4.7 Lad Mawphlang

4.7

Lad Mawphlang

As mentioned previously, these days tourism operators conduct the David Scot Pony Trail Trek[86]. The Ladmawphlang to Mawphlang section is approximately 18-20 kilometres long and takes about 6 hours to complete.

This is an interesting trek taking off from the Public Works Department road at Ladmawphlang. The trek starts off downhill along a new road being made along the pony trail, crosses a small stream the climb uphill starts. The stone paving of the pony trail is well preserved here. At the top of the hill, there is a pass and the trail is almost on level ground for quite a distance till the villages of Laitsohma and Mawbeh.

En-route the trekker would cross a stream by a typical arched stone bridge, built by the British, that is held together without mortar. After that the trail starts downwards by a narrow path along a ledge leading to the bottom of the valley doing a semicircle of the valley below. From the start of this descent the trek becomes more interesting. At the start of this descent the trekker can see houses in a distant hill top which is the destination of Mawphlang.

On reaching the bottom of the valley, the trekker has to wade through tall withered grasses and duck under jungle growth keeping to the stone paved trail. In some parts of this trail there is no stone paving at all, but it can be discerned that it is part of the trail. The trekker then has to cross a stream by walking through the water or hopping over the rocks. The trail then goes dead for some distance. It then skirts a hill and enters another valley through a pass which brings into view a large river. The path than leads to an old dilapidated steel frame and timber bridge held taut across the river flowing about 50 feet below.

The timber is greatly weathered and some of them had been replaced by undressed logs. After crossing the river the trail proceeds to run along the river upstream and then takes off in a winding climb uphill. As the trail nears the top there are short cuts to reach the upper parts of the winding path by stone steps.