Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga, Home of the big five! What are these fives? These are Rhinos, Elephants, Tiger, Deer and Wild buffalo. What is this Kaziranga? Where is this Kaziranga?

Kaziranga National Park is in the Assam state of India. It's total area is more than 400 sq. kms. It is spread in three districts of Assam, namely Nagaon, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong.

It is famous for it's greater one horned Rhinoceroses. It is said that nearly two third of world's one horned rhino population is found in Kaziranga. It is declared as UNESCO world heritage site.

Due to increasing number of tigers in the park, it is also declared as tiger reserve.

Some rivers including Brahmaputra, flow through the park. Various smaller water bodies are also seen in the park. Due to this the park is having dense forest, tall elephant grass and marshy land. It is green nearly all around the year.

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga is connected with other wild life sanctuaries like Manas and Pobitora by a chain of small riverine islands. This makes easy for the wild life to travel from one forest to another park and thus resulting in greater biodiversity in each wild life park.

Assam is famous for the beels and Kaziranga is no exception to this. There are many beels in the wild life sanctuary. For those, who don't know about Beel- a beel is a lake like wetland. After the flood, when the river water recedes, some of the water remains trapped in some low lying land and forms a beel. Assam and West Bengal states have a large number of beels formed by the Ganga and Bramhputra rivers. Rhinos love water and mostly found near these beels in Kaziranga.

The water bodies and tall elephant grass are typical of Kaziranga. Elephant grass provides food for the herbivorous Rhinos as well as provide shelters for all animals.

There are many types of water hyacinths in Kaziranga. Throughout the Assam region you can fond lots of water chestnut plants as well, submerged in water. Rhinos love eating these plants.

Having so many water bodies, every year Kaziranga gets flooded in rainy season, endangering wild life. The good part of the floods is that, the floods deposit mineral rich soils in the Kaziranga park which helps for the growth of grass and trees.

In these adverse times of flood, the rhinos and other wild animals travel to higher part of the forest along the Karbi Anglong region. Those who can't travel have to stay put on small strips of land at some height, surrounded by flood water. 2017 saw one of the worst floods in Kaziranga. Many such artificial elevated places are built by Indian Army in that region.

Kaziranga celebrated it's centenary in 2005. It is said that when Mary Curzon, wife of then viceroy of India, visited Kaziranga forest in 1904, to see the Rhinos, she couldn't spot a single Rhino. Alarmed by the decreasing number of Rhinos, the forest was declared as proposed natural reserve in 1905. Along the years the area of natural reserve was increased many times to current natural reserve area. It was named as Kaziranga wild life Sanctuary in 1950.

There are many stories about how the name Kaziranga has derived. Some folktales tell us different stories about it. Historians believe that the name Kaziranga is derived from the Karbi word Kajir-o-rong. It means home of Kajir and she was the ruler of the region at some point of time.

Jeep and elephant safaris are available to go in the interior parts of the national park. Of course for the tourists and common public only a designated route is to be taken by the jeeps and elephants. The forest department officers can travel in the interior most parts of the Kaziranga National Parks.

We took the jeep safaris. There are two time slots for the safari, one is early in the morning and other is around 2.30 in the afternoon. Both the tours last for about 2-3 hours. There are four routes and your guide/ driver will let you know about which route to be taken in the morning and evening. At the entrance of the park, you get the permission for the vehicle. You can't take your vehicles inside but have to hire the registered jeeps which have license from Forest department.

Information - 3rd Nov.2019
📷Girish Tilak

We took the Bagori route, Western range with a stop at donga camp. All the photographs which you have seen till now are clicked on 3rd November 2019 morning Jeep Safari. We could see lots of Rhinos on that route.

You can see lots of birds. Eagles, Storks, Pelicans, Ducks, Geese are some of them. If you have a really good camera and steady hands, you can take pictures of flying birds from the moving jeep!!

In front of the Donga Camp.
📷Girish Tilak

An interesting fact is that Rhino comes on the same place to poo. So we could see huge mounds of the poop near the road of the safari. It is kept as it is till it gets naturally decomposed.

Though there are many tigers in the national park, they are not visible due to the thick forest as well as the the tall elephant grass. Their presence is marked by their pug marks and by the remains of the animals eaten by them.

There are many elephants and wild buffalos. In the afternoon/ evening Safari we could the remaining animal of the Big Five that is Deer's! We could see lots of deer's at the time of sunset and some elephants.

We started our Jeep Safari at around 2.30 in the afternoon and when we returned after 2.5-3 hrs it was pitch dark. Sunset was at 4.30 p.m.

Water body

Beel

Surroundings

Watch Tower

One of my best clicks!!

Water body

pugmarks and mounds of poop!

When the road is beautiful, who would want the journey to end!

Watch tower near the Diffolu river bank.

Jeeps and too many people

About to set!

Last few minutes..and ..gone

Their day starts when the sun sets.

Out for a walk!!!

Must be the Safari elephants.

Travelling in the forest after the sunset was a beautiful experience. The moonlight was enough and soothing. Leaves of the trees were swaying with the wind, the moon rays shining in water, the birds flying over the trees, lakes and a feeling that some animals are nearby ....and to enjoy this, you are safely travelling in a jeep!!!

The animals were out for drinking water. Even the noise of Jeep engine seemed like too much noise.

The season in Kaziranga starts on 1st November. We were there on 3rd November. We could see large number of people coming in jeeps, talking loudly and disturbing the peace of Jungle. There should be some do's and don'ts while visiting the national parks.

You should be silent and should talk only if it's utmost necessary. You should wear clothes having earthy colors and which will gel with the forest colors. No strong perfumes. If you follow all these rules then may be you will not disturb the residents of the forest and will be able to larger number of animals.

