Kaziranga- the land of Rhinos is truly India’s (and Assam’s) pride!
Green grasslands, serene water bodies, and lovely landscapes make it unique. Never-seen-before birds make it a lovely place. One must visit Kaziranga at least once in a lifetime to cherish the moments.
Kaziranga is truly the land of Rhinos. As we entered the Kaziranga reserved area, our driver Monirul enthusiastically showed us a bunch of them. Yes. They were far from us..but it was a delightful sight.
We stayed at ATDCs Aranya tourist lodge near the central zone.
Kaziranga is a tourist hub after all. So, if we imagine that it would be a
quiet and peaceful place. We surely get dejected. In fact, the main road has
heavy traffic. Overspeeding vehicles are charged as there are animal crossing
zones. The encroachment of villages and agriculture left little space for
wildlife. During the floods of Brahmaputra wildlife enters the village zones. The
only positive aspect is that the poaching of animals, especially rhinos, has
been curbed to a greater extent.
There are three zones, Western, Central, and Eastern.
Wildlife safari from each gate takes us to various locations within Kaziranga
wildlife reserve. We can locate rhinos in each zone either through jeep safari
or elephant safari. There is no good or bad zone. But the western range has good
chances of spotting rhinos from an eye's distance.
Thanks to the internet, we chose the eastern zone. It has Sohola Beel which is a freshwater lake formed by six(?) water bodies. We can spot many migratory waterbirds in that region. I have got a newfound interest in observing birds. So, despite booking a hotel in the central zone, we traveled to the east gate at 7 am. (without a cup of tea!)
Along the lake, we spotted hornbills, storks, Indian roller, bee-eaters,
parakeets, Siberian goose, kingfisher, eagle, owl. I cannot identify birds on a
micro level..but surely know the above categories. Next time, if we decide to
visit Kaziranga again, I would choose a bird watching tour!
Elephant safari has a greater chance of seeing a rhino at arm’s
distance. But we came to know later that it is only available in the morning
time. On another note, safari is an expensive affair. It surely makes a hole in
your pocket ;-). Mostly one sticks to the either-or way while choosing a safari.
We were lucky enough to spot one rhino at 200 meters. He was busy munching on the grass. Well, he is lucky. He can eat the same thing throughout the day the whole year. We, humans, are quite picky eaters. We easily get bored eating the same stuff.
Sorry for the diversion from Rhinos! So, grazing Rhino just once
looked up and stared at us. Our Kaziranga safari was सुफळ संपूर्ण with that
look!
We also spotted many deers. My daughter found them absolutely cute
(in her own style). Yeah, they were quite close by.
We have done quite a few safaris till now and most of the time we were disheartened not to spot great wildlife. But Kaziranga was different.
The landscape of the mighty Brahmaputra made it different.
Giant and cute (!) rhinos made it unique.
Mesmerizing birds made it lovely!
Kaziranga - the land of rhinos is surely the sight to behold!
