Here is a summary of all posts on North East India series I had been writing till now.

IMAGES FROM NORTH EAST

* Arunach Pradesh(Eaglenest National Park, Tawang)
* Assam and Meghalaya(Guwahati, Nameri, Kaziranga, Shillong, Cherrapunjee)

ENTERING THE NORTH EAST

* Beginning of the series
* From Bangalore to Guwahati
* Impressions of Guwahati
* Umananda temple and Peacock Island

Brahmaputra flows at Guwahati

EAGLENEST NATIONAL PARK

* Travelling to Eaglenest
* About Vacation For Conservation
* First Day at Eaglenest
* The days at Eaglenest
* Haathi Trail
* About Eaglenest National Park

Rhododendrons at Eaglenest

TAWANG

* From Eaglenest to Tawang – I
* From Eaglenest to Tawang – II
* Tawang Monastery
* Snow and Lakes beyond Tawang
* Around Tawang
* Returning from Tawang

Inside Tawang Monastery

WILDERNESS OF ASSAM

* Nameri National Park
* Arriving at Kaziranga National Park
* At Kaziranga National Park
* About Kaziranga National Park

A One Horned Rhino at Kaziranga

MEGHALAYA

* Lazing in Shillong
* Cherrapunjee

Nohkalikai falls, Cherrapunjee

MORE

* On travelling in the North East India
* Assam’s degrading environment

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Related Posts

• About Kaziranga National Park
• Kaziranga National Park
• Arriving at kaziranga
• Nameri National Park, Assam
• The Last Living Head Hunters

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: At Kaziranga National Park
+Next: Lazing in Shillong
+Go to the beginning of the series

Kaziranga National Park is a UNESCO world heritage site, and is well known for One Horned Rhino which have now become endemic to the region.

Previous posts on Kaziranga
* Arriving at Kaziranga
* Two days at Kaziranga

Although Kaziranga is not the only place where you see the Rhinos, it is the place where you see them in plenty, and a sighting is almost guaranteed. You can find Rhinos in a few more parks in Assam. Rhinos, though are the prime attraction of the park, there are other animals in plenty, such as the elephants, wild buffaloes, deer(swamp deer, chitals, barking deer). The park even has tigers, though sightings are not common. When it comes to birds, Kaziranga is the habitat of Bengal Florican, a rare, critically endangered species.

A few decades ago, the numbers of the Rhinos were rapidly declining due to rampant poaching, and the future looked bleak for them in Kaziranga. But good park management and a ‘shoot to kill’ approach against the poachers in the later years has brought life back to the park, and the Rhinos have thrived, with plenty of food and water available in the grasslands on the banks of Brahmaputra.

THINGS TO DO, AND PLACES TO STAY

Elephant rides in the park are one of the biggest attraction, since it lets you get very close to the Rhinos. Although the safari elephants are in good numbers, you may not be guaranteed a ride due to rush in the peak season. You can also go on a jeep safari in the park. Accommodation around the park is also limited. There are very few hotels or resorts, and a few government run lodges are the main places to stay. Book ahead during weekends and seasons. Wild Grass Lodge, a mid-range accommodation has earned itself a good name.

HOW TO REACH

Kohora is the village just outside the National Park where all tourist amenities and the park office are located. Kaziranga is a six hour journey from Guwahati. Buses from Guwahati to Jorhat and Dibrugarh go via Kohora.

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Related Posts

• The North East India Travelog
• Kaziranga National Park
• Arriving at kaziranga
• Nameri National Park, Assam
• The Last Living Head Hunters

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: Arriving at Kaziranga
+Next: About Kaziranga National Park
+Go to the beginning of the series

I spent two days in Kaziranga, going on elephant rides, taking jeep safaris, walking all around, looking for birds and listening to stories from a Manipuri guy who was with me.

“Don’t go to Manipur”, he said when I told him that my travel plans further are not very rigid. At last count, he said there were more than 80 militant outfits in Manipur. The porous border with Myanmar had resulted in everyone taking to guns, and at some point of time it seems to have become a common practice that people got accustomed to. The militants lay their own check posts on the roads, ask for their taxes, etc. It is apparently complete lawlessness and my friend was very upset about it. A few months down, some friends who went their unknowingly, confirmed that Manipur is an avoidable region for the traveller.

After going through the bureaucracy to get a seat of elephant back, we managed to secure an allocation for the next morning. The park entry where you assemble for the ride is a good 3km from the tourist complex where the hotels existed. Having no means of transport, we were walking the way on the pleasant morning, and were picked up half way by a friendly park officer. Once there, I realized the reason for having a booking process in place, even if it is a cumbersome one. They have way too many – more than a dozen safari elephants in Kaziranga, and they serve more than one one-hour shift every morning. The number of tourists who take the ride is probably more than hundred. We had secured a booking for 7am slot and when we reached there around that time, there were no elephants. They had gone into the forest(meadow is the better word) with 6am batch and started returning around 7.10am. I can’t recall if there was an 8am batch, I think there wasn’t any.

