Wild Wild East: Went looking for adventure, ended up with wild encounters in Assam

Kaziranga National Park, Assam. (Photo: Chirag Saini via Unsplash)

Earlier this week, the Assam state cabinet approved the proposal to grant industry status to the state's tourism. Besides allowing for sustainable and environment-friendly investments in tourism infrastructure, the newly implemented policy will boost employment generation and public-private partnerships, bringing about a paradigm shift to tourism in Assam. It also means that the state will now be well-equipped to realise its tourism potential to the fullest and possibly become one of the top destinations in India to visit.

For a long time though, in popular opinion, Assam was that faraway state in the remote Northeast that was primarily known for its tea, oil reserves and impenetrable jungles. Few would think of a holiday here, and fewer still would actually realise one. Only those of us who grew up here were privy to its rich history and culture, its astounding wildlife, its breathtaking natural beauty — courtesy the hills, valleys and the majestic Brahmaputra river — and the potential that the state held for wanderers and explorers.

Then over the last couple of decades, slowly, at first, and then, seemingly overnight, the perception towards Assam began to change. Guwahati, which was an idyllic small town when I was growing up, is, today, not just the largest city of north-east India but also the fastest developing metropolis in eastern India. Destinations that were once offbeat are now mainstream, and more obscure places farther and deeper into the state are being charted by curious travellers. Assam is increasingly being considered a much sought-after, all-season destination, known among many other things for its incredible wildlife.

Wild buffaloes of Assam. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Five national parks including two UNESCO World Heritage sites, 17 wildlife sanctuaries, four tiger reserves, five elephant reserves and two biosphere reserves call the state home. A whopping 180 species of mammals live and thrive in these protected bastions of wildlife, including the Big Five — royal Bengal tiger, elephant, Asiatic wild buffalo, eastern swamp deer, and the most famous resident of them all, the great Indian one-horned rhinoceros. Needless to say, Assam is brimming with thrilling, immersive experiences for the hardcore wildlife enthusiast and adventure buff alike.

Gateway to good things

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that your wild adventures in Assam begin right from the moment you land in its main city, the bustling, energetic metropolis of Guwahati — popularly known as the "gateway to the northeast". Along the way from the airport to the city centre, you’re treated to picturesque landscapes of swaying coconut and areca palm trees, vernacular Assam-type houses with sloping tin roofs, lush green fields and rolling hills.

Just when you think it can’t get any better, a sprawling lake suddenly comes in view, bordered by fields of feathery kaash flowers. This is the freshwater lake of Deepor Beel, a designated Ramsar Site and one of the largest wetlands in the Brahmaputra valley of Lower Assam.

Deepor Beel, Guwahati, Assam. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Besides thriving populations of various fishes, over 200 species of birds flock here, including 70 odd migratory species, with the largest congregations witnessed in winter. It isn’t uncommon to find pelicans, storks and Siberian cranes chilling together in the lake, as you drive by.

The city itself offers adventures of different kinds — immersions in heritage and culture, a rich food scene made even richer with regional cuisines, buzzing pubs and microbreweries, and plethora of shopping choices including traditional Assam silks and local handicrafts. But it’s the lifeline of the state, the magnificent Brahmaputra river that holds along its shores and in its waters the wildest adventures. Go on a cruise — there are daily short cruises from Guwahati and even longer ones that last days — and you may just spot a pod of river dolphins popping their curious noses out of the water to see what all the fuss is about.

Wilderness by the city

Sail upstream on the Brahmaputra or drive just a couple of hours from Guwahati and you’ll come across two wildlife sanctuaries in quick succession. The first, Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary may be lesser known and seldom visited, even by locals, but it is what venturing into the wild truly looks like. Robert Frost must have dreamt about Amchang when he wrote, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep...”, for the tree cover here of moist deciduous and semi-evergreen vegetation is so dense that it shrouds you in partial darkness, even in the peak of day. A population of elephants that became isolated from others in these forests led to the area being declared a protected sanctuary. But besides these gentle giants, Amchang is also home to rare and endangered birds and animals, including the Chinese pangolin and slow loris.

Mother and child rhinoceroses in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

An hour’s drive away is its more famous cousin, the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary that draws in tourists and locals by the droves every day. Being in close proximity to Guwahati makes it a popular day trip to spot the great Indian one-horned rhino in its natural habitat. Being a largely flat, open grassland that is home to the second largest population of rhinos in Assam, that too densely packed in a relatively small area, means that your chances of spotting the one-horned beast here is higher than elsewhere. You don’t even have to go on a safari here, just drive to one of the viewpoints and you’ll likely encounter a rhino or two or more, munching on grass or waddling in the mud or sunbathing without a care in the world!

The world-famous duo

While you may be spoilt for choice on which wildlife hotspot to visit while here, there are two that you simply must tick-off the bucket list. The first is the one destination that single-handedly put Assam on the world map — Kaziranga National Park. Designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO back in 1985, Kaziranga hosts two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses. But that’s not all there is to this wonderland of grassy meadows, swampy lagoons and dense forests, sprinkled with wetlands and bordered by the Brahmaputra.

Cinereous vulture in Kaziranga National Park, Assam. (Photo: Abhishek Singh via Unsplash)

Besides other members of the Big Five, it also houses a significant population of tigers, which led it to being declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006. Spend a night here at one of the wildlife resorts or eco-lodges, and you’ll be treated to animal calls or maybe even a roar in the dark. The next day, in the cover of misty dawn, a thrilling safari will allow you to experience Kaziranga in all its wild glory.

Kaziranga Tiger Reserve, Assam. (Photo: Kaziranga National Park)

If there’s one other place that can give Kaziranga a run for its money, it’d be its UNESCO World Heritage counterpart of Manas National Park. This destination is perfect to a fault! Its location in the Himalayan foothills bordering Bhutan — with the sparkling Manas river flowing through, dense forests and tall grasslands lining its shores, and misty mountains rising in the distance — lends Manas the look of something straight out of an Avatar movie set.

Manas National Park, Assam. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Contiguous with Bhutan’s Royal Manas National Park, it not only has a substantial population of rhinos but is also a tiger reserve, an elephant reserve and biosphere reserve all rolled into one. A safari here lasts half a day and takes you everywhere in the quest to spot wildlife — from the river’s edge, through the tall grasslands, right into the heart of the dense forests.

But what makes Manas truly incredible is the fact that wild encounters exist here around every corner! On one of my trips here, I once came face to face with a rhino, just as I stepped out of my lodge on my way to lunch. It simply stood there in the middle of the dirt road, in all its majestic leathery beauty, looked at me from the corner of its eye and deemed me inconsequential, before sauntering off to a pond for a cool-off session. That for you is the wild, wild east that is Assam!