| A trip to Kaziranga National Park
Trip to Kaziranga National Park
Prologue:Life in Majuli, my birthplace and the world’s biggest riverine island was very placid , peaceful and sluggish in the late 20’s . Far away from the madding crowd of city , untouched by the economic boom of liberalization Majuli had its own quaint charm with its scenic beauties . Satellite Tv was yet to make its foray into the Tahitian island . I remember we had a small and sleek Philips radio of black colour . Barring the few Black and white TV of Onida in a selected affluent household of the neighbouring locality, entertainment gadgets were very scarce . Folk theatres, ethnic cultural extravaganzas made us oblivious of it . when we were about to hurriedly leave for school at 9 am after having our meal, a heart rending song kept flowing from the Radio . It was soulful poignant voice of Anima Borthakur singing “ Kaziranga he moi”( I am Kaziranga) with a great pathos that immediately striked an emotional chord with the listeners . I attempt to translate the first stanza to English for the understanding of non assamese readers . Song was beautifully penned by lyricist Syed Sadulla of All India Radio, Dibrugarh .
‘’Do you lend ear to my bewailing or not
Oh my friend !
How many stories writ large on my heart
With ruddy drops of blood
I beseech you to come
If you get time
Please come for once to see me !”
After the cursory mentioning of Kaziranga as National park of Assam in school text book radio song was the first impression Kaziranga had on me during the tender years . Being in my early teens it was beyond my comprehension to exactly understand what had ailed national park .Then after a few years while I was in my tenth grade , I happened to lay my hands on a beautiful hard bound book with the sketches of elephants with mahouts strolling in grass lands or one horned rhino moving amidst the tall elephant grass . It was a novel entitled “The Kaziranga Trail” by Padmashree awardee Arup Kumar Dutta and it was published by Children book trust . I still have this book with me in my library . Arup Kumar Dutta’s stunning narrative transported me to a different world of adventure where three guys namely Dhanai, Babul and Jonti aided forest officials in arresting the dreaded rhino poacher Munia . To my utter surprise , I was acquainted to a world so strange , brutal and mysterious yet alluring for its pristine natural beauty . In Assam parallel to the mighty river Brahmaputra , Kaziranga is also accorded a significant place as the hallmark of the identity of Assam. I wondered how that little horn on its stout which grows from its flesh can be detrimental to its own safety and well being ! Bordered by the mikir hills (which is now Karbi Anglong) and mighty Brahmaputra Kaziranga was a “Game Sanctuary” till 1926 as hunting was a sport or hobby for britishers . Towards the second half of 1940 , it was re named as “Wild Life Sanctuary” with a view to preserve and protect its wild life and flora fauna etc .It’s terrain was so inhospitable that even forest officers too afraid to enter into the park citing that not even jumbos can enter the park . A J W Milroy decided to develop the park so that visitors can freely visit the park . E P Gee , famous naturalist too played a very crucial role in the conservation of this park alongside Dr Rabin Banerjee .
Day 1
9th feb,2021
Finally we decided to visit the park in a sunny morning in February . Since I work in law enforcement planning does not always materialize due to the unpredictable khaki schedule . we hurriedly chalked out our plan to start our journey in the late afternoon that day . Kaziranga has been in my bucket list from a long time but due to constraints it was not fructified . Sometime pre conceived notion or prejudice such as ‘’ghar ka murgi dal barabar’ (Home grown chicken and lentils are equal) too act as deterrent in exploring the best in his own land ! Distance between Guwahati and kaziranga is nearly 200kilometre -a four hour long drive from Guwahati . Being an Assamese this stretch of the highway is quite familiar to us . From Guwahati till Nagaon , driving on the butter smooth four lane highway is wonderful . National highway 37 is precisely the lifeline of Assam and its bordering north east sisters . Aimanu’s joy knew no bounds since she came to know about our proposed kaziranga trip .I believe that we should have visited it earlier since kaziranga is so dear to every Assamese . Whenever I and my better half used to ride through the national highway amidst the park, we thought of visiting the park someday ! Though I was bit guilt ridden for not visiting the heritage of my home state till now, I consoled myself with the assurance that it is better to visit later than never !
In my regular trip to Majuli through the national highway 37 , now and then we used to halt at Borgos or kaziranga Greenwood resort for meal . Prior to this trip we spent two nights at IORA resort as brief sabbatical from monotony of daily life on a very special occasion . During that time park remained closed for visitors
What I enjoyed at IORA resort was its verdant luxuriant landscape with shrubs and grass in the pathways and garden ! An idyllic , relaxed and soothing atmosphere prevailed in the resort campus ! As our itinerary was planned in haste , I considered it more sensible to directly contact the resorts ,rather than booking online . I came to know from my earlier stay that resorts have rooms even after showing as booking closed online . I contacted Borgos, IORA and Mandu from Guwahati itself and they conveyed their inability to book any room for us instantly as rooms were unavailable . Besides, it was the peak season to visit the park and visitors from different parts of the globe thronged to Kaziranga at this time . we had to look for other resorts and hotels in the vicinity of the park !Kaziranga has witnessed a boom in hotel and real estate ! There are a plenty of hotels for all kinds of guests . Atlast, I booked a room for us at the D Courtyard resort over telephone .We reached the D courtyard resort at around at around 9 PM ! Hindi speaking manager of the resort was very amicable , courteous and had a pleasant personality . Though we had just arrived at the resort on a telephonic assurance from the resort itself without booking or advance payment through any site , resort staff did not let us feel any inconvenience ! We immediately felt at home . With the tall plants , lights in the resort park and silence an aura was prevailing in the campus brought an immediate sense of relaxation and happiness ! We were guided to the rooms in the next building and parked our Ecosport there . Manager had already assured me that though resort did not provide direct animal safari from its end , it would arrange jeep or animal safari for sight seeing inside the park . I requested him for jeep safari and he told us to get ready in the wee hours in the morning since jeep safari starts from the early morning ! That was an wonderful time ! Room was pretty decent and neat and clean with ample space .
