From Majuli Island, the third leg of my travels through Assam takes me to Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve. This being my first safari experience in India, I really didn’t know what to expect. All I know is I got more than I bargained for.
I knew I was in for something magical when, on immediate arrival at the Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve office to register ourselves, the ranger pointed out three spotted owlets roosting in the tree.
Spot the spotted owl
Out came the binoculars, the oohs-and-aahs as we went “oh yes, I see it” and the excitement as we turn bird watchers for the day.
This was to be a common refrain throughout the two-hour morning jeep safari through the wetlands of the Eastern Range of the park. Within 10 minutes of driving past the buffer zone, an area they have to keep increasing each year as human population and encroachment increases, we see hundreds of birds from migratory to resident species, water buffaloes, deers, elephants and the one-horned rhinoceros.
Rhino and back-neck heron enjoying the cool waters together
The 859sqkm of park reserve is one of the most fertile and abundant in India and boasts more than 500 species of birds, more than 2,000 rhinoceroses (from a population of seven years at its lowest), more than 100 tigers (recorded in 2012) in excess of 1,000 elephants, thousands of deers and wild boars and other creatures, great and small.
At one spot, we see a cormorant, a black-neck heron and a rhino in such proximity it looked like they were having an Assam tea party. They all seem to exist with each other in perfect harmony.
We are told by our ranger, Konwar, that the only predator in the park is the tiger and, of course, man. We stop at one spot on the banks of the Brahmaputra and he points out a lone silk cotton tree, perched precariously on the edge. “By next year, this will probably not be here,” he said.
Changes in climate patterns, flooding and erosion caused by man’s actions have resulted in worsening floods than in the past and during the summer monsoons, most of the park as we see it now is virtually under water.
“In 15 years’ time, the park will probably have moved to the other side of the river,” he said. As the terrain changes, animals adapt and move to where they can find water and food.
Konwar tells us that poaching is a lesser danger than environmental change.
As big and rich in wildlife as it is, the park is not that well-visited by humans. A notice board at the Hornbill Dhaba (restaurant) where we ate stated that as of 2016, there were just 11,417 foreigners and 162,799 visitors, making this the least commercial and best safari experience I’ve ever had.
The serpent-crested eagle giving us the eye
The evening safari through the Central Range which is more woodland than wetland is even more spectacular. In the Assam winter, the sun sets by 4.30pm and as dusk slowly moves in, the animals get active. We see plenty of birds – the serpent-crested eagle, Indian roller, kingfishers, the “snake bird” looking like a serpent with its head sticking out of the water, bar-headed geese which have migrated from colder climes up north and will be spending the winter in the Assam wetlands.
We stop for a herd of elephants making their way across the trail, a father and mother walking with their baby in between them. They stop to look at us in mutual curiosity.
A herd of elephants watching us curiously
Because they live so close to humans, there are times when rhinos and elephants have wandered outside the buffer zone and we heard of elephants being run over by trucks. The road serves as an “Animal Corridor” and often you can just drive by and see rhinoceroses and birds without having to enter the park proper.
Animal corridor
It appears to be a well-run park. All visitors have to pay a fee – you can bring in mobile devices for free but pay a small fee for a camera. The park is open only during certain hours and is closed for half the year. Authorities have done a good job protecting the reserve and throughout the park, you see rangers’ accommodation and posts.
There are cameras positioned to monitor the movements of tigers. To see the tiger, you have to spend time in one spot and wait. If you can spend a week in the reserve, the chances are high you’ll see the tiger, Konwar said.
We are replete with what we’ve seen and felt. As we leave the park in the setting sun, the hills and trees turn orange and golden behind us and the sun rays turn pools of water into mirrors.
It’s a landscape that makes you want to weep and you pray that the Assam sunset as well as the rhino will be as eternal as the flow of the Brahmaputra.
Rhino in the mist
Part 4: River cruise on the Brahmaputra