Ravangla or Rawangla or Ravongla is a small tourist town with an elevation of 8000 feet located in the

South Sikkim Namchi District is a district of the Indian state of Sikkim. Its headquarters is at Namchi. Geography South Sikkim lies at an altitude of 400 to 2000 metres and has a temperate climate for most of the year. Major urban centres include Nam ...

district of the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

state of

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...

. It is connected by state highway to other major towns in the state and lies between

Pelling Pelling is a small hill town in the district of West Sikkim, India. Pelling is nestled at an altitude of 2,150 m (7,200 feet). The town is located at a distance of 10 km from the district headquarters of Geyzing and 131 k ...

and Gangtok. It is the starting point for the trek to Maenam Wildlife Sanctuary. It is approximately 65 km from the state capital, Gangtok, and 120 km from

Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian state of West Bengal. Known as the ' ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. The name is derived from the Bhutia language. ‘Ra’ means wild sheep, 'vong' translates to a rearing place, and ‘la’ means a pass.

Geography

Mt. Kanchenjunga, Mt.

Pandim Mount Pandim is a Himalayan mountain located in Sikkim, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List ...

, Mt. Siniolchu, Mt.

Kabru Kabru is a mountain in the Himalayas on the border of eastern Nepal and India. It is part of a ridge that extends south from Kangchenjunga and is the southernmost peak in the world. The main features of this ridge are as follows (north to sou ...

are some of the major peaks visible from Ravangla.

Flora

Upper parts of Ravangla usually experience snowfall during winter. During the months of April–May, the area is surrounded by many flowers including

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

s and rhododendrons.

Fauna

Ravangla attracts many Himalayan birds. Verditer flycatchers, blue-fronted redstarts, grey bush chats, dark-throated thrush, blue whistling-thrush, green-backed tits, and white-browed fantails are common. The forests around Ravangla have other birds like laughing thrushes, babblers,

cuckoos Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separa ...

, and hill partridges. The rare satyr tragopan can also be spotted in Ravangla.

Tibetan community

A Tibetan community is located 1 km away from the Ravangla Market. It consists of seven camps, with 328.5 acres of total land and 1,300 people. The Tibetan settlement has one primary Tibetan medium school, two monasteries, administrative offices, and a primary health care clinic. Ralang Monastery, a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monastery of the Kagyu school of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

is located 6 km from Ravangla. The old monastery is also a few kilometers from Borong. There are many small hamlets where these communities live. Tourism is a major source of income for these communities.

Geography

Flora

Fauna

Tibetan community

Education

Gallery

See also

References

External links