DARJEELING, LAND OF THUNDER

Take us back in a second to the Darjeeling foothills of the Himalayas. We’ve travelled to many regions of the world, but this is up there with the most memorable for nature escapism.

The journey is a bumpy one that started out speeding along dusty highways that soon turned to winding roads, then dirt tracks that funnelled deep into the mountains, leading higher into the mist, clouds and biting cold. We passed villages clinging at impossible angles to cliff-sides, dense jungle, gangs of monkeys, broken down trucks struggling to make it up steep roads.

Tourism and tea are cornerstones of the local economy. The landscapes and natural elements provide a perfect climate for optimal tea farming — and that’s what drew the original tea entrepreneurs to the region back in the 1800s. It’s a place to be in nature, savour views and the tea, which is some of the best in the world. Plantation owner Antrikish and the whole team view their farming as a craft and take pride in their organic handpicked farming processes. We arrived at the plantation as strangers and we left as friends. Take us back in a second.