Floating around the Brahmaputra
Guwahati:
Armed with the map of assam and no fixed plans in mind, we spent the first few days at Guwahati. It was my mum's first unplanned backpacking kind of trip with me, where we had no fixed travel plans and travel meant using the local buses, which wasn't always the most comfortable!!
We were invited over for special bihu meals (had some really yummy food and sweets) by my parent's friends. The stay at Guwahati took me back to the growing up years-small towns,well planned british colonies with red cottages and huge gardens,and surrounding hills.We were staying in the Railway guest house there!!
The primary reason for spending a few days at Guwahati was to visit 'Parijat Acadamey" . Parijat Academy, is a school for children of families with low income, living in Pamohi and three adjoining tribal hamlets on the outskirts of Assam's capital Guwahati. My mum had come across an article in the Outlook Mag in 2006 and we had been only,helping out financially in the last few years. Uttam Teron, the founder who grew up in the village, started the school in 2003 with 800rs earned by giving tuition to the children.His dream is to educate every child in the surrounding area (the parents of these children are mainly daily wage earners) .Currently the school has grown and has 400+ students on board but is in dire need of funds. People like Uttam Teron,are the real unsung hereos and nation builders who with their passion will truly transform the lives of so many children. When you speak to him you really feel the zeal and passion that's driving him and makes one wonder there is so much to do around.
My travels around the country over the years have really shown me the not so 'Shining India'. The India that is being left so far behind, with no roads, no schools, people struggling to meet the daily necessities as compared to the glitzy malls and the rising SENSEX and the big SUVs people drive around in the jam packed cities. I stutter to even wonder the future for these indians. Why are we Indians so apathetic about 'inclusive growth', what are the companies who are amassing wealth and buying out every other company giving back or for that matter even me other than paying taxes.
Kaziranga:
After spending a few days at Guwahati, we headed to Kaziranga on the 15th. My travels generally means taking the next local bus available without any plans and so I headed to the ASTC bus depot on the 14th evening to pickup the bus tickets but was told by a reluctant person at the counter to comeback at 5:30a.m. next day and get the bus and tickets were on first come first serve basis. So we headed back and later heard in the evening news that there was a bomb blast at the same place an hour later, and so we decided to take a taxi instead the next morning, and headed to the land of the one horned rhinos. The drive on NH37 was more ore less good except for a few places where the road widening from 2 to 4 lane was being done.
We stayed at a lovely little century old British cottage amidst the tea gardens quite a distance from the National Park.I had heard a lot about Wild Grass Resort, but couldn't find accommodation there with my last minute booking and hence headed to the cottage in the tea gardens. The next day, on a cold and misty morning ,we headed for the elephant safari the next day and did find the famed one horned rhino(the rhinos would actually pose for the perfect shot :) ) and a couple of elephants and deers.
While at Kaziranga, another Rhino was poached. 17 rhino death's in a year ,largest death in a very long time.
Majuli:
After an early morning breakfast took a local bus to Jorhat(couple of hours from Kaliabor) and quickly hopped into the bus to Nimatighat about 20kms away. Nimatighat is one of the main access point to Majuli, one of the largest river island's of the world. The other access point is via Lakhimpur. There are only 2 daily ferries to Majuli and we reached there just in time for the last ferry at 2:30p.m. Jorhat is one of the main towns in Assam but as you head to Nimatighat, dusty non-existent bumpy roads take you to the ghats of one of revered places in Assam. The local ferry (it's not motorized yet!!) is already overloaded with a bunch of cars,20 odd motorbikes and hundreds of people heading to Majuli for a 2.5 hrs ride across the beautiful river, I managed to squeeze a seating place for mum and I headed to get a breathing standing space beside my backpack.The govt. is trying to make Majuli into a World Heritage Site!! Having gone through a bit of rough ride during the day didn't stop us from witnessing a lovely sunset as we floated along.
