Kaziranga diary in brief

02/03/2018

Kolkata to Guwahati (Indigo) 5.30 am and back (6.40 pm flight by Air India from Guwahati)  = Total fare Rs 4500/-

Car from Guwahati to Kaziranga (back to Guwahati ) = 5 hours journey each way ( Rs 11,000/- for Innova). But there is no carrier in the car. So make sure there is a carrier, otherwise 7 people cannot travel by same car. The car stayed in Kaziranga throughout the tour with us. Gobindo took another car for them.

We stayed in Aranya lodge of Assam Tourism Deptt. The rooms are really good. We paid Rs 1450/-. Gobindo stayed at Camp rhino which is 25 Km from our resort. But location of Camp rhino is better  - it is far from the madding crowd.

Camp rhino

Evening Safari - (1750/- + 400)+ 100/- per head is entry fee at   the central zone (there are 4 zones). We left for 2.30 pm for the evening safari. For foreigners the entry fee is Rs 650 ! For extra person they charged Rs 475/- (since we were 7 - normally per car they allow 6 persons.We are seven. Unlike Tadoba, Bandhvgarh etc you cannot book the safaris online. You have to come here before the tour starts.

We did the evening safari at Central zone.

The diversity of Kaziranga is unparalleled in India. The forest is mainly Grassland and has similarity to the savannah of Africa in some parts.  Grasslands have many names—prairies in North America, Asian steppes, savannahs and veldts in Africa, Australian rangelands, and pampas, llanos and cerrados in South America. But they are all places where there is too little rain for trees to grow in great numbers, but not so little to form a desert . They are however scattered with trees mostly Acacia and Bobab.

Based on climatic dryness there are 2 types of Savannahs - Tropical grassland (also know as Savannah are located near equatory) and Temperate Grassland. African tropical grassland or Savannah has more variety compared to South American Savannah like Pantanal. One fourth of the earth's land is grassland. According to WWF there is third type called Flooded grassland.

03/03/2018

Morning Safari at West Zone. The morning safari starts at 7 am. But because of rain, we started late at 9 pm. Our safari jeep got stuck once, because of the mud.

The elephant safari starts at 5 am and 6 am. The ride is Rs 950 per person and the charges for taking the car to elephant ride zone is Rs 500 for the whole car. We did not take it.

We came back at around 12 pm

Evening safari starts at 2.30 pm. We went to the East zone.

hog deer

Pond heron

Parakeet

Indian roller bird - nilkantha pakhi

Hill myna

Rufous treepie

Jungle fowl

Open Bill Stork

Pelican

Shrike or butcher bird

Shrike

Cormorant

Ibis

Back naped Stork

Eagle

Crested eagle

Bar headed goose

Eurasian coot

Rudy shell duck

Lesser whistling duck

water buffalo

Ibis

04/03/2018

Today we left for Pobitora. Out of 4 zones , we have covered Central, East and West zone and left out only Burapahar which is 45 Km from our resort. The safari jeep charges Rs 2750 for pick up and drop at the hotel as per rate chart. We were told it is not interesting. We went to meet Gobindo at Camp Rhino resort (it is on the way Guwahati and Burapahar). After meeting them we left for safari at Pobitora ( it is around 20-25 Km from Guwahati and 20 Km from the main road of Guwahati) and they will skip the safari and left for Shillong.

In Pobitora the rates are lower compared to Kaziranga.

There is no tiger in Pobitora. Actually on the way to Pobitora - you can see Rhino.

After doing the safari at Pobitora we left for Guwahati airport. The road towards the airport is not very congested. But it took around 1.30 hours to reach Guwahati airport. We dropped Anindya and Isabella on the way - they will go to Shillong.

Our flight at 6.40 actually left at 7.15 and we reached Kolkata at 8.30 pm.

Two night three days trip to Satjelia (Sundarban)

24.02.2018.

We left for Gadkhali by Tata winger from Tottee Lane (at Sudder street) by Tata Winger. From the ITC Sonar 5 Star hotel side towards Ruby hospital, you have to take the road towards left , JUST before the bridge - to go towards Gadkhali. 

The Malancha and Basanti Highway falls on the way to Gadkhali . On the way to Gadkhali tyre of our car tyre got punctured. In the meantime we had a chance to see the greenery of Bengal !

At Gadkhali one can cross the river to go to the other side which is Gosaba - the main market and locality in Sundarban. 