A Rhino walks in style, head high, in its territory

You can get really up close to a Rhino during elephant ride. Close enough to shake hands(with its legs or horn as it wishes!), if Rhino willing!

Yawnnn… these tourists are so boring..!

Though I despise elephant rides, it is the best way to see Rhinos, and any other animals that you might get to see in the park. Elephants and Rhinos seem to live a harmonic life in the park, and they tend to get as close as a few feet to the rhinos. So close – if you ever happen to fall from the pachyderm’s back, don’t be surprised if you land on the rhino’s back!

Ah.. Nice pool for a good bath!

In the hour long ride, we saw plenty of rhinos. Kaziranga is one national park where people never go back disappointed. With a good and thriving population of Rhinos, you are pretty much guaranteed to see them. And if you are there in summer, you will also surely see herds of elephants and wild buffaloes. There are also plenty of deer to see, including the swamp deer(barasinga), ubiquitous chitals and a few barking deer. It seemed like a season of babies in Kaziranga while I was there. We saw many baby Rhinos and baby wild buffaloes. Even some of the escort elephants we were riding on, had babies following them!

A wild buffalo watches us wearily as it feeds its baby

A herd of wild buffaloes

Small family.. happy family..

Herd of deer

Elephant Herd

There were many birds too. I vaguely recall someone saying that everything comes in a big scale in Kaziranga. The mammals – rhinos, elephants and wild buffaloes are big. The wild buffaloes grow to such size that you can almost mistake them for elephants from a distance. Even the birds – pelicans, lesser adjutant storks and white necked storks are so big that they can probably easily lift a baby in their beaks and fly away.

Don’t mess with me!

A lesser adjutant stork

A red jungle fowl keeps a watch on us

A hoopoe

Later in the day we went on a jeep safari which lasted for good two hours. It was in the safari that I saw a few more birds, like the commonly seen Indian Roller, Jungle Fowls, white necked storks, pelicans, emerald doves and a many more.

Deer..

I spent the next day walking all around the place outside, to nearby villages and tea estates, looking around for birds. From here, I headed to Guwahati and then moved on to Shillong to spend a few more days.

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Related Posts

• The North East India Travelog
• About Kaziranga National Park
• Arriving at kaziranga
• Nameri National Park, Assam
• The Last Living Head Hunters

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: Nameri National Park
+Next: At Kaziranga National Park
+Go to the beginning of the series

I spent a day in Tezpur to take a short leisurely break before heading further to Kaziranga. Tezpur is not much of a city, with one main road around which most of the commerce happens. But to my surprise there were quite a few hotels and yet, rooms were short in supply.

The next morning when I was in the bus stop waiting for a bus to Kaziranga, I realized I had chosen a bad time to wander in Assam. Assembly elections were about to happen the next day, and buses were in short supply. Luckily a bus arrived after an hour of waiting, and I found a seat available. Tezpur to Kaziranga is 1.5 to 2 hour journey and goes through smooth, traffic free highway connecting Tezpur with Dibrugarh. It is a wooded region and occasionally you can see rhinos from a distance, grazing in the grasslands next to the forest.

The bus dropped me at Kohora village outside the park where all tourist facilities exist. I walked a little ahead from the bus stop on the main road and found a few budget hotels there, but all of them seemed to have been closed for some reason. After a quick chai in a small shop, I headed to government tourist complex almost half a kilometer off the main road. When I inquired, it turned out that there was no accommodation available in all the three government run hotels. There was no hotels nearby and just when I was wondering what else to do, fortunately found accommodation in nearby Kaziranga Wildlife Club. It turned out, some people who arrived after me had a tough time later in the day. There are no hotels nearby and there is a short supply of places to stay in Kaziranga, especially in the peak season.

Later in the afternoon, after checking out on options to spend time in Kaziranga, I decided to take an elephant ride into the park next morning. Booking an elephant ride is a painful, two step process. First you register your name in the office at any time of the day. At this time, it doesn’t guarantee you a ride and nor will they tell you if they can give you a seat. The same evening at 7pm, you need to head to an assembly point where everyone who has registered will arrive, and they read out the names of the registered people one after other. Only if you are present there and pay the fee when your name is called, you will get to take the elephant ride the next morning. Trust our officers to come up with interesting ways to make things complicated!

I spent most of my evening walking around the place, and in the evening, managed to get my elephant ride booked for tomorrow.

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Related Posts

• The North East India Travelog
• About Kaziranga National Park
• Kaziranga National Park
• The Last Living Head Hunters
• Permits for travelling in North East India