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After my trip to Ranthambore in Oct, Went for a photo tour to Dhikala,Corbett in Dec and the next photo tour was planned for Kaziranga.
This trip was also booked through Nature wanderer.

Trip date : 12th March to 16th March

Travel Plan : Delhi - Guwahati - Delhi by Air.
Guwahati to Kaziranga National Park - By road

Hotel Stayed : Infinity Resorts

Plan - 12th March - Reach infinity resort , Kaziranga.
13th March - Morning & Evening Safari
14th March - Morning & Evening Safari
15th March - Gibbon National Park
16th March - Return to Delhi


About resort
Its a relatively new resort which is about 5 kms from Central Zone.
It has 15 cottage built in traditional style and has lots of trees and a natural pond. Rooms are large with view to swimming pool and the pond.
The restaurants is on first floor with many trees surrounding. Must say the ambience is awesome. The food and service too as simply awesome.


About Kaziranga

Is a UNESCO World herigate site. But one can clearly see lack of fund or under utilised funds. The development is nothing compared to what is at Ranthambore or Corbet.

Kaziranga National Park is split into 4 zones:

1. Central Zone - Also known as Kohora. This zone best in terms of photography and has a high chance of sighting all the Big five. Booking and Tourist assistance/Ticketing counter is also opposite to this zone.

Western Zone - Also know as Bagori - I was told Western zone is best for elephant safari. This zone is further 20 kms from ticketing counter or central zone.

Eastern Zone - Also know as Agaratoli is 25 odd kms towards Guwahati. This is more preferred zone for birding. If lucky on can sight Bengal Florican here.

Burapahar - Zone - Didnt get much info.


Central & Eastern Zone - Both are far from ticketing center. Also one will required 45 min to 1.5 hrs additional travel time. Our group decided to do all safaris in Central zone, we were luck to get all Six Safari in Central zone itself.


The elephant safaris timings is from 5.30am-7.30am and Jeep safari is from 7.30 to 1200 hrs and 2 pm to Sundown.
One easily do both Elephant Safari and Jeep Safari on same day in central zone.


Kaziranga - Guwahati is about 220 kms and is charged about 5 to 6k for pickup or drop.

Jeep Safari - Charges ranges from 2600 to 3800 per trip for six people. An additional charge of Rs 50 per still camera per day is charged.


Big Five of Kaziranga
The Elephant, Rhinoceros, Wild buffalo, Tiger and Swamp deer.
Well i was almost lucky, narrowly missed Tiger.

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Day - 1
We were instructed to reach Guwahati by 09.30 am. I took the early morning flight.
15 min before landing i got some awesome view of Himalayas and sunrise.
The pickup Innova was already there and others too arrived in an hour. We all left for Kaziranga by 10 am. It took 5.5 hrs to reach hotel.

Air view Himalayas









Infinity Resorts : Reception & Parking : About 8 to 10 vehicle can easily be parked.


Restaurant - First floor







Hut Units : 15 units are there. Big rooms and spacious.


Beautiful pond and Walking track alongside..


BMW F800gs : German couple travelling around world on bike.





During dinner we came to know that a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbill daily is seen around resort early morning. We all had planned a early photo shoot.

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Day - 2

Got up 5 AM to checkout on Hornbills. Waited for them for about good 1 hr. As per the resort manager they regularly visit around 5.30 am. It was already 06.15 and no sign of them. Dejected we all went for tea at the restaurant. About 7 they landed on a tree near the pool. We all rushed down to shoot. it was difficult angle and far. Took couple of shots and hoped to try again tomorrow morning.

Today's morning and evening Safari were planned for central zone. Jeeps had already arrived. We left the resort by 7.15. Its about 10 minutes drive from resort to central zone.

Sparrow : Got a beautiful shot while waiting for Hornbill.


Oriental Pied Hornbill







Entry to Ticketing Counter : Another half a km from here


Entry to Central Zone - Another good 1 kms to check post


Check post for Central Zone

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Day2 highlight was Great indian Hornbill , Grey headed fish eagle and Elephants. Also we came to know that there was a tiger sighting also in central zone.

Enjoy the photos...




