven out. The monks fled to Sikkim where they were given succour and land to re-establish their monasteries and from here Buddhism flourished around the world again.
And then, of course, there are our mountains which offer some of the most pristine trekking in the Himalayas. The reason they’re so pristine is because Sikkim is really very difficult to get to, so you’ll need to set aside at least a week for the trip, particularly if you’re going to take on the Dzongri Trek.
The nearest airport is in Bagdogra, West Bengal and from there it’s a good four or five-hour drive to Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, where you’ll want to spend a night before you head off for the trek. These days, there are loads of great hotels in Gangtok. I recommend either the higher-end family owned Denzong Regency, which has a casino attached or the more moderate but very well located Tashi Delek, which has a fantastic terrace bar with a wonderful view. Gangtok is also a great place to eat. When you’re there you should try some traditional dishes: Sikkimese slow roast pork braised in tomatoes and ginger, cottage cheese sautéed in butter, and stinging nettle soup (with super-hot chilies on the side).
From Gangtok, you head to Yuksum, where the road ends and the trek begins. Because Sikkim is low latitude, high altitude, it has an incredible mixture of different landscapes. You start walking in sub-tropical jungle, which has everything that you would expect in a rainforest: bananas, towering fern trees and monkeys, both rhesus and the black-faced langurs with the long tails. Then, as you get higher, the landscape becomes alpine and the trees change to majestic pine draped in Spanish moss, dotted with magnolia and rhododendron. I’ve seen Himalayan black bears at this middle level, as well as red pandas, which are ridiculously cute.
At night, you can sleep in the well-situated government-built wooden trekkers huts, but the bespoke trekking agencies will send you with tents so you can make camp with your own dining tent and sleeping tents, which is more fun.
The very last semi-permanent habitation is a village called Tsoka, at around 10,000ft, and as you walk upward the pine trees give way to forests of giant flowering rhododendrons which form these amazing tunnels with their roots and branches – it’s like being in a fairy story.
The higher you go, the smaller the rhododendrons get, until you pop out above the treeline, into the very high altitude, where there are meadows full of blue poppies and primulas and stunning views of snow-clad mountains. From there, you can see Sikkim’s highest peak, Khangchendzonga, and if it’s a clear day, you can see all the way across to Everest, which is tiny in the distance, and you only know it’s Everest because the sun hits it first.’
To arrange travels within Sikkim I highly recommend an outfit called OurGuest that supports village-level tourism, arranges indigenous community cultural exchanges and also runs the very best high-end treks. ourguest.in
