It took me two minibus rides to get up to Tinsukia, the last major town in Upper Assam before the border with Arunachal Pradesh and not far from the borders of Burma and China. Here the Lohit river winds its way past the city some 18kms north of Tinsukia on its way to join the Bhramaputra. In the middle of these huge rivers is the large Dibru-Saikhowa National Park facing Tinsukia’s port called Guijan.


When I had arrived in India in November, Raj Baruah in Guwahati had introduced me to Bhaskar Dutta, a lawyer from Tinsukia who in turn had been kind enough to introduce me to Sanjay Das of Guijan . Sanjay is an award winning wildlife photographer based in this area and specialising in River Dolphins. He is also building a house boat called the Nakshatra at the sandbank opposite the Guijan dock and was very kind in letting me stay on the almost finished houseboat.


When I arrived in Tinsukia, I caught a shared auto rickshaw down to the ghat (port) at Guijan. I arrived and was met by Sankar, Sanjay’s brother who immediately put me on a traditional boat and ferried me across the Lohit River to the large sandbank opposite where the Nakshatra was tied up. The boat itself was impressive with three floors. On the first floor were five rooms each with two single beds and an en suite bathroom located in front of the engine. On the second floor and at the back of the boat was the kitchen and then a large dinning room that could be changed into a dormitory if necessary, mentioned Sankar. At the front of this area was a seating area outside over the bows . The roof on the third floor was open with some solar panels, space for sitting or sunbathing and the steering wheel was located at the front. All in all it was very compact yet surprisingly spacious inside especially in the cabins which all had a good amount of room. There was also plenty of natural light in the cabins curtesy of two windows and a wide corridor ran the length of the cabin area. Currently a generator was providing a lot of the power but the plan is too move to solar and become completely eco and environmentally friendly.


There was still work to be done, the furniture was still coming, although there were plastic chairs and tables and wooden beds. There was also a few plumbing issues that need resolving but Sanjay was confident that this would not take too long. Sanjay had also put together a good team of staff as well. Sankar was a birding guide and knowledgable plus taking on the role of boat manager . He was certainly a very friendly and likeable guy and always interested in my well fair. Mr Popular (as I called him) was like the next in charge I guessed. He was the oldest of the three hands and also a guide. He was an excellent cook, with a great personality and a real customer orientation. I liked him a lot. Vikram came from the same village as Sanjay and Sankar and was a shy young guy with limited English. Mr Arsenal (he always wore an Arsenal shirt) manned the traditional boat. This was a good collection of staff, always smiling and ever helpful.


For my first day Sankar suggested a visit to the local wetlands area, the Maguri–Motapung Beel Of Tinsukia back on the mainland. These wetlands are increasingly drawing international and mainland Indian recognition for the waterbirds and grassland birds plus the local fisherman culture. The other nice thing is that the water is shallow and as a result you can be punted silently around the wetlands increasing the chances of close sightings . Unfortunately the weather gods were not on my side that morning. When we awoke it was foggy plus badly overcast and I had the impression that Sankar was not convinced the trip would be worth it. However I noticed some blue sky and felt it would clear up, so off we went.


As it happened, Sankar was right. The blue sky soon disappeared to be replaced by dark overcast thick grey clouds preventing any decent photos. Nevertheless the morning was good and we saw many interesting birds out of the 375 recorded in this area. Highlights included the Bar-headed Goose, Asian Openbill, Ruddy Shelduck amongst others, but the weather was not helping. We did also spot some wild buffalo near the wetland area and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the local fishermen and photographing the extradorinaiy big nets suspended over the water.


After two hours we had to interrupt proceedings as strangely it started to rain. Whilst now technically it was the dry season, sometimes this area can experience pre-monsoonal rains and this appeared to be one short one. We got back to the houseboat in time for some lunch which was welcome and then the temperature also started plummeting. Consequently I took the option of an afternoon nap.


