Kaziranga, Assam

The last of our photos from our short stay near Kaziranga. 

We arrived on an internal flights from Delhi to Guwahati and was met by a lovely taxi driver organised through the hotel. We had no idea of distance from Guwahati to Kaziranga but we were quite surprised when the taxi driver told us about 5 hours !  So we just sat back and enjoyed our journey stopping for food and drinks along the way. Here we were introduced to the local 'Bombay Aloo' which was mouthwatering and formed the basis for most of our meals for the whole stay. The taxi cost us around £60. Our guide, Kushal was waiting for us at the Iora and we swiftly got our next day organised with a pick-up for Kaziranga, the gate being just a few miles away. Kushal Boruah was an excellent bird guide with a very keen eye. He can be booked through The Iora Hotel. We went into Kaziranga 3 times, each time into a different area.  Our main purpose of this stay was to see Indian One Horned Rhino and we saw absolutely loads, all ages, all sizes. Fantastic !  The birding was also outstanding with the Rubythroat being the star bird ....so far !!  

Incase you are wondering about the cost of game drives, we paid different each time we went out. But it roughly averaged around £50 per trip, which lasted a good 5 hours.  That was for the guide, driver, vehicle and admission into the park for us both so we were well impressed with that. 

The Iora was an excellent base, a good, clean hotel with very green grounds that were stuffed with birds. It was lovely to look out onto the tea plantations in the distance. We would definately recommend Kaziranga as a start to an Eaglenest trip. 

The last evening we met up with Lakpa who was to be our guide for the rest of the trip. Looking forward to showing you our pics. 

Blue-bearded Bee-eater 

Chestnut-capped babbler 

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater 

Citrine Wagtail 

Crested Serpent Eagle take off 

Dollar Bird 

Green-billed Malkoha 

Grey-headed Fish Eagle 

Grey-headed Woodpecker 

Oriental Honey Buzzard 

Kalij Pheasant 

Lesser Yellownape 

Mrs Goulds Sunbird 

Oriental Pied Hornbill with his lady tucked away inside the tree trunk

Red Junglefowl 

Rose-ringed Parakeets 

Olive-backed Pipit 

Rufous Treepie 

Scarlet Minivet 

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker 

Spotted Owlet 

Storks 

Striated Babbler 

Ruddy Shellducks

And the last of our rhino pics xx 

Lots of scars and fresh blood, a tiger attack ? 

Hope you have enjoyed our Kaziranga pics. We move into the Himalayas next, the birding was staggeringly good !!