The mystery of the Bermuda Triangle has been of fascination to me always. I always had an intention at the back of my mind that one day I will be able to visit this place and experience this mystery first hand. But as per God’s will, I never had an opportunity to visit the Bermuda Triangle. But as people say, when God closes the path to an opportunity he always opens up a path to another. This is exactly what happened to me. I came to know about another same phenomenon that had occurred in my country and believe it or not very close to my home town at Margherita. This place, ladies and gentlemen is the infamous Bermuda Triangle of India aka the Lake of no Return!
This water body is situated on the border of India and Myanmar in the area of the Pansau Pass aka ‘the Hell Pass’ and south west of the Stilwell Road. Home to the Tangsa tribe the lake has come to play a part in the development of tourism in the nearby Indian Changlang District, which borders on Burma.
The legends of this lake are elaborated in bullets as below:
- the name ‘Lake of no Return’ is due to the number of Allied aircraft (on their approach to The Hump) crashlanded in the lake during World War II as the pilots thought this would be a soft landing spot for the aircrafts. The American called this as ‘Lake of no Return’ on account of all the crashed planes concealed in its depths
- the second legend states that during the World War II many Japanese soldiers while on their return got lost and ended up near this lake. They got struck and died of malaria and hence the name ‘the Lake of no Return’
- It is also said that an army of British troops got stuck in the quicksand and later perished at this lake and hence the name ‘Lake of no Return’.
The locals have also spoken of stories that a monster lies concealed in the lake waters. They have also heard of voices crying in the night and during a full moon night a hand comes out of the lake and calls out to someone.
Chilling, but never the less we can’t actually believe until we experience any one of the above the reasons for this lake to be named as the ‘Lake of no Return.’
Jungleideas welcomes you to India’s North East to visit India’s Bermuda Triangle – ‘the Lake of No Return’ at the Pangsau Pass, the Border of India-Myanmar, Incredible India!
Please Note:
The Lake of No Return is located in Myanmar and you will need to cross Indian Territory to travel to Myanmar. For Indian Nationals, this is allowed on every 10th, 20th and 30th of a month (this was allowed in 2018 and 2018 when we had visited the Pansaung market and Lake of No Return in Myanmar). It is advised that you check with the office of the Arunachal Pradesh Government that grants the ILPs before you plan your visit to the Lake of No Return. You will need to have a valid ILP (Inner Line Permit) for Indian Nationals or RAP (Restricted Area Permit) for Foreign Nationals to visit Arunachal Pradesh from Assam and the same will be validated at the border outpost at Jairampur. Alternately you may also approach the Office of the SDO (Civil) at Margherita where you will be granted the official letter that needs to be produced at the Border outpost and only then you will be allowed to cross the Assam side of the border to enter Arunachal Pradesh as this is a protected area under the law. These formalities are however not necessary during the Pangsau Pass Winter Festival that is held in the month of January and visitors can easily get to access the places around Jairampur, Nampong and also Myanmar at the Pangsau Pass and the Lake of No Return.
On the general days viz. 10th, 20th and 30th of a month, if you are planning to visit the Lake of No Return, then once you have the necessary approval to cross Assam to enter Arunachal Pradesh (viz. ILP or SDO office approval) you will need to produce this at the check gate and later you will need to drive to the SDO (Civil) Office at Nampong where you will be provided with the approval later to visit Myanmar upon payment of the requisite government subscribed fees and with this you will reach the border of India and Myanmar at the Pangsau Pass and before you reach you will need to show the approval to the Indian Army (BSF) at another check post before you reach Pangsau Pass and after this you can reach the Pangsau pass. Here you will see the signage’s welcoming you to the Pangsau Pass and the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the Lake of No Return gets visible to your eyes. At present I am not sure of the road condition but during our time of visit (in the month of May 2017 when the monsoon rains had just started) the road from Pangsau Pass to the Myanmar check post was very muddy and driving vehicles across this route (even the best 4×4 SUVs) was not advisable.
