During our journey in the Chhotanagpur region of Jharkhand, after spending a day at the popular tourist destination of Netarhat, we decided to take the next night halt at a relatively unknown place - Maromar.
Maromar, Jharkhand, isn't a place everyone visits too often. That's because it's still quite unknown to most people - quite befitting of a place, which offers the silence of unspoiled nature as its greatest treasure. Even our car's driver who visits most of the places in the area quite often, said that he had never spent a night there. He clearly said that the Maromar forest was one of the most affected areas during the Maoist movements. Well, that was frightening enough.
But the fear vanished the moment we entered the boundary of the guest house. There it was - the Maromar Tree House - an excellently constructed building, standing on stilts, looking outside the boundary - right into the forest.
Where to stay at Maromar
If you want to spend the night in a luxury hotel or resort, then Maromar, Jharkhand, isn't the place for you. The treehouses constructed by the government is currently the only lodging option in Maromar forest, Jharkhand. Although great in terms of appearance, the amenities are extremely limited. However, if you're looking to spend a night amidst unspoilt wilderness, you must go for the Maromar forest resthouse booking online, as there's no option available for on-spot booking.
How to reach Maromar
We had started from Netarhat at around noon for Maromar, Jharkhand, and halted at Mahuadar for lunch. We had also visited the Lodh Falls and Mirchiya Falls on the way and had navigated through Garu. There, we had stopped for some afternoon tea and refreshments in the form of a local Jharkhand dish called dhuska. So, it was almost late afternoon by the time we entered the Maromar forest rest house.
Maromar, Jharkhand, is also close to both Daltonganj and Burwadih railway stations. If you want to travel from Daltonganj to Maromar or from Burwadih to Maromar, you can book a train to Daltonganj or Burwadih and then take a cab from the station to reach the Maromar Treehouse.
Night stay at Maromar
While suggesting a night stay at Maromar, my tour planner had already told me a simple thing: "The silence there is frightening - and mesmerizing."
Yes, Maromar travel is all about the way you enjoy your time close to nature. Whether you enjoy your time at the Maromar Treehouse, Jharkhand, or spend the time there in a frightened state of mind, depends on how cozy you feel when you're too close to nature.
Once, tourists to Jharkhand avoided Maromar as it was infested with Maoists or the Naxalites. However, it's really quite safe these days. So, you can easily include Maromar, Jharkhand, in your list of destinations during your Jharkhand travel.
Treating your taste buds at Maromar
Looking for some lavish dining options for dinner?
Then Maromar surely isn't the place for you. You need to bring your own ration to Maromar for dinner. The caretaker at the treehouse can cook for you. But there's no shop or bazar nearby. If you don't want to spend the night starving, collect your stuff for dinner from Mahuadanr Jharkhand.
So, that's what we did. On our way from Netarhat, we stopped at Mahuadanr for lunch and bought the necessary stuff for dinner - rice, oil, spices, and a full chicken of local origin, which is popular as Desi Chicken and costs thrice that of a broiler chicken. It took us almost an hour to reach Maromar from Mahuadanr by car.
Unknown Forest Life
Sitting on the balcony of the treehouse and waiting for our food, we realized how deep we had ventured inside the forest. This forest life was completely unknown to us.
The darkness descended and the moon was yet to rise. The trees, which were right in front of our eyes, vanished in pitch-black shrouds of darkness. The chirping of the birds stopped. And suddenly there was an eerie silence - as if the world outside had ceased to exist.
The silence was often being interrupted by some strange noise coming not from far away.
"What is it!", I asked myself and found that I didn't have any answer.
So, I waded my way to the kitchen through that darkness and asked the caretaker what that sound was.
"That's nothing", he said. "This is the time when the paddy ripens and its smell drags the elephants down from the hills. People are making sounds to ward them off. I'll also be leaving after serving your dinner. We burst crackers to drive the elephants away and ensure that they don't destroy our crops."
"Do elephants come into the boundary of this treehouse too?" I asked
"No! There's no paddy here. But yes, sometimes they forage right outside these fences - don't know why."
He pointed toward something, which he termed as 'fences'. What I saw were a few poles and long barbed wire - it won't take an elephant a moment to uproot them. And once they've done that, they might come and knock on the door of our Treehouse - well, if they felt like.
I came back silently and sat on the balcony.
Revealing Darkness
Not every day you get to experience blind darkness. Even the barbed wire fences, a mere 20 feet away, were not visible. And there was something that made me smile - the sky was dotted with millions of stars - a view we can't experience in the polluted skies of the cities.
I went back into the room and took some time to get this situation to sink into myself - we were at a place where there's no sound and nothing to see.
But I was so wrong.
By the time I went out again, the moon was already peeping through the branches of the trees. The landscape was flooded with the soothing, silvery moonlight. Everything had turned silver. Even the hills were now visible in the distance.
Pregnant Silence
Let me tell you - nature is never silent. It has its own voice with which it speaks only to people who listen. And that voice is created by the sound made by insects, birds, animals (including men who are close to nature), and even the blowing wind. And probably, the earth has her own voice too with which she hums her own untold tales to herself.
I could now hear the drum beats from the nearby villages - people trying to shoo away the elephants at Maromar that had come down from the hills to feast on the paddy. And all night long, I heard the elephants' trumpets. The eternal fight over food between human beings and animals was still on - far away from our city life. And now and again there was the hooting of the owl or the whispering of the blowing wind.
Moving on
As a magical dawn made its way through the enchanting darkness, we bade goodbye to Maromar for Betla - thanking it for letting us know how a night in the wilderness might look like - and moved on to our next destination.