We were told that there is a plan to construct Gosaba bridge. From Gosaba one can take an share auto  rickshaw and reach ferry ghat in more than 1 hour at Dutta River. From there you have to cross the river and then proceed towards Satjelia - where the resort of Rajesh of Tour de Sundarban is located. 

However from Gadkhali , we boarded the steamer and our steamer started proceeding towards Satjelia. On the way we saw the sign board of Sundarban tiger camp at Dayapur.

Sundarban consists of around 104 riverine Island , out of that only 48 is inhabited. The water here is backwater and not tributary of Hooghly. Since water is saline not many living being can survive in this atmosphere. The trees of Sundarban are not tress , in fact they are shrubs or bushes - that is why it is so difficult to spot animals. The Mangrove forests because of saline water either use the root to get oxygen or the in some trees/bushes roots are stilted.

People go to collect honey only 2 months in Sundarban from April to May, after taking prior permission. They have to sale a portion of the collection to Govt at pre-determined price of around Rs 150. They sale the honey in the market at Rs 220 approx. Apparently these honey bees come from Himalaya. They collect honey from 3 flowering plants here - that is why the honey is very tasty. They normally collect around 60-100 kg honey during the season. People here are either agriculturists or collect honey or catch prawn / crab to survive.

We reached our resort around 1.00 pm. The resort is indeed very nice. After having our quick lunch we left for a waking tour in the village at 2.30 pm. We learnt most of the people cannot grow winter or Rabi crop because of lack of sweet water. Then we left for evening safari at 3.30 pm and went to one of the creeks. It looked like as if we are in Amazon!  We caught some crabs are getting down from the boat.

Our tour guide Manjit

We came back at around 6 pm. After having our dinner at 8 pm ,  it is again time for night safari. Due to full moon we could not see the light emitting "bacteria".

After returning to our resort we heard some baul,bhatiwali and kirtan song.

25.2.2018

Today we left early at around 6.30 pm for Dobanki and Sajnekhali. We got our permission form Sajnekhali. I driving my skill in riding the lauch !

Dobanki is quite fire - but is not interesting at all. However we saw some Rhesus monkey, monitor lizard, spotted deer, wild boar,shrike,green dove, common kingfisher at Sajnekhali watch tower and also crocodile.

With the local tourist creating so much noise - it is impossible to see something more exciting.

All of our group members left for Kolkata at around 4 pm and we left for our resort by another boat. We could have gone for night safari again - but we skipped it today

26.2.2018. 

Today our boat left for Kolkata around 9.30 pm. In the boat we met Biswajit Mistry (helper) and Sareng. We learnt that a helper gets Rs 200 per day and Sareng or launch driver get Rs 7000 per month. Biswajit has a wife and two chilren. His elder son (in class 7)  takes tuition from a local teacher, after school hours, 6 days a week along with other students and pay Rs 400 for the tuition fee. His younger son is in class 2 - he pays only Rs 150 for the tuition for the same number of days ! Biswajit is however is not literate. Every month they required around 25 Kg of rice for the family of four. They eat fish almost everyday. The electricity has come around 1 year back to their village, just after he bought a solar panel for Rs 18,000 from Gosaba (with installation charges included). Normally people here pay electricity charges of around Rs 300. They have a paddy field. They had a harvest of around 30 sacks @ 50 kg per sack this year. They sold around 8-10 sacks. The paddy is sold at around 16 kg , which is then para boiled in rice meal to remove the husk and sold in the market later by mill owner. He told me mid-day meal is not doing more harm, since people eagerly wait for the lunch , instead of concentrating on studies !

He told us that they don't have to take 2 hours boat journey to see a doctor any more. There are good doctors from Kolkata who comes to Gosaba. They go by a combo of auto and boat to reach Gosaba. Things are good these days !

We reached South Kolkata (near Gariahat) at around 3.10 pm.

Shrot trip (report) to Lothian Island, Sundaraban

28.01.2018.

Today we went to Lothian Island for a one day tour. We left Kolkata around 5.40 am and reached Namkahana at around 10 am.

From Namkhana (Hatania Doania river) we hired a steamer for Rs 4000 till 5.00 pm. Our plan was to see Lothian Island.




First we got down at Bhagabatpur Crocodile sanctuary and again decided to sail around Lothian Island. There are many birds in Lothian Islands - like Lesser whistling duck, whimbrel, Eursian Curlew, Sandpiper, apart form common birds like Egret, Pond Heron etc.  I have never seen so many birds in Sundarban. One can also go to Henry's Island from here. This is not part of core or buffer zone of Sundarban.