Indian Roller


Rhesus macaque


View from one of the watch towers


Lesser Adjutant - Very common lots of them.


Asiatic buffalo


Here a Grey-headed Fish Eagle was feeding. Next other shot give a close up view. We spend a good 30 minutes here.



Grey-headed Fish Eagle


Great Indian Hornbill : What a sighting.. Beautiful bird.


One of those place where tiger is spotted



This guy didn't move from there for about 15 - 20 minutes.



Elephant in "Elephant Grass"


White throated kingfisher


Another checkpost. Took a 10 min break

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Morning safari we were there till 1 pm. Went back to hotel for lunch and 2.30 pm again back to central zone. Returned back by 7 pm. More photographs from Day-2. Throughly enjoyed the day. Evenings were more of reviewing photos and preparing for the next day. After an early dinner hit the bed...

More photographs from Day-2.







































Exactly this spot about 15-20 min later one of the tourist spotted tiger. Rest all had left as it was getting dark
As per the guide, it was hiding behind the elephant grass(Right side of photo), the moment jeeps left , it crossed the grass land..
So one has to be really really lucky to see a tiger here. They never come close to the jeep tracks.

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Evenings were spent downloading & reviewing photos. Slept early as again we have to lookout for Hornbill in the morning.

Day-3 Gotup by 5.30. Quickly rushed towards restaurant area to checkout for them. To our sheer luck both were sitting on the branch and from the restaurant it was eye level shots. For next 30 min we all might have shots over 200+ photos in different poses. They were hardly disturbed by our presence.

Some photos...

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Day-3 was for some super closeup of Rhino and Water Buffalo. Elephants were less sighted and safari were uneventful.

Some more pics of the day...

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Day-4, - Gibbon WLS
We started very early by 3.30 am via Jorhat to Gibbon WLS. Its about 95 odd kms from Kaziranga. Road till Jorhat is good after that it bad.

About Gibbon WLS
One of the Sanctuary where you can find 7 primates namely Gibbon, Capped Langoor, Pigtailed Macaque, Rhesus Macaque, Stumptailed Macaque,Slow lorris and Assamese Macaque. This forest range is very dense and one has to walk about 5 to 7 kms to spot them. Best time to visit is from 6 am to 10 am.

Additional Info : Carry packed breakfast and water. Good shoes. Inside WLS humidity is very high, so dress accordingly. Even twice my camera give shutter error too. Lot of waking required. One can commonly see Capped langur and Gibbons. Rest are very difficult. To see all of them one may have to visit WLS 3-4 time or more..









Malayan giant squirrel


Capped langur

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Gibbon WLS has lots of butterflies and birds too. As the forest is very dense , it very difficult to click. Low light is another challenge...







Pigtailed Macaque




Gibbons - Female






Gibbons - Male





By 11 we left the WLS and reached hotel by luch time.
Day 5 : Checkout : Left for Guwahati by 10. By 10 pm i was back in Delhi.
Had our lunch at Atithya Resort, Sonapur. Beautiful place and good food.
End of log...

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing!

[wanderernomad]

Great write up and pics. I see that you caught one of the bulls at a rather inopportune moment. Last but 2 pictures in post 4. lol

[nilanjanray]

Lovely travelogue. Thanks for sharing. Would have been better if you had stretched it out a little bit instead of writing an abridged version :-)

[dutta_d1]

Fantastic photos. Never went to the Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary. But after seeing the pics, it is in my to-visit list now.

Can you tell us what camera/lens you used?

[gd1418]

Nice photologue with some great pictures. I wish you had detailed the logistics more. Like you mentioned that the Central Zone was about 20 odd ams from the ticketing counter.

So what time the ticketing counter opened so as to take the elephant safari at 5:30 and the jeep safari at 7:30?

[wanderernomad]

Originally Posted by gd1418

Nice photologue with some great pictures. I wish you had detailed the logistics more. Like you mentioned that the Central Zone was about 20 odd ams from the ticketing counter.

So what time the ticketing counter opened so as to take the elephant safari at 5:30 and the jeep safari at 7:30?

Gurujee the morning safari is booked the previous evening. You leave the logistics, just let us know when you plan to come.