I vividly remember reading about the endangered One-Horned Rhinoceros of Kaziranga National Park during a geography class. I had instantly put Kaziranga on my list of places to go. Two years back, when I got posted to Jamshedpur, I knew, for sure, that Kaziranga is going to get off my bucket list very soon.
Last year, I got a good window in November to execute my most awaited travel. So, I, and my colleagues, planned a two-day trip to Assam, keeping one day for Kaziranga and the other for Majuli island (the largest river island in the world). Getting to Kaziranga was not at all easy; it involved multiple modes of transportation. We had a train from Jamshedpur to Kolkata and then a flight to Jorhat.
I was expecting the national park to offer us the excitement, but the tone got set from the start only. We reached Kolkata airport at 10 in the night to catch our flight at 9 in the morning. All of us were afraid of missing the flight if we dozed off. Eleven sleepless hours to get inside the plane! I was a person who had never ever done an all-nighter before that day. Truly a trip of many firsts! Strolling through a bookstore, filling our stomachs at the odd hours in the lounge, and mostly chit-chatting on everything under the sun is how we managed to keep our eyes wide open, only to shut when we got to our assigned seats. I dozed off as soon as I got to my seat on the aeroplane.
One hour later, my eyes open, adjusting slowly to the beaming sunlight from the nearby windows. I saw the plane standing at some airport. Feeling excited, I thought of waking up the rest. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, we are facing some issues because of the weather; It will take another hour or so for us to take off", the pilot announced. Saving myself from the embarrassment, I gulped my excitement and retreated back to my seat in silence.
The ride in the air was very turbulent as if signalling us about the excitement that was to unfold in the next two days. After sitting for three hours on the plane, standing at Jorhat airport felt really good. Jorhat is a small town and famous for its tea gardens. We had already made our travel arrangements to take us from Jorhat airport to Kaziranga. It was a two-hour drive with the beautiful landscapes keeping us far away from sleep. We asked all sorts of questions to our driver about the park and his answers did their job to uplift our already high excitement levels. Now, one-horned rhinoceros was definitely an attraction but, ye dil maange more! (This heart demands more!) We knew the park also had Royal Bengal Tigers, albeit their population was lesser. The mere thought that we could have a glimpse of our national animal was good enough to give us dopamine spikes.
We checked into Aranya Lodge (Highly recommend this place), an Assam Government guest house, just in time for lunch. A two-day trip to a place where there is so much to do simply means NO REST. We had an afternoon gypsy safari planned as soon as we checked in. The gypsy had come to pick us up as we finished our lunch. It was quite a distance to get to our entry gate from our hotel. Once we reached the gate, it was time to enter the park!
Guess who came to welcome us? No, not the tiger! (I wish) The one and only, one-horned rhino. Not one but two of them just as we entered the park. Thick-skinned herbivores, having their early supper beside the water body. I could have kept looking at that frame until sunset, but we had bigger plans- The search for the Royal Bengal Tiger.
The safari area that is opened to the public is only 20% of the complete park. This 20% area is also divided into multiple zones. Spotting a tiger indeed involves a lot of luck. First, tigers usually prefer shade. Second, a tiger doesn't hunt often. The 20% area mostly is open grazing land with a good population of rhinos which makes it a lot tougher to spot a tiger. I am not making an excuse for not seeing the tiger (Yes, I am). No matter how many rhinos you see, it still hurts (Dil se bura lagta hai yaar).
We had now all our hopes on our elephant safari on the next day. Our hotel had a small honour board wherein the names of the guests who successfully sighted the tiger were written. I had never had an opportunity to see my name on any honour board! The motivation to see the tiger was at its ultimate. Law of manifestation was remembered that night the most in our hotel room. Hakuna Matata!
Next morning...
We got ourselves ready for our one final attempt at trying out our luck. The previous night we had received not so good news. Our safari slot for 6:30 had been postponed to 7:30 am. We had heard many times that the possibility of spotting a tiger is the best earliest in the day. And that the tiger comes out to hunt or drink water when the sun is not out yet. Honestly, the news was not at all comforting for our already high hopes. We had no choice. Dejected, we made our way to the gate to be on time. We got our beautiful elephant which would be our ride for the next one hour.
Obviously, we were not alone, else that would have been some serious adventure. We had a company of some 6-8 groups of people each on their elephant. It was a slow ride compared to the gypsy safari, but definitely much more enjoyable. The jungle looks so mystical from the height of the elephant. We saw rhinos, deers, wild boars (Pumba from The Lion King!), but they no longer excited us (Greed was at some other level only). Our eyes were waiting for that one glimpse of the black stripes on that orange colour. Our mahouts tried their best to help us see the tiger, but I guess it just wasn’t the day.
And then something happened…
A big wild buffalo ran in front of us in a jiffy. Now, I had seen a lot of Nat Geo by then, to know that this wasn’t just an ordinary run. Why would a wild buffalo run in an open land just like that? Something was fishy. And sure it was!
One of the mahouts exclaimed, “Look, there is the tiger”. Our eyes went into scanning mode. Left to right and right to left, completing the 180-degree cycle. Blinking at that point was very costly. Scanning worked...I saw the Royal Bengal Tiger...in a ready to pounce position with its eyes laser-focused on the target. It was dead silence all around for a minute. We kept closing in on the tiger. But, who can outwit the master predator? It sensed our movement and postponed its plans of attack. We kept following it until it just disappeared in the thick dry grassland.
Best visual of the tiger captured by the camera (Look carefully)
Meanwhile, our elephants figured out something was not right and switched on their panic mode. As if it was time for the beating retreat. We witnessed the sound of the jungle! A moment I wish I could go back in time to relive it again.
The beginner's luck does work, or maybe at least it did when it was supposed to. The whole group had a big smile seeing what had just happened. I was happier as I finally had the opportunity to have my name on the honour board (Greed level- scale is broken). Maybe the only honour board my name would go on!
P.S. The hotel authorities were out of ink to write our names. Searching for a good honour board opportunity now.
P.P.S. We then went to Majuli and spent our remaining day there. From walking barefoot on the white silt of Brahmaputra to witnessing Majuli's rich culture was a pleasant surprise. I wish to go there again soon!
Wow! Lucky!