Natural calamities bring lot of destruction but the same cannot be said to be true for Kaziranga. This world heritage site is actually a flood plane of the brahmaputra river. Every year the heavy floods to this sea like river consume this land for few months , once the floods recedes what is left behind is fertile soil , over the year this land has transformed itself into marshy lands of Kaziranga.
Every year when the floods arrive animals migrate to the higher grounds , this is the time when you can find rhinos blocking the national highway . This is the time when even tigers share territories with each other.
Declared as the world heritage site for its unique biodiversity in 1985 , kaziranga is spread across 1050sqkms of brahmaputra flood planes and is home to a one horned rhino. Kaziranga has 70% of population of the one horned rhinoceroses rest is distributed marginally between manas wildlife sanctuary , probithora wild life sanctuary and few other smaller forest reserves in Assam but no one matches the beauty of Kaziranga.
Apart from rhino , kaziranga is also home to more than 500 species of bird , 280 of which are unique to this region and is also the last surviving habitat of swamp deer. One more feared beast in this forest is the very short tempered water buffalo , with his huge horns which are often 6-10 ft in length it can easily topple tiger . In comparison to rhinos and buffalo , elephants and tiger maintain calmer demeanor.
In terms of tiger population , Kaziranga has highest ecological density of tigers in India but finding one here in wild is as difficult as finding needle in the hey stack. Plenty of water availability inside the deep jungle and good enough prey means tigers hardly venture into 30% of the forest area where tourists are allowed.
Source of all this information is our tiger expert friend Atul Dhamankar who was relaying this information to us during his annual Kaziranga camp.
when you have rhinos , tigers , elephants and buffaloes in one park , poachers are a big threat to this horned and gifted creatures. Atul told us a very interesting story as to how easy it is to kill a rhino which otherwise looks huge and with invincible armour. A rhino always takes dump at one location and for which he walks backward before reliving him self , poachers just have to dig a big enough hole filled with sharp bamboos and then its a easy kill. While in Kaziranga you can always notice the hump of rhino dung on side of the road.
Kaziranga is true joy for the bird watchers , I have never seen so many eagles in single safari as in Kaziranga. when floods recedes many small lakes are left behind which are home to many stocks, pelicans , kingfishers and endangered otters. Greater adjutant stock which are rare everywhere else can be spotted in large numbers here in kaziranga.
Elephant safari is something which shouldn't be missed in kaziranga , early morning safari brings a lot of joy for macro photographers as well , only if you could focus from always shacking elephant back but its a great opportunity to get real close to the wildlife . Rhinos being short and too lazy to look upwards cannot spot the tourists sitting behind the elephants back and do not run away or attack.
We had a rare opportunity to witness rhino and a female elephant come face to face , female accompanied by her small baby chose to run away than to face the ragging rhino.
We missed tiger in a close whisker as pramod ( atuls childhood friend and another nature expert) confirmed that they were fresh pug marks . something left for the future :)
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| keping a watchfull eye |
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| the best thing about elephant safari is you can see the jungle which you would otherwise miss in a jeep safari |
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| the silent killer : Greater adjutant stock |
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| Bald headed geese , a migratory visiter in kaziranga during flight |
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| Silk cotted tree |
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| Indian rock python |
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| Porcupine |
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| Crested serpant eagle |
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| the big battle |
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| Add caption |
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| Greater hornbill |
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| Its a valentines day!! |
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| Turtle family sun basking session |
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| Black necked crane |
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| Wild water buffalo |
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| jungle fowl |
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| snake bird |
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| shikra |
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| brahmaputra river and the destruction caused by flood |
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| griffin vultures |
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| i smell meat |
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| indian roller : the bird which looks beautiful while flying and we tried capturing its flight many times but with no luck , it was too quick for the machine |
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| ausprey , a migratory hunter and a distant relative of eagle |
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| trying to get the eye level shot from one of the tourist view points |
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| pied kingfisher in action |
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| good bye |
Mastch re!!!
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