In the northeast the clocks are on the same time as Delhi, which is so far away that sunrise here occurs at 4 .30-5.00 am and sunset at 4.30-5.00 pm. Consequently the afternoons are somewhat short and a short nap is all that one can accomplish if you want to do something in the afternoon. Later Sanjay returned from a day filming with a friend and his two clients from Animal Planet TV. With the weather taking a plunge I had asked Mr Popular for a fire and he had built a huge fire on the sandbank. This was no small task as the sandbank continued for a least two kilometres before it reached the village on the boundary of the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. That night I did appreciate the fire.


The following day the weather was looking promising at 7.00am and by 8.30 was blue sky and warm again. Again Sanjay was away early with the film crew and Sankar was busy so it was Vikram and Mr Popular who led me across the sandbank and into Dibru-Saikhowa National Park for an extended foot safari.


The Dibru-Saikhowa National Park is one of Assam’s premier National Parks (and therefore subject to the expensive foreigner’s camera charge)and is thick scrub and forest on sand. It is home to a wide variety of animals including elephants and tigers, but the chances of seeing those are very slim. It is also still the home of some local people both inside and on the fringes. Poaching, deforestation and other human influenced problems are still occurring but Sanjay and Sankar were optimistic that these issues can be tackled. Rarely visited by tourists (and probably less so now the camera tax is so high) the National Park is famous for birds and the wild horses, so it was these I was hoping to see. Also, there is the thrill of a walking safari. I had a great one in 2013 in Kaziranga National Park, also in Assam stumbling on a large group of elephants, sixty plus (please see previous blog) so I was looking forward to this. I did though notice that this time, Mr Popular and Vikram just had one machete between them, whereas in Kaziranga (same entrance fees) - I had four armed guards. What can one say - Incredible India!


Not that I was particularly expecting any trouble as we set off through the outlying villages. Here the poverty was noticeable. They were really just farming communities with little or nothing. The sun was quite bright now, hot and also pretty high in the sky, so I felt the chances of seeing anything was also quite small. Nevertheless we went on in single file with Mr Popular in front me in the middle and Vikram behind with the machete. Soon enough we came across a dry river bed and the National Park office on the opposite side. Once in the National Park we still passed villagers some with livestock some without, plus a few on bicycles. The sand filled pathways made the going quite tough and elephant grass either side of the pathways blocked the immediate views. Trees came passed sporadically and sometimes near these we saw some birds (usually in the distance). Shrieks, a Crested Serpent Eagle, a Falcon plus several unidentified smaller birds were spotted during the day.


Things took a more exciting turn of events when we rounded a corner into a clearing only to spot a herd of Wild Buffalo emerging at the opposite end. Within minutes Mr Popular took control and had me off to the side behind him with young Vikram in front yelling at the unpredictable huge beasts. This seemed to have the desired effect and they retreated into the tall elephant grass. That was the last we saw of that group. This whole episode was dealt with in a far more effective way than my encounter with elephants in the forests of Kaziranga two years ago!


Soon Mr Popular was on the ground pointing out fresh tiger prints and I started to wonder what we would encounter next. We walked on, back in single file through these sandy elephant grass lined natural corridors. For quite a while we encountered nothing, but there were sounds around us including the occasional crash of undergrowth, “monkeys!” Mr Popular would declare.


It transpired later that we were actually heading for the National Park HQs and to get to the buildings we needed to cut right across the forest with the machete. Mr Popular lead the way as we turned off the main path. Immediately the going became much slower and more difficult. However after some minutes we located what appeared to be an ‘old’ elephant track and started following that. This was much easier but after a while we came across a large pile of what looked like quite fresh dung. This provoked an exchange of words between Mr Popular and Vikram in their local language, and then we continued more wearily down the path.


Now this was more exciting I thought, but almost straight away, Mr Popular was stopped in his tracks by another pile of elephant poo. This one however was as fresh and steaming as possible and suddenly everyone was alert and whispering. Suddenly there were loud crashes ahead. “Elephant” I asked, “monkey” Mr Popular replied, without a shred of concern on his face - luckily. Now our progress down the elephant track was slow, cautious and quiet.


