Great Himalayan Drive Day 39-40: Back to the wilds in Kaziranga National Park in Assam

A Great Indian Hornbill at Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

After the turmoil of Arunachal’s mountains, it was back to the wilds – this time at the Kaziranga National Park, one of the best wildlife reserves in the country.

The experience at Kaziranga turned out to be great for two reasons: I stayed at Wild Grass Lodge – why can’t all properties in national parks be like these? (Will post a review of this later). I also managed to secure the services of their best guide, Budheswar Konwar, to take me around.

Click on any image for a larger view

As expected, I saw a lot of rhinos. The highlight was a family of three – father, mother and their baby (almost as big as the mother though). Pity I missed capturing them all together in one frame. And I saw another mother with a baby – this time the latter was much smaller in size. And then there was the curious case of a mother rhino trying to free herself from her son – it was time for the latter to be on his own. The mother wanted to go ahead and mate and needed the privacy, but the son still wanted to hang around with his mother. Mama’s boy – must be Italian!

I also saw Otters – even though from a distance through binoculars – for the first time in my life. And a Wild Water Buffalo floating in a lake to get from one bank to the other. And birds, lots of them, including not so common ones. These included an Indian Roller, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Jungle Fowl, Purple Swamphens, Lesser Adjutants, Parakeets and more.

If you like national parks, you have to go to Kaziranga sooner than later.

This trip was sponsored by TripAdvisor.in and Yatra.com.

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An Indian Roller at Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

A Jungle Fowl at Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

Parakeets at Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

A Lesser Adjutant at Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

Otters at Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

A Purple Swamphen at Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

A mother rhino with her baby at Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

Father rhino at Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

Tagged as: Assam, Great Himalayan Drive, Indian Roller, Jungle Fowl, Kaziranga National Park, Lesser Adjutant, North-East, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Otters, Parakeet, Purple Swamphen, Rhino, Rhinoceros, Swamp Deer