There were dirt bikes used by the locals of Myanmar that ferried passengers from the Indian side to the border on the Myanmar side at the Pansaung market and we had hired the services of one such bike after parking our vehicle near the Pangsau Pass area. The dirt bikes take you across the muddy track and you need not be concerned as the driver is very well experiences and handles the bike very well and in some time you will reach another Indian Army (BSF) outpost where you will need to show the permission again and after you cross this you will reach the outpost of the officials of the Myanmar Army who validate the approval letter and they provide you a token to cross into Myanmar and you will be advised to return the token post your visit and strictly advise to return back before 3PM to the Indian side. With the security formalities being completed you will finally cross Indian Territory to reach the territory of Myanmar at the Pansaung marker and the historic Lake of No Return. You are free to explore the Pansaung market and visit the Lake of No Return at Myanmar within the stipulated time provided to you and enjoy some nice cuisine of Myanmar and Beer at the market area and later return back to India.
Recommended Itinerary for your Visit:Â Memoirs of World War II
Recommended Itinerary for your visit to the Lake of No Return
Day 1: Dibrugarh – Digboi
Day 2: Digboi – Lake of No Return – Digboi
Day 3: Digboi – Margherita – Digboi
Day 4: Digboi – Dibru Saikhowa National Park
Day 5: Dibru Saikhowa National Park – Maguri Beel
Day 6: Dibru Saikhowa – Dibrugarh Airport
Detailed Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive at the Mohanbari Airport at Dibrugarh and upon arrival you will be welcomed by our representative offering you a warm welcome. Board your comfortable vehicles and we begin on our drive to Digboi from Dibrugarh Airport and we will stop for lunch at the Kundan Dhaba at Chabua that is a renowned Dhaba and is a neat and clean place to enjoy your lunch. Post lunch we begin on our drive to Digboi crossing Tinsukia and Makum and we will reach Digboi by later afternoon and we will go to check into our place of stay at the Namdang Guest House near Digboi. This is a very nice place to stay and we will check into our rooms and evening will be free to explore across the guest house. Dinner will be served at the restaurant at the Namdang Guest House and we will prepare for our visit the next day to Myanmar at Lake of No Return.
Night Halt: Namdang Guest House at Digboi
Meals Included: Dinner
Day 2: Digboi – Myanmar – Margherita – Digboi
Today is our day of visit to the historic Lake of No Return and the Pangsau pass at Myanmar and we will have all the permissions that are necessary for your visit ready and we will have an early breakfast at the place of stay of bread, noodles and eggs and start on our drive by 7AM to travel to Margherita (the Coal Queen of Assam) and further towards Ledo and then to Lekhapani. At Lekhapani, the historic Stilwell Road will start and we will stop at the memorial here that was built to commemorate the brave soldier of the Allied Forces and the locals who had laid down their lives to build the Stilwell Road and stop the march forward of the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army. The Stilwell Road was built under the supervision of the brave American General Vinegar Joe Stilwell and he had led the American Army and the locals to build this road across some of the most treacherous environmental conditions across the region. This road was needed to be built because during the Burma Campaign of World War II, the Japanese forces had cut off the alternate route to provide supplies to the Allied Forces to fight across Chine and this area being the border with Chine was a feasible way to provide troops and supplies to China and the Ledo airstrip was used as a landing ground of the troops and supplies and later they were brought in trucks across the Stilwell Road that ran from Ledo (India) to Kunming (China) via Myanmar.
