Manas & Kaziranga - the two jewels of North East India
On the recently concluded Trans Himalayan Expedition, we had some amazing wildlife experiences. Right from lifer birds, mammals, reptiles to some of the most elusive creatures or our jungles, we had an unforgettable experience. But out of all the wilderness that we explore, Manas and Kaziranga in the North Eastern States of Assam turned out to be very rewarding.
Both the parks are well known for their One horned rhinoceros, elephants and water buffalo sightings and we were not let down. In Manas we had scores of elephant encounters. Our guides and travellers had some real good encounters. Manas has some very well placed viewing platforms around salt licks offering close view of the big mammals like elephants, rhinos and gaur.
The area around Manas river is quite open and offers exquisite landscape views. We also saw herds of water buffaloes grazing on the banks of the river. Capped langur was another new mammal fro our guests.
Manas is also famous for extremely rare mammals like the clouded leopard, black panther, golden cat etc. Although our Lady Luck was not good enough to see one of them, we did come across another rare creature called the yellow throated Martin. It was a brief sighting and before we could get over our excitement and pick our cameras, it jumped across the road and disappeared in the thickets.
Kaziranga is a UNESCO world heritage site and it is indeed rightly so. In total we saw 132 one horned rhinoceros. They were just about everywhere. We got some incredible behaviour and pictures.
Icing on the cake in Kaziranga was the second tiger sighting of the trip. On our first morning in Kaziranga we got a tip off about a tiger sitting near a water body. We rushed to the spot, but by the time we reached there, a big water buffalo had chased the tiger inside the bushes and we missed it by literally 2 seconds. It was unbelievable. But determined to take another chance, in the afternoon we returned back to the same zone. The plan was to head straight to the morning location. We were rushing to the spot. But what luck! The tiger had moved in the afternoon and was heading back to the same spot. It walked for about 5 minutes in front of our jeep.
On day 2 morning, a pack of smooth coated otters kept us busy. It was extremely entertaining to see them hunt as a pack.
Below are some of the glimpses of the amazing sightings that we had:
A female elephant blocking our path
A huge tusker leading the herd across the river
One afternoon from a watch tower in Manas
One afternoon from a watch tower in Manas
An impressive tusker from Manas
Capped langur from Manas
Kalij Pheasant from Manas
One of the best moments with the giants of Kaziranga
Great Indian Hornbill's massive wingspan
The very elusive Kaziranga Tiger
Hog deer - most common animal in Kaziranga
Asiatic water buffalo from Eastern zone of Kaziranga
Small pack of smooth coated otters in Kaziranga
If you want to be a part of our next Trans Himalayan Expedition, just drop us an email at: info@overlandingindia.com
For more information on the trip click here
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