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Kaziranga National Park is one of the last refuges for the one-horned rhinoceros. We also got to see wild elephants and wild water bufalo for the first time. Much of the park was covered with very tall grass and open meadows, which were great for viewing the rhinos and elephants. There were also a few tigers in the park, but we only caught a quick glimpse of one. This was the first park where they brought guns with us on the safaris. Sometimes the wild elephants and rhinos can become aggressive, especially if there are young ones around. They have been known to charge the jeeps, but usually can be scared off with a shot in the air. We didn’t have any problems though.
We got to ride trained elephants once at the park. To get on the elephants here we went on a roofed platform. The seating on the elephants all faced forward, and held 2-3 people and a driver. We got to spend about an hour for this elephant ride and got very close to a lot of rhinos and deer.
After the elephant ride we went for a jungle hike a few miles from the park.
On the hike, our guide kept making all these crazy grunting and hooting noises. He didn’t say what he was calling for so we wouldn’t get our hopes up too high if we didn’t find it. But after a while an animal up in the trees started making the exact same noises back at us. It turned out to be a Hoolock gibbon. This large primate is a master at swinging from branch to branch in the high treetops. He was difficult to photograph since he was a good 40 feet above us and kept swinging around and hiding. But when our guide made the calls, he would get a little closer.
In the park there were constantly fires burning. They were controlled burns to keep back the trees. This was probably to keep the park mostly grassy for better wildlife viewing. The smoke from the fires was a bit overwhelming at times. The villages around the park also had fires in the mornings and evenings to burn piles of leaves and garbage. Often we had to cover our mouths and noses with our shirts because of all the smoke. By the end of our 3 days in the
park, several of us including myself had cold symptoms for a couple days. This was probably an allergic reaction to all the smoke.
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Jessika
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Love the pics!!!
You have amazing photographs, Todd!