Orang!

The one-horned rhino

WWF had announced a trip to Kaziranga, and as my husband and I dilly-dallied on should we shouldn't we (go I mean), the group was filled up. So, a set of MNS regulars went off to Kaziranga, and a few proceeded to Orang. Dont ask me where Orang is - I dont know!

Well, I just looked it up. Its 140 kms from Guwahati, closer to Tezpur. The Orang National Park is a small park - less than 80 sqkms and is in the Darrang dist.

So, here's Chitra's account of the trip, with pictures from Geetha and Arun:

Got back from a memorable trip to Assam – Kaziranga National Park and Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park on Saturday, 22nd.

Our visit to the former was organized by WWF-India and was a well planned, orderly trip with our stay in a posh resort and visits into the park arranged by the resort for WWF.

We returned to Guwahati on the 16^th, when the WWF camp got over.

Completely in contrast to this was our trip to Orang. Out of the 12 people who went to Kaziranga, 4 of us decided to go to one other sanctuary in Assam having come this far and we chose Orang, a small sanctuary (78sq. km) 145 km to the North East of Guwahati.

When I decided to join Preston, Arun and Geetha on the trip to Orang, I thought they knew what they were about and was planning to just be a passive member of the group. Arun had downloaded an article on Orang that said that for a small sanctuary Orang offered good sightings of Rhino, Tigers, Hog deer and even the Bengal Florican besides having some beautiful untouched wilderness. The descriptions in the article sounded really inviting.

All that was before we set off for Orang on the 16^th…

Once we started making enquiries for taxis/jeeps/buses that would take us to Orang… I found that all of us had only a vague idea of where the sanctuary was actually located! When the forest ranger, Mr. Joyonto Deka, was contacted for permission, he seems to have mentioned vaguely the non-availability of transport or food near the park, and asked us to bring provisions with us for our duration of stay. Of course, we didn't believe him completely, but we did stock ourselves with rice, daal, turmeric powder, chilli powder, oil (mustard), salt, tea, sugar, a couple of loaves of bread, jam, a few packets of Maggi noodles (If we had allowed Arun to buy the provisions we would have been stuck with bread, noodles and biscuits for the whole trip!), potatoes, tomatoes, onions and thanks to the vege vendor 4 large cauliflowers!

We managed to get a Maruti Omni driver to drop us off at Orang (after much debating whether to bus it), and the driver assured us that there were jeeps to be had at the park entrance for going around and we believed him. On the way we stopped at a place for directions and were told that Orang was a Bodo area and there was bound to be trouble there. Our driver, not the bravest of persons told us to keep our eyes peeled for signs of trouble. As soon as we heard this Arun stuffed all his money into his socks in the hopes that the smell would keep the Bodos at bay!

We managed to reach Orang safely around 7.00 ish and met the Ranger, who told us where we were to stay and introduced us to our cook cum guard –Rohit, who was to take care of us during our stay there. He did warn us that there was no running water or electricity but there was a hand pump for water. That was when he also told us that there were no vehicles in Orang save his own jeep!

So we were actually stuck there with no vehicle.

The guest house from the rear

The taxi took us 4 km into the forest and we found the guest house that was to be home for the next three days. It had two rooms, a dining room with a fancy glass topped dining table, and six porcupine chairs, and a fancier sitting room with cane lounge chairs and a cane roof! There were two more dining tables that hung around in the porch area. There was a kitchen with a single wood stove and store along with a room for Rohit in the adjoining building. We found that there was solar lighting in the rooms though the toilets were all in the dark. The less said about the toilets the better. That was when we discovered that we hadn't bought candles or matches. We managed to beg another guard to get those for us the next day.

Rohit prepared rice, daal and aalu subzi and we had eaten our first meal we were all set to crash when we heard a series of loud snorts so close that we thought that it was from outside the sitting room area. We all rushed to the windows of the sitting room only to confront pitch darkness outside. Rohit calmly informed us that it was the Rhinos snorting. We spent a slightly uncomfortable night when we realized how inadequate the locks of our rooms were and how close any animal could get to us!

Next morning the dawn chorus got us up and we got to see the breathtaking location of the guest house. We were perched on a high land, behind us were huge trees that formed a sort of small wood. Behind the trees was a sea of grass – mostly burnt out, rhino land. In front and below the guest house about 30 feet below stretched grasslands, immediately below us were the short grasses (up to ankle length) and beyond them were the elephant grasses interspersed with silk cotton trees (Semul) – a lush green vista.

Adjutant stork

There were a couple of small ponds with water in the smaller grass where the adjutant storks, would come and solemnly hang out. There was a grey fishing eagle that haunted one semul tree in front of the house. Our early morning visitor, was a shy blue whistling Thrush, who would take off at the slightest movement from us!

Black-hooded oriole

The ranger arranged for a vehicle for our first ride – but it turned out to be a Tata Sumo – not the kind of vehicle to go into the park and he (the Tata Sumo Owner) charged us the earth for the two hour ride that we decided to have no more rides – but we managed to cajole him into taking us to the nearest village where we got some more provisions. We did try to travel rooftop initially on the vehicle but before long we realized that we'd have no backsides to speak of if we continued.

