The Grand Canyon Of Bengal

Take a trip to Gongoni Danga, Bengal’s Grand Canyon, for a heady dose of history coupled with rugged landscapes and mesmerising sceneries.

- Sugato Mukherjee

The foggy morning looks dull and uninspiring. The brownish patches of earth that lie on both sides of NH 14 look blank and sterile and the sparse vegetation that dots this rather dreary landscape of West Midnapore wears a wilted, wintry look.

A four-hour drive from Kolkata brought us to the small town of Chandrakona the previous evening, a settlement that rose to such prominence during the Mughal rule that it found a mention in the Ain-e-Akbari (or the "Constitution of Akbar"). Not much of the old glory remains though except some crumbling old mansions and a handful of terracotta temples in the forest-covered surroundings of the town.

We leave Chandrakona a little after 6 am and after about a half-hour drive we swerve right to follow a dirt track flanked by sporadic clusters of cashew and acacia trees. A few minutes later the car heaves to a halt at a clearing. We have arrived at Gongoni Danga, the ‘Grand Canyon of Bengal’.

It is as if we have been magically transported from West Midnapore to the Wild West! A strip of red-rock land leads to a precarious drop down to the valley below and a row of jagged cliffs of laterite; their crimson contours blushing with a warm, dulcet glow in the morning sun seem to fill up the horizon. Far below to our right, River Silabati meanders its way through the canyon floor, floury-white sandbanks interjecting its crystal-clear waters, forming beautiful patterns on the river bed.

“In summer and winter, the water is mostly knee-deep. But in the rainy season, the river often overflows into the depths of the gorge,” Sadhan, our driver, who doubles as the canyon guide, says. He leads the way to a staircase, built by the local municipality, which winds its way a little into the depths of the Gongoni.