Kaziranga National Park : The ecological wonder (part 2)

Kaziranga National Park: The ecological wonder (part 2)

Its unbelievable that in the last one month we are again back to this dystopian pandemic infested world. The country is reeling and gasping for breath. Staying safe, grateful and grounded is of extreme importance now. Nature is a great healer and we have to be cautious and practice patience now.

Going through our photos of green Kaziranga really helped me calm down my anxiety and pangs of helplessness.

In this post I will try to uplift all my readers mood by sharing beautiful nature photos together with tips and anectodes our Kaziranga trip.

And as promised in my last post I am back with all the details about our last Kaziranga trip. In this post I will share about how to go, where to stay and most importantly what to eat during your trip to Kaziranga.

How to Reach Kaziranga National Park

We set out from Guwahati with a couple of our friend for our Kaziranga safari holiday in the month of March. Kaziranga is roughly 200 km away from Guwahati by road. In most parts the road is in great condition and we had a smooth ride in our hired self drive car.

We hired the car from a Guwahati rental company called “ Fufugari”. (In Assamese “ fufu” is a fun filled colloquial term meaning to go for a fun trip/ vacation). They charged Rs 2000/- per day with toll fare and diesel extra.

Our first Rhino sighting was just by the road as we were entering Kaziranga National Park.

Where to Stay at Kaziranga National Park

We stayed for 2 days at Iora , the Retreat, Kaziranga in Kohora which is very close to the central gate of the National Park. It’s a lovely resort with well curated lawns and gardens, lots of colourful flowers and big spacious rooms. The hygiene and service of this resort was very good.

Next we stayed for a day at Borgos resort which is inside the gate of the central zone. We had to make a walk-in booking here due to which we got an extremely tiny executive room( especially in comparison to the Iora room) but Im sure they have better rooms. The resort property is very well maintained and greenery is mesmerising. Borgos gives a feeling of staying within a secret tea trove.

What to Eat at Kaziranga National Park

In both the resorts other than the complimentary breakfast buffet fare we chose to have our lunch and dinner at the in-house Assamese restaurant. Hubby being Assamese, he guided us in what to order om the menu. Assamese thali is an absolute delight, light, flavorful and fragrant. Very low on spices and oil assamese flavours are very close to our bengali palate. As a result it was the ideal meal for the health conscious foodies that we are!

They served the meals in bronze/ kasha plates and bowls at Borgos which gives a very festive feel to every meal.
They have a variety of duck based dishes which are local delicacies.
My favourite was a sweet and tangy elephant apple pickle called “ ou- tenga aachaar” in Assamese or “ chaltar aachar” in Bengali. The pickle was so delicious that I am actually salivating at the memory of the pickle while I write this!!
Another must try restaurant is John’s Kitchen at Kohora. It is a Asian food restaurant which serves delicious oriental food at jaw dropping affordable prices.

Last but not the least , I have to mention Lahe Ke Café which is very close to my heart. In Assamese “ lahe lahe” means “ slowly slowly” and it’s the local culture of leading life in a relaxed fashion. We found this café by chance during our evening joy ride after finishing our photography session at the local Hathikhuli Tea gardens.

Everybody was feeling like relaxing over a cuppa when hubby said “ search for cafes near us in google”. I was like “ what?? A café in Kaziranga?” But lo and behold, the google search led us to this wonderful café around 18 km from Kohora and what a pleasant surprise it was! Don’t miss it when you go on your Kaziranga trip.

Safari

We took two safaris in a hired gypsy in the central and eastern zone of Kaziranga. The central zone is more of an open grassland with some forest cover.

The eastern zone has lesser grassland and in parts the forest cover is denser. The eastern zone was a treasure trove of exotic birds and we wished we had a lot more time as birdwatching takes a lot if patience. Our driver was a very patient man therand knowledgeable about the birds and animals. He was carrying a book on birds and pointed out parrots, serpent crested eagle, grey headed fish eagle, a beautiful ruddy shelled duck, Indian roller, Flycatcher, open billed stork and a variety of storks, Oriental Hornbill, purple heron, black necked stork, pond heron and a nest of vultures.( Please contact me if you need his number)

You must carry individual binoculars for all the members because otherwise someone will definitely hog the only pair given by the driver, which does not fair well with the others!!

P.S Remember to apply generous qmounts of sunscreen, wear a hat, covet your face and hair with a cotton scarf as its very dusty, and carry drinking water bottles

This post is part of #CauseAChatter with Blogchatter in which I will try to do my bit to contribute to the talk on environment.

Read more of my #CauseAChatter posts