The Kaziranga National Park is one of the best forest reserves in the world – and you have to stay at the Wild Grass Lodge for a truly satisfying and wholesome experience.

The architecture and landscaping of the property makes you feel a part of the forest even though you are in the villages surrounding the reserve. There is an old world charm about the place, rare to find nowadays. And their pricing will pleasantly surprise you. Book direct as agents tend to overcharge under the guise of a complete package.

* Service: Terrific. I asked for the best guides as I wanted to do some serious photography, and they made sure I got someone who knew his job. They even got me a vehicle to myself. For those who have been to such places in the past, there is nothing worse than being guided by someone who does not know his job. The other staff does a commendable job of keeping the place clean.
* Rooms: With their wooden décor, it is nothing short of charming and romantic. Even if it is not plush. You have comfortable beds, lounge chairs and electric points for charging appliances. Lighting is deliberately kept dim. Bathrooms have running hot and cold water. All the sheets and towels are very clean too.
* Location: Does not get better unless they allow them inside the forest – but that is out of bounds.
* Amenities: Very good guides and jeep / elephant safaris. An all day restaurant serving local and Chinese cuisines.
* Liked Best: The location, architecture, interiors and landscaping.
* Liked Least: You cannot grudge such locations.
*Food Quality: Very good. But order well in time; they need an hour to prepare meals. And still be willing to be patient.

Charges: Rs. 1,850 for a double room including taxes; no meals included. But meals are very reasonably priced. Do check rates at the time of booking. (Beware when you book through agents – they somehow charge many times over)
Contact: Tel: +91.361.2630465, wildgrasskaziranga@gmail.com

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The Hoolock Gibbon (Lesser Ape) found in the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary near Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

I woke all excited at 5:00 am to head out to the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary near Kaziranga National Park and Jorhat in Assam. The day started with a small blip: my guide was missing. I had to go to his house and wake him up – it turned out he had slept late after a night of theatre and drinking with friends. Apparently with the tip I had given him the previous evening.

But the guide was good. He had made advance arrangements with another guide to spot the Gibbons and wait for us there. When I saw the family, I was a little disappointment: I was imagining they would look like those Great African Apes you see in National Geographic. I was even visualising sitting with them for photos – and feeding them bananas I specially carried.

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These Gibbons are much smaller, and a little bigger than monkeys. They were only to be seen on the upper branches of tall trees  – they never come down – making it tough for my neck. I had to keep looking up, balancing a heavy zoom lens on my eyes to ensure I caught the moment. They were mostly camouflaged by leaves – and their complexion did not make photography easier. And when they would swing, they did so in the blink of an eye. But I did have fun following them for a few hours – even if I had to shrug of leeches off me.

Here is a little extract from the book Hoolock: The Ape of India by Dilip Chetry, Rekha Chetry and P.C. Bhattacharjee:

“Anyhow a cup of tea we were on the way to try spot the Hoolock Gibbons. Of all the species of apes, these are the representatives of apes in India. They not only resemble man in many ways, but also share 95 percent of genetic material with us.

Gibbons are the smallest of all apes and are close to humans in intelligence and social structure. Of 350 species of primates, Gibbons are represented by 16 species. The Hoolock Gibbon found in the North East of India  is one of them, and smaller than the Gorilla, Chimpanzee and Orangutan (Great Apes). Gibbon is thus referred to as the Lesser Ape, or even the Small Ape. They are also more primitive than their great counterparts.

Being primates, Gibbons are also social in their behaviour. And are unique in having a monogamous social structure – the same male and female spend their lives together. They are also excellent acrobats. They dwell on canopies of forests – their longer forearms compared to the legs and bodies enable them to brachiate in the top strata of forests. (Brachiation is a form of movement in which primates move from one limb of a tree to another using only their arms. Gibbons can brachiate at speeds of up to 35 mph (55 kmph) and mover 20 feet (6 m) in one swing.)

Gibbons are also protective of their home range, the area in which a family makes its habitat. Gibbons are frugivores – they eat fruits (mainky ripe juicy ones) mostly, but also take in leaves, leaf buds, flowers, flower buds, petiole and animal protein (insects, bird eggs etc).”

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The Hoolock Gibbon (Lesser Ape) found in the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary near Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

The Hoolock Gibbon (Lesser Ape) found in the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary near Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

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The Hoolock Gibbon (Lesser Ape) found in the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary near Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

The Hoolock Gibbon (Lesser Ape) found in the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary near Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

The Hoolock Gibbon (Lesser Ape) found in the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary near Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

The Hoolock Gibbon (Lesser Ape) found in the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary near Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India

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.

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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.

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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

The beautiful landscapes on the road to Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh

Feeling like I had conquered the North Pole, I thanked the Army officers for their hospitality at Kibithu (the eastern most motorable settlement in India) and started back in the rain. And then the troubles started.

Rocks of all sizes were having a free run, plonking themselves at alarming regularity on the highway. One big fellow stopped me in my tracks at Walong one hour later, forcing me to spend the night in an Inspection Bungalow (I was lucky to have got one, and the rooms were very comfortable). But it was a cold, long night – and it seemed even more so with the uncertainties of what lay ahead.

Walong is famous for some of the bloodiest battles between Indian and Chinese troops in the 1962 war, with the former covering themselves in glory before eventually conceding defeat. If you go exploring, you can still find remains of helmets and other equipment in the peaks and forests around.

