Hello friends, so just lets get back to the concluding part of my trip to Manas National Park. So early in the morning at 6.30am we got into our jeep. It was arranged for us by the cottage authorities. We had a driver and a forest guide. The jeep safari costed Rs 5000 including entry charges to Bhutan. You can also enjoy elephant safari, that charges adult/child per head Rs1100. There are two shifts one at 6am and the other at 7am, duration is around 1 hour. But we didn’t go for elephant because we were accompanied by my mother who is a senior citizen. The wheels rolled on and the moment we entered the restricted area we spotted lots of peacocks and  group of deer. We stopped for some time and clicked few pictures, I don’t have a good zoom lens so couldn’t take better pictures with it. We were lucky enough to view a dancing peacock just in front of our jeep, halted for some time to enjoy the grand performance. The weather was very pleasant, there was not much heat since it was drizzling in the morning.

Into the Wild: Manas National Park- Part II

Next we spotted red jungle fowl,wild boar, common emerald dove as the jeep penetratred deeper and deeper in to the dense forest. We spotted groups of deer, elephants along with the little ones, they were quite large in number. We crossed Kuri Beel Camp, there is a watch tower and we stopped for sometime to see the wild elephants grazing far away. We reached the border area of India and Bhutan which lies in Manas National Park. At Mathanguri there is the permit office, so carry your identity cards because you will need them to enter Bhutan’s Royal Manas National Park, its a mountainous road with many exciting twist and turns.

Entry to Bhutan is permitted to only Indian Citizens from that way. Entry Fee for vehicle is Rs150 and Rs30 per passenger.  Rs1500 extra(inclusive in the total amount we paid for the jeep safari which is Rs5000) for this entry to Bhutan.

The scenery on way is picturesque with the beautiful River Manas flowing down in the valley.  On way we spotted huge Hornbill birds, quite a lot in number it seemed as if they were playing flying from one branch of the tree to the other.

We entered Pangbang a picturesque Bhutanese village, there is also a hanging bridge which is very beautiful, you can cross the river Manas walking across it, go to the other side have a walk and come back.

We halted for some time in the village, there were shops and small tea-stalls, had some refreshing tea made by a very pretty Bhutanese lady. There are restrooms, you can also freshen up there since the journey was quite long and hectic one. There is a monastery inside the village, and all public offices were in the same vicinity. It was around 12.00 pm and we had to start our journey as soon as possible. 

On way back our driver took the same route till we reached Mathanguri, halted to take some snaps in the beautiful banks of River Manas and again started from there. At that time our driver took a different route so that we may spot few more animals and yes we were lucky indeed. We saw a black Malabar Squirrel and Sambar deer. The deer was standing in a small water body and looked as if he was posing for our camera, took few shots from the distance. We also saw some wild buffaloes.

But the saddest part of our trip is that we could not spot a tiger for which Manas National Park is famous for. But still we can do nothing about it, its his home and its up to him whether he wants his visitors to catch a glimpse. Some others tourists claimed that they spotted one, so good for them!

Well, that was all we reached our resort at 2.30pm, had our lunch and started our journey back to Guwahati by 3:00pm