Kakarvitta is a small city situated mechinagar
municipality, jhapa district, Nepal. In boarder of
Nepal and India. Kakarvitta is on the Nepal-India border at t he eastern end of the 922-km long
East-West Highway. It is a 610-km drive (13 hrs.) from here to Kathmandu. The
Mechi river bridge marks the boundary between Nepal and India. On the
Indian side, Gangtok the capital of Sikkim is 14km (a four-hour drive) and
Darjeeling is 113km (three hours).
The meaning of kakarvitta is land of crabs. kakar= crab, vitta=land. On a clear day you can see the foothills of the Kanchenjunga
range; from the plains. The way up to 2500 meters is Nepal's tea growing area. You
can Notice the well-practiced intercropping method the local farmer's use. No
vast plains of wheat here, but potatoes in with corn, spinach in with spices
etc. Walking these roads you really see how modern Nepal lives alongside
ancient Nepal. The Satighata tea estate is just ten minutes' walk south of town,
and a Buddhist monastery run by Tamangs can be visited on the way. A walk along
the banks of the Mechi River, just east of town, is nice at sunset or
sunrise. Kakarvitta marks the eastern end
of Mechinagar Municipality.
Kakarvitta is about 15-17 hours
drive and 610 kilometers away from Kathmandu. This is a small town on the
border between Nepal and India and foreigners can use this to cross the border.
There are many hotels and lodges around the area to accommodate the tourists in
moderate prices. Tourists can commute to Kathmandu or any other cities either
by bus or air. The closest airport is at Bhadrapur, about 25km southwest of
Kakarvitta and it takes about 45 min to land in Kathmandu domestic airport by
flight. Kakarvitta is one of the more laid-back crossings on the Nepal-India
border, since it's mainly a gateway for people. Most of those using it are Indians, hopping over from Darjeeling for
some quick shopping or heading to Biratnagar for business. A recently
negotiated transit treaty between Nepal and Bangladesh
may eventually increase the commercial traffic through here, but for the time
being Kakarvitta feels very much l ike a back-door entry whose only apparent link with the rest of
the world is the fleet of night buses that roars in from Kathmandu
every morning and roars out again every afternoon. If you have some time on
your hands you could take a stroll in any direction into the surrounding
countryside.
