Days in the wild - Kaziranga National Park (& Borgos Resort)

Our first wild life safari! After being in a relationship for so long it’s difficult to still have our firsts. My hubby (Bu) has always been keen on wildlife, while I preferred stay at luxurious hotels and enjoy being pampered. Both have their pros and cons, but after this safari I must say that I am hooked to this new feeling as well. Safari especially! The constant feeling of not knowing what you may end up seeing next is quite exhilarating, I must say. With this little preview, you can guess that at the planning stage we had our differences. We both knew that north east India was on the list some day and we could try now. I suggested Meghalaya, Shillong, Gangtok etc. while Bu had only one name under his list – KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK. After a lot of research I gave up when I realized how passionate he is about this. And so we began.

Kaziranga National park is a UNESCO heritage site, also famous for the big five - water buffalo (Asiatic wild buffalo), swamp deer, wild Indian elephants, Bengal tiger and the most popular - the one horned rhinoceros.

We looked for some packages and came across an interesting deal from travel triangle (a travel web handle). Through them we contacted Mr. Mintu (North east Vacation – travel company) who has been the most courteous to us. We made a lot of to and fro calls explaining all our required needs and he curated an affordable plan just for the two of us. Soon, we packed up and were on our way. We reached Guwahati and received our pick up on time. We got a comfortable Swift Desire for our drive with a very pleasant driver. The drive took us approximately four and half hours with a pit stop for breakfast. The roads were quite good for the most part.

Approaching our resort ‘Borgos’ we could see the forest greens on either side and received a welcome from domesticated elephants and even a glimpse of a rhino.

As we reached the resort sooner than the usual check in time of 1400 hrs. we had to wait for quite a while in the lobby. The resort couldn’t accommodate us any sooner as there were some VIP’s who delayed their checkout. After our disappointing start at the resort, we decided to not hold our plans and headed for our first noon safari.

So the package we customized for us was pick-up and drop from Guwahati, stay at Borgos with complimentary breakfast for three days and two nights and three jeep safaris each at a different zones. There is elephant safari available too, however, we strongly believe against animal cruelty and decided to not opt for the same. The difference is obviously one is in the jeep while other is over an elephant, while jeeps are only allowed to drive on certain paved path elephants can enter deeper into the forest which gives a closer look at the wildlife.

As most expense were paid for, we had to only pay Rs. 100/- for our DSLR (Rs. 500/- for any video camera, for each safari individually). We started off with the central zone. This was quite crowded with lots of tourists and plenty of jeeps at the same time for safari. The timings generally followed are morning 0700-1000hrs and noon 1400-1700hrs (elephant safari is only in the morning). Exhausted but excited we began our safari (exhausted as we hadn’t gotten any room at the resort to freshen up after our long journey). But boy, did time just fly by? We started from the resort at 1330hrs where the safari jeep came to pick us up and dropped us off at 1730, four hours just felt like the best time ever. We saw rhinoceros, water buffalo, wild elephant, and so many species of deer and a lot more birds. To see these giant rhinos so close to us was just incredible. Their armor,

the single horn, the ability to move their ears independently in any direction… it was quite a sight. The best I remember was seeing a baby rhino with its mother.

There are also watch towers built at apt spots to view the wildlife with an advantage of height. We saw a beautiful lake with water buffalos swimming, with just their huge horns outside the water. The calming water, the pleasant forest sound and the clean air we breathed is an experience that cannot be described. We felt so peaceful deep into the forest.

One of the big five is the deer, and we saw quite a lot of them. There are four species of deer found in this forest and we saw all of them in our three safaris. Further down the road we caught a glimpse of wild elephant. We also saw some turtles and amongst the many birds we saw, I can never forget looking at the kingfisher. What a beauty that is!

After what seemed like just a few minutes into the forest we had to complete our safari which was indeed of about three and a half hours. We saw domesticated elephants on our way out heading for a swim. We saw them along with their masters and were so awed with their relationship. What a way that was to end our first safari experience. So overwhelming!

We then headed straight to the restaurant for a meal as we were starving luckily, as it was Sunday the buffet lunch was still open. We ate a filling meal, headed to our room, freshened up and just passed out. (As a tip- we took no heavy meals just before the safari. It may cause uneasiness due to the uneven tracks in the jungle).

We woke up the next morning and headed straight to the balcony which offered a gorgeous view with a hot cup of coffee. Mornings like these are just bliss! After freshening up we went to the restaurant and grabbed a tummy full breakfast with a good deal of options available of south Indian, Continental and American breakfast served as buffet. After this heavy breakfast we strolled about the property for a while, later we left for our second noon safari. Though our original plan was to explore morning safari we were intimated last evening of possible fog at those hours and decided not to opt for the same. It actually worked out well as most animals were out in the open in the noon to bask in the sun probably due to the cold temperatures.

