Kaziranga National Park - A Lost World
It took some serious effort to get here. But we wanted something authentic. And we got authentic. We arranged a 3 nights and 3 day tour at the Wild Grass Lodge one of only a handful of Lodges in the National Park region. This part of the country gets tourists, but they are almost exclusively Indian. This region, because of how remote it is does not have the tourist infrastructure that some of the better known and more prominently located National Parks have in India. And that is why we came. Most of the National Parks have become glorified zoos that have tons of tourists and going on Jeep rides and Elephant rides trying to see the very elusive Tiger in the wild. It is very rare to see tigers. The entire Kaziranga has 100 tigers - they are nocturnal and very solitary animals. We did not want to go on a safari looking just for Tigers because the odds were so heavily against us. We came to Kaziranga for the chance to see Tigers but this is really the last strong hold of the Asian one-horned Rhino. There are only a few thousand left in the world and Kaziranga is the place to see them.
Our first night in the Lodge was fine - it was very clean and a big room. One little thing we did not anticipate is that it was pretty cold. Okay it was very cold and the room had no heat. In fact we tried to do some laundry the first night we got there assuming it would dry during our stay. The socks did not dry for 3 days! Danna was freezing at night - she used like 4 blankets and her ear muffs! When the sun came out during the day it was very nice out - but the morning and evening brought in a blanket of fog that just kept the air very cold and damp.
We are tough - we got up that first morning at 5:30 for a 6:15 departure for an hour elephant trek into the national park. Safari on elephants is very different that on a jeep. There is no road - not even a real path - the mahouts (elephant drivers) just go. The group pretty much stays together but everyone is out there looking to see what we can see.
You get on the elephants by climbing up to a raised platform that is basically elephant height and hop onto the saddle. The animals backs are so wide - and I am not the most flexible guy - the riding position basically has you in a virtual split - for an hour! We were happy to see that our herd of elephants was joined by two baby elephants that stay with the group during the trek. Baby elephants are super cute and friendly. They walked right up to everyone before we left looking for bananas and just to play.
As we left on a trip - the scene was absolutely surreal. We left the road area and turned into a massive grassland shrouded in a heavy grey fog. The real beauty of the elephant safari is the quiet. There was no motors, no noise - no one spoke at all. Everyone had all of their senses on high alert as we started to walk into the wilderness. It is winter in Kaziranga now and that means the grass is at its tallest and thickest. We trudged through muddy clearings and through "elephant grass" that was higher than our heads on the elephant! The grass in some spots reached 12-14 feet high and you could not see the ground it was that thick. It was a scary feeling having the low visibility of the fog and the grass combined. You literally did not know what you were going to run into! And then as we pushed through the grass we came up right behind a full grown adult Rhino no more than 10 yards away from us. The animal is massive rivaling the elephants in girth just stumpier.
If someone had never seen or heard of a Rhino before and then traveled to Kaziranga National Park they would assume they had traveled back in time or found a lost ancient world. A Rhino up close strikes an uncanny resemblance to a Triceratops. Everything about this animal looks exactly like the toys I used play with as a kid - minus two horns - this was a dinosaur. The Rhino we encountered looked up at us - saw the elephants and saw no threat. That was just the first of the amazing moments we had Ancient fern forests, impossibly green, growing uncontrolled by human touch were left to be as they were and as they always have been.
A few great stories:
The first day of elephant riding is exciting and crazy and a little unnerving being that we are on actual elephants in the middle of the wild. By the second morning though, we felt like pros. Up early – off to the platform – a good morning to our friendly mahout and off we went. As we did the day before we started wandering the national park. Toward the end of our hour in the distance we saw two rhinos literally playing like puppies. They were sprinting back and forth – running fast, really fast – chasing each other around the field. We meandered over to them so as not to spook them, but they were locked into each other…literally. The mahout said, “boyfriend girlfriend” and we all understood. We were able to get right up in front of them as they had their horns locked – pretty crazy.
When we got back to the platform with the rest of the elephants and tourists – there was a little bit of a commotion going on from one of the other groups. As we mentioned, almost all of the tourists here are Indians and one of the groups had some bananas with it to feed the baby elephants that had been with us for the past two days. But instead of feeding the baby – they were teasing him. Pretending to give him the bananas and pulling them away. While baby elephants are certainly small and cute compared to their parents – they are still big creatures – and this baby wanted those bananas. He started chasing the group and was getting pretty frisky. One of the mahouts came over and used his metal driving prod (I can’t think of a better word for it – it is basically a giant steel nail – with one blunt end and one pointed end – the mahouts use it to press down into the head of the elephant they are driving when they want it to keep moving) and used it has a weapon and hit the baby elephant on the head with it. Danna and I were taken aback. The baby elephant literally cowered. Then the mahout hit him again – and we heard that hollow melon sound and the baby elephant let out a noise – it sounded like pain. Now again, the baby was getting teased and getting frisky with actual paying customers – but as the mahout raised his hand again, I literally stepped in front of him and said “that’s enough.” The mahout looked at me kind of puzzled like – why do I care – also kind of annoyed like “stupid tourist thinks he knows how to handle elephants” and just huffed and walked away. Well the baby elephant must have appreciated this – he would not leave my side for the rest of the time we were there. He literally came up tom on the steps and wrapped his trunk around me and staid with me and Danna until we left back to the lodge.
On our final afternoon of the jeep safari we are winding down another great day. It is true that by day three you start to take the rhinos for granted and the wilderness for granted a little bit. But we were sitting by a lake at dusk as the sun was starting to set just taking it all in – and then we heard in the distance an unmistakable sound of a guttural roar and everyone looked at each other and just nodded – there was a tiger somewhere nearby. Now its go time – our guide starts the jeep and we blast off down the dirt path. We are with one other jeep and head in the direction from which we heard the roar. As we get close the guide stops the driver looks at Danna and I and says very seriously – here is the plan. The tiger is in the grass somewhere back there, we are going to position ourselves on the bend in the road and tiger will come out of the grass and walk in front of us – have your cameras ready. He then said, “NO ONE MAKES A SOUND AND NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS.” We keep driving and position ourselves right at the edge of the bend – there is 12-foot-tall elephant grass to our left and then more grass to our right. We stand at the back of the jeep silent, waiting and watching the top of the grass move as a creature walked through it. The animal is not moving quickly – but slowly the grass movements are getting closer to the road and as it gets closer we could hear panting. Right about now we hear another loud ROAAAR but very clearly from directly behind us! I look at the guide he looks at me and I can read his mind “Oh Sh*t… there are two tigers and we are right in the middle of them.” Keep in mind there are only like a hundred tigers in the whole national park – this is crazy. Danna at this point says the hell with no sudden movements and dives under the seats of the jeep… the grass in front of us keeps moving right to the edge…. Out of the grass pops a small rhino…WTF?!?!? I look at the guide – now I read his mind again. There was only one cat and he was behind us the whole time. We never saw it. By the time we realized what happened the tiger had crossed the road and we heard it roar or maybe it was a laugh one more time in the distance.
