Sunday 23rd February - Kaziranga Time

We try very hard to avoid arriving in strange cities after dark but this time we have no option. At the penultimate stop on the train we call our host, by the sound of it, waking him up. Arrival time in Guwahati is 00.15, forty five minutes late. We politely turn down the porters and lug the bags up the stairs to the overbridge. Fortunately there is an escalator down and a man at the bottom hustling for his auto. We normally avoid his type like the plague but we just want to get to bed. The directions that we have been given are ICICI Bank, near High Court. The auto man considers and says "150". To us it would be a goer at thrice the price. He helps load the bags and off we go, roaring through the empty streets of Guwahati. The mapapp helps for the last 100 yards and we are at the Debadaru Guest House.

Some might be surprised that the upper floors of a bank are occupied by a Guest House but one of the best stays we have had in India (twice) is in a place above a bank on Kochi Island. A chap is there to meet us and he helps us up the stairs with the big bag. We apologise for the late hour but he seems ok about it. He shows us our room, big with all the facilities that we need. D registers and, pausing only to clean our teeth, we head for some sleep.

We are so far east here that sunrise is before 6 a.m. and D wakes panicking that we have slept in at twenty past. The solar hot water seems to be exhausted so we boil kettles for much needed mug & bucket showers. Later we discover that it is necessary to run off a full bucket before the hot water arrives. Breakfast is simple but tasty and we get black tea with ginger to go with it. Once again we appear to be the only residents.

The next phase of the trip is booked through a company called North East Paradise who have arranged a visit to Kaziranga National Park for us. Sihal, who will be our driver for the next four days, arrives a few minutes before ten and we get loaded up in the white ? that he is driving. We head out south through Guwahati, a much bigger place than we imagined. On the outskirts of the city we pick up a dual carriageway that twists and turns through a range of hills before descending to a broad plain. The road is well maintained and we drive at a steady 80 kph. We are now well into Assam, the furthest east we have been in India. It is overcast, even more so than the last few days.

After two hours driving Sihal pulls off at a roadside place. The Anuraag Shana does not get to share the coveted Hygiene and Cleanliness award that R made to the Debadaru this morning but we risk black tea and veg pakoras. Back on the road we soon run out of dual carriageway and there is a short rain shower. The distances to Kaziranga on the roadsigns drop into double figures and eventually we see the signs saying that we have entered the National Park.  There is a sign saying 'Wild Animals May Be Seen on the Left Side' . A couple of hundred metres further on Sihal pulls over and points out two rhinos in the long grass.

We didn't expect to get sightings until tomorrow's safaris, if at all, so this is a big boost. He drives on, about 400 metres beyond the turnoff to our hotel, and pulls up again. In one spot we can see a Gaur, a One-Horned Rhinoceros and a bathing elephant. People passing on the highway stop to look, including a convoy of truckers. 

Sahil turns the car and heads towards the Landmark Woodlands Resort. We get checked in and enquire about tomorrow's arrangements. 04.30 at reception for starters. Goody. The hotel is built around two and a half sides of a quadrangle, with all of the rooms on the first floor. We have a room almost as far from reception as you can get but it will probably be a bit quieter. Not as large as last night's it still has what we need, but in a rather more Indian style. We sort out our belongings and then go for an explore. 

While we were indoors the clouds have cleared and the sun come out. The nearby village has lots of thatched roofs and chickens, with an almost total absence of litter. We had hoped to see some birds but they are few and far between. Rice seems to be the predominant local crop, although there are some men sorting out really big bamboo poles. There is little or no English spoken by most people and the children seem unusually shy. The sun is sinking so we head back to the hotel and order beers with peanut masala for consumption on the shady balcony outside our room.

Given tomorrow's early start and last night's late finish we opt for an early supper and a quiet night in. We are relieved to learn that rural Assam has not yet succumbed to the fad for Country & Western music that is sweeping the sub-continent. Mind you, Andy Williams would not be our first choice either. The meal is enlivened by a face off between R and the waiter. She has an aversion to other people delivering food onto her plate. The waiter knows what he needs to do to earn a tip. When two cultures collide. As we leave supper our driver gives us a reprieve until 05.00. What joy!