Showing posts with label kaziranga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kaziranga. Show all posts

Thursday, March 28, 2013

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.

Wild Grass Resort, Kohora, Assam

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.


Wild Grass Resort, Kohora, Assam

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.

Wild Grass Resort, Kohora, Assam

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.

Around the Wild Grass Resort, Kohora, Assam

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!

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Elephant ride at Kaziranga National Park

Even though I am not in NE India at the moment, I still have a couple of things I have been meaning to post. Back in December, after the Hornbill Festival in Kohima, I took my friend Simon to the Kaziranga National Park in neighbouring Assam. It was a convenient time to go since he was already in the area. However, February to April is usually a better time of the year to visit as the grass is not quite as tall.

One of the highlights of a trip to Kaziranga National Park is going on elephant safari. There are four areas in the park that offer them, with both morning and afternoon sessions (click here for more info). An elephant safari lasts about an hour. However, I think this varies based on demand so it's best to check the day before, especially for the morning rides. Since we stayed at the Wild Grass Lodge, our guide organised it for us the night before.

Elephant mahouts, Kaziranga National Park, Assam

We were up bright and early for a cup of tea, before driving into the park for the 5.30am safari. The mahouts were all ready and waiting for us, as well as a busload of European tourists (mainly French and Dutch, or possibly Belgian) who had only spent the night at the lodge, and were heading upriver to Majuli Island later that day.

I personally prefer mornings to evenings for wildlife viewing, but that morning it was extremely foggy. We still managed to spot lots of birds and larger mammals, thanks to our excellent mahout / guide. He was a Rabha man whose his hometown was Goalpara, or perhaps a village close to Goalpara. He had been living in Kohora and working as a mahout for about 15 years (if my memory serves me correctly). He was also very knowledgeable about the wildlife in the park. In addition to knowing all the English names (and the Assamese names, which I've sadly forgotten) for common animals in the park, he also knew where to go to spot them and had very good eyes.

One of the first animals we spotted was a hog deer. These, along with the larger swamp deer, are the most common deer in the park.

Hog Deer, Kaziranga National Park, Assam

Among the group we were travelling in, our guide was the first one to spot a rhino. The Indian Rhinoceros is the one of the main reasons people come to visit the park, and you can get very close to them if you're on an elephant. Of course, by the end of that day we'd seen so many rhinos, we had already started to take them a little bit for granted...

Indian Rhinoceros, Kaziranga National Park, Assam

But that morning, we even came across a sleeping rhino, who opened its eyes as our elephant got closer.

Indian Rhinoceros, Kaziranga National Park, Assam

Our guide had already asked a mahout on another elephant to take a photo of us on the elephant. But he very kindly asked him again, so that we could have this awesome photo of the three of us sitting on the elephant with the rhino in the background.

Sitting on an elephant in front of a rhino, Kaziranga National Park, Assam

I was really appreciate of our guide for doing that, since the Durch tourist on the other elephant certainly did not get a photo like this! Also, our guide took a longer route back to the drop-off point than most of the others, so our safari actually lasted longer than an hour.

Finally, some tips if you are planning to go on safari:

- Most of the mahouts / guides speak Hindi and Assamese, while guides employed by the lodges will generally speak English as well. It's great to know some Assamese or Hindi if you're going on an elephant safari, but most of the mahouts will know the English names for animals.

- As with all wildlife watching, don't expect the guide to do all the looking for you. They'll have more experience in the park, but it doesn't mean you should sit back and wait for them to point out animals to you. The more eyes on the lookout, the better.

- Don't forget to tip (at least a few hundred rupees, if not more) - these mahouts / guides don't get paid as much as the guides employed by the lodges!