Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
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We moved our base from Sessni camp to Lama camp. Next day, we walked to a lake in the middle of the jungle, through a trail that was referred as Haathi Trail.
Our accommodation in Lama Camp
Darkness cornered us as soon as we left the jeep track and entered into the bridle path that is Haathi Trail. A short walk and I spotted a last season’s bird nest lying on the trail. It was very light, had a layer of lichens inside it that served as cushion to the chicks, reinforced by the outer layer made with thin barks that probably served as sufficient protection. The walls of the nest were thick, and dry lichens would keep the chicks completely warm from the cold outside. Nature has some excellent engineering for everyone to learn from!
Forest on Haathi Trail
Forest was dark and moist, and lichens spread out from every inch of tree barks, giving the whole trail an eerie look. The trees looked so amusing that someone remembered the Ents from Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings! Haathi trail was laid out with incredible beauty all around. The Ents were pretty, and a little higher, we had rhododendron splashed all around the trail. The forest floor was rich with splatter of colors from the leaves of alpines and colorful rhododendrons. And as we continued to walk, a small pristine lake suddenly appeared amidst the trees.
Forest floor on Haathi Trail
Wild flowers on the forest floor
Rhododendron trees on the trail
We stopped near the lake for lunch. A flock of birds arrived from nowhere as we were about to finish our lunch. Rufous-vented(?) Yuhinas and Beautiful Sibias hopped from branch to branch sucking nectar from Magnolia flowers. They were soon joined by Rusty-fronted Barwings and superbly colored Mrs Gould’s sunbirds. We sat quietly and watched their acrobatics for nearly half an hour before moving forward.
A beautiful sibia
A thirty minute walk took us to the top of a mountain and suddenly opened up to the vistas of vast valley on the other side. Curiously, the mountain side we climbed up from had thick evergreen vegetation while the other side was completely pine forest. It was nearly evening when we returned from the walk, and everyone was in agreement about having seen the most beautiful stretch of forest ever.
Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: First Day at Eaglenest
+Next: Haathi Trail
+Go to the beginning of the series
We spent most of our day time walking and looking for birds. The second day, we walked to Sessni and back, covering more than 20km in the day. We saw many rare and stunningly beautiful birds, prize catch of the day being a pair of Rufous Necked Hornbills and a Cutia.
We were walking past a when our guide Shashank heard the hornbills and waited. They sounded like a sweetened version of balloon-horns in old vehicles and auto-rickshaws. The call propagated all the way to us from somewhere in the bottom of the valley. Soon emerged a Rufous Necked Hornbill and another one – a female – followed. They gave us a display of their swooshing wings and flew all around the valley, before returning to their yet to be readied nest.
A Cutia
Somewhere during the walk I fell behind from rest of the gang, and to my good luck, spotted a Cutia which was a combination of dazzling colors and beautiful patterns. Shashank screamed with excitement when I showed it’s image and cursed himself for not being there. Cutias are sufficiently rare that most of the gang never got to see it during our stay in the camp. In fact I had seen such pretty birds along with cutia, like the black faced warbler, chestnut tailed minlaw and the verditer flycatcher, that I walked ahead looking at them with great excitement and nearly fell off a cliff!
Flowers on the forest floor on the way to Sessni
We reached Sessni camp for lunch time. The camp had “Dham Dhooms” to worry about. Funny their name is, but they are dangerous flies that attack you in large numbers, bite so badly that they tear apart your skin and leave you swollen and bleeding in a matter of minutes.
Children of the forest guard at Sessni
Shashank spoke to us about his horrible experience when he had his entire hand bitten by these flies and had to spend many difficult days. “It was so bad,” he said, “I had to tie my hands and sleep every night because, otherwise I would keep scratching the bites all night and wake up to a bloodies bed-sheet next morning!” Luckily, Dham Dhooms don’t come out in the sun and it was a warm day. There were very few of them and some of us did get a few minor bites. We were all spared, but I wondered how the people who live in Sessni take care of themselves.
We saw Rhododendrons in the higher regions on the way to Lama Camp
Next day we moved on to Lama camp at higher altitude. While most people walked the way birding, I was down with high temperature and piled myself with the jeep carrying our luggages to Lama camp.
Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: Assam’s degrading environment
+Next: At Eaglenest
+Go to the beginning of the series
Our primary activity in Eaglenest was to go looking for birds. We were to spend the first few days in a campsite called Bompu. This was one of the camping grounds in Eaglenest, along with Sessni, Sundarview and lama camp. We were to proceed to lama camp after spending a few days in Bompu, and would briefly visit Sessni and Sundarview while bird watching.
Bompu camp had a couple of tents and indoor accommodation. Tents were comfortable enough and were sufficient to protect from the elements. We all had carried sleeping bags to keep us warm but it used to get pretty cold in the night. Food at the camp was staple diet – chapathi, rice and sabji. Chai and biscuits were always in supply.
Our guide for the trip – Shashank was a man with truck loads of enthusiasm. He was always the first one to wake up in the morning and last one to go to bed. He would come with us for all the birding activity while finding time to walk a bit and look for birds even when we were all resting. He also took care of overseeing day-to-day operation of the camp and despite all this, never seemed to get tired.
Lichens drooping from the branches were common in the wet weather
The very first birding walk gave us a glimpse of Arunachal weather. It was an overcast day and often used to get foggy. Shashank said it is a good weather birding compared to a warm and sunny day. We took the road heading up the hill and started walking early in the morning. The forest on the way, we noticed, is untouched except for the road that breaks through it. It is a thick, moist evergreen world. Occasionally white flowers of Michalia erupted out of the greens. Moist branches from the trees hosted lichens drooping from them and gave an eerie look. We some times saw a few warblers and minivets hopping from branch to branch. Nearly all the birds we encountered were new and were not found in rest of India. As we walked, occasionally clouds would become overweight and sprinkle short spells of rain over us, some thing we were prepared for it. After an hour or so of walk, it finally started pouring hard, forcing us to retreat. Shashank smiled and said – “this is Arunachal weather!”
Eye-catcher in the forest…
By the time we were back at the camp, it was dry again and sun shown brightly. Our first few days in Eaglenest remained like this, but the clouds finally moved away in the latter days. The sunny afternoon rewarded me with a picture of Dark Throated Thrush.
Dark Throated Thrush
We walked in the opposite direction after we had lunch at the camp and stayed on the road till dark. The day’s sightings included, along with many other birds, Longtailed Minivets, Veriditer Flycatcher, Greyheaded Canary Flycatcher, White-throated Fantail, Yellow-bellied Fantail, Ashy-throated Warbler, etc,..