It was already dark when we reached Majuli and non existent roads and 2 buses and a few share jeeps awaited the passengers from the ferry. We took one of the jeeps and settled down at the Govt circuit house (very basic) at the Garamurh Satra.
Majuli is the cultural capital of Assam since the 16th century became the leading center of Vaishavinism with the establishment of hermitages known as satras.Sixty five Satras were set up but today only twenty-two of the original sixty-five still survive; many of which are in the mainland.The main surviving Satras are Dakshinpat Satra, Garamurh Satra, Auniati Satra, Kamalabari Satra, Benegenaati Satra, and Samaguri Satra.
After an early morning breakfast the next day, we headed to visit the Satras -Garamurh, Kamalabari and Auniati. We thought of using the local means of transport to reach the satras ,started by walking across Garamurh and then wanted to head to the remaining satras but there wasn't a bus/rickshaw in sight. Talking around we found that the only bus would arrive at 10a.m.( await of couple of hours) else one would have to walk 8-9kms to reach the next Satras. The only option available then was to hire an ancient ambassador cab waiting there that took us on a roller coaster ride across the island. I had read a bit about Majuli and its struggle for survival but the visit there was an eye opener even during the non-monsoon season. The place is caught in the midst of the fury of the mighty Brahmaputra during the monsoon where part of the islands get submerged including the fields and roads and the road journey we took to reach the satras it seems is totally submerged during the monsoon. The island is fast decreasing and losing its land to the river. Govt has spent crores on the place without the right approach and money falling into the wrong hands. Majuli was also in news a decade back when Sanjoy Ghosh who ran an NGO in Rajasthan went there and wanted to setup a NGO and help the people of Majuli. He was taken up by the ULFA folks and his body never found. Having also picked up his book, I realised nothing much has changed in 10 years.
The dwellers of Majuli are mostly tribal folk mainly Meshing (migrated from neighbouring Arunachal), and Deori and Kacharis The island has 23 villages and it's only connection with the outside world is through a ferry service which operates only twice a day.
A trip to Majuli is not for the weak hearted.
We took the afternoon ferry at 2pm from Majuli to Jorhat that evening.
Sibsagar :
We reached Jorhat in the evening and then took the next bus to Sibsagar (takes around 2hours) . We scouted for a guest house and checked into one for the night. (iven a chance one should stay at 'Sibsagar Tourist Lodge', with economical rooms that are spacious, near Sibsagar Tank, we couldn't find accommodation there for the night!!
Sibsagar is one of Assam's oldest towns and the legendary Ahom dynasty, which controlled Assam for some six centuries, made Sibsagar its capital. The town has a bunch of hindu temples the most famous being the Shiva Temple(tallest in Assam) overlooking a huge artificial reservoir, known as the Sibsagar Tank.
The other places of interest around Sibsagar :Ahom Museum ,Kareng Ghar:the palace ruins of the former Ahom rulers. Talatal Ghar:Its underground section . Rang Ghar :a former elephant and buffalo-fighting pavilion.
All of these places only take a few hours to go around and one can give this a skip if you aren't really too much interested in the history of Assam and frankly the ruins aren't that vastly spread but just couple of small ruins.
We headed to Tezpur from Sibsagar after a heavy breakfast.
Nameri:
The stay at Nameri was probably the best part of my NE trip.
We took a local bus to Balipara (about 20kms) from tezpur. The bus on its way to the destination was teaming with people carrying three times its capacity with people also climbing up to the top. After reaching Balipara we took the texi to Eco Camp about 20kms away.
Eco Camp at Nameri welcomed us with its green surroundings , beautiful little tent huts (attached hot water from geysers in such a distant place) . I would suggest not missing out on a trip to Eco Camp on your way to Arunchal or Assam.
The place , the food, the staff work in harmony with the surroundings. We took the colourful little huts for 800rs day(food seperately) but there are dorms available for rs 100 a day. Every meal there is a feast , with vast array of hot piping dishes.
