KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK DEC 2018

                              KAZIRANGA   21 -25 DEC 2018

Did a short trip to Kaziranga with Grandson Krishiv.

Gen Info. Kaziranga National Park  is 240 km from Guwahati Airport and it takes 5 hours by road. Barring just a small part of 60km , the road is very good.

The Aranya Tourist lodge of Assam Tourism is very well located, it is basic hotel with good food. The staff is helpful and you can have comfortable stay at a good cost.  Ph 03776 262429, Email aranyaatdckaziranga@gmail.com.  It is 5 mins walk to booking office of Elephant and Jeep Safari . 
Elephant Safari is booked a day prior  at 7 PM onwards.

The actual Govt Rates of Safari are these;

Elephant   900 per person

Jeep Safari  Central Sect   1750   for Jeep Seating 6 Persons

Jeep Safari  Western Sect  1850 

Jeep Safari  Eastern Sect    2250 

Time for Safaris

     Elephant safari  Morning 5.15 AP and 6.15 AM

 Morning Jeep Safari: 07.30 AM to 10:00 AM

 Afternoon Jeep Safari: 13.30 PM to 03:00 PM

In addition you are reqd to pay per day Rs100 Entrance Fee, If you take a Safari in the morning, you are not reqd to pay Entrance fee in the Evening.

Jeep Entry Fee 300

Camera Charges  100 for Still Camera

Welfare Charges   100

Sunlight Hours. Remember you are in East of India, the Sunlight hours are approx. early by 1 Hour. Eg If sunset time in Delhi is 5.30PM , the sunset time in Kaziranga will be 4.30PM

21 Dec

Took a flight  by Jet Air Flt at 18.40  from IGI Airport. 

IGI Airport

We arrived at  Guwahati at 21.05 hr. 

Guwahati airport

We then proceeded to our Guest Room  at Guwahati AF Base for night stay.

22 DEC TO KAZIRANGA  240 KM 5 HOUR

 Morning after BF started for Kaziranga at 8.30AM. 

Morning at AF Base Guwahati

Tree house at
Guwahati

Parrot at Tea halt Hotel

Had a Tea halt enroute.

Thereafter we reached around 3.45 pm  Kaziranga View point. We saw few animals from a view point and proceeded to out Hotel.

        

with Cultural Troupe

After brief rest in the Hotel we went to see the Cultural Dance performance from 7 PM to 8 PM. Held daily at Kaziranga Hall .

Dancing with troupe

                

23 Dec

Today,   woke a little early and got ready to enjoy our very first Elephant safari to Western Zone of the national park. . we reached the Western Sector Entry point at 05.00 AM. You again check your Name and follow the guide across the check point for Elephant Boarding point, across the small water canal. 

moon in river

It was cold and 3 persons sit on one side of Elephant, making a total of 6 passengers . The safari takes us through  very narrow path of the park within the elephant grass The Elephant goes really close to animals. We saw rhinos, hog deer, sambar deer, rufous treepie, and red jungle fowl (which is a wild chicken)

Rhino from Elephant Safari

The Safari is of approx. One Hour.

Helping 6 months old baby

After returning from Elephant Safari we fed an orphan elephant calf whose mother was killed by an infection. Then we had breakfast in our Hotel and rested a while.

Tea Garden

At around 09.30 hours we went to Kaziranga National Orchid and Biodiversity Park. It has a Entry ticket of Rs 100 and Camera fee of Rs100. Here you have various cluster of  plant houses. The first one houses little more then 500 varieties of wild orchids collected from different parts of North-east Indian states. 

in the Park

There are other clusters have about 132 species of medicinal plants,  fruits and  vegetables. You can go to other side of Park to see 12 species of cane and 46 species of bamboo. 

You can also watch short 20 min  cultural program  which run is every hour. We returned to our Hotel around 12.00.

After early lunch , at 1.00 PM,  we went to Eastern Range of the National Park on Jeep safari . 

Going for Jeep Safari

The entry gate is at Agaratoli(16 Km) on the National Highway. Jeep safari is organized in this zone. The eastern zone is home to numerous exotic water birds and migratory birds which  be viewed  using the binocular.  Birds we saw bar headed goose, grey legged goose, common pintail, mallard duck, open bill stork, lesser adjutant stork, pied kingfisher, common kingfisher, white breasted kingfisher, stork billed kingfisher, rose ringed parrot, indian pond heron, spot billed pelican, great egret, cattle egret, darter, little cormorant, yellow footed green pigeon, spotted owl, grey headed fishing eagle, pallas fishing eagle, indian roller, and the most beautiful bird great indian hornbill. 

Grey Heron

Mammals we saw were rhinos, wild water buffalo, wild boar, rhesus macaques, sambar deer, hog deer, swamp deer, and the royal elephant with tusks at least 4ft in length.   

Water Bodies

Brahmaputra river Bank

We also came to banks of River  Brahmaputra. This was our farthest point  of our Jeep safari in Eastern range.

