Tonologue

Seeing Wild Rhinos for the First Time Ever | Assam, India

We went to Kaziranga National Park, where two thirds of the world's Indian one horned rhinos reside. In addition, we saw elephants, wild buffalo, deer and a variety of birds. It truly was the experience of a lifetime!

Date: 06 May 25

Location: Assam, India


8:30 Breakfast at the hotel

My mom and I started the day by having a free breakfast available at KRC hotel. They had a pretty reasonable spread with some continental selections like muffins, cakes, fruits, etc. They also had a South India selection like poori, idly with coconut chutney and tomato chutney. You could also order dishes straight from the kitchen, so we had a masala omelette.

09:30 Drive to Kaziranga

We met our friendly driver Vimol at the hotel entrance with a Swift Dzire. Having spent the last day in a Force Traveller that had zero suspension, it was a sight for sore eyes.

We gently made our way out of Tezpur, through the Kolia Bhomora Setu bridge that crosses the mighty Brahmaputra. Unlike the previous night, we could actually see the river this time, although the view was slightly obstructed by some hand railing.

The journey was only about 80km but since there was a 40kmph speed limit, we were unable to go very fast. The speed limit was because the road was considered an an animal corridor, especially at some points which were hotspots for animals crossing.

We also stopped by a view point with a signpost that read ‘World Heritage Site’. There were also some viewing platforms where some people were standing with binoculars to rent.

“Rhino!! Rhino!!” I heard my mom shout. So we quickly rented two binoculors. But by the time we got the binoculars and looked through them, the rhino was no where to be found.

The person who handed us the binoculars pointed us towards a Rhino. For the first time in my life, I saw a one horned Indian rhino in the wild.

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Caption: (Top to bottom) The UNESCO World Heritage Site board; The first ever one horned Indian rhino I’ve ever seen in the wild.

Soon afterwards, another rhino and a calf joined the party and we were able to see them clearly despite being quite far away from them. We also looked around and saw some deer and a family of wild boar with some baby boars.

We then headed to a tea wholesale shop called The Tea Cove, recommended by our driver. The shop was located in front of a massive tea plantation. They also served some food, so we bought one chicken chop and one veg chop.

Chop — for those of you who’ve never had it — is a sort of filled roll made of potatoes which is deep fried. It had cooled down by the time we had it, but it was still quite delicious and made for a quick meal before our jeep safari.

There was also a handicrafts shop right outside the tea shop. They sold lots of things like hats, tshirts, shawls and wooden handicrafts. The price was super reasonable as well. My mom purchased a few handbags, one for herself and a few as gifts

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Caption: (Top to bottom) Vegetable chop; The large tea plantation.

12:30 Kaziranga Jeep Safari

After about three hours of travel, we reached a location by Bagori which was the starting point for our Jeep safari. Our jeep safari driver introduced himself. He informed us that we can get started at 1:30pm. And so we headed to a nearby souvenir shop.

There were many souveniers, some posters of photographs taken at Kaziranga and a book by Dr Mainu Devi, a professor at a government college in Assam. I flicked through a display copy and was quite intrigued, so I bought it.

We then settled down outside by a bench, where a curious lamb came over and was curiously looking at our hands hoping for a nice treat. The lamb seemed quite fearless and was happy enough to settle down near us.

Soon the sun started beating down on us, so we settled under a tree for some shade. We saw some domesticated elephants that takes people for elephant safari. There were some other domesticated animals like bulls, cows and dogs.

Our tour organiser called me over and asked me to pay the videocamera surcharge of 1000 as I was holding a GoPro. I was happy to pay it as I felt it could help fund their efforts.

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Caption: (Top to bottom) The curious lamb; Nice tree cover above; The jeep that we chartered.

13:30 Ready to go

It seemed that we had chartered a private jeep for me and my mom. Our Jeep was the first to enter the reserve and we went past a bridge and stopped at a gate where they checked our bags and a ranger got in the front seat, presumably for protection.

Not five minutes had passed and we reached a clearing where the driver stopped the car and we were stunned to see at least five rhinos standing at a reasonable distance away from the jeep. They were calmly going about their business, eating grass.

We also saw a few other animals that comprised the big five of the national park. We saw some Samba deer and some Hog deer. We then carried on and a bit further ahead saw a rhino mere feet away from the jeep. They seemed unfazed and were eating grass like we were just a neighbour that they tolerate.

As we got deeper into the reserve I spotted an eagle perched atop a high tree. There were a few eagles roaming around the skies as well. We also heard the distict sound of a parrot and upon gazing upwards saw a beatiful green bird make its way towards a nice tree.

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Caption: (Top to bottom) An Indian one horned rhino; Grazing samba deer; A rhino and its calf; The eagle on the high tree

Our jeep driver was also on the lookout for any rare animals, routinely stopping the jeep when he spotted any rare animals. Firstly, he stopped the car to point out some cranes, then he showed us some ducks. Further along, he also showed us a pretty-looking black bird. Where he didn’t know the name, he referred to a handy pamphlet to confirm.

At one point, we reached a clearing by a lake and spotted a heard of elephants. There were baby elephants and some adult elephants as well. They were drinking water, the baby seemed to be having fun on the water. None of them poured water over themselves maybe because the temperature was fairly mild.