Nameri is a bird watcher's paradise and was also an Angling Place. Its surrounded in the midst of vast rain forest. Started more than 50yrs back it lost its way but for over a decade now this place is trying to give back to the surrounding people and also the travelers. After a good hot meal I headed to walk across to the Bharali river bank about 1.5 kms away.
Later that evening met Ronesh Roy, the camp director, a thorough gentleman and we got talking and he invited me to his nice little hut stacked with books and music cds. He had grown up at boarding school at Darjeeling and went to college at Delhi. Bummed around for few years, worked at the tea garden for 20 years and then moved to Wild Grass, Kaziranaga and has been running Eco Camp for the past couple of years. I picked up a bunch of books to read along with Mark Shand's ' River Dog'. It was a book that my mum was mentioning only a few days back at a bookshop at Guwahati and there in the middle of a distant forest I pickup the book and also meet the person who was mentioned a bunch of times in the book and who's sister Rita had lent the dog-Bhitti (little brother in Assam) to Mark. Life is full of surprises!!
I headed back home with a handfull of books to keep me busy for my stay there.
I woke up early next morning (4:30a.m.) woken up with hot bed tea being served and headed for a nice little trek across the river and to the forest reserve along with a forest guard. I spent the next couple of hours trekking along the forest but because of the mist , no birds were insight and found a couple of elephants and bisons on the way. I had read entries of bird watchers having seen 160+ birds in a few days only a week earlier but i wasn't lucky enough.
I headed back after a nice walk in the woods and was surprised to be greeted to the sounds of Anjan Dutt( only contemporary bengali pop/rock artist i listen to ) playing and a pipping hot breakfast. Later we packed up and headed for a Rafting trip across the river, with food being cooked midway on the banks of the river.
There was a camp fire that evening with the music being classic rock and roll and so ended the wonderful 2 days spent there. I will surely spend a couple of days there on my trip to Arunachal whenever that happens.
Pics from the trip:
Useful Links:
Armed with the map of assam and no fixed plans in mind, we spent the first few days at Guwahati. It was my mum's first unplanned backpacking kind of trip with me, where we had no fixed travel plans and travel meant using the local buses, which wasn't always the most comfortable!!We were invited over for special bihu meals (had some really yummy food and sweets) by my parent's friends. The stay at Guwahati took me back to the growing up years-small towns,well planned british colonies with red cottages and huge gardens,and surrounding hills.We were staying in the Railway guest house there!!
The primary reason for spending a few days at Guwahati was to visit 'Parijat Acadamey" . Parijat Academy, is a school for children of families with low income, living in Pamohi and three adjoining tribal hamlets on the outskirts of Assam's capital Guwahati. My mum had come across an article in the Outlook Mag in 2006 and we had been only,helping out financially in the last few years. Uttam Teron, the founder who grew up in the village, started the school in 2003 with 800rs earned by giving tuition to the children.His dream is to educate every child in the surrounding area (the parents of these children are mainly daily wage earners) .Currently the school has grown and has 400+ students on board but is in dire need of funds. People like Uttam Teron,are the real unsung hereos and nation builders who with their passion will truly transform the lives of so many children. When you speak to him you really feel the zeal and passion that's driving him and makes one wonder there is so much to do around.My travels around the country over the years have really shown me the not so 'Shining India'. The India that is being left so far behind, with no roads, no schools, people struggling to meet the daily necessities as compared to the glitzy malls and the rising SENSEX and the big SUVs people drive around in the jam packed cities. I stutter to even wonder the future for these indians. Why are we Indians so apathetic about 'inclusive growth', what are the companies who are amassing wealth and buying out every other company giving back or for that matter even me other than paying taxes.
