Rhinos and elephants galore

I will make this a fairly short blog, basically because the GPRS signal from our lodge is rather weak, but also because we are all meeting up for pre-dinner drinks in about half an hour.

Day One in Kaziranga has been brilliant.

We had a very early start -”bed tea” at 5.30 – since we were going on an early elephant ride in the park, which is something I look forward to on every visit to Kaziranga.

There were lots of baby eles this morning, trotting beside their Mums, so it was all delightful.  You go out for about an hour, and it is just the absolutely perfect way to start a day, ambling through the jungle on an elephant. Our previous trips to Kaziranga have all been in January, when the elephant rides are cold and misty, so today’s sunny ride was a real treat.

We didn’t stop for breakfast, but went straight on into the jungle in jeeps, and saw elephants and rhinos galore (as the blog title says) plus hog deer, swamp deer, wild boar, Indian buffalo, and masses of birds.  The park didn’t seem too crowded, and we had Kunwar with us, who has to be one of the most knowledgable guides around.

Early lunch, then back into the park by 2.30 for a fabulous afternoon in the western ranges, where we saw masses of rhino, and otters, and birds galore and the whole things was just one beautiful sighting after another.

Tomorrow we have an other early start, and will also move from the lodge for 2 nights – it’s fully booked -so I’d better go pack, download this afternoon’s photos and generally get organised.

No daft news, nor photos, since I haven’t got around to processing today’s hundreds of pictures yet.

I do have a cute word for you, though.  I saw a sign by the side of the road tonight when we were driving back to Wildgrass, our lodge.  It said “Lodging and fooding”.