We will drive along the historic Stilwell Road and further towards Jagun and at Jagun we take a right diversion to travel to Jairampur in Arunachal Pradesh. We will be stopped at the border check post and post validation of our documents we will cross Jairampur to travel to Nampong. Along the way we will sight the Jairampur War Cemetery cum Botanical Garden and we will visit the place on our return in the interest of time and we will approach the army base at Nampong and drive to the SDO office and we will get our passes made here and later we drive towards the Pangsau Pass. The BSF forces will grant us permission to travel to the area and at the Pangsau Pass we will get down to admire the beauty of the place and click our pictures at the Hell’s Pass and the board that welcomes us to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Hopefully the road condition will be good and we will take our vehicles to the Lake of No Return. After validating our passes at the BSF outpost of both the countries we will finally approach the Pansaung market and we will at first go to explore the historic Lake of No Return and get to explore the mysteries that are associated with the Lake of No Return and we will admire the grand views of the landscapes that we get to see across the Lake of No Return.
It is also a time of thrill because we are on a foreign country’s soil and we did not have to apply for any visa or even use our passport to reach here though our stay here is short the tag on our Facebook location will still show that you are in Myanmar at the historic Lake of No Return. We will admire this Lake of No Return and we come back to explore the Pansaung market and we will notice the various locals of Myanmar setup shop here and this is a very important trading market. We will go to a restaurant and we will savour some beer and local dishes of Myanmar and from the Pansaung view point we will go to admire the grandeur of the Lake of No Return as well. We spend some time around the market and later we will come back to the border outpost of Myanmar where we will hand back our token and return to Indian Territory and we will continue on our drive to the Jairampur area and we go to visit the Jairampur World War II Cemetery.
The Jairampur World War II cemetery is also a Botanical Garden and there are various species of the indigenous orchids of Arunachal Pradesh to be found here as well. This is the only War Cemetery in India that had burials of the Chinese soldiers who had fought hand in hand with the Allied forces against the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army. We will expel the Jairampur World War II cemetery after our visit to the Lake of No Return and later we will begin on our drive back to Assam and we will go to have out lunch at a local restaurant in the Jagun area of Assam. The place serves authentic Singpho tribe dishes and the recipes are mostly boiled and roasted and we will savour this cuisine and later we will visit the Tipong Colliery area as well where we will have the opportunity to sight DAVID – the oldest operational steam locomotive in the World here at Tipong. With this we will drive back along the Stilwell Road and we will take the opportunity to visit the Ledo Airstrip and we will return back to the Namdang Guest House before evening.
Night Halt: Namdang Guest House at Digboi
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 3: Digboi – Margherita – Digboi
Today after breakfast we will set out to explore the Digboi World War II Cemetery. We will drive across the historic Digboi Oil town and Digboi is where oil was first discovered in Asia and Asia’s oldest oil refinery is present at Digboi. We will reach the Digboi War Cemetery and this is where over 150 burials of the soldiers of the Allied Forces have been kept buried and this War Cemetery was built and is maintained by the Common Wealth War Graves Mission. We will pay our respects to these brave soldiers who put down their lives so that we could have a better tomorrow and later we will go to visit the Digboi Oil Museum where we will learn about the history of the oil industry of Digboi and also this is where the first commercial oil well of India is preserved and as oil still seeps out from this oil well and so this is often referred to as the oldest operational oil well in the World. We will explore the museum premises and later we will come out of and travel to Margherita area where we will visit India’s only Coal museum after having our lunch at the Singpho Villa restaurant that is one of the very famous eateries around the place.
We savour our lunch at the Singpho Villa Restaurant and later we go to visit the remains of the 20th General Hospital at Margherita. This hospital was an A grade Hospital of the American Army that was built during the Burma Campaign of World War II to treat the wounded soldiers of the Allied Forces who were involved in the construction of the Stilwell Road and also the various generals of the American Army and the British Army as well and notable people who had received medical treatment at this hospital were General Vinegar Joe Stilwell and Lord Mountbatten. Today only the remains of this hospital can be seen here at Margherita and since we are being a part of the Stilwell Road and the Lake of No Return, we will take this opportunity to visit this place and later we go to explore the Coal Museum at Margherita that is India’s only Coal Museum. This museum preserves various ancient coal mining practices that were used at the Makum Coalfields both underground and opencast and the place also has an underground coal mine that elaborately depicts the coal mining technique used in the underground coal mining. Apart from this various old and vintage steam locomotives are preserved here and a well-documented collection of stamps and various other relics from the times of the Burma Campaign of World War II and the construction of the Stilwell Road. We call it a day after this and we return back to our guest house at Digboi.