Kaziranga:
After spending a few days at Guwahati, we headed to Kaziranga on the 15th. My travels generally means taking the next local bus available without any plans and so I headed to the ASTC bus depot on the 14th evening to pickup the bus tickets but was told by a reluctant person at the counter to comeback at 5:30a.m. next day and get the bus and tickets were on first come first serve basis. So we headed back and later heard in the evening news that there was a bomb blast at the same place an hour later, and so we decided to take a taxi instead the next morning, and headed to the land of the one horned rhinos. The drive on NH37 was more ore less good except for a few places where the road widening from 2 to 4 lane was being done.
We stayed at a lovely little century old British cottage amidst the tea gardens quite a distance from the National Park.I had heard a lot about Wild Grass Resort, but couldn't find accommodation there with my last minute booking and hence headed to the cottage in the tea gardens. The next day, on a cold and misty morning ,we headed for the elephant safari the next day and did find the famed one horned rhino(the rhinos would actually pose for the perfect shot :) ) and a couple of elephants and deers.While at Kaziranga, another Rhino was poached. 17 rhino death's in a year ,largest death in a very long time.
Majuli:
After an early morning breakfast took a local bus to Jorhat(couple of hours from Kaliabor) and quickly hopped into the bus to Nimatighat about 20kms away. Nimatighat is one of the main access point to Majuli, one of the largest river island's of the world. The other access point is via Lakhimpur. There are only 2 daily ferries to Majuli and we reached there just in time for the last ferry at 2:30p.m. Jorhat is one of the main towns in Assam but as you head to Nimatighat, dusty non-existent bumpy roads take you to the ghats of one of revered places in Assam. The local ferry (it's not motorized yet!!) is already overloaded with a bunch of cars,20 odd motorbikes and hundreds of people heading to Majuli for a 2.5 hrs ride across the beautiful river, I managed to squeeze a seating place for mum and I headed to get a breathing standing space beside my backpack.The govt. is trying to make Majuli into a World Heritage Site!! Having gone through a bit of rough ride during the day didn't stop us from witnessing a lovely sunset as we floated along.It was already dark when we reached Majuli and non existent roads and 2 buses and a few share jeeps awaited the passengers from the ferry. We took one of the jeeps and settled down at the Govt circuit house (very basic) at the Garamurh Satra.
Majuli is the cultural capital of Assam since the 16th century became the leading center of Vaishavinism with the establishment of hermitages known as satras.Sixty five Satras were set up but today only twenty-two of the original sixty-five still survive; many of which are in the mainland.The main surviving Satras are Dakshinpat Satra, Garamurh Satra, Auniati Satra, Kamalabari Satra, Benegenaati Satra, and Samaguri Satra.After an early morning breakfast the next day, we headed to visit the Satras -Garamurh, Kamalabari and Auniati. We thought of using the local means of transport to reach the satras ,started by walking across Garamurh and then wanted to head to the remaining satras but there wasn't a bus/rickshaw in sight. Talking around we found that the only bus would arrive at 10a.m.( await of couple of hours) else one would have to walk 8-9kms to reach the next Satras. The only option available then was to hire an ancient ambassador cab waiting there that took us on a roller coaster ride across the island. I had read a bit about Majuli and its struggle for survival but the visit there was an eye opener even during the non-monsoon season. The place is caught in the midst of the fury of the mighty Brahmaputra during the monsoon where part of the islands get submerged including the fields and roads and the road journey we took to reach the satras it seems is totally submerged during the monsoon. The island is fast decreasing and losing its land to the river. Govt has spent crores on the place without the right approach and money falling into the wrong hands. Majuli was also in news a decade back when Sanjoy Ghosh who ran an NGO in Rajasthan went there and wanted to setup a NGO and help the people of Majuli. He was taken up by the ULFA folks and his body never found. Having also picked up his book, I realised nothing much has changed in 10 years.
The dwellers of Majuli are mostly tribal folk mainly Meshing (migrated from neighbouring Arunachal), and Deori and Kacharis The island has 23 villages and it's only connection with the outside world is through a ferry service which operates only twice a day.
A trip to Majuli is not for the weak hearted.
We took the afternoon ferry at 2pm from Majuli to Jorhat that evening.
