Hello.. Hello.. Hello…. First of all, wishing you and your family a very happy, healthy, and prosperous 2023! Sorry for being MIA for the past couple of years… No surprises there.. I guess.. Especially for a travel blog! 🙂

Well, I take my December vacations pretty seriously as I see it as my core family time to explore someplace new.. I plan it end-to-end, picking one state/region and try to cover as many places as possible during this 10-12 day period. This year(Dec 2022), we planned to cover Assam and Meghalaya for our year-end vacation! And.. this one turned out to be extra special as our friends joined us for this incredible experience, making it an epic vacation!

The itinerary for our 9 days, 8 nights vacation was quite simple –

Bangalore/Chennai -> Guwahati (1 night) -> Kaziranga (2 nights) -> Shillong (2 nights) -> Cherrapunji (2 nights) -> Guwahati (1 night) ->Bangalore/Chennai

Do drop me a note if you want to know a detailed itinerary, I will be glad to share it 🙂

Today, I am going to be focussing on the Kaziranga National Park in Assam. Kaziranga is about 165 km from Guwahati and is almost a 3.5 hour drive on road. We started around 12:00 pm from Guwahati and reached around 5:30 pm as we stopped for a few hours on the way for lunch. There are a lot of Assamese dhabas on the way serving good vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. We tried the Assamese thali and it was really one of a kind!

The history of Kaziranga takes us back to the year 1904 when the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon along with his wife, Mary Curzon went on an excursion to this region. To their surprise, they found no signs of the rhinos. Mary Curzon persuaded her husband to take measures to protect the one-horned rhinoceros whose population was decreasing at an alarming rate. Hence, in 1905 an area of 232 sq km of Kaziranga was declared a Proposed Reserve Forest.

Kaziranga – In all its glory!

Are you someone who thinks that the Indian one-horned rhinoceros existed only in the Jurassic era? If yes, you are completely wrong! Kaziranga National Park is the host for two third of the world’s population of endangered Indian one-horned rhinoceros. Once widespread in the Asian continent, the population of these species plummeted due to hunting. But with active conservation, the rhino population is thriving and increasing. It also represents one of the last unmodified natural areas in the northeastern region of India. Covering an approximate area of 430 sq km, Kaziranga was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its unique natural environment in the year of 1985.

Kaziranga Park remains closed from 01-May to 31-Oct every year for visitors. Therefore November to April is the best time to visit Kaziranga National Park. It is also said that the winters are the best times to spot Rhinos as the grass burns off and the background becomes clearer to view from the Safari Jeeps. Kaziranga offers both Jeep safaris and Elephant safaris. The Jeep safaris are longer as they take you deep inside the forest, while the Elephant safaris are for a shorter duration. But, if you do spot Rhinos on the grasslands, the chances to watch them up close are more on an Elephant Safari.

Jeep Safari Zones are split into two

1. The western safari zone which is called the “Burapahar Range” – The Brahmaputra River is visible from this zone and is usually a longer route. They usually suggest covering this zone in the afternoon time of the safari which is between 1:30 pm and 4:00 pm.
2. The central safari zone – this is the common safari entrance for both the Jeep safari as well as the Elephant safari. They usually suggest covering this zone in the early morning time of the safari which is between 7:00 am and 10:00 am.

There is an additional fee of INR 100 for cameras. Also, surprisingly, we had to pay a fee of INR 1000 coz we were carrying a go pro! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Also note, no eatables are allowed inside the forest. The guards check all the jeeps and if they find packets of eatables, they take them and return them back when you end the safari. This place is an eco-tourism zone with no plastics!!

We stayed at Jungleciti House resort in Kaziranga and booked our safaris through them directly. We were a group of 10 people so we needed 2 jeeps for both our safaris. We did not do an Elephant safari. Each jeep costed about INR 3500 to INR 3700 and could easily accommodate 5-6 people. They picked us up directly from our resort and dropped us back at the resort after the safari. They also had a guide who was an avid birdwatcher, who patiently explained to us the origin and migration of each bird we spotted during our safari 🙂

The Jungleciti House resort itself was a small cozy resort inside the forest itself. They also had a beautiful backwater which was a small stream from the Brahmaputra river. The rooms were spacious and clean, and the food was decent. The highlight of the resort was the campfire for us, where we spent most of our time! It was the perfect space to hang out with good music (we had carried our Bluetooth speakers), good food and ofcourse good friends 🙂

Overall, Kaziranga turned out to be one of the best Assamese adventures. Not only did we get the see lots of the endangered Indian one-horned Rhinos, but we also got to see other Flora and Fauna like wild buffalos, elephants, birds, deer etc! The kids had a lot of fun and the jeep safaris into the wild was just perfect! The weather was a little cold, (especially for south Indians like me :)), so do carry your jackets when you go on the Jeep Safari! Below are some pics we took during our safari in Kaziranga! Hope you enjoy it!

Hope this post made you plan for your next holiday in Kaziranga National Park! Watch this space for more posts in this series on Assam and Meghalaya..!! Do share your thoughts and comments on this post! Have a great day!

Love, Prithi