If you are traveling to the
Eastern Bhutan, one thing that automatically strikes your mind is the Cliff called
Namling Brak. Located shortly after Sengor on the way to Mongar from Bumthang, it is the
deadliest and wildest cliff of Bhutan. In fact, without passing it you cannot
reach the Sharchop region (unless you travel through India).
At an altitude of 3,000
metres, Namling is usually foggy and is very steep stretch of rocky cliff. Quite
wondrously, the East-West National Highway runs through it, perhaps making it
one of the world’s wildest roads.
Moreover, the road is very
narrow without much roadside protection walls. The moment I look at the cliff
below every hair on me stands up shrieking with fear. And that particular moment,
I always feel the chill of death. You miss a step and you are spot dead. Oh,
that close to death!
Every time I travel here in
the bus, I see a strange behavior among the travelers. The moment we arrive at
the cliff, a complete silence ensues in the bus. The travelers take out their rosary
and pray reverently. Even the drunk people come into consciousness. Seriously. They
start hailing God and conjuring local deities to protect them.
For Bhutanese, Namling is
known as “Death Drop” after the national tragic accident where a passenger bus
fell 300 metres down the cliff in June 1998 and 58 passengers killed. After
that, it has been considered as haunted and ghost-infected place. People have
stories to narrate, of ghost and eerie and frightening incidents; they were
scared and stopped travelling from Namling after 4 pm.
For me, it is the longest
and most frightening 10 minutes drive of my life.
However, after the
horrifying drive, we come to a marvelous waterfall which falls down the cliff. As
soon as the travelers spot the waterfall, they sigh in a huge relief. The waterfall
falls at a stunning height of about 50 metres.
Your fear and agitation
forgotten, you would just run-round in a fury of extreme excitement. It simply is
an awe-inspiring spectacle to sit and watch. For ever, and ever.
Riku, the Namlingbrak is further away from Sengor towards Yongkola, and not in between "Thrumsingla and Sengor". Just reminding.
ReplyDeleteThank you, noted it down. I was kind of confused with the geographical location. Have a good day!
DeleteYes, Riku, that's the most dangerous spot on the East-West highway particularly after that big tragedy which killed 58 passengers and injured several others. You have beautifully described the cliff. I can visualize it very well. I heard the waterfall is so beautiful and as it falls through the endless cliff, it creates a beautiful rainbow all the time. That's what I heard but you might have seen it if you were travelling on a sunny day.... A nice post it is...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, thank you so much for your comment on my blog.
Yes Amrith Sir, we get to see beautiful rainbow here. Thank you so much for the comment. Have a wonderful weekend!
DeleteA nice post! A small factual correction here. The spot that bus went off the cliff is next to the marvelous waterfall and not at that big cliff. It went off from that Chorten into the deep gorge which is again not 300 meters as you mentioned. Infact that area, around the waterfall, is said to be ghost/spirit infested area which people dare to travel at night. At any time of the year, travelling through Namling at night is dangerous with very bad visibility. Onetime it took me more than an hour to cover 7km along that Namling stretch. Lucky that I had three friends who were literally walking along the road infront of my car.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information. It really helped me grasp the correct picture of the accident and Namling.
DeleteI would love to stay awhile near this waterfall, thank you for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeletecompare airport parking
meet and greet at gatwick
Story of namling brak
ReplyDelete