With a prayer on my lips, I set out the following morning – falling rocks had been joined by landslides. The Border Roads Organisation was trying its best to clear the roads with manpower and dynamite and I was lucky that I could keep moving forward, even if slowly. The fear was two-fold: being struck by a rock, and getting stuck on the road between two landslides.

Just when I started breathing easy with Hayuliang only 17 km away, a fresh landslide blocked my way. With darkness setting in, and weather getting worse, the prospect of a night in the car did not seem inviting. And this is when you start believing in the existence of the Almighty – I found a contractor with a JCB earth mover in a remote village of all the place. He agreed to help clear the way – and I reached the comfort of the Circuit House.

The following morning I set out to Dibrugarh with the weather and road conditions no better. But as the altimeter reading dipped, I could breathe more easy. I reached Dibrugarh in the plains – where even the heat was welcome. It was time to spend two nights in a comfortable hotel before setting out further.

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On India's eastern most road in Arunachal Pradesh, headed to Kibithu on the Chinese border

I set out on a rainy morning for Kibithu – the eastern most settlement in India that can be accessed by road.

It was a picturesque drive on a well maintained road, valleys on one side and lush green mountain faces on the other. Bamboo houses and rivers completed the postcard settings. A sign post near Kibithu announced I was on the eastern most road of India. It was with a sense of achievement that I drove into Kibithu – only to be told there were no guest houses there. The benevolence of the Army ensured me a room and hot meals in the Mess. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to venture out and to try and sight some Chinese villages across the border – the weather had made any hiking dangerous. It was time to sit back and enjoy a break after a month of heightened physical activity

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Crossing a stream on a shaky bamboo bridge on the way from Pasighat to Hayuliang in Arunachal Pradesh

Day 32 of the Great Himalayan Drive marked what would be many days of adventurous, and sometimes dangerous driving, into the lesser known after I left Pasighat.

After an hour of driving, I came across a broken bridge with little choice but to drive over a dry river bed. It took another hour to negotiate a rock strewn path, going over a shaky bamboo bridge over a stream and then losing my way before a boy out hunting guided me back to the highway. Incidentally, there are ‘Hunting not allowed’ signs all over but that does not deter locals from using slingshots and air guns to bring home dinner.

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And then came the Debang river, with a raft waiting to take vehicles across. An enterprising family had even set up a kiosk selling aloo puri and other food – much needed after an early start from Pasighat. Amazingly the raft, rowed by four, took my SUV and a tractor with a trailer all at one go. And everyone was so patient: When I said I was eating, everyone including the tractor driver agreed to wait and even catch a wink. Life moves at such an easy pace here.

More river beds and forests followed before I reached Hayuliang for a night halt. The Inspection Bungalow had no rooms available, and the only hotel / lodge was not exactly the place where one could stay. Fortunately, I managed a room at the Government run Circuit House, at Khupa, 8 km away. Only a year old, it was still in near mint condition and the best place I stayed at in Arunachal Pradesh. It started raining at night – I was later told this marked the onset of the eight month long monsoons in the region – but no one told what challenges this would throw up later as I set out on the final leg to Kibithu the next day.

Waiting for the ferry to cross the Debang River on the way from Pasighat to Hayuliang in Arunachal Pradesh

Getting off the ferry on the Debang River on the way from Pasighat to Hayuliang in Arunachal Pradesh

Yes, the ferry could carry my SUV and a tractor with a trailer on the Debang River on the way from Pasighat to Hayuliang in Arunachal Pradesh

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Children weaving cloth in Khonoma Village near Kohima in Nagaland

I spotted these children in the Khonoma Village of Nagaland, located 20 km from the state capital Kohima. They were weaving cloth on the roof of their homes. The residents here belong to the Angami tribe. Scroll down for more images of these children; click on any for a larger view.

Members of the Sumi Tribe of Nagaland performing at the Hornbill Festival

This image of Sumi tribals was taken at the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland that takes place from December 1-7 every year. The Sumis are one of the 16 recognised tribes of Nagaland.

I have just returned from the north-eastern state of Nagaland, for long a state affected by political violence and underdevelopment. Even before I left, friends and family expressed concerns over my decision to explore this volatile region. The usual expression was, Why Nagaland? I could not answer this before I left, but now I can.

For starters, safety is currently a non-issue. And hope it stays that way. I spoke to Government officials, Army and Police personnel, locals and other tourists – they all gave a thumbs up. They were not wrong.

And the state is beautiful and largely untouched. It is mountainous, with clouds and mist enveloping the peaks all the time – and often coming down to hug the people too. It is lush green – like any tropical forest. It is like the Himalayas meeting the Malabar coastline. And it was cold but not freezing – just the right kind to make it enjoyable.

The cherry on the top are the people – they are warm, fun loving and still leading very innocent and simple lives. The kind you will want as your friends. Yes, language is a barrier – but it never came in the way of my exchanging sweets for oranges from a street vendor. Or bananas with a lady weaving cloth at home in Khonoma.

Other places may have music, but Nagaland has the rhythm. Watch them dance to their traditional beats or to those from the west and you will know what I mean.

Infrastructure for travellers is still woefully lacking though: accommodation is basic at best. Roads can be bumpy in parts. Hiring cabs during peak season has to be planned in advance. If you are a vegetarian like me, food will figure in the plans only to keep you going. Of course, those with fewer qualms can choose from a variety of options unheard of in many other parts of India. But for the all roughs, Nagaland is more than worth all the effort.

I will be writing more about my experiences in the coming days and weeks – watch this space.