I am bouncing in the back seat of an open jeep as it meanders through India’s Kaziranga National Park, a wildlife sanctuary and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the northeastern state of Assam. Despite the spitting rain, I am grateful to be on my first-ever safari.
It is April and the monsoon season is approaching. Just not yet. Joining me is my guide, Dipankar Borkakati, an Assamese native who has taken care of me since landing in the city of Guwahati, Assam’s capital, where I spent my first few days in India covering a cultural festival, Rongali Bihu. The annual festival showcases the people, music and tourism destination of Assam and northeast India. Even after a hair-raising five-hour drive together through the vast state’s rich fertile land, villages and tea plantations to reach Kaziranga, we are thankfully still friendly.
Driving our jeep is an experienced and friendly ranger. He has a gun, you know, in case we get chased by crazed pelicans.
My phone rings. It is the Delhi-based team from Vasco Travel – who made all arrangements for the safari experience, including my guide, transportation and accommodations at the fabulous Infinity Resort Kaziranga – checking in on me. Their team worked tirelessly on perfecting every detail. Considering they are the leaders of inbound travel to India, I know I am in good hands.
We wind our way through the park. Bumpity-bump.
Living among Kaziranga’s tall grasslands, tropical forests, lakes and swamps that surround us are several species of mammals, including the once endangered one-horned Indian rhinoceros, Indian elephants, water buffalo, swamp deer, barking deer, pelicans, Ganges dolphins, leopards, fishing cats and the Royal Bengal Tiger, to name a few.
Kaziranga lies in the flood plains of the famous Brahmaputra river. Most of the area gets flooded from the river during the monsoon season, and the elephants and other animals migrate to higher ground prior to it.
My guide points to something in the distance. Tiger? No. In the grasslands ahead is a lone elephant with a man riding – actually, standing — on its back as they saunter across the plains. I am amazed at the man’s balance and grace riding this massive and awkward creature.
We continue. Bumpity-bump. I am glad I went to the washroom before leaving the resort. It is late afternoon, the sun will soon set and we do not have long in the park. The silence is deafening, save the occasional jeep of tourists travelling the same dirt road.
My guide points again. Tiger? Nope. Poking through the tall grasslands and not more than a few meters from us appears one of India’s most prized possessions: the one-horned rhinoceros. Given rhinos are known to run fast, really fast, my heart races. We gaze at it in all its glory. My guide whistles to get its attention. It sees us. It most definitely sees us. Perspiration now running down my forehead into my eyes. As I grab my camera to photograph this magnificent animal, it turns around and it…
…snap…
…drops a load.
Behind it, in the far distance, are more rhinos, elephants, and herds of water buffalo and deer.
But no Royal Bengal Tiger. Yet. Tigers are often seen here. The ranger tells me the population is more than 100 and they are “very shy.” Part of me wants to see one, and part of me does not because it means that if I see it, the likelihood is it would see me, too. I think of Canadian author, Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, a fantasy novel about an Indian boy, “Pi,” from Pondicherry, India, who survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat in the ocean along with a 450-pound Bengal tiger.
Bumpity-bump.
Another jeep of tourists stops to inform us they spotted the legs of a tiger in the foliage alongside our road, but apparently got scared off by an oncoming truck. I am fully wide-awake.
As we journey ahead, I hear dogs barking. My guide informs me it is not dogs, but rather the barking deer and when they bark, it is a warning signal to the rest of the herd that a tiger is near.
A tiger is near.
We climb a watchtower and with binoculars scan the grasslands and lake below. Pelicans are resting. A loud buzz in the air forewarns a massive swarm of bees is nearby. The sun is rapidly falling, washing the plains with “Bengal Tiger” orange.
I take one last scan for the shy tiger. But, alas…
After a ninety-minute adventure, it is time for us to leave or we will be in trouble. As we ramble out of the park, my guide, Dipankar, leans back and says: “You will have to return to Kaziranga. The tiger is calling you back.”
* * *
Where to stay: Near Kohora Town is Infinity Resort Kaziranga, a luxury hotel set in a bamboo grove, which has a main building with a restaurant, spa, internet, and spacious guest villas set on stilts.
How to get there: Kaziranga’s Park Gate is located at Kohora Town. The closest airports are in Jorhat (100 km) and Guwahati (240 km). Then driving by car is the best way to the park.
(Shannon Skinner is an inspirational author, TV host, producer, speaker and travel writer. Website: ShannonSkinner.com)
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