Our jeep driver Mr. Pinku was so wonderful on the first day itself that we decided to continue all our safaris only with him and what a delight is was. He never rushed to complete our ride, always stopped at the best angles from where we could see and capture the wildlife. He would always be on time to pick us up from the resort with his jeep all cleaned up for us. We would absolutely recommend him as a guide for your travel too. This time we went safari into the Agoratoli range most commonly known as the eastern range. It was undoubtedly the best of all three ranges we explored. We spent a good three hours in our safari and ended up seeing a wide range of wildlife. The best part was a forest guard accompanied us, and we were the first jeep to enter the forest at noon, which gave us an added advantage of visibility. He also took a keen interest in explaining a great deal about the forest and helped spot some of the wildlife we would have otherwise missed.

Just before the entrance into the forest, we had to drive our jeep through a small area filled with water where all four wheels dipped in. As a gesture we were also asked to get down and dip our shoe in it. I believe it was for sanitization, while others may believe that it’s a gesture to take the permission from the forest before entering in, just like one would do before entering someone’s home.

As soon as we entered, we saw this massive lake and almost all four of the big fives right here Rhinos, elephants, deer & buffalo all in such close proximity to each other and yet so calm. We spotted the most number of rhinos, deer and buffalos at this range.

The best for us as content creators was to sight deer and have it look straight at us as though they are posing so gracefully for a picture and after a few seconds of posing how they ran. Let us know in the comments if you have ever experienced this too.

Our driver also showed us a few particular tree barks with tiger claws marks over it. The most exciting part of our safari was when our forest guard spotted tiger paw marks on our route. Only looking at the huge paw marks got our heart beat racing. The guard also told us that although they look like fresh marks we doubt that we would be able to spot the tiger as it was in the reverse direction to ours and leading into the forest.

Surprisingly we spotted quite a few birds here as well like Vultures, grey headed eagle, Siberian birds, the great Indian hornbill, anhinga (snake bird) etc. There were also some wild boars, an unusual sight of monkey swimming and many wild elephants from different angles, one walking into the forest while the other looking straight at us, some with their entire family too.

How cute is it to spot a baby elephant, am I right? I’m sure you know what we mean. We heard so many elephant rumbling and trumpeting. This is an experience one has to go through at least once in a lifetime.

As the evening progressed we saw a few wild elephants go for a swim too. Later we stopped at the Brahmaputra River and stretched for a while. Enjoyed the scenic view of this quiet river and soaked up the feeling which is hard to describe.

It is recommended that if you are planning to go only for one safari it should indeed be this range.

After this soulful safari we had to stop at a tea joint where we enjoyed a few local snacks and sipped hot tea along with our driver and enjoyed the sunset. After our drop off, we quickly freshened up to get the dust of jungle off of us, changed and drove down to the Orchid Park for an evening of cultural experience. Although this park should definitely be visited during the day as one may see the different varieties of Orchids, a kid’s play area, a lake with boating facility and a gift shop offering locally produced products, we couldn’t make it due lack of time, we did not want to miss the night show. There is a seating arrangement for approximately 50-70 guests and a small stage like area where locals perform. We got an insight to the Assamese culture by the performance of highly talented artists.

The performances started with live music using all their traditional musical instruments, many dance performances which included Bhortal, Bihu etc. to name a few with live singers and musicians for the same. After this insightful entertainment we went straight to the restaurant, had our dinner from a la carte and called it a day.

This was our check out day and we couldn’t just leave without just another safari. As we were leaving later in the day we had to take the morning safari, we had low expectation for sighting the wildlife as we were informed of morning safari in the winter and probable fog. This time we visited the Bagori Zone commonly known as western range. At this range we spotted the highest number of different kinds of birds like Black-necked stork, geese, ducks, kingfishers etc. to name a few.

The moment we felt a little dull for not spotting any animals and we sat in our jeep, our driver saw a tiger a little far but on our track. The tiger spotted us too and went back into the forest. The shift in energy was as real as it can get. We were all pumped up to have a look at the royal beast. We went ahead at the spotting site stopped our jeep, climbed up as high as we could and waited. We waited for a good 20 minutes for the tiger to come back out from the huge elephant grass and give us a glimpse. However, as luck would have it, he may have changed his course. Unfortunately for us we spotted four of the big five leaving one behind, which is kind of exciting because we now crave to more of jungle adventures in the future.

As we invested a considerable time for the tiger spotting during our safari, this one took us approximately three and half hours to get back to the resort. This was a very dicey time for us to be served breakfast as the closure timing was 1030 hrs. for the buffet. However, the restaurant staffs were quite considerate to accommodate us and not only that; they gave us their full attention for anything we needed at all. Outstanding all of the resort staff was Ms. Nanasolo, restaurant attendant who took the extra effort to take care of us. Her service was truly extraordinary.

Later, we packed up and bid goodbye to Kaziranga. It took us longer than our drive in to get back to Guwahati. We took approximately five and half hours to the airport with a pit stop of ten minutes at a restaurant.

This has been a surreal experience for us. We now look forward to many more jungle safaris our way in the future. For someone who absolutely loves nature and jungle, this place has to be on the top of their list while in India.

We booked our package via North East Vacation by Mr. Mintu (Mob -6913905655). Call him for any North East travel you are planning for and get a good deal. The best part is, it can be customized to suit your needs.

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