How nature heals: a look at several landslides in Kalimpong

Massive landslide at Bhalukhop (Kalimpong district) on 29Jul2021, following 232mm rainfall in 13hrs. Nature has slowly healed this area over a 4 year period without any engineering mitigation measures being applied.

By no stretch of imagination am I an expert on landslides but having visited numerous landslides over the years and having observed the changes taking place, I believe that under the right circumstances and with time, nature has a remarkable way of healing landslides.
Here are case studies and photos of 3 landslides in and around Kalimpong:

14th mile landslide in Kalimpong

This is a really old landslide and 'a sinking zone' which existed more than 50 years ago. STH has covered this extensively in this blog in 2007 and in 2010

Drone image of 14th Mile landslide on 21Feb2025. The whole landslide area is now covered with trees

Drone image of 14th Mile landslide on 21Feb2025. The whole landslide area is now covered with trees

 

Massive Landslide at Bhalukhop (Kalimpong district) on 30Jul2021.

A 232mm rainfall over a 13hr period on 29/30July2021 triggered a massive  landslide in my village, Bhalukhop in Kalimpong; the incident has been covered in a STH blogpost here. I have placed a Google Earth image of the landslide path below:

The length of the slide from crown to toe was approx 1880 ft (measured on Google Earth).

Where the landslide started - at the crest near Deolo Hill.

The mid-section of the slide in Dec2021

Ms Minu Thapa,showing us the extent of devastation in her farm at the base of the landslide in Dec2021

In this Feb 2025 drone image; Ms Minu Thapa's home lies just above the road bend and the entire landslide affected area all the way to the crest is seen covered with vegetation and trees, 4 years after the terrible Jul2021 landslide.

Another drone image of the landslide affected area - showing no trace of the landslide after nature took over.

 

Dhajey, Bara Bhalukhop

As a native of this village, I'm deeply familiar with the landslide issues in our area. To address this problem, the local community employed a traditional mitigation method at Dhajey, which involved a three-step approach:

1. Water diversion: A concrete river training structure was built to channel water away from the landslide-prone area (see top photo).
2. Soil stabilization: Bamboo palisades were constructed to prevent soil erosion during rainfall, allowing pioneer species like mosses and lichens to take root. Under favorable conditions, grasses and small shrubs would emerge within a year, anchoring the soil and reducing erosion. Alternatively, jute matting or fiber could have been used to support the new vegetation (lower photo).
3. Long-term stabilization: Over several years, larger plants like bushes and shrubs would grow, holding the soil together and enabling deeper-rooted species like trees to develop, further binding the soil through nature's "soil nailing" process.

 

Drone image of this area on 21Feb2025 is shown below👇. The RED circle delineates the area where the bamboo check dams were 'planted'.

Drone image of landslide areas at Dhajey, Bara Bhalukhop👇

1 - A large landslide had taken place here several years ago, which  nature has apparently healed.

  2 - Area where locals applied tradtitional bamboo check dam mitigation measures which has stabilized the place at least for the past 2 monsoons.

 

Documentation of parts of the above report was supported by Royal Enfield, as part of their Social Mission Initiative

Praful Rao
SaveTheHills
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744