Day 2
10th February,2021
We all woke up early in the morning at 6AM and came out to the courtyard of the resort and saw a Maruti gypsy parked in the front of the resort . Driver was standing there near the vehicle . We three boarded the vehicle and left for the ticket counter .After collecting the ticket and payment of fees including fee for our DSLR we had tea and biscuits at the nearby tea stalls and headed to the park .
An aged security guard came near to me and told me that it was still too early . They usually escort the visitors in carcade in groups .They provide an armed guard with the every group of visitors consisting of three or four safari . Being in law enforcement I spontaneously develop a sympathetic feeling and bonhomie towards these subordinate real work force who work in ground . Thus a rapport and amicable bonhomie grew up within a short period and without my insistence he allowed another arm guard to escort us inside the park and we entered without any convoy of other visitors !
Slowly our gypsy entered deep inside the park ! Saw the sun gleaming in the morning wintry sky amidst the fog . A light breeze too kissed us while braving the wintry climate in open gypsy ! It was rewarding , a pure bliss and oneness with the nature ! Green Barbet ( Hetuluka in Assamese , with whom I have been so accustomed to ! ) . As a cop when I have to undertake anti insurgency operation in forested Himalayan foothills bordering Bhutan familiar voice of was that of green barbet was a kind of company for me .
As our gypsy began to enter deep into the jungle we were greeted by the scene of a flock of colourful red jungle fowl amidst the shrubs and saw herd of swamp deers grazing in the distant field . The sight of the herd of deer was awesome . This grazing stretch was not very far from the adjacent village . Forest guard told me that tigers used to predate even in the areas bordering the village . The sight of villages mushrooming close to the park was worrisome and precarious . Since the last couple of decades hordes of illegal Bangladeshi migrants have been settled inside the park area for petty political mileage which aided and exacerbated the menace of poaching in the park as well. Alas , for the parties in power vote banks are more important than the unique bio diversity and wildlife and in materialising their long nefarious design they don’t budge to compromise with his own land and soil ! Illegal migration from Bangladesh has posed a demographic and cultural threat to Assamese identity as well . Since this brief write up is intended as travelogue , I would resist myself from going deeper into the issue !
As we went deeper , sights of more flora fauna’s began to appear . The sight of white stork in beel or the sleepy pig taking nap in stack of dry foliage in autumn winter overwhelmed us ! After migrating from rural area to urban metro , this has become a rare sight for city dwellers ! Then the uncrowned monarch of Kaziranga , famous one horned rhinoceros began to appear amidst the tall elephant grass and marshy tract majestically grazing without ‘caring and fearing for nothing’ . Adding to its majestic aura, two small sparrows were also sitting idle in its back !
Now a days Rhinos in kaziranga are accustomed to human beings and they display least concern or aggression for human ! As narrated by EP Gee , the famous naturalist in the early days , way back in 1908 behaviour of rhinoceros was different ! Even mahouts did not dare to enter the park on the back of elephants !They had aversion for human incursion but gradually they were habituated it . This is what is called metamorphosis in animal behaviour!
The sight of wild buffalos amidst the tall elephant grass or swamp deer’s in field were a feast for eye ! Kaziranga boast of more than two thousand rhinos , elephants, swamp deers. Besides it’s also known as tiger reserve having the highest density of tigers in the world .
The sight of the wild geese swimming in the beel , falcon perching on the tree top, flying hornbill in the landscape engulfed by morning fog was a rewarding ! Suddenly we saw weird deep scratches in the stem of a tree , as if something had attempted to rupture or tear away the tree ! Our forest guard told us that those were the marks of tiger’s claws ! Lonesome and fast predator tiger marks his territory by scratching on tree etc . We were stunned at observing how the wonderful predator , (who deserved the epithet of ‘’king of jungle’’ more than lion ) can jump so high taking a vertical limp ! The height where tiger marked it territory by scratching was astounding ! Later I came to know that tigers can spring vertically up to heights of 20 feet when in full flight ! Is not that amazing ! However we were not lucky enough to have the sight of tiger .
Finally it was time to bid good bye to Kaziranga , the ‘the land of red goat’ in mikir(Karbi) dialect ! Though there are many differing accounts about the etymology of the park’s name , mikir origin ‘ land of red goat’ appears more appropriate and convincing to me .
Anecdote :
Kaziranga was declared as national park only in 1968 and as wild life sanctuary in 1950 . Prior to that it was forest where it’s sons of soil used to visit for fuel wood , medicine or hunting etc . Forest official once regaled and entertained EP Gee , the famous naturalist and foremost conservationist of Kaziranga with a real life experience in 1930 . Mikirs (nowadays called Karbi), used to wear very brief loincloths with a length of cloth hanging behind, used to run away from the forest guards. When guards used to catch them by the piece of cloth hanging behind, they would chop this part off and run away.That ensued in a amusing humorous scene . Gee calls this portion their ‘tails’. Gee persuaded the Hunter and doctor Robin Banerjee of Hatikhuli tea estate , who also contributed a lot to conservation of Kaziranga to shift from the gun to the camera saying that ‘kills with the camera gave you your trophy, but kept the creature alive ’’ ! Banerjee introduced kaziranga to global audience through his first film” The Kaziranga National Park” in 1961 and dedicated his entire life in conservation of Kazriranga park .its high time that we all strive to make Kaziranga a poaching free world heritage site and create awareness among people . Kaziranga is pride of our country ! | 
1st November 2021, 15:53
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