The Figo was like a fallen red flower whizzing through the green vegetation. The gravel road had tall trees around standing as sentinels. It had rained heavily just before we entered the park. There were puddles and the green and wet leaves glistened in the morning light.
We came to a part of the forest where the road was muddy and I thought of turning away. I got down and inspected the road. I found that a huge fallen tree and its dense foliage had blocked the real road and a temporary detour was made to bypass that blocked road.
The road ahead was uneventful except for potholes, pebbles, mud and water. We reached the bank of Manas river. It is an international boundary. The bank on which we were was India and the other side was Bhutan. It was beautiful and serene. The pebbles, the fast flowing river, the cold refreshing water all danced together and made the drive worthy.
Mathanguri was a good experience. We took off our shoes and immersed our feet in the cold water. After a while we observed an elephant on the opposite bank. My DSLR and 55-250 lens came handy and I got some beautiful shots of the elephant drinking water and spraying mud from the river bank on its body. As we travelled through the park we saw a peacock and few other birds. Our feet grew roots and we were mesmerised by the frolicking water dancing in the sunlight.
It was 1 pm when we started back. The return journey was not as arduous and by 2 pm we were back at the main entrance of the National Park. This was my first drive through a national park and the experience was etched in our memory. With loads of exciting experiences we bid adieu to Manas.
Later some people asked me as to what wildlife had I seen at Manas. They were curious to know if I had seen a tiger or a rhinoceros. I hadn’t. Seeing tigers in the lush green jungles of the North East is next to impossible and to tell the truth I didn’t wish to see one. Mosty areas of the park is in Bhutan and there also must be the core area. Travel by tourist is permitted only in the outer fringe and seeing a wild animal there at the fringe is extremely unlikely as the animals are wild by dint of their lack of contact with the humans.
We left with plans to return again someday in the future to spend more time in that river bank at the border of the happiest country of the world.
(Contributed by Saptarshi Majumder)