Kaziranga: An experience worth sharing(day-2)
Have you read my experience of day-1 of this trip, if not please read that before this post, you can find part-1 here. If you have just finished the part-1 and now you are looking for part-2 then thank you, my work it a success.
Next morning I woke up early and got ready for the jeep safari, I came out of my room, it was a lovely morning. I took some photos of resorts and whatever I thought was worth clicking. I talked to the manager and he informed me that he found a group whom I can join for safari. I sat in the front seat of an open Gypsy and a group of three friends sat on the back which was open and we left the resort to hit the jungle. I talked to my fellow travellers, they were from Mumbai and were on a 10 days holidays in Northeast. Within 5 minutes we were comfortable with each other's company. Now we were excited and ready to spot some wild animals.
We stopped on a spot and our Gypsy driver got permits to visit the jungle for us, now we were all set to face the wildlife. Finally, we were in ‘The Kaziranga’, the territory of great one-horn rhinos, just to make you feel little more proud about India, Kaziranga has the two-third population of one horn rhinos of the whole world. We were moving in the park and the first animals to greet us in the park were a pack of wild buffalos on our left, we took out our DSLR and tested the camera settings on these buffalos. Even these buffalos saw us, paused for a moment then started grazing again, we did not look charming more than green grass of Kaziranga.
Our Gypsy kept moving deeper in the jungle, then one of our Mumbaikar friends spotted a deer, on our left, quite far, drinking water, we tried using our camera with full zoom, the animal was beyond the capacity of our camera. Our cameras were useless but our eyes were doing great, we were able to see the deer quite clear, and the scenic beauty of this place was mesmerizing. The views were quite dynamic in Kaziranga, here you will spot an area with small hills the suddenly from nowhere an open field will appear, it’s truly heaven for a nature lover. We were going deeper from the last 20 minutes but we haven't seen any wild animals, honestly, I can’t accept buffalos and deers as wild animals, I used to spot them almost every day on my college campus (I have studied at the University of Hyderabad and yes there are many deers in the campus). I also shifted on the back of Gypsy, and I and one of our friend were standing and trying to spot rhinos in the big grass.
Our first stop in Kaziranga was beside the Brahmaputra river, I have seen quite a lot of rivers but guys, Brahmaputra is different, It’s so huge that comparing it with an ocean canal won’t be hyperbole. We were standing on a rock close to the river, the flow was looking deadly, I saw my surroundings, the view was incredible, I smiled and clicked a few photos. Soon we were on our Gypsy heading towards our next stop in the jungle, hoping to see some animal on the way.
As time was passing by, our expectation of spotting a rhino was getting thinner, meanwhile, we were using our cameras on the groups of deers grazing around and running after listening to the sound of our vehicle, we got quite a beautiful shots. We were passing through a large open ground filled with tall grass and suddenly I spotted something which looked like a potential rhino, it was too far to see clearly, we were not sure whether it was a rhino or not, our driver, which was only expert among us, saw it and declared it a rhino, we believed and moved further in the grand Kaziranga.
Yes, it was a rhino, once we moved further it became clear that rock look alike thing was actually a rhino. It was not very close so I won’t consider it as spotting a rhino as last year on my Nepal visit, I visited Chitwan national park, there I spotted a rhino at just 30 meters from me, that experience was breathtaking. Today my desire was to see a rhino from even closer, this rhino was not enough and won’t be counted as spotting a rhino.
Now we stopped near a pond, water was still but few birds were causing ripples. There was some construction behind us, which must be for forest guards, I took permission and started going towards the stairs of this partially constructed building, soon I was on the second floor of the building, now I was trying to spot rhinos from this building, thinking this height might help to see me the purpose of this safari, but rhinos are the kings of Kaziranga, and kings don’t care about anybody's desires, they show up on their own time, their own ways, slowly I was accepting this fact.
We spent some time near this lake, which was little more than usual, as our driver had sympathy for us and gave us some grace time to clicks pictures and feel the vibe of Kaziranga. We were a little disappointed with faun but flora was doing its magic. The gigantic trees around us have witnessed our many generations coming from the cites and searching for animals, they must be finding us strange, but they still love us.
I stood there for some time against this view, the breeze was mild cold, there was no urban noise, the birds were chanting at a far, a pack of deer was drinking water from the other side of the lake, a charismatic aroma was around us, everything was calm, I was pleased, the expectation of seeing more was not dominating this moment, this moment was complete, this moment was perfect. I felt the harmony, the Kaziranga just touched my soul.
Now our safari was about to complete, we were ready to come back to our resort, we were in our Gypsy and driver was taking us to our resort, we were coming out of Kaziranga. Even though we did not see a rhino from close or any wild animal but the experience was extraordinary, still I don’t know what was so charismatic about Kaziranga. It might be the calmness of the jungle, the freedom of this place, where animals are not bound with artificial laws but they live with the laws of nature. Having no brains, these animals still prefer to live with nature and we, the animals with really high IQs are cutting these forests to make walls around us, and then we take a holiday to visit these jungles again because we find them peaceful. Nature is confused about us, but still, it’s not angry on us, it has hope, it has belief on its own creation.
This was my experience of Kaziranga, I hope I was able to convey you a little fragrance of this place. If you find this article was worth reading then do clap for this article and share it with your friends. If you are planning to visit this place and need any information then please drop me an email at abhishek.shukla.93@gmail.com. After Kaziranga, I spent a week in Meghalaya, I will write about that too, so follow me on Medium to make sure you never miss a story from me. Thanks for your love and support.
Jai Hind!