Animal spotting continued and Vikram pointed out two Giant Squirrels and a noisy Macaque. I on the other hand was more interested in the elephant which was apparently still quite close. We passed more fresh dung before almost bumping into another group of Macaques. They turned out to be on the river bank next to the Park HQ and that by then a welcome sight. We never did end up seeing the elephant, which was probably a good job. “Most likely a single young male,” I think Mr Popular concluded.


The Park HQ was empty, but someone’s smalls were hanging up everywhere - drying. Chickens were all over the place and the only signs of officialdom was a large poster pinned on the wall “Our Animals”. On closer inspection this poster was rather extraordinary as it not only included all the usual suspects like Tigers, Elephants, Buffalo etc but had a few unusual additions such as Kangaroo, Polar Bear and Panda.


Vikram quickly had a fire going and the kettle was boiled for an excellent Assam tea before we headed downstream. Soon the forest gave way to large sandy plains with some waterholes. Here we spotted cormorants and pelicans, plus we had to quickly scarper when a large herd of Wild Buffalo, led by an enormous male, emerged from the grasses heading for a drink. “He looked angry,” exclaimed Mr Popular. On the way out Mr Popular showed me some of the large extraordinary Banyan trees. Like large tents, these grew upwards and then outwards with their many branches and external roots forming a tent like frame which, when covered by their green leaves, were lovely cool places. Unfortunately some were full of rubbish.


When we eventually made it back to the boat I was hot and exhausted. We had lunch with the crew from Animal Planet which was very interesting talking to both Ash and Skip. In the afternoon, on the bows I was able to spot a River Dolphin slowly meandering down river past the Nakshatra. Fired up I asked to travel with two new guests from Jorhat down river the following day to hopefully see them.


The next morning, it was same crew - Mr Popular and Vikram (this time piloting the boat) and the couple from Jorhat on the boat. Unfortunately we left too late for much of the bird activity which left just a few Ruddy ducks and the occasional Kingfisher. However when we reached the area where Sanjay does his photography of the Dolphins, almost on cue one emerged out of the grey water. Grey and certainly much smaller than what I had seen in South America it was difficult to get much of a look. It did though raise its head out of the water as it gasped for breath before disappearing after a matter of a couple of seconds at the most.


This was a great sighting, and Mr Popular weighed anchor and we started drifting downstream, waiting for the Dolphin to resurface, which it did several times on its way downstream. However nothing was as good as that first look we got. We spent the rest of the morning travelling around this Lohit River and one tributary and we did seem some interesting river life, but we had to wait until the way back for our second Dolphin spotting. This sighting was though not as great as the first but it is still wonderful to see them.


Back at the boat we had a big lunch with Sanjay, Ash, Skip and everyone before I went into Tinsukia to get my ticket to Tezu. That night I said my goodbyes and packed. My sumo taxi was at 5.30am, but I was up at 3.30am because (strangely) it was very humid. I should have realised that trouble was afoot, but I didn't and then at 4.30am the heavens opened and the rains arrived. The half finished boat was obviously full of potential leaks and suddenly the boat was awash. The bedrooms were not but the corridor and upstairs were swamped. These monsoonal rains were not mean’t to start until March at the earliest but here it was. At 5.00am I decided not to go. If my backpack got wet it would take days to dry everything, so I cancelled.


By 7.00am the rain had almost stopped and the weather was cold, windy and overcast. “Just like England,” chuckled Mr Popular as the clean up started. Determined not to be so far out of Tinsukia for the following days Sumo, I booked a hotel room in Tinsukia and left after breakfast. By the time I got back to Tinsukia the heavens were opening again and it rained on and off all day.


Tinsukia really did resemble an Asian city in the midst of hollywood war film with rubbish, rubble, pools of water, streaming rain and plenty of loud traffic. Happily I quickly got my new ticket and saw Bhaskar Dutta before retreating for an early night. I checked in at a modern hotel on the 4th floor of a shopping arcade. Functional but hardly atmospheric, the internet struggled, the staff were friendly and it was dry. It did though have one quirk (this is India and no hotel is quirk free) and that was that the hot water took 30 mins of taps open at full to reach my room. “Bad for the environment,” I mentioned to the service manager, “probably!” He replied.


Nevertheless I slept soundly.