The park has about 20 trained elephants which are used by guards for patrolling and which are also used to give tourists rides once in a while. We requisitioned two elephants for the three days we were there.

Chakradhar

Padma and Lohit

The first evening we had two elephants – one tusker called Chakradhar, who came all three days and one sixty year old matriarch – Padma who came with her latest baby Lohit a two year old shy and yet inquisitive elephant. Both elephants seemed well fed and huge! The little fellow was a delight to watch. He would gambol between the two adult elephants, but what was really fascinating was his attraction to the dung dropped by his brother Chakradhar (also Padma's son). Every time Chakradhar defecated this little fellow would joyfully break the ball open and pick a choice morsel out of it and eat it. We were horrified, but were told that all babies do that.

The elephant grass is truly huge growing to well over 10 -15 feet as we discovered on our elephant rides. Either the people ahead of us appeared to be suspended in mid-air or disappeared completely in the grass. Geetha and I rode Padma, while Preston and Arun had Chakradhar. On our first ride out, we saw many but it was going through the grass that excited us the most. About an hour after we set out, Chakradhar stopped suddenly and our mahout whispered 'Rhino' and eased our way abreast of Chakradhar. I had just had a glimpse of the rhino, and as I was getting Geetha's camera ready for a photo shoot, things happened quickly. There was a shout and I saw the Rhino charge, both mahouts, who were armed with guns fired simultaneously, the baby elephant charged into the grass behind us and Padma, catapulted and bolted after her with the Rhino at our feet snorting away! I never knew elephants could move, maneuver themselves so fast. Anyway the Rhino gave up the chase and went back to her baby which had been there all the time. To my surprise the mahout turned direction and we went back the same way, but we found that the rhino had moved off with her baby.

We had two more rides on the elephants – but nothing as exciting as the first day happened though all the rhinos we approached were all set to charge if we attempted to get close, which we judiciously didn't. We also found that Chakradhar was chicken hearted! Every time we sighted a rhino, he would about turn and refuse to proceed till he was whacked a couple of times. It seems he was attacked by a rhino when he was younger and has been traumatized by that since then! The last day Geetha and I had a Makhna called Indrajit (Makhnas are adult male elephants without tusks and are usually aggressive males). He was a stout hearted fellow and seemed unfazed by the presence of the rhinos. I believe he was attacked once by a tiger which tore one ear up. As tourists are rare in the park, these elephants are not used to wearing the howdah (seats) and after the first day, fussed and protested. But the mahouts would give them a couple of whacks and get them to wear them. Chakradhar would then come all the way to the mounting stage trumpeting loudly and with tail raised. It gave us the heebie-jeebies to see him thus!

On our second night there we experienced tremors, and were told that tremors were common there.

We met the Ranger formally on the third evening and he told us the sad story of Orang. For a 78 sq km sanctuary he is the only ranger with 40 guards or so. Poaching is rampant there, and the guards have no vehicles to move around, and have to rely on walking or the elephants. Till last year they didn't have wireless radios or even a phone for communications. So the guards are armed at all times. There is no electricity in the park. With poachers, Bodo rebels, Bangladesh refugees as well as all the animals to keep track of, the guards have a lot in their hands and not much help from the powers that be. I understand that for a sanctuary to get funds they have to meet some requirements which Orang apparently doesn't. I would have thought that with both Rhinos and Tigers (they have 28) Orang would have qualified for more funds for the upkeep of the park. Popular parks like Kaziranga and Manas seem to grab most of the funding. Assam has a number of small parks like Orang that may soon vanish for lack of funds and government attention. It would be a pity if like Manas, Orang loses all its rhinos and tigers to poachers due to lack of support and funds.

On day three we realized if we didn't get the ranger's vehicle we'd never be able to get out of the sanctuary! Both Arun's and Preston's mobile phones were not working and we used Geetha's phone sparingly and anxiously watched as the charge slowly get lower! The ranger went off to Guwahati the day after we arrived and got back only the day before we left… more anxiety for us but the poor man readily offered his vehicle to us when we asked for it.

Yet, We almost didn't make it to the airport on the last day. We were to be dropped at the nearest bus stop (Silbori) by the ranger's jeep early Thursday morning from where we were to take a bus to the main road and from there to Guwahati. But when we reached the Silbori bus stop we were told by a few villagers that there was Bodo trouble and buses wouldn't run. Just when we were beginning to show signs of panic the bus driver got into his vehicle and started the engine… Needless to say that there was no trouble at all and the villagers were indulging in some mischief.

We all flew to Kolkata, where Preston and I parted ways with Geetha and Arun. We were taking the train back and it was due to leave at 11.45 pm. We hung around at the airport till 8.00 before trying for a prepaid taxi and found that the taxi queue was a serpentine one! It took us more than 45 minutes to get a taxi! More anxious moments!

When we got to the station we found that the whole of Kolkata and the north east had decided to travel by train that night! The station was packed with families/ full tribes parked everywhere. We walked all over in search of dinner at 10.00 pm before we found a place! Did I mention that it was raining?

Our train arrived around 11.30pm to the platform and there was a mad rush to get in, Preston was traveling a/c and his compartment was quite close to the start of the platform but mine was a km away at the other end! Anyway that was the last I saw of him.

For any of you readers intrigued enough, please contact Chitra!