Assam Day 5 - First glimpses of Kaziranga

Heading towards Kazi again, yay! And i see that this has not even been posted.

15th January 2020

Continued from here.

Goodness, I am picking up the threads of January 2020, which I last wrote about in August of 2020....Let me see what I remember.

I remember my excitement on reaching the animal corridor.  

The flood plains of the Brahmaputra.  During the monsoon all these areas are under a sheet of water I believe.  The highway cuts through the highland.  It was some sight seeing the tall grasslands, with all the mammals, grazing, beds, and all.  What a magical treat - bar-headed geese flocks, elephants and rhinos, cheek by jowl,

and the monkey of course

...so close we could have shook hands....

..and he walked away disdainfully.

Dubori homestay in Kohora - a cozy little place with a lovely tropical garden - we were upstairs, nice little verandah that went all around.

 We met Gudung aka Pallab.  An interesting young man of the region.  He was to be our guide for Kaziranga.  He came by as the sun was going down, a smile on his face, unkempt hair and an inner beautiful enthusiasm that I see in so many naturalists.

A free evening - walked around on my own, just up the lane, soon it was dark.  A child on a tricycle, a severally handicapped adult and what looked like his caretaker mother in a verandah, baya weaver nests, red spikes, and quarrelling goats.  Hathikuli tea estate around the corner.

A little bonfire, and puppy dogs under the stove enjoying the warmth until one of the pieces of firewood exploded with a loud crack, sending the little fellow yelping to his mom, and then feeling sheepish and standing behind her and barking loudly!!

Dinner was a nice cosy affair, with the poor kitchen staff having to deal with the MNS way of eating - if you don’t set out all items on the dinner table together, then whatever is there will run out - so while the dal and veggie came first, these were done, when the rotis came, so there was this mad scurrying back and forth by them to keep it all together, and an equally brisk up and down by the MNS members.  Hot rotis moved faster than the rice, and MNS members moved the fastest!

There was just some cheerful banter, as we wound down for the evening.