Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
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As soon as you enter Meghalaya on the way to Shillong from Guwahati, you start seeing greenery all around. Most of the road from Guwahati to Shillong took me through green and beautiful hills, and the large Umiam lake – an artificial lake created by building a dam.
Birds eye view of the town, on the way to Shillong Peak
The town itself, like many other hill stations today, has two parts – the old town in the center which is clean, beautiful and well maintained, and the extensions which have grown haphazardly in an ugly manner all around the old town. “Shillong is nice place”, the owner of the angling camp at Nameri had told me, and it indeed seemed beautiful.
Shillong has many of these pretty and ancient buses!
On the days I was there, we had clear blue skies, and the weather was just how I wanted – slightly colder than normal. There were quiet lanes with lot of trees and a few ancient looking bungalows around the town center. The Ward’s lake and the golf course were the celebrated landmarks and were worth taking a walk to. The roads and the places around Shillong Peak, just outside the town are quiet and wooded and offered some pleasant walks. My guidebook suggested a visit to barabazaar or lewduh, a market close to the city center, where I did go to. But it looked no different than the old chaotic markets that you get to see in any town in India.
Ward’s Lake is right in the center of the town
I spent the days in Shillong walking around its parks and green avenues, and the evenings sitting and lazing near the Ward’s lake. For the size of the town that Shillong is, I was surprised to see that it hosted a few discos. Many shops and restaurants also had posters of rock concerts by local stars, which seemed to happen pretty often.
Who said traffic jams happen only in big cities?!
About Shillong
Shillong is a pleasant town and is one of the well known hill stations of the North East. The best thing to do when you are there is to spend time leisurely, enjoying the weather and without bothering to do too much moving around and sightseeing. But nearby Cherrapunjee is not to be missed. The well known sightseeing places around Shillong are the beautiful Shillong peak and Ward’s Lake. There are a few waterfalls located around the town. A short drive from the town on the way to Guwahati is the large artificial lake – Umiam Lake, also called Barapani.
You can reach Shillong by buses or shared taxis from Guwahati, which is takes approximately three hours. Shillong also has an airport and you can fly in from Kolkata. There is also a helicopter facility from Guwahati to Shillong.
Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: At Kaziranga National Park
+Next: Lazing in Shillong
+Go to the beginning of the series
Kaziranga National Park is a UNESCO world heritage site, and is well known for One Horned Rhino which have now become endemic to the region.
Previous posts on Kaziranga
* Arriving at Kaziranga
* Two days at Kaziranga
Although Kaziranga is not the only place where you see the Rhinos, it is the place where you see them in plenty, and a sighting is almost guaranteed. You can find Rhinos in a few more parks in Assam. Rhinos, though are the prime attraction of the park, there are other animals in plenty, such as the elephants, wild buffaloes, deer(swamp deer, chitals, barking deer). The park even has tigers, though sightings are not common. When it comes to birds, Kaziranga is the habitat of Bengal Florican, a rare, critically endangered species.
A few decades ago, the numbers of the Rhinos were rapidly declining due to rampant poaching, and the future looked bleak for them in Kaziranga. But good park management and a ‘shoot to kill’ approach against the poachers in the later years has brought life back to the park, and the Rhinos have thrived, with plenty of food and water available in the grasslands on the banks of Brahmaputra.
THINGS TO DO, AND PLACES TO STAY
Elephant rides in the park are one of the biggest attraction, since it lets you get very close to the Rhinos. Although the safari elephants are in good numbers, you may not be guaranteed a ride due to rush in the peak season. You can also go on a jeep safari in the park. Accommodation around the park is also limited. There are very few hotels or resorts, and a few government run lodges are the main places to stay. Book ahead during weekends and seasons. Wild Grass Lodge, a mid-range accommodation has earned itself a good name.
HOW TO REACH
Kohora is the village just outside the National Park where all tourist amenities and the park office are located. Kaziranga is a six hour journey from Guwahati. Buses from Guwahati to Jorhat and Dibrugarh go via Kohora.
Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: Arriving at Kaziranga
+Next: About Kaziranga National Park
+Go to the beginning of the series
I spent two days in Kaziranga, going on elephant rides, taking jeep safaris, walking all around, looking for birds and listening to stories from a Manipuri guy who was with me.
“Don’t go to Manipur”, he said when I told him that my travel plans further are not very rigid. At last count, he said there were more than 80 militant outfits in Manipur. The porous border with Myanmar had resulted in everyone taking to guns, and at some point of time it seems to have become a common practice that people got accustomed to. The militants lay their own check posts on the roads, ask for their taxes, etc. It is apparently complete lawlessness and my friend was very upset about it. A few months down, some friends who went their unknowingly, confirmed that Manipur is an avoidable region for the traveller.
After going through the bureaucracy to get a seat of elephant back, we managed to secure an allocation for the next morning. The park entry where you assemble for the ride is a good 3km from the tourist complex where the hotels existed. Having no means of transport, we were walking the way on the pleasant morning, and were picked up half way by a friendly park officer. Once there, I realized the reason for having a booking process in place, even if it is a cumbersome one. They have way too many – more than a dozen safari elephants in Kaziranga, and they serve more than one one-hour shift every morning. The number of tourists who take the ride is probably more than hundred. We had secured a booking for 7am slot and when we reached there around that time, there were no elephants. They had gone into the forest(meadow is the better word) with 6am batch and started returning around 7.10am. I can’t recall if there was an 8am batch, I think there wasn’t any.
A Rhino walks in style, head high, in its territory
You can get really up close to a Rhino during elephant ride. Close enough to shake hands(with its legs or horn as it wishes!), if Rhino willing!
Yawnnn… these tourists are so boring..!
Though I despise elephant rides, it is the best way to see Rhinos, and any other animals that you might get to see in the park. Elephants and Rhinos seem to live a harmonic life in the park, and they tend to get as close as a few feet to the rhinos. So close – if you ever happen to fall from the pachyderm’s back, don’t be surprised if you land on the rhino’s back!
Ah.. Nice pool for a good bath!
In the hour long ride, we saw plenty of rhinos. Kaziranga is one national park where people never go back disappointed. With a good and thriving population of Rhinos, you are pretty much guaranteed to see them. And if you are there in summer, you will also surely see herds of elephants and wild buffaloes. There are also plenty of deer to see, including the swamp deer(barasinga), ubiquitous chitals and a few barking deer. It seemed like a season of babies in Kaziranga while I was there. We saw many baby Rhinos and baby wild buffaloes. Even some of the escort elephants we were riding on, had babies following them!
A wild buffalo watches us wearily as it feeds its baby
A herd of wild buffaloes
Small family.. happy family..
Herd of deer
Elephant Herd
There were many birds too. I vaguely recall someone saying that everything comes in a big scale in Kaziranga. The mammals – rhinos, elephants and wild buffaloes are big. The wild buffaloes grow to such size that you can almost mistake them for elephants from a distance. Even the birds – pelicans, lesser adjutant storks and white necked storks are so big that they can probably easily lift a baby in their beaks and fly away.
Don’t mess with me!
A lesser adjutant stork
A red jungle fowl keeps a watch on us
A hoopoe
Later in the day we went on a jeep safari which lasted for good two hours. It was in the safari that I saw a few more birds, like the commonly seen Indian Roller, Jungle Fowls, white necked storks, pelicans, emerald doves and a many more.
Deer..
I spent the next day walking all around the place outside, to nearby villages and tea estates, looking around for birds. From here, I headed to Guwahati and then moved on to Shillong to spend a few more days.