However we saw a fox !

We returned around 5 pm and took our car to go back to Kolkata. Anindya got down at Diamond Harbour station to catch a train to Ballygunge. He had an appointment near Ballygunge Station.

Birds of Kolkata - commonly found

The reason behind this blog is , I did not find any website giving, comprehensive list of COMMONLY found birds in Kolkata. The words in Italics are exact copy from the website of Swarnava Nanid - which I liked.

"There are many common birds in the city that we come across but most of us have no knowledge  about them at all, .....and this is why I write this article, in the simplest way I can, to assist the common people to connect with few of the common birds found in the city.....from  self experience what I feel is until and unless one gets to know few things about a particular bird, developing a liking or taking in interest for that bird then becomes difficult, no matter how many times one sees the same bird. But once a person gets to know few facts about a bird, only then he/she might show some interest in birds.

So here are few common birds in Kolkata , that we often see  many a times in and around the city, but have the wrong concept or no knowledge about them….

1 White-breasted Kingfisher ( Halcyon smyrnensis ) - Locally known as the Shada buk machranga in Kolkata ,

2. Greater coucal ( Centropus sinensis ) - Locally known as the Kubo in Kolkata, the greater coucal is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. The most common misconception that occurs with a person when he/she sees this bird for the first time, is that it is mistaken as some sort of crow or koel, though it is also known as the crow pheasant but, is a species of cuckoo.

3. Common Tailorbird ( Orthotomus sutorius ) - Popular for its nest made of leaves “sewn” together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling in his Jungle Book, and from where it derives its bengali name Dorji ( tailor ) Tuni or even Tuntuni.

4.  7.Blue-throated Barbet ( Megalaima asiatica )  - Commonly known as the Nilgala bosonto bauri, the Blue-throated Barbet is one the most brightly colored birds found in the city

5. Coppersmith Barbet ( Megalaima haemacephala ) - Commonly known as the Bosonto bauri, the Coppersmith Barbet is a short, stocky bird, with a leaf-green body that allows it to remain well-camouflaged in the canopy

6. Common Myna ( Acridotheres tristis  ) or Shalik - It is found everywhere

7. Black Kite  (Milvus migrans ) - Cheel

8.Rock Pigeon (Columba livia )

9. Rose-ringed Parakeet  (Psittacula krameri )

10 House Crow (Corvus splendens) - It is found everywhere

11 Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii)

12 White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis )

13 Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)  - It is commonly found in my office complex in South Kolkata

14 Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis ; Size)

15. House Sparrow  (Passer domesticus ) -  Chorui - It is found everywhere

16. Oriental Magpie Robin ( Copsychus saularis) - Doel

17 Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus ;) - Finge

18 Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) - Ghugu

19  Little Cormorant (Phalacrocorax niger ) - Pankouri - It is commonly found in Rabindra Sarobar 

20 Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea ) - Kokil - It is commonly found in my office complex in South Kolkata

21 Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) 

22 Open Bill Stork - It is commonly found in Rabindra Sarobar 

23 Painted Stork - It is commonly found in Rabindra Sarobar 

24. Greater Flameback Woodpecker - It is commonly found in my office complex in South Kolkata

25.Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striata)  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_babbler) - It is commonly found in my office complex in South Kolkata

26 Brahminy Kite  ( Sankha cheel )

Source:  http://swarnavanandi.com/common-birds-kolkata-part-1/ 

                                                             

              https://www.kolkatabirds.com/citibirds.html

http://halfsamosa.in/9-gorgeous-birds-one-can-see-kolkata/

http://weekenddestinations.info/2011/daytrips/bird-watching-spots-near-kolkata/

In search of Organic food revolution in Sundarban (West Bengal) - field report in short

13/1/2018

Lakshmikantapur or Namkhana local from 4.30 am - every 1 hr - from Ballygunge Station/ Sealdah

We took 6.30 train to go to Baruipur and took another train to Joynagar. Since today there is Gangasagar Mela - there is some disruption of normal trains.

1. Get down at Joynagar 

2. Take Trekker/Auto to Dhaki Kheya Ghat @ Rs 24 per head or reserve an auto for Rs 170/- - road condition - good ( Nimpith is only 7 Km from Joynagar station). We reserved our auto.