We returned to our Hotel by 5.30PM.

24 Dec

Today  early morning at 7.00 AM we went to explore the Central range. We saw tall grass lands , jungle areas, drove along the water body and river also went up the watch towers. Birds we saw were red jungle fowl, black headed oriole, wooly necked stork, pied hornbill, minivet, grey heron, crested serpent eagle, alexander parrot and all the birds that were listed on Eastern range safari. Mammals we saw were the same listed on eastern range safari. A reptile we saw was an assam roofed turtle

Wooley Necked  Stork

Alexender Parrot

We returned to our Hotel around 1035 for Breakfast and Rest.

   

Jungle Fowl

Crested Serpent Eagle

Snake Bird

Bar headed Goose

White Breasted Kingfisher

Tusker Elephant

After Lunch we went for  our second vehicle safari of the day at 1.00 AM. This time we went to explore the western range of Kaziranga. Here we will followed the route Bagori - Dongabeel - Rowmari - Rajapukhuri - Monabeel and along bank of Mori Diffalu river. Birds we saw were woodpecker, glossy ibis, black headed ibis, sandpiper, shrike, black drongo, rocket tailed drongo and all birds that were listed in Eastern and western range safaris. We saw the same mammals as before. We saw a fish jumping in the river named shitol.

Ruddy Shelled duck

Wild Buffalow

Hog Deer

Sambar Deer

One our way back to resort stopped at the Donga watch Tower. We also tried to spot the Royal Bengal Tiger as some animals gave an indication of presence of Tiger, but we were not luck to spot the Tiger. 

Hog deer

Assam Roof turtle

Little & Great Comorants

   

sunset

We returned to our Hotel by about 5.15PM.

·      

25 Dec 

Today we had to return back after a good visit to Kaziranga

National Park.  We started after breakfast at 08.30 AM. We went for hoolock gibbon watching but we were unlucky we could not site any. We stopped enroute for a Tea break and reached airport by 2.45 PM.

We took our flight at 18.40 ( late by 2 Hours) arrived Delhi airport at 09.30PM  reached back home by 10 PM.

Dep by Jet air Flt no 9W606 at 16.50 Hours and arrival Delhi at 21.05 Hr.

ARUNACHAL NOV 2018

ARUNACHAL  TRIP    05 Nov to 11 Nov 2018

Arunachal Pradesh. Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains is the  sobriquet for the state in  Sanskrit ; It is also known as the Orchid State of India or the Paradise of the Botanists. Geographically, it is the largest of the Seven Sister States of Northeast. 

We did a very short tour of Western Part of Arunachal from 5 Nov to 11 Nov 2018.

Note; Please remember that distance in mountains is NOT measured in km/miles but only in TIME. You may do 6 km in One Hour, that is very important.

Inner Line Permit. Every one requires a Inner Line Permit to enter Arunachal. It can be obtained On Line and costs Rs100.00 per person.

 My Tour Visit points;

05 Nov.Took Air Asia evening Flt at 18.30 and landed at Guwahati Airport at 20.25. We then went to Air Force Base Guest Room and stayed the Night.

 

Guwahati Airport

06 Nov. We reached Guwahati Airport at 09.00 after breakfast. We had requested for a helicopter ride from Guwahati to Tawang, through Arunachal Aviation. The phone number for booking the helicopter ride is given on web site, Mob No 

Tawang From air

.  The ride depends on Weather Situation and VIP Movement. We were lucky to get the ride. It took 1 Hour and 10 Mins Flt.

Arunachal Aviation Heptr

We then went to see Tawang Monastry. Tawang Monastery was founded by the Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso in 1681 in accordance with the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang  Guatso , and has an interesting legend surrounding its name, which means "Chosen by Horse". The sixth Dalai Lama,Tsanfyang Gyatso , was born in Tawang. 

After visting the most popular landmark of Tawang, we went to our Guest Room. 

Our Room in Tawang

Evening at 16.00 we went to Tawang War Memorial. It has two parts. One is Museum giving the Battle of Tawang and Names of Soldiers who laid down their lives. 

Tawang War Memorial
The second part is a short Movie projected on Battle of Tawang and current  Tawang.

07 Nov. We started early at 08.15 after breakfast for Bumla. Enroute we saw the Tall Budha statue, PT Tsa Lake and reached Y Junction around 11.00 hours. We had a cup of tea and then started for Bumla. 

PT TSA LAKE FROM ROAD

The road after little distance was not paved and it was a rough ride. We reached Bumla ( Ht 4600 Mts;15200Ft)around 12.00. We saw the China border and stayed there for about 20 Mins and returned back. 

There were number of Lakes we saw on our way back to Y Junction. 
We also visited Teesri Udassi , Guru Nanak’s Gurudwara. 

lake seen from Gurudwara

Tesri Udassi Gurudwara

                   

Unknown Lake

Another Lake on the Way

Then we drove for another hour to Shonga-tser Lake also known as Madhuri Lake . The lake was formed due to earthquake in 1971 and has trees trunks in it. The lake is beautiful indeed but the journey is on a very rough stoned track. We had our lunch and returned back. We reached back our room around 6.30pm.

