Wild Grass Lodge at Kaziranga

While accommodation options abound in and around the town of Kohora, for visitors planning forays into neighbouring Kaziranga National Park, one place stands out for me. It came highly recommended by an Assamese friend who also had his wedding here at the end of December 2012, just a few weeks after my stay.

The Wild Grass Lodge is located just east of the town of Kohora, a few kilometres off the main highway. If you're lucky, you might actually see the 'sign' for the place as you're driving along the highway, though most would hardly call it a sign. I don't even remember what it looks like, because I called the lodge to send a car to pick us up from Dimapur in Nagaland. It seems that there used to be clearer signage in the past, but the owner of the lodge was forced to remove it because the lodge became too popular, especially during peak periods (there's only a small window of opportunity to visit Kaziranga since the park is usually only open between November and April, and partially open in October and May depending on weather conditions).

In any case, the best way to get there is either to call them and ask for a taxi, or to ask any locals you see along the highway as you drive eastwards out of Kohora town.

The lodge is best suited for guests who have come to enjoy nature in one of India's best national parks. Most of the rooms are located in two tall buildings, and none come with television sets. There are heaps of open green spaces at the lodge. There also used to be a pool in the clearing between the buildings, but that has been removed. If you're looking for those luxuries, I would suggest going to the nearby Iora Resort - I've been inside one of the rooms there and it was pretty swanky, but for me the whole point of coming to a national park is to see nature, not hide from it.

In terms of food, we certainly never went hungry. I believe breakfast was included with the room rate, as well as lots of tea and snacks. The restaurant staff were extremely friendly and very generous with lunch and dinner. There were the usual Indian and Chinese options, but my Assamese friend had recommended that I try a number of their Assamese dishes, including their alu jolphai pitika (Assamese mashed potatoes with olives), maas bhapôt diya (Assamese steamed fish, which sort of reminded my friend of pickled herring) [Click here for a recipe by Ruprekha, who follows my blog] and their fried pork. Apart from the olives, which I found too sour for my taste, I loved all the food we got.

Bear in mind that it's best to notify the restaurant staff a day in advance so that they can obtain all the necessary ingredients fresh.

Most importantly, the guides they assign to you (and if they don't assign one, ask for one) are locals who are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the flora and fauna in the national park. From what I could tell, they're also pretty good at gauging the level of interest that the guests have with regards to wildlife viewing, and don't overwhelm their guests with too much information.

You'll probably be relying on the lodge's vehicles to move between your accommodation and the park. If you want to go for a walk (because you're missing TV and forgot to bring a good book), there's a large tea estate within walking distance from the lodge.

Finally, in the evenings there are often performances by either local Assamese or ex-tea tribe troupes. There may be people around to help explain some aspects of the performances, but this may require some knowledge of Assamese or Hindi.

All in all, I really enjoyed my stay at the Wild Grass Lodge. This visit to Kaziranga National Park turned out to be much more successful than my first traumatic visit to Kohora back in January 2011!