Auto driver was very co-operative - Nilratan - Mobile number

# You can buy Joynagar Moya from Goju's shop - Rs 10 (do not buy the one for Rs 7)

3. Cross Dhaki river @ Rs 2 - the time between 2 ferries is approx 25 minutes

4. Then take another auto to Baikunthapur Tarun Sangha (BTS) - auto reserve Rs 160 + 20 = 180/- (for share @ 20/- per head ) ; total time taken is 1.15 hours - the road condition is really bad

Auto driver was very good - Ratnakar - Mobile number (8670 723848)

We reached Baikunthapur at around 11.15 am

Alternate route to avoid ferry crossing (by car) 

1. take auto to Jamtala ghat @ 12/- (from there 3 roads are going - one towards Piyali , one towards Kaikhali and one towards Moipith) . Go to Moipith

From Moipith go to Petkulchand bridge by auto

From the bridge take local auto for Rs 10 to reach BTS

On the way to BTS fall Raidighi.

We had our breakfast of Luchi and Alur dam at the "hospital". Then we kept our luggage at the "guest house" in the School (Patha Bhavan) and  left for Boat ride by the same auto.  Boat for 2 hours is 700-1200/-   (contact Prashanta - 99 32 989847 )

After returning from Boat ride, we had our lunch at 4 pm and took some rest in the guest house.

Tips : There is low tide in the afternoon, so possibly it is better to go to the forest in the morning.

Had dinner in the hospital with the fresh crab and local (deshi )chicken and local organic vegetables. Our great "Dog-da" enthralled us with his fascinating stories of  snakes.

14/1/2018

Today we had parota and alur dam in the breakfast. Then we left for the fields to see the organic farming first hand. We learnt how the organic farming is done on Dyke or "Aal" ; various types of vegetable plants are planted at almost the same place (with roots reaching different level in the soil) , instead of only one kind of vegetable farming , we are used to. We also learn that flower plant beside the dyke has a purpose - it acts as a mild insect repellant.

We also saw, how they are using vermicompost (or earthworm manure) for manures. They are also using mixture of dead fish and jaggery etc for using it as an insecticide. We visited three different fields. Poly escorted us to all the fields. Initially Prashanta Giri (his Brother Sushanta was the real driving force behind all this. He is an English Graduate !) took us to Poly's farm. Poly is really an empowered woman. We were really impressed. We also went to the field of  Gouranga Maiti . Most of them are from Medinipur. We learnt a lot about Banomala brinjal (begoon), Kata begoon. I planned to buy the Banomala brinjals from them.

We then went to see the Thakuran river - one of the big 3 of Sundarbans - other 2 being - Matla and Bidyadhari. It is possible to hire boats for around Rs 10,000 - 15,000 for 2 days ride to Kalash and Bonnie camp.

Normally people go to Sundarban either from Canning or Sonakhali (near Basanti).

Another route to go to Sundarban is via Kakdwip.

We bought some vegetables at the farm to have it in the lunch. It is literally farm to fork ! Then after our lunch we left for Kolkata at 2 pm and reached Kolkata at 6.20 pm.

It is also possible to work as volunteer in BTS. For that you may contact/Whataspp Nilendra Bhowmik  +919903 900 900 . He is very well known to me. There is adequate accommodation facility in the village.

http://www.bts-india.in/

http://ashanet.org/project/?pid=278

https://www.facebook.com/Baikunthapur-Tarun-Sangha-BTS-1310267642322826/

Bangriposi te teen rattir ...Three nights in Bangriposi ! - report in brief

20/01/2018

source : http://www.bangriposi.com

Dhauli Express from Howrah at 6.00 hours. It is 3.5 hrs journey.

You will reach Balasore (231 k.m. from Howrah) at 9.35 A.M. (Thereafter 78013 DEMU passenger at 10.05 A.M. from Balasore to Bangriposi in 2 hours @ Rs 25 )

## By bus : Services is available from Kolkata to Baripada and it will start from Dharmatala Bus terminus near Press club. 

You can reach Baripada or Bombay chauki in about 4.5 hours.  Please call (Das & Das : 09831 342895) for all the related information.

##  By car : Take the NH6 route from Kolkata and drive straight to Bangriposi. 230km from Kolkata.

Source:  http://www.bangriposi.com/

Orientation

It is equi-distant from Jamshedpur and Kharapgur. It is not very far from West Bengal Order. The nearest big town is Baripada (around 40 Km). It is in the North East of Orissa.

Pick up car by Bablu - 8763 200 392  . He stays just beside our Bungalow. 

