You know how in the buffer zone, they keep telling you that anything can happen? You know how all guides have stories about sightings of big animals on the main road?It never happens to me. I keep hoping, but no. Nothing on the main road.Until Kaziranga.All around us, like a wispy cushion on the tea estates, was  the early morning fog. Shivering in the open jeep, we had our first sighting of the day - a rhino visible clearly from the main road. Bakul didn't even stop to look at it. He clarified later, "From the main road, you can see anything! The real experience is seeing it in the forest." I didn't argue.Further on, we saw a whole troop of monkeys, playing in wet agricultural land, right next to us. [Aside: I just looked up the range of collective nouns used for monkeys. It's charming!] We stopped this time and watched the macaques, running around, washing their faces, eating … [Read more...]

The eastern zone of Kaziranga is much more forested, not primarily grassland. It was joyous being in there, looking at the crazy trees and ferns. Some trees look like they've set up hanging gardens of their own, with leaves of different kinds growing out of their trunks. I couldn't stop marvelling at them.Bright green leaves glistened, almost as if they had been polished. My father chuckled. "It looks like Pati gave them a good clean to make them shine!" My Pati loved to make things shine. Her brass never had a dull moment.In Kaziranga, many tourists are accompanied by a gunman for security reasons. In Agartoli, we had with us Pranab, a gunman who'd been with the Forest Department for five years. Everything was good; we were roaming around cheerfully ... Until an elephant crossed our path.Pranab tapped on Bakul's shoulder. We stopped, maintaining a respectful distance. We … [Read more...]

Pelicans! The safari in Mihimukh showed me not just the Lesser Adjutant Stork and the Woolly Necked Stork, but also the Open-Billed Stork, Bar-Headed Geese -- and pelicans!When Bakul first pointed them out, I didn't quite believe him. Then I saw those incredible pouchy beaks. I stared, filling my eyes with them. I found myself thinking, "Oh, so pelicans do belong in the world outside cartoons ..."At the end of each day in the forest, I close my eyes and let all the images of the forest dance in my head. On our first day, I could see the beautiful forest all around me. I could see the elephant grass with birds flying above it. I could see the sudden pools around the corner, pools that kept taking me by surprise. I could see a magnificent wild buffalo wallowing in the mud.Central and western zones got mixed up in my head. I could see our first rhino. I could see all the elephants … [Read more...]

Bakul identified the turtles for us. I did not understand at all, not even enough to figure out for myself later. Himalayan Box Turtle? Perhaps. That was a name I discovered. But I know nothing about turtles. Can anyone help?Ducks - we saw hundreds of them. A beautiful orangish red duck was everywhere."Radisson duck," said Bakul. Or at least, it sounded like it. I came home and looked it up. 'Radisson duck' sounded believable enough. A Google search threw up images of Radisson ducks, though. Click there and you'll find out what I found out. The ducks we saw weren't Radisson ducks. That was certain.I looked at the larger picture, breathing deeply. I blinked. Everyone else was still looking at the turtles. I peered again, just to be sure. "Haathi!" I said, incredulous. "Haathi!"Those who have seen only captive elephants have no idea of the magic of wild elephants.And I could … [Read more...]

"Haan, rhino hai, udhar," said Bakul."Rhino?" I repeated. I had to have misheard. He could not be so calm. He could not tonelessly say 'rhino hai udhar' and leave it at that. In my head, though, I was saying, Rhino! Oo, rhino! Rhino! Where's the rhino? I want to see ...And there it was. Across a lake, eating away to glory. Rhinoceros unicornis. The real thing.Thoughts tumbled one after the other. Does it get cock-eyed looking around its horn? It really has a horn! It's so big! It's slaty-grey. It's ... it's a rhino!In my experience with forests so far, you don't just go away. You don't say, "Ah, there's a rhino," and peacefully drive off. I once watched a bear eat for almost half an hour. Because that's the way it is.Or so I thought."Chalein?" asked Bakul."Hmm?""Shall we move on?" someone translated for me, as if language was the problem.It was unheard of, unthinkable … [Read more...]