Manas Wildlife Sanctuary

Manas is a fine excuse to make the detour to northwestern Assam. According to these stats, only a couple of hundred foreign tourists make it to the park in a good year. I went there by car+driver from Kaziranga (6.5 hours) and stayed for 2 nights in a homestay amidst the tea fields close to the Bansbari park entrance. All was calm, friendly and very low-key. It reminded me of rural Thailand, the area where I stayed to visit Huai Kha Khaeng. 

The scenery is dominated by the massive “wall” of the Himalayas which lie north of the flat lands of Manas. Another characteristic is the presence of a lot of dense forest. There are other park entrances as well, Bhuyanpara and Panbari, which lie more to the east and west respectively: the east is where you can find the most special mammal species of Manas, the pygmy hog (although they are “almost never seen”).

I did two jeep safaris in the park from the Bansbari gate: one from 6-9 a.m. and the other from 2-5 p.m. The early morning one seemed to be the most fruitful as it delivered about one specimen of each of the common species (Indian rhino, Asian elephant, Asian water buffalo, Malayan giant squirrel, Sambar deer, Capped langur), plus numerous Indian peacocks. That was until we ended our afternoon tour at 4.30 with a visit to the Bura Burithai Watchtower: at its clearing we saw 2 gaur and 5 rhinos simultaneously and …

Have you ever wanted to go to Bhutan but were put off by the high fees (which aren't really that high if you think about it being all inclusive but anyway)? Well you can go to Bhutan for free! But there is a catch. You need to a) go to India, b) visit Manas NP, and lastly c) ask/persuade your guide to take you across the border. The border is less than an hour from the park entrance near the park ranger quarters but there are no border guards, no passport checks, there is a small hut and an open gate so maybe it is used sometimes or it was used before. Okay for one this ain't Paro so you will not continue to the Tiger's Nest on this trip. Second you will not see much because the guide won't risk taking you far in.

To get to Manas I took the train from NJP after returning from Darjeeling. It takes a good 6 hours but I find the 2AC beds adequate to nap and have enough space to feel luxurious. The Indian police also eradicated the peddlers a couple of times and it was quiet for a bit. Once you reach Barpeda Road the world looks very suburbian. There are tuktuk lined up east of the station who probably expect to take people to Manas in January but not so much in November, and I am quite sure I was the only tourist in the park who came …

So, at last Manas gets a review on this Web site - but the Fates tried very hard to prevent us from being able to do so! It is situated right on the border with Bhutan about 3 hours west of the major city of Guwahati by rail. The nearest railhead is the modern town of Barpeta Road from where it is another 45 minutes north through country roads to the entrance at Bansbari.

In March 2013 our overnight train from the West chugged into Barpeta Rd some 4 hrs late, so we had already missed our planned afternoon game run, but worse was to come – The PJACBM (People’s Joint Action Committee for Bodoland Movement) had just started a 100 hour “bandh” or strike/lockdown in support of their ongoing demands for greater autonomy from the Indian/Assamese governments and it wasn’t clear if it was possible/safe to try to travel north into Bodo country. Luckily we were able to make some very hurried rearrangements by which we continued to Shillong that day (totalling 62 hours continous travel and 2 overnight trains since we had left the Sundarbans!) by road/rail and returned 2 days later for our full ration of game runs.

Well - was it worth all the hassle? It had long been a matter of some surprise to me that in 1985, this park should have been one of the first natural sites inscribed by India. Unlike the other 2 inscribed at the same time (Bharatpur and …