6th January 2009, 14:27
| #1 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: hyderabad
Posts: 651
Thanked: 245 Times
| Kaziranga National Park-World Heritage Site THE BEST TIME TO VISIT KAZIRANGA WILL BE FEB-MARCH.IF YOUR INTERESTED IN BIRDS-THE BEST TIME TO SPOT MIGRATING SPECIES IS OCTOBER. Just thought I'd mention that since its Jan and maybe you can plan your trips if really keen. The reason Feb/March being good is that the Rangers burn all the grass (which grow up to 6ft) in order to aid fresh shoots coming up. The animals are fussy and this is how they stop them from wandering into new pastures away from the national park. Visibility is at its highest and chances of spotting tigers in the wild are also possible, albeit with plenty of luck and prayers.800Sq Kilometers of open jungle! I’m certainly coming back for the real deal. Now for the pals who know what i do, Please do not lambaste me for not putting up a travelogue on Arunachal Pradesh ahead of this one. That will be coming up soon.Ive never had the opportunity to spend time exploring the state leisurely. All i been doing is hiking in jungles, setting up tents, fishing along the rivers and journal my surveys. I know that doesn't sound bad to be doing it for a living, but Ive hardly spent time on taking scenic photos to do justice to India's "undeveloped Switzerland”.That's how beautiful i see it as. So Happy New year to everyone and blah di blah di blah  . Whilst most would have enjoyed the New Year along with family and friends, i was stuck with commitments in the north-east. The best i could conjure and make do with being close to civilization was a drive to Kaziranga National Park in Assam - A World Heritage Site. Accomodation: Closest Town to the park is Tezpur at 60km approx. This is a good place to stay and i recommend KF Hotel just by the East Zone Army Workshop. I decided to try out a new place and stayed at Landmark woods. This is about 23kms from the National Park and a new resort.1 night's stay along with food turned out to be around Rs 5000. Its a bit on the expensive side but i appreciated the place for small gestures like employing uneducated locals as staff. This does test your patience when it comes to enjoying a satisfying stay along with good service but the rooms, food quality and location makes up for it.Oh and Tezpur is about 160km from Guwahati. National Park Details: There are 4 ranges or circuits and price varies from Rs500-1000 depending on which one you chose.Gypsies are aplenty at the main entrance and they charge 80/person+350.Each circuit takes about 2-3 hrs to cover without many stops. I selected the western range for 650.It was recommended by one of the gypsy fellas for this time of the year. Western Range Experience: ill just pen the broader picture here and tag line the photos for the rest. Dec/Jan isn’t the season to visit the national park. The grass is at its tallest and all the animals are well hidden. Rhino, Water buffalo, Deer, Sambar, Wild boar, Pheasants, Elephants even .. Almost the whole spectrum of animals in the park are not visible. The only spots are at the lakes and river banks. The paths or range routes are such that I spent most time just trying to look over/ through the weeds to spot any kind of activity. Alas the pictures I’ve taken are mostly around the water bodies and along the river banks. My camera had a very good zoom and that’s saved me in actually catching some of the wild in action, albeit the pics are blurry coz they were hand held tele shots and the weather was grim for giving me nature in detail. The park as such is huge and that’s 870sq kilometers in total‼, yea that’s right, there is a zero at the end of 87!. There are animals to be heard from every nook and cranny, there’s birds to be spotted on every tree , pheasants to be spotted along the road, rhinos taking a nap or grazing away, elephant ears fluttering away, pelicans fishing , herons sitting on top of rhinos, ducks swimming in straight lines, lemon green parrots , Indian ruler-wonderful looking bird , kingfishers, eagles ,horn bills,various kites, wild mynas , gazelles hopping away to glory, buffaloes giving the stare, huge pythons and king cobras and last but not least …… the expectations of spotting a wild tiger just as in the documentaries. Excluding the last I have personally experienced all the above in my 2 visits to the park, but both have been during off season. The previous visit was during the monsoons when Arunachal was blocked due to landslides and floods, but alas the animals had also chosen to move into the mountains. Come Feb. , you can closer to the action even. The 2-3 hours one spends doesn’t end with disappointment even if an animal is not spotted in close range because the place just feels right. You’re left with enjoying the vast openness and the feeling that it just wasn’t the right day, but you’ll be back. Both the trips I’ve done are by Gypsy, but