Kaziranga Diaries
Kaziranga is home to the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world, and was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006 (now the highest tiger density is in Orang National Park, Assam). The park is home to large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer.[4] Kaziranga is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for conservation of avifaunal species. When compared with other protected areas in India, Kaziranga has achieved notable success in wildlife conservation.
Kaziranga is famous for the Mighty One horned Rhino. It can be observed through the various view points. Visitors can also enjoy the various traditional food and culture which the locals has to offer in the area.
Kaziranga offers jeep and elephant safari, jeep safari has 3 entry points while elephant safari has only one entry point. For elephant safari people need to do advance booking at times.
Safari Timings-
Morning Jeep Safari timing is 07:00 AM to 09:30 AM.
Afternoon Jeep safari from 01:30 PM to 03:30 PM.
The park timing is 07:30 AM to 04 PM
Elephant Safari is basically done in the morning from around 6 am.
How to Reach Kaziranga,
Kaziranga is around 194 km from guwahati, Road condition from Guwahati is good with 2 toll booths in between. Once you enter Kaziranga you can see tea gardens on both the sides of the roads. The journey from Guwahati to Kaziranga is full of scenic views.
1) Buses from Guwahati departs on a regular basis from Khanapara/ I.S.B.T and Paltanbazar area. Bus fare basically starts from Rs 300.
2) Private taxi also can be used.
3) Self driven car/Bike : This option is one of the best and if you want t explore new places, i prefer this mode of travel. I personally like to go there by driving or riding a bike, it gives you your own space and you can manage the time on your own.
Some of the Things which you can do in Kaziranaga are-
1) Elephant safari
2) Jeep safari.
3) Bird watching.
4) Assamese cuisine Lunch at Orchid garden.
5) Watch cultural programs at Orchid park.
6) Go for a tea estate tour.
7) Bonfire in the hotel ( if permitted)
Let me share my Journey from Guwahati to Kaziranga on my vehicle.
I started at around 7 am from Guwahati as it helps to beat the traffic and helps in enjoying the early morning views and scenery, well for breakfast I Stopped at restaurant called "NI4" hotel in Jagiroad as I wanted to have puri sabji and obviously tea.
BTW there is also a restaurant called "Jain hotel" the food there is also amazing, you will get NI4 comes before jain hotel when you are travelling from Guwahati, ( both are veg restaurants).
So after having the breakfast, I started to drive and reached the 2nd kaziranga view point,we decided to stop near the view point near kaziranga to get a good view of the Rhino's out there as well, O ya I forgot to mention, there is a small temple in Burapahar before reaching Kohora called "Burhi Aai Thaan", it has great significance and history, everyone passing through this route stops and bow their heads to seek blessings.I decided to make a small visit out there. Anyways now back to the track, Here is a pro tip for you when you are in the viewpoint, ask the guys with binoculars to take a picture of you keeping the animal in the background along with you through the binocular, they take lovely picture like that.
After spending 15-20 minutes out there and having a cup of tea, we again started our journey towards Kaziranga and checked in at the hotel Green reed.
There are plenty of home stay available throughout which you can book online. After resting for sometime, at around 2.30 pm we went out to have our Assamese traditional thali lunch at orchid Park, the thali consisted of around 18+ items, the thali here is amazing, must try the thali here.
Everyday a cultural program is also organized in the garden from 6pm onwards. But we decided not to stop for that show as we had earlier seen it twice. After having a great lunch, we decided to walk around the park for a while and then at around 4 pm we came out from that place and just strolled near the Kohora entrance park to book our jeep safari for the next day. You will get plenty of jeep safari guys with vehicles near the kohora point to book. For 3 people it costed us around Rs 2300, After walking and exploring the nearby area for a while, we then decided to go towards Bokakhat, the place is knows for its sweets "Peda" and "Puri Bhaji" its just around 30-40 mins drive from Kohora.
We reached the spot at around 6.15 pm and we munched on the "Peda's" and some snacks, we 3 guys ate almost total of 15-17 peda's overall. Yes you guessed it right, we do have a very huge appetite.
Anyways after that amazing snacks, we returned back to our hotel and played some UNO card game which we took along with us. After playing a few games, at around 9 pm we got hungry again and we were in the mood to eat some chinesse food, fortunately "John's Kitchen" has opened up near Kohora range, they serve great Chinese food at reasonable price. They have their one restaurant in Guwahati as well. We had soup, Chicken and pork momo and fried rice along with chilly chicken, the classic combination for sure. If you visit there, you must try the Momo's.
After a great semi heavy dinner, we made our way back, and driving at night in winters out there is totally amazing, just put down your car's window and feel the cold breeze on your cheeks.
SO we reached around 11 pm since we were very tired from all the travelling and eating we dozed off and woke up at around 5.30 am for the morning elephant safari.
We drove off to the elephant safari spot, and we 3 were ready to go deep inside the jungle with our bablu ( That's the name of the elephant).
Well after that we again went for the jeep safari from the Bagori range after having a cup of tea along with some local snacks ( Pitha's), We entered the range, the road was very bumpy and we can clearly hear the beautiful chirping of the birds, it was so very relaxing and the sound was music to our ears. From the jeep safari we observed many migrated birds, One horn Rhino's,wild boars, swamp deer's, we also got down in a point to click some photographs and all. The safari is worth a try.
Both the jeep safari and elephant safari differs from one another, the elephant safari has its own beauty whereas the jeep safari is also very marvelous.
So we then started our way back towards Guwahati after having an amazing trip. Its a perfect weekend getaway from Guwahati. Well we made our last stop near Nogaon Bypass for lunch, There is a dhaba called " Sugandhi", the food there is amazing, I love it. My all time favorite is the Kashmiri Pulao and malai kofta/ Chicken butter masala. A must try place if you go through there.
Well we reached our respective home at around 6pm and ended our trip,
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P.S Its better to book elephant safari and jeep safari the previous day at the official counter. for jeep safari cars can be observed and rented easily.
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