In the evening the cultural show at the Orchid Garden is a good watch. Folk dances from North east are pleasant to eyes. There is a market in front of the Orchid Garden, there you can shop for the handicrafts, shawls and stoles.

#OneHornedRhino #Naturalreserve #JeepSafari #HowToTravelInKaziranga #MustVisitPlacesInIndia #SanctuaryInIndia #TouristPlaceInAssam

Comments

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राष्ट्रीय अस्मितेची चिन्हे परकीय आक्रमक पुसून टाकायचा प्रयत्न करतात, करतातच. जगभर अशी असंख्य उदाहरणे सापडतील. कारण त्याशिवाय त्यांना त्यांची सत्ता निर्माण करता येणार नसते. पण मग त्या त्या देशातील, देशावर प्रेम असणारे लोक काय करतात हे जाणून घ्यायचे असेल तर एक उदाहरण सांगते. आपल्याला सेऊल मधील ग्यानबोक पॅलेस याच्याविषयी वाचायला हवे. ------------- तसा पोचायला आम्हाला थोडा उशीरच झाला होता. शेवटची इंग्लिश गाईडेड टूर चुकते की काय अशी भीती वाटायला लागली होती. अनेक कोरियन युवक युवती राजवाड्याकडे जाताना दिसत होते. विशेष म्हणजे त्यांनी पारंपरिक कोरियन पोशाख घातले होते. फार छान दिसत होते ते सगळे. आम्ही गेलो होतो, कोरियाच्या सार्वभौमत्वाचे मानचिन्ह असलेल्या ग्यानबोक पॅलेसला ( Gyeongbok Palace ) भेट देण्यासाठी. तिकिटाच्या काउंटर जवळच राजवाड्याचे मुख्य प्रवेशद्वार आहे. त्याचे नाव आहे ग्वान्गमन गेट.( Gwanghwamun) . सेऊलच्या पुरातन इतिहासाचे प्रतीक असलेले हे प्रवेशद्वार १३९५ मध्ये बांधले गेले आहे. आज हे प्रवेशद्वार कोरियाची ओळख बनलेले आ...

Deoriatal - Chandrashila trek - Part 1 - Preparation

We dream… we dream about many things … but we strive to make only few of them a reality and leave the rest of the dreams as dreams only, to cherish them someday in our leisure time. A high altitude trek was one such dream of mine, always enthralling and yet a little daunting. So for years that dream remained a dream without becoming a reality. In November, my friend Dhanshree Jagtap did the Deoria Tal Chandrashila trek with Indiahikes. While chatting with her, I could get detailed information about this trek. She told that in March and April, rhododendron flowers will be blooming in this region … and the dormant dream was awakened once again. It is said that DeoriaTal is the lake where the famous Yaksha and Yudhishthira conversation had taken place. On the way to the summit, Tungnath is the highest temple of Shankara in the world, one of the Panch Kedars. It is said to have been built by the Pandavas. The summit point of the trek is Chandrashila. The place where Chandra did Tapas. It i...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 2- - Sari to Deoriatal.

The next morning, the trek started with a steep climb!! At one point during the climb, we turned back and bade goodbye to the Sari base camp. It was not known whether we would successfully complete the trek or not. But I was sure that we will definitely come back with a life changing experience. Sari Base camp 📷 Supan Shah The road was paved with rough stones. But while climbing I was telling myself that these stones were better than walking in the slippery soil. 📷 Pawan Gowda You can guess how much the climb was, from this photo, but if you want to know how we were climbing, there is a video! विडिओ - सम्राट दर्डा https://youtube.com/shorts/CJuWDSml8XU?feature=share The initial, few meters part of the road passed through populated areas. But the houses there were very few and sparse. Green fields were visible everywhere. Farming was done on the mountain slopes, by step method. This greenery enlivened the entire slope. The view 📷 Supan Shah 📷 Samrat Darda After walking o...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 3- Deoriatal to Syalmi

That was the third day of the trek. I was feeling contented. Yesterday's journey from Sari to Deoria was beautiful. Neither were my legs paining nor was I feeling tired. Today was surely going to be a tough day. I had read the description on the Indiahikes website, which gave a rough idea about the day. Today the distance was more than nine kilometers. But there were many peaks which will be visible on the way. We were going to pass through a dense forest, so there was a chance to watch variety of birds. So I was curious and excited about the journey. All of us, left from Deoriatal campsite and started our journey. Even though we had only been there for a day, we had already grown attached to the place. Even if it has only been a day, surely there is always attachment with the place.There was a fork in the forest path on the left side of the road to Deoriatal. We went that way. After walking for a while, most likely we were goi...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 5(Last part)- Baniyakund - Tungnath- Chandrashila

📷Samrat Darda A beautiful photograph of the moon taken from Baniyakund campsite, April 15. That day should be Saptami or Ashtami of Shukla Paksha. Because Ram Navami was on 17th April. In the intense and tranquil darkness of the beautiful night, though the full moon day was still seven or eight days away, the moon was already bright. The shining moon, occasionally hiding behind the clouds, the curiosity of the summit in our minds.. it was a very unique night. There was going to be a two o'clock wakeup call tomorrow. we had to pack up, have breakfast, and be ready to leave for the day at three o'clock. I packed the essential things in the day pack and packed everything else in the bag to be offloaded. That bag was to kept in the main tent while leaving in the morning. Tomorrow, in few hours we would gain an altitude of 4000 ft. I closed my eyes to sleep, but even before my closed eyes, the images of the snow-capped peaks were floating. I woke up at quarter to two in ...

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