We then drove through a forest like area where there was tree cover all around us. I was trying my best to look around and see if I could spot any other animal, and in particular to see if I could spot any snakes. Unfortunately I was not lucky enough this time.

At the half way point, we reached a lookout point where we were allowed to step outside the jeep and go up a building to get a view from a higher point. Once we got down, our driver took some photos of us with the jeep.

It was still quite lovely to see a couple of rhinos grazing peacefully by some tall grass. It was humbling to know that this national park was the highest concentration of both the one horned Indian rhino and the Indian wild buffalo. Although we were seeing quite a few of these magestic creatures over the past hour, we were still admiring them with awe.

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Caption: Elephant family hydrating by a pool; View from the jeep

14:30 Lounging buffalos, lunging rhinos and flopping fish

As we were making our way back to where we started, we were still seeing many animals that we hadn't seen yet. Like the mighty Indian wild buffalos which were part of the big five.

As we ascended a ramp up towards a high point, we saw a small lake on the side of the path with some Indian wild buffalos lounging in the water. They seemed to be super content and peaceful.

As we started nearing the clearing where we first saw many rhinos. Off the corner of my eye, I saw two rhinos relatively close to our jeep playing catch with one another. At one point, completely oblivious to our jeep’s location, the two rhinos almost lunged towards our jeep, making our jeep driver quite nervous.

The weather seemed to be taking a turn for the worst. There was almost a constant rumble of thunder in the background and I saw a few flashes of lightning. And since we were in an open-top jeep, I was starting to become quite concerned.

We then made our way to a waterside viewpoint. The view from the top gave us an uninterrupted 180 degree view of a beautiful lake. When we looked at the water, there were a few fishes that were flopping about, Im not entirely sure why they were doing it, but it was very beautiful to see them display their dance.

By the time we got back to the jeep, it was pouring rain. Our driver and the ranger had attached a rain cover over the back of our jeep. We got in only to discover that the cover was entirely opaque, meaning we were no longer able to see outside. But it was alright as we’d seen almost all that there was to see by this point.

After about five minutes, we reached the visitor centre location where we thanked both our driver and our ranger and hurried back into the car that was awaiting us to avoid getting drenched. We then headed back towards our accommodation.

It didn't take me long to start dozing off and so I took a short nap.

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Caption: (Top to bottom) The lounging buffalos; How close we could get to rhinos; An elegant eagle; Latest census

16:30 Expansive views of the Brahmaputra

I awoke as our driver was pulling into a restaurant along the highway. It was time for a break and for some well deserved chai.

We settled into a seat and I observed as a group sitting next to us was either having a super late lunch or a super early dinner. I assume it was the former.

Our chai arrived in a cute ceramic cup. It was quite delicious despite me not adding too much sugar. I sipped the chai and enjoyed my view of the highway.

On our way to the national park, my mom had asked our driver if it would be possible to stop at a viewpoint along the bank of the Brahmaputra. So our driver took us to a nice location under the bridges that we crossed earlier in the day.

We took some nice photos and admired the magesty of the wide and expansive river. It was a serene location to sit down and watch the sunset. But my mom reckoned that we needed to head back, and so we made our way back.

On the drive back to the accommodation, the sun was a large round crimson ball of ember. I admired it as it slowly made its way down to the other side of the earth.

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Caption: (Top to bottom) The chai from a hotel by the highway; The mesmerising view of the Brahmaputra; A view of the sunset.

19:00 A delicious meal

On our approach to the hotel, we spotted a few shops. So we headed in that direction in search of some dinner.

We happened upon a nice looking restaurant called Khai Sang on the first floor of a commercial building. We settled there as one of the first customers, as 7pm is relatively early to have dinner in India.

A friendly guy who I suppose was either the owner or the manager greeted us and showed us to our seats. I love a seat with a view and this one overlooked the road and I enjoyed seeing the various cars and people pass by us.

They had an impressive menu featuring many different cuisines, like momos, chinese food, and north indian delicacies. We bought a spread of dishes not realising how big the portion sizes were.

First came the momos and lassi. The momos were delicately made filled with a generous portion of chicken mince and chillis. The lassi helped cool the heat from the spicy filling in the momos.

Next came a huge springroll cut into four pieces. It was also generously filled with a filling of veggies, chicken and some noodles.

Finally we got some paratha, kulcha and some veg malai kofta. It was all really delicious and I enjoyed the meal.

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Caption: (Top to bottom) The delicious and spicy plate of momos; A cross section through a momo; The tongue-saving lassi; Our spread of naans and curry.

We then walked around for a bit in search of some fruit. We had seen a few fruit vendors on the previous day and so we went towards that general direction.

On our way, we saw a curious looking roundabout. There were two lights on each side, red and green, controller by a policeman sitting inside a booth on the roundabout to control the flow of traffic. It was the first time I'd ever seen an arrangement like that.

We bought some fruits and then slowly made our way back to the hotel.


We really enjoyed our day out at Kaziranga National Park and an evening out at Tezpur.

This was our second day in our holiday to the North East and Lucknow.

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