Sibsagar :
We reached Jorhat in the evening and then took the next bus to Sibsagar (takes around 2hours) . We scouted for a guest house and checked into one for the night. (iven a chance one should stay at 'Sibsagar Tourist Lodge', with economical rooms that are spacious, near Sibsagar Tank, we couldn't find accommodation there for the night!!Sibsagar is one of Assam's oldest towns and the legendary Ahom dynasty, which controlled Assam for some six centuries, made Sibsagar its capital. The town has a bunch of hindu temples the most famous being the Shiva Temple(tallest in Assam) overlooking a huge artificial reservoir, known as the Sibsagar Tank.
The other places of interest around Sibsagar :Ahom Museum ,Kareng Ghar:the palace ruins of the former Ahom rulers. Talatal Ghar:Its underground section . Rang Ghar :a former elephant and buffalo-fighting pavilion.All of these places only take a few hours to go around and one can give this a skip if you aren't really too much interested in the history of Assam and frankly the ruins aren't that vastly spread but just couple of small ruins.
We headed to Tezpur from Sibsagar after a heavy breakfast.
Nameri:
The stay at Nameri was probably the best part of my NE trip.We took a local bus to Balipara (about 20kms) from tezpur. The bus on its way to the destination was teaming with people carrying three times its capacity with people also climbing up to the top. After reaching Balipara we took the texi to Eco Camp about 20kms away.
Eco Camp at Nameri welcomed us with its green surroundings , beautiful little tent huts (attached hot water from geysers in such a distant place) . I would suggest not missing out on a trip to Eco Camp on your way to Arunchal or Assam.
The place , the food, the staff work in harmony with the surroundings. We took the colourful little huts for 800rs day(food seperately) but there are dorms available for rs 100 a day. Every meal there is a feast , with vast array of hot piping dishes.
Nameri is a bird watcher's paradise and was also an Angling Place. Its surrounded in the midst of vast rain forest. Started more than 50yrs back it lost its way but for over a decade now this place is trying to give back to the surrounding people and also the travelers. After a good hot meal I headed to walk across to the Bharali river bank about 1.5 kms away.
Later that evening met Ronesh Roy, the camp director, a thorough gentleman and we got talking and he invited me to his nice little hut stacked with books and music cds. He had grown up at boarding school at Darjeeling and went to college at Delhi. Bummed around for few years, worked at the tea garden for 20 years and then moved to Wild Grass, Kaziranaga and has been running Eco Camp for the past couple of years. I picked up a bunch of books to read along with Mark Shand's ' River Dog'. It was a book that my mum was mentioning only a few days back at a bookshop at Guwahati and there in the middle of a distant forest I pickup the book and also meet the person who was mentioned a bunch of times in the book and who's sister Rita had lent the dog-Bhitti (little brother in Assam) to Mark. Life is full of surprises!!
I headed back home with a handfull of books to keep me busy for my stay there.
I woke up early next morning (4:30a.m.) woken up with hot bed tea being served and headed for a nice little trek across the river and to the forest reserve along with a forest guard. I spent the next couple of hours trekking along the forest but because of the mist , no birds were insight and found a couple of elephants and bisons on the way. I had read entries of bird watchers having seen 160+ birds in a few days only a week earlier but i wasn't lucky enough.I headed back after a nice walk in the woods and was surprised to be greeted to the sounds of Anjan Dutt( only contemporary bengali pop/rock artist i listen to ) playing and a pipping hot breakfast. Later we packed up and headed for a Rafting trip across the river, with food being cooked midway on the banks of the river.
There was a camp fire that evening with the music being classic rock and roll and so ended the wonderful 2 days spent there. I will surely spend a couple of days there on my trip to Arunachal whenever that happens.
Pics from the trip:
Useful Links:
Comments
I just got back from a trip, and I echo your thoughts.The camp was a pleasant surprise and Ronesh ensures the place leaves an impact on everyon'es mind.
- Kakoli
- Murk