GUEST COLUMN

ORGANISED PACKAGE DEAL
(Extracts from a tour report  prepared by Simon Plat, M.sc., Zwolle, The Netherlands)

-----“Flamingo Travels arranged a complete package for us in Assam. We made all arrangements over the internet. The deposit was paid by bank transfer. The package included the return flight Delhi-Guwahati, all transfers and accommodation, two excursions per day and the entrance fees and guide prices in Kaziranga and Nameri National Park. Flamingo Travels booked us in Aranya Lodge, one of the better lodges near Kaziranga NP with a nice garden and a high bird potential.

In Nameri NP we stayed at the Tourist Guest House in the town of Bhalukpong which was about 20 km from the entrance of the park. This hotel was good but dinner options were limited and the food was not very tasty. It might be good to know that Nameri Eco Camp is not inside the park either but about 1.5 km from the river bordering the park. The direct surroundings of the Eco Camp were not that inspiring for birding, so we didn’t mind staying at Bhalukpong, one hour drive from the entrance. Actually, birding potential around the hotel at Bhalukpong seemed better than around Nameri Eco Camp (to our surprise we found a Pied Falconet from our balcony at Bhalukpong).

Flamingo Travels certainly did a very good job entertaining us. They arranged excursions every morning and afternoon, keeping us busy continuously. They were able to arrange a whole-day visit to the Eastern Range in Kaziranga NP, which normally is only allowed for scientific reasons (in return we had to do a small survey). We decided to skip an elephant ride in Nameri NP, but the elephant ride in Kaziranga NP (only 1 hour nowadays) is quite nice to see wildlife at close range (mammals). The raft we took in Nameri NP was neat and can be good for birding though not spectacular in terms of rafting (we found a beautiful Wall creeper during the ‘ride’).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Extracts from  ‘India: The other Jungle Book ‘
  By : Jesus Riosalido, Ambassador Of Spain, Academy of History
  (Translated from the Spanish original)

------------“Kaziranga National Park, on the contrary, was very well organized for tourism. There are some good agencies, like Flamingo Travels, which is based in Guwahati, the state capital situated on the banks of the great Brahmaputra river and is directed by Sanjiv Gogoi. They organize visits in jeeps and on the back of an elephant, and provide accommodation in a reasonable Safari Lodge with good food, where, for the first time of my life, I could witness a monsoon storm, something really amazing. In fact, people from Madrid can also experience it, falsely though, in the “Faunia Thematic Park” of our Autonomous Community.  

Due to better organization, we had high expectations of Kaziranga, which it did meet. We passed through great elephant and wild buffalo herds, with numerous rhinoceros, of which we were told there were about 1500 in the park. There were also swamp deer, hog deer, big sambar deer – which are the equivalent of the red European deer, barking  deer, wild boar – a bit different from ours but which has the same scientific name as ours and has a black mane which is constantly raised above its back, and especially the tiger, which was lying down close to a swamp. We were told that this reserve has close to 50 tigers. And not to mention the fishing eagles, the vultures, the big turtles, the macaque monkeys, etc. 

But still, the foreign tourists were few in Kaziranga, being in the majority Indian tourists, which shows that the parks are still not being well promoted, and if they are not, it also means less money to preserve them, for the animals and definitely for our nature.”-----------

Site Designed, Developed & Maintained By Webx