We missed the pick up car due to communication gap. So we took the DEMU  or Diesel train at 10.00 am to reach Bagriposi train station in 2 hours time (train fare Rs 25). Our resort is only 2 Km from Bangriposi rail station. Our resort is beside Khairi Resort.

We took an auto (Rs 70 for 7 people )  to reach our resort at 1230 hours. We are 7 people (Subri da, Karmakar da, Tutuda and my family). The famous author Buddhadeb Guha wrote his novel "Bangriposite dui rattir" at the resort. There is a Munda family residing inside this resort in Thatched hut - who are taking care of our needs and also making lovely lunch and dinner for us. This is unique.

Bangriposi is a quaint tribal hamlet nestled at the foothills of the Thakurani hills in Mayurbhanj, Odisha. It is almost within Simlipal Forest range.

After taking our lunch, we went to Bisoi Hat (only Saturday at 3.30 pm) from resort - 18 Km - Duarsini Temple (is on the way)- @ Rs 800/-. The cock fight has stopped because of gambling related problem. Sampling the local fermented rice-wine or haanriya is a must! You will find tribal woman selling Haariya.

21/01/2018

Simlipal (65 Km) - not recommended

We started at 7.00  hours and come back at 2000 hours @ Rs 3500/- . It is a whole day tour.There is no

need to book any tour in advance. Entry fee per person is Rs 100. Guide fee is Rs 300, lunch @ Rs 100 each inside the Park. You can take your own car (we had Balero) inside the forest.There are 2 entry points. We entered through Jashipur, which is 65 Km from Bangriposi. One can also enter from Baripada side (Pithabata (22 kilometres from Baripada)). The whole tour is a big disappointment. No wonder there is any interest. It starts in the morning and ends at 5.30 pm. It is more of 5 Point tour kind of thing these days.

The real highlight of the tour in Simlipal National Park is waterfalls like Joranda and Barehipani. The second one is really worth seeing.

After lunch we went to the core area - Chahala, which is also a big disappointment. All we saw is spotted dear. The whole area is out of bounds of tourists. Naxalites has caused a big wound to this famous forest. Even the road to Simlipal is really bad. our average car speed was around 33 Km.

22/01/2018

Bangriposhi    ----Sulaipath Dam----- Bankabal dam @ Rs 1500/-  - recommended

We did not go to Badampahar (65 Km).  Since we had time, after taking nice lunch at a road side dhaba, on the way back, we went to see Buribalam (7 km from resort).  We paid extra for that @ Rs 300/-. It was on the banks of the Buribalam river, where the encounter between Bengali freedom fighter Bagha Jatin and the then British commissioner, Charles Tegart, took place.

We did not go to Kanchinda (20 km) - Brahmi Kund (38 Km) , which is on the route of Buribalam - 5 hours @ Rs 1500

23/01/2018

Resort  - Kuliana : Dokra village (24 Km from resort -- recommended) - Balasore (100 Km) - @ Rs 2000/- 

Today we left our resort at 12.30 hours. On the way falls Kuliana village - where rural artisans still struggle to keep the dying art form of Dokra or Dhokra alive . There is a potter in that village too. We bought lot of Dokra at Kulina village from Jagannath Sahu's house - which is really VERY cheap. We could not see many house holds making Dokra.

Dhokra is non ferrous metal casting using the lost-wax casting technique. This sort of metal casting has been used in India for over 4,000 years and is still used. The more famous cousin of them stay at Bastar, Madhya Pradesh. Apart from that you will find Dokra in Jharkhand ,Bikna, Bankura, West Bengal and Dariyapur, Burdwan .

sourabhdg - Click for pictures

The we left for train at which is at 1621 hours from Balasore. However we reached home at 11 pm !

Hotel website: bangriposi.com/

Breakfast Tea + Biscuit - Rs 8           +            Luchi/veg curry/double egg curry - Rs 45/-

Lunch - Fish Thali 120/- , Veg Thali - 70/- , Egg Thali - 10/-

Evening snacks - Tea, Biscuit - 8/-   +    Muri Chop - 15/-

Dinner  - Chicken Thali - 140/- , Mutton Thali 200/-

Approx 300/- per day food.

For urgent information call Sintu @ 9836 83 03 42

Rent for 3 rooms with attached bathrooms and a common dining room is Rs 2000.
Rent for 1 cottage for 2 people is Rs 1000. There is also tent for Rs 800 for 2 people with a separate bathroom.

One can read this nice write up in Bengali : https://www.facebook.com