Madhuri Lake

Clouds Come Fast

Reaching The lake

08 Nov. we started at 8.30 after breakfast. Our first halt was at Nuranang water Falls. We reached the falls at 10.30 am and went close to magnificent water falls. 

Nuranang Falls

We spent 30 mins and travelled to Jaswant Garh Memorial. We reached there at 12.00. 

This memorial is In memory of RFN Jaswant Singh Rawat, MVC. He  assisted by L/Nk Trilok Singh Negi and RFN Gopal Singh Gusain as part of Company 4th Battalion Garhwal Rifles on 17 Nov 1962, volunteered to silence an enemy MMG that had come close to their defences and was firing accurately at the locality. That very day 4th Garhwal Rifles had beaten back two of the enemy attacks on their location. Jaswant Rawat and Gopal Gusain supported by the covering fire from Trilok Negi heroically closed within grenade throwing distance and destroyed the Chinese detachment of five men seizing the MMG. However, in the process of returning Jaswant Rawat and Trilok Negi were killed whereas Gopal Gusain though seriously injured came back with the captured weapon. The entire operation cost the Chinese 300 dead and wounded with loss to Garhwal rifles being 2 dead and 8 wounded.

The 4 Garhwal Rifles was awarded Battle Honour Nuranang, the only battle honour awarded to any army unit in the Sino-Indian war of 1962.

Road Construction Near Jaswant Garh

On way to Sela Pass

Having visited the memorial we then reached Sela Lake by 13.30 . We stayed at lake for a break and crossed the Sela Pass (Ht 4170 Mtrs;13700Ft). The views across Sela Pass are breath taking indeed. 

Sela Lake

Sela Pass

Across Sela Pass Towards Tenga Valley

We had another break at Madras Café, a Halt location for most of the visitors , enjoyed a extremely refreshing cup of Coffee and enjoyed 

Daal Vada. After this short halt we started for our Guest Rooms which we reached by 15.30. 

Our Rooms at Senge

View From Senge

09 Nov.  After finishing my commitment , we started for Tenga Valley at 11.30. The first halt we had was War Memorial . 

Nyukmadong War Memorial 

We paid our respects and moved to Sapper Camp river side halt. 

View From Sapper

Dirang Monastry

We had quick lunch here and drove to Dirang Monastry. We spent 20 Mins at the Monastery. 

We started for Bomdila and crossed the pass ( Ht 2415Mtr; 8000Ft ) around 16.00 hours. 

On Way to Tenga

 We then reached our Guest rooms in Tenga Valley around 17.30 Hours.

Our Room at Tenga

10 Nov.We started for a long drive to Guwahati after breakfast at 08.30. 

Crossing Roopa

After crossing Gyuto Monastry , we took one halt at Kalaktang for a cup of tea. At 11.00 hours. 

Kaliktang 

The road was really good surrounded by hills with green cover. We reached Kaliagaon around 14.30 had had a lunch break. We reached our Rooms in Guwahati around 18.30

Sunset on way to Guwahati

11Nov.We went to see UNESCO Heritage Site of Umananda Temple. It is a Shiva temple located at the Peacock Island in the middle of river Brahmaputra just opposite the office of the Deputy Commissioner or the Kachari Ghat in Guwahati. It was built by the Ahom King Gajadhar Singha (1681–1696), who was a devout Shaivaite.It is known as smallest inhabited riverine island in the world. 

Crossing Mighty Brahmputra on Ferry

Siva is said to have resided here in the form of Bhayananda. According to the Kalika Purana, in the beginning of the creation Siva sprinkled ashes (bhasma) at this place and imparted knowledge to Parvati (his consort). It is said that, when Siva was in meditation on this hillock, Kamadeva interrupted his yoga and was therefore burnt to ashes by the fire of Siva’s anger and hence the hillock got the name Bhasmacala.

Entrance to Temple

This mountain is also called Bhasmakuta. 
The Kalika Purana states that Urvasikunda is situated here and here resides the goddess Urvasi who brings Amrit (nectar) for the enjoyment of Kamakhya and hence the island got the name Urvasi Island.


You have to go in a ferry , which costs Rs20 per person for a return journey of 15 Mins.

After the visit we had Ethenic Lunch at a very nice ethenic restaurant, Gam's Delicacy with my friend on our way to air port.

Lunch with Col N Ms D K Chakraborty

We reached airport by 14.10 hours and took Spice Jet flight at 15.50 to land in Delhi at 17.45 hours

The trip was fully organized by organization I served with great care and affection. This tour is also available through Travel Agents from Guwahati and Tawang.

A extremly great trip to extremely beautiful nature of Arunachal.
Few Pics of my organisation.

with Members

Giving a Gift To Org

With New Generation Members