Night Halt: Namdang Guest House at Digboi
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 4: Digboi – Tinsukia – Dibru Saikhowa National Park
Today we will be travelling from Digboi to the Dibru Saikhowa National Park that is one of the 7 National Parks of Assam and it is renowned to have the population of the Feral Horses and it is also a bird watching paradise. We will explore a few places of interest around Tinsukia before we go to the Dibru Saikhowa National Park. At first we will travel to the Dhola area where we will go to visit the Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Setu or the Dhola Sadiya Bridge that is the longest bridge in India spanning over a distance of 9.15km over the Brahmaputra River connecting Dhola with Sadiya in Upper Assam and further to Arunachal Pradesh at Roing and further to Mayodia, Hunli and Anini. We drive across the Dhola Sadiya Bridge and later we will come back to Tinsukia where we will travel to the Bordubi area where we go to visit the Tilinga Mandir or the Bell Temple. This is a very sacred Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and it is believed that your wishes are granted true if you tie a bell at the temple premises. This is a very sacred temple among the Hindus and once you are at the temple shrine you will see the bells of various sizes tied across the various temples that are present within the temple campus.
We will explore the temple shrine and next we will go to have our lunch and also we go the explore the Railway Heritage Park and Museum that displays and elaborates the history of the Dibru Sadiya railway that is one among the oldest rail routes across India established by the British to facilitate transport of tea and coal from Upper Assam to other parts of the country. This museum also displays various ancient steam locomotives that are kept here on display to visitors. With this we will wind up our visit for the day and we travel to Guijan area where we will check ourselves at the Banashree Eco Resort at the Dibru Saikhowa National Park. Dinner will be served at the place and we will call it a day continuing on another day of exploration of the Lake of No Return.
Night Halt: Banashree Eco Resort at Guijan
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 5: Dibru Saikhowa National Park – Maguri Beel
Today we will set out to explore the forests of the Dibru Saikhowa National Park accompanied by forest guards who will escort us into the forests and at first we will cross the Dibru River on a houseboat and we travel to the other side of the river bank and here we will embark on our trek to go to the forests of the Dibru Saikhowa National Park and we will go to sight the Kekjori tree that is a very old tree and it spans across a huge area. We will admire the grand Kekjori tree and later we come back to travel to the Dolphin view point on the River Dibru and the houseboat will take us to this point from where we will get to view the endangered species of the Gangetic River Dolphins that once roamed in huge numbers across the Brahmaputra River but excessive hunting has reduced their number to an extent that they are now endangered. We admire the opportunity to sight these endangered river dolphins and later we come back to have our lunch and we go to explore the Maguri Beel area that is a very renowned birding destination and it is a freshwater lake that is present near the place. The exploration will happen on a country boat and we will be able to sight many species of birds here and with this we call it a day and return back to our camp. Dinner will be served to us at the Resort and post dinner we will pack up our luggage as the next morning we will travel to the airport for the final day of tour.
Night Halt: Banashree Eco Resort at Guijan
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 6: Dibru Saikhowa National Park – Dibrugarh Airport
We start after breakfast on our drive to the Mohanbari airport at Dibrugarh and we will drop you at the airport for your flight to your onward destination. Tour Ends of our visit to the Lake of No Return. Bid Adieu!
Recommended Itinerary for your Visit:Â Memoirs of World War II
Recommended Itinerary for your Visit:Â Memoirs of World War II
Recommended Itinerary for your Visit:Â Memoirs of World War II
Recommended Itinerary for your Visit:Â Memoirs of World War II
Recommended Itinerary for your Visit:Â Memoirs of World War II
