At Kaziranga


Letter Box: Kaziranga National Park, Assam.


Around Kaziranga:
We started from Guwahati on the morning of the 21st towards Kaziranga. As you approach Kaziranga, the sharp contrast produced by the road dividing the land is visible: on the left is forest land (where we saw a rhino grazing) and on the right are the tea estates. We had some time to relax before the start of the evening jeep safari.

The evening safari started with us being picked up in an open top gypsy, with an armed forest guard sitting in front. We were lucky to be the first to start because a convoy of vehicles seem to be following us, and with the land being dry and the dust the vehicle was raising they would indeed have had an unclear day. Our driver stopped at what seemed like nowhere and our guide pointed at a python wrapped like a coil around a branch of a tree, saying that it had been there for a few days, sleeping, and would probably remain there for a few weeks. Along the way we did see herds of deer, a few rhinos and a herd of elephants enjoying the water far away. The night was cloudy with the moon peeping out a few times and later it started to rain too, we just sat out on the corridor for sometime.

5am the next day and we were ready for the elephant safari. It was drizzling but that was not to stop anyone as we got on our ride, the one-tusked Rai Bahadur. Elephant grass is not a name in vain as it does grow tall, but they were not a problem for Rai Bahadur, easily making way, getting us as close as we could to a few rhinos and wild buffaloes. The ride ended at a watch tower where the elephants continued for their next round.

We started from Kaziranga after breakfast, through the smooth roads, in the cool cloudy weather towards Jorhat and NimatiGhat where we were to catch a ferry in the afternoon to Majuli.