Decision had already been made previous night for going in for the 2nd ride on the Elephants (1st ride is at 05.30 A.M and lasts appx 1 hour). Reached our riding place and saw the elephants from the 1st ride coming back with their load of happy looking tourists.

Our turn and first encounter turned out to be a dead skin of a King Cobra. Further on in the swamp a pair of Lesser Adjutant Stork. Followed by 1st sighting of a big male Rhino. Everyone in the group was quite excited and I could hear many cameras clicking including mine.  This male must have been involved in a fight for the female or a territory as he had a gash with blood still oozing out on the right side his head He was quite wary about us and had no intention of letting us any close to him. Our Mahout made a wise decision of keep a distance from him as Rhino’s are known to charge on slightest provocation.

Meanwhile, other Elephants with their load of tourist also converged at the same spot and this led to the Rhino turning away from all of us. Nothing mattered at that time as couple of other Rhino’s were spotted and everyone turned in their direction.

Other animals spotted during the course of ride were couple of Hog Deer. On the way back to the riding tower we encountered a herd of Asiatic Wild Buffaloes. These are most probably genetically the purest form of the domesticated buffaloes all over the world.

Returned back to the lodge for quick breakfast followed by another excursion in the Central Range of Kaziranga by jeep. Our convoy of 3 jeep had an armed guard in the first one mainly for our protection from any un-provoked charge of a Wild Elephant or of a Rhino. Driving down the forest track we soon reached a watch tower overlooking a large expanse of water body. A quick climb brought us on the top of tower and looking across we soon spotted a small herd of elephants along with lone rhino busy feeding on tender grass and shoots growing out from the water.

Later resumed our quest for seeing other animals. The lead jeep had stopped for taking pictures of Indian Roller sitting quite close to the track and all of a sudden heard angry growl of a tiger somewhere from our left Apparently tiger was disturbed by an approaching herd of elephants and was warning them not to come too close. We all stood on our toes thinking we will be able to see this magnificent animal but to no avail as the elephant grass was too high for effective viewing.

Resuming our drive we came upon another lake and spotted 3 Smooth Indian River Otters sitting on the opposite bank. Everyone was quite exited and soon picture taking session started.

While returning to the lodge we stopped at another watch tower overlooking a large water body.

The opposite bank had many rhinos and wild buffaloes. Everyone started guessing the total number of Rhinos and the figure started varying with ever count. Finally with the help of Bino’s we arrived at a figure of at least 40 Rhinos in different areas.

For the birders in our group a lone Greater Adjutant Stork was highlight of this place. On the way back just next to a small bridge we came across a flock of Open Billed Storks.

Returned back to the lodge for overnight.

Our day 3 in Kaziranga started with an over cast sky as it had rained previous night and in some places it was quite misty. We soon got in jeeps and proceeded straight for the Eastern Range of Kaziranga National Park. After a short drive arrived at the gate and completed formalities. This portion of the park has a huge lake in the middle and you variably go around it to come back to the point from where you enter. We also started our wildlife excursion in the same way and reached a watch tower soon. A short break with everyone trying their best to spot some animals proved to be not much of a success. Driving down further on the track we soon came to a point from where one can see the mighty Brahmputra River.

Our guide spotted fresh pug marks of a tigress and her cubs on the river bank. They must have come early in the day to drink water and returned back to the forest may be on hearing us approaching. A short drive and suddenly the lead jeep stopped with our guide frantically pointing to a tree next to the track. It had fresh marks of tiger claws on the bark of the tree.

Continued with our excursion and spotted a pair of Black Neck Stork,r

Stork Billed Kingfisher, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle, Peregrine Falcon,

couple of Lesser Adjutant Storks, Pallas Fishing Eagle, Grey-Headed Fishing Eagle, Himalayan Griffon, Grey Lag Geese, Bar Headed Geese, Ruddy Shelduck, Gadwall and many other bird species. Also seen were couple of Wild Buffaloes, One or two Rhinos. Just before coming out of the park we also saw Spotted Jungle Owlet. On the way out saw a pair of Great Hornbill

Returned to the lodge for an early lunch and left for afternoon round of our excursion in the Central Range of Kaziranga. A short drive and our journey were interrupted by an elephant ambling down on the track in front of us. This was a female who got startled by our approaching jeeps as it was busy feeding on the juicy bark of the tree next to the track

It trumpeted loudly and ran on the track for while before disappearing in the tall elephant grass.

Further on we saw some more herds of elephants feeding on the banks of various water bodies.

As it was getting dark we started our journey back to the lodge. On our return meet 3 young ladies who were looking quite excited as they had seen a tiger just before they were coming out from the park. It was too dark for them to take any picture.

Our day 4 at Kaziranga started with our decision to take the second round of elephant ride as it was very foggy all along the previous day and we knew that we will not be able to see anything if we leave for earlier ride. We all left for the riding point and met our riding elephants next to the tower. All the group members quickly embarked on their respective elephants and the ride resumed.

Soon saw our first Rhino emerging out of the fog. Soon all the elephants with other tourists arrived

and we proceeded to an area where Soft Ground Barasingha could be seen. Arriving there we saw a fairly large number of Barasinghas

including couple of Males with their magnificent antlers. On our way back also saw couple of other Rhino’s

and fairly large herd of Wild Buffalo led by a big bull.

Later we returned to the lodge for breakfast. As this was our last day in Kaziranga we had planned many activities for the group members. Assembling after breakfast we all left for a visit to the Rubber Plantation/Factory where everyone saw how rubber is made from the latex.

All the group members also had a chance to see a small Coffee Plantation. While going to the plantation we passed a group of young boys perched on long ladders plucking raw bunch of Black Pepper.

As this was a first and also a unique experience for all the group members we made a wise decision to stop and ask for couple of bunch from these boys. It was equally distributed amongst all the group members. Our journey continued with a visit to a traditional tribal village of a tribe called Missing.

It was an interesting visit as one family has wedding in the family and the preparations were on with ladies from all the homes in the village contributing in one way or another.

Returned back to lodge for lunch. Later left for our last jungle excursion in the Western range of the Kaziranga National Park. Our first encounter here was with a Rhino going in front of us on the track. We all stopped to take pictures before it took off in the jungle.

Our journey further down the track brought us to a female with two young ones. It got agitated as we seemed a threat to her calf’s. In a double mind to charge on to us or to stay back with her calf she ultimately decided to veer towards the safety of forest. We drove further and stopped on the spot from where she had gone down the track in to the safety of forest. As soon as we reached there a loud trumpet re-sounded in the forest and couple of other female elephants took an aggressive posture towards us in order to keep their calf relatively safe.

We decided going away from there will be the best option for us and left that place. Rest of the drive was bit relaxed and on our way back spotted a lone rhino with a big male buffalo wallowing in the muddy water with an occasional look towards us.