Thursday 12 September 2013

Kaziranga National Park

The proposal to visit Kaziranga National Park came to me as a rather surprise.  While we were having a gala time at my eldest brother’s residence in Dibrugarh, my sister and her husband proposed me to visit Kaziranga.  Though at first I had no plan, I could not resist the proposal mainly for three reasons; first, I was hearing about Kaziranga since my childhood but never got a chance to visit the park and I had planned earlier with no avail, secondly I did not want to miss this opportunity as I did not know when another chance like this will knock at my door and thirdly I just wanna click, click, click.  So, without giving it a second thought, I said yes and the date fixed was January 30, 2013.

There was no direct bus to Kaziranga.  So, first we had to go to Jorhat, around 170 km from Dibrugarh.  We reached Jorhat at around 2 p.m. and decided to have lunch before moving to Kaziranga.  We went to a nearby restaurant and ordered rice, fish curry, mixed vegetables and salads.  The fish curry was delicious and I still remember the taste.  After lunch, we hired an Indica to Kaziranga and the driver told us that it would take around 1-1/2 hours.  We reached Kaziranga at around 6 p.m.  The driver was kind enough to drop us at a government lodge, namely Bonoshri Tourist Lodge and also booked us tickets for elephant safari the next day.  The staff at the lodge were very helpful and polite and showed us a beautiful room.  In fact, we were very happy to be able to spend the night in such a beautiful place.  One of the staff requested us to be there at the pantry at exactly 8 p.m. for dinner, which we complied.  We were provided with vegetarian food consisting of rice, pulse, a mixed vegetable dish, and salads.  The food was really good and we all liked the cleanliness maintained at the pantry.  There were some foreigners also, enjoying the meal.

Before I tell you my whole experience, let me first highlight the following points about this park.

Kaziranga National Park is situated in Assam.  It is a UNESCO world heritage site of India.  It is well known for Great Indian one horned Rhinoceros.

The best time to visit Kaziranga is during winters, from November till April.  Many migratory birds also visit the park at this time.  The climate condition also remains relatively cold during this time.

Habitat:  Nearly two-third of the park’s area consists of grasslands dominated by Elephant grasses.  The park has more than 180 wetlands of varying sizes.

Brief History of the Park:

1905    Preliminary notification as Reserve Forest.
1908    Final notification of Reserve Forest.
1916    Declared as “Game Sanctuary.”
1937    Sanctuary opened for visitors.
1950    Declared as “Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary.”
1974    Declared as “Kaziranga National Park.”
1985    Inscribed as “World Heritage Site.”
2005    Completed 100 years of Conservation.
2007    Park became a tiger reserve.

Wildlife Population Status:

Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros    -  2290
Royal Bengal Tiger                               -  106
Asian Elephant                                     - 1165
Asiatic Wild Buffalo                            - 1937
Eastern Swamp Deer                         - 1168

Additionally, there are nearly 478 species of birds, both migratory and resident.

The next day, we woke up at 4 a.m. and prepared ourselves ready to explore the beauty of Kaziranga.  At 5 a.m., a car came to pick us up and the driver left us at the Western Range of the park from where elephant safari began.  It was really fun to go through the sanctuary sitting on the back of a big jumbo.  As we moved on, the sun also started to rise and kissed the whole park with her golden lips.  It was just amazing to see the sun rising.  We were mesmerized by the beauty of the park.  We found ourselves amid lush greenery.

The first thing we saw was a big rhinoceros busy eating leaves from the surrounding plants.  Then, the mahout instructed the elephant to stop.  The rhino raised his head and stared at us.  The mahout told us in a whispering voice to look at the backside of the rhino, and to our astonishment, we saw a little calf, which was also staring at us.  The mahout told us that the calf was almost 2 months old.  The sight was so beautiful.  We were lucky enough to see both the mother and her little calf from a close distance.  After some time, the mother with her little calf walked inside the thick forest and our eyes followed them till they were out of sight.  There were many tourists including foreigners who were also enjoying the beauty of the park.  We saw many rhinoceros, elephants, deer, wild buffaloes and many different kinds of birds.  The safari lasted for about an hour.
Kaziranga National Park

Before sunrise
Kaziranga National Park

Rhinoceros
Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park


Hi dear!!
Kaziranga National Park

Way to heaven begins at
Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Before sunrise
Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Sister with family
Kaziranga National Park

Sister with family
Kaziranga National Park

Elephants
Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park
After the elephant safari, we returned to our lodge and had breakfast.  It was about 8 a.m. and we were discussing about our next step, whether to go back home or stay one more night in Kaziranga.  As we were busy discussing, one of the staff members told us to visit Western Range of the park.  We inquired about it and found out that it would be through a jeep and we could go deep inside the park.  We were thrilled to know this and went out to hire a jeep.  After buying the ticket, we boarded the jeep and started moving towards the forest.  Thick jungles and bushes everywhere.  Of course, there was a road but in a very bad shape due to frequent floods in the summer, as a result we were moving very slowly.  As you may recall, in the Eastern Range, we were pleasantly welcomed by a mother rhino and her calf, but that was not the case here in Western Range.  We hardly crossed half a mile when the driver suddenly stopped the jeep, saying there was something under the bushes beside the road.  We also heard some noise and suddenly saw a very big rhinoceros coming toward the road.  The rhino stopped and looked at us irritably and perhaps was ready to hit our jeep.  The driver shouted at it very loud and also banged the door of the jeep with his hand.  The rhino seemed scared and ran toward the thick forest and vanished.  The rhino was hardly 15 feet away from us and we had a narrow escape.  Needless to say, our hearts were pounding real fast.  Anyway, we continued our safari and saw, apart from rhinoceros, elephants, deer, etc., many beautiful birds, like pelicans, geese, ducks, kingfishers, shanks, storks and so on.  We also saw an eagle in the nest with her little chick.  We also could pluck some berries from nearby trees and enjoyed it very much.  The jeep safari lasted for about 2 hours and we all enjoyed it very much.  The same day we returned home very much satisfied with the trip.

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