Caution!! Rhino Crossing Ahead!

Member of my host family wearing a T-shirt from my state- looking good Sanjeev! That elephant thinks so too.

My best Rhino picture from the wilds of Kaziranga National Park

World Heritage Site

NE States of India

"The only way to save a rhinoceros is to save the environment in which it lives, because there's a mutual dependency between it and millions of other species of both animals and plants."
David Attenborough

Kaziranga Wildlife Preserve is listed as a World Heritage Site. The park is about a five hour drive from Guwahati in the northeastern states of India. The jungle environment and biodiversity makes this place unique in the entire world and spectacularly beautiful. Special arrangements had been made to allow us to enter the now closed park. The park must close for the monsoon season due to widespread flooding of the low grasslands which the animals graze on and then must abandon for higher ground. This is monsoon season, but the animals are still on the savannah sections of the park and the roads are passable so we are really getting to experience something special with our solo visit to this park. We will not share the viewing with other tourist so I feel like the luckiest tourist ever!

Down a narrow dirt access road we rounded a curve and there standing in the road was a Rhino! He was crossing from one grassland field to another and stopped to stare at us. I was very glad we had the park ranger with his Rhino rifle in the car to protect us if necessary. After the Rhino moved on we pulled up to a viewing tower and jumped out to scamper up above the animal dangers and view the wildlife. Looking out over the vast lowlands of the Brahmaputra River basin I saw 25 to 30 Rhinos moving along and grazing peacefully- what a sight! We saw one Rhino in the water swimming and bellowing to his neighbors as he moved across. They are so huge and armor-plated for protection.

From the viewing tower we saw the smaller red Asian deer resting in the shade and grazing. In the water a Siberian Pelican was floating along near a Rhino. This pelican is snow white, but much like our brown pelicans. We could hear the cuckoo birds calling as evening approached. The breeze sprang up and the feeling of the park was peaceful and eternal too. It is hard to imagine this place in the 21st Century because it is truly timeless- a land time forgot.
We were so lucky to experience the park and witness the steps that are ongoing to protect the exotic species that inhabit this region. On our elephant safari ride we had the chance to see a little of Indian village life. Villagers are right up against park lands and conflict must take place when the animals are forced to move to higher ground and invade their garden plots. These park rangers have a difficult balancing act to perform in protecting the animals from poaching and the villagers struggle too, but the commitment is there locally and nationally to preserve and defend this beautiful natural resource unique to India.

I want to thank my host family for arranging this very special glimpse of their beautiful country. We have an experience that will always remain a memory that draws us together. I love my American family and I love my Assamese family too!