North East Diary | Day 14: Manas National Park

The only activity for the day is jeep safari in the jungle which starts at around 3 pm. So I get up quite early and go for a long morning walk. I go up to Manas River close by. The water flow is very less. It is 5.45 am or so, and I see many fisher men removing the fish nets from the shallow waters. They must have tied these nets the day before. When I saw their catch, there were only some small fishes.

I also observe lots and lots of birds on the trees nearby. In fact, this is a perfect place for bird watching at this point of time. I also see lots of heaps of small stones on the dried river bed. A little bit further away, I see many manual crushers, I mean crushing these small stones in to jellies, to be used in construction activity. It is the livelihood of the fisher men when the water level in the river goes down.

I come back to the lodge. The breakfast served was quite good and heavy. I spend time in writing these diaries. After lunch, we leave for safari at 3.15 pm and come back at 7.15 pm. We could not sight many animals. That is sheer bad luck.

In fact, I have come across many wild animals, including tuskers and tigers, while driving in the public roads in the forest region, as well as while trekking. But hardly come across them while on safaris.

And we go to bed a bit early, for the hectic day ahead.