I’d suggest to everyone to take up the elephant ride instead. Bookings for such have to be done a day in advance and hence weren’t possible as my visits have been spontaneous. They get closer to the animals and have a go anywhere attitude even in the park. i.e. there isn’t any set route for these chaps. Right, think that’s bout it from my end for providing information. I’ll answer away for those that spot anything missing. Enjoy the pictures albeit re-sized and cropped.Apologies for that         that's the closest Ive got to spotting a Tiger.Those are claw marks whilst climbing the tree. I personally feel it could be that of a leopard, but the guide says it that of a Tiger cleaning its claws and that tree is used often for doing so.Sorry forgot what tree name he mentioned.   Last edited by absynthguzzler : 6th January 2009 at 14:33. |
|
| |
|
6th January 2009, 14:41
| #2 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: hyderabad
Posts: 651
Thanked: 245 Times
|           |
|
|
|
6th January 2009, 14:46
| #3 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
|
|
|
6th January 2009, 14:47
| #4 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: hyderabad
Posts: 651
Thanked: 245 Times
|           |
|
|
|
6th January 2009, 14:52
| #5 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: hyderabad
Posts: 651
Thanked: 245 Times
|           |
|
|
|
6th January 2009, 14:52
| #6 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | |
|
|
|
6th January 2009, 15:07
| #7 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
|
|
|
25th January 2009, 23:12
| #8 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 153
Thanked: 2 Times
| try this website, good information on accomodation: Kaziranga National Park,Kaziranga National Park India,Kaziranga Tiger Reserve,Kaziranga Wildlife Tour,Assam Wildlife Tours there are many more for gathering information. you might want to stay in one of the hotels within the park area instead of making the trips from the town of tezpur, will save precious time as the safaris start early in the morning and mornings are generally foggy during dec-feb. as already said, best time to visit is feb-mar, the park is open for tourists oct-april if i remember correctly, so this is the time to plan a trip regarding arrival from out of the state of assam, fly/train journey to guwahati, proceed to kaziranga by cab/ bus, about 5 hours or less depending on road condition. make sure to contact the forest office in the kohora range, about 1.5 km inside from the highway which runs through the park, if you can chat up an official there, nothing like it, he'll arrange for you things or at least give you useful guidance as to which places to visit for maximum sighting opportunity. warm clothing, preferably water resistant and natural colors are good to carry. |
|
|
|
26th January 2009, 13:55
| #9 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
|
|
|
27th January 2009, 01:09
| #10 |
| Distinguished - BHPian  | Arun, wonderful report and some really amazing pictures. It feels really good to be in the wild with so many animals around you. It is indeed a fanstastic experience. So when are you back in Hyderabad? |
|
|
|
27th January 2009, 01:26
| #11 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: hyderabad
Posts: 651
Thanked: 245 Times
| Quote:
cheers dude,kinda did this report as practice for the deal Mc.Coy actually. Wanted to do one on Arunachal but ill get around to doin that once i return from history.im on dial up connection here!!.The towers dont even have GPRS facilities everywhere. Should be back end of this week hopefully. cheers and hope the Warangal trip was memorable!let me guess , the ikon was leading all the way , lol . | |
|
|
| |
|
27th January 2009, 15:55
| #12 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: NOIDA / Gurgaon
Posts: 277
Thanked: 15 Times
| Absynthguzzler, excellent stuff! Seems the green fairy of Absynth dragged you all the way to even more greenery For those of you who plan to do Kaziranga, you can try the resort that is run by GL Publication (the largest publication house in Assam?). Though am not sure of the tariff because our group stayed there as guests literally but the hospitality of the resort staff was unparalleled. Ah! By the way, my cousin is a dear pal of GL Publication's owner's son. So we had the badminton court, the gypsy and everything at our disposal  I hope Absynthguzzler mate you would not mind if i posted a few pictures of our last Kaziranga trip. You have already covered the place in its length & breadth via your pics. Am posting only a few just to augment your shots, at a different time of the day and year P.S.: When I tried uploading the pics the upload process failed. Am trying again. Fingers crossed x |
|
|
|
27th January 2009, 17:53
| #13 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Quote:
 Btw, there was a Laura too this time around and it can move | |
|
|
 |
Most Viewed