Wild Assam 2018: Episode Nameri

In December 2017, following an obscure reference, I instinctively ordered "The Search for the Pink-Headed Duck", a 1991 title by relatively unknown American birder Rory Nugent, at Amazon. They took a while to import and deliver the paperback with not so impressive cover. While the book has quite a few wrong details, and enjoys a political view not entirely aligned with my nationalist belief system, I found it to be a fascinating tale. It is a quest in the trail of Pink-Headed Duck, now practically extinct, which used to frequent at the Gangetic plains, and riverine swamps of Myanmar.

In couple of months’ time, we were at road, in the quest of another duck. A duck, that was rapidly following the footsteps of Pink-headed Duck.

***

The road was well maintained but darkness of foothill evening ensued. To magnify the effect, dense vegetation started to surround us. We were lost.

We left Tezpur at least 30 min back. Balipara was crossed. The car was kept on Bhalukpong road. At least couple of mobiles were tracking the direction using Google map. Yet, we were lost.

We reached a stage when the app asked us to take a right turn through wall of darkness, which appeared to be forest. The red-green bicolour sign board announced the start of national park. Our driver, Saiful, became nervous and stopped the car by the road. Would we reach out destination?

***

Morning was better. We came out of Manas National Park through the Banshbari gate as couple of happy and content soles. Ali, our driver cum local guardian took us to his home. His cousin Saiful would take us to Nameri National Park. Ali would come with us. It would be a long journey. Saiful definitely would need a pair of helping hand while coming back.

We had a quick but satisfying lunch after Mangaldoi. After long, tasted Mrigel fish. Picked up packaged water and some snacks before started again. After Dalgaon, we kept the road to Orang National Park at right. After seemingly endless drive through flat Assam lands punctuated by small villages, we reached Tezpur. Through some maze of narrow roads, we managed to pick up way to Balipara, followed by Bhalukpong Road. Darkness ensued.

***

Showing his usual sense of ownership, Ali got down and found a local gentleman to get directions. The road through the jungle was to be followed. Saiful drove nervously. A village arrived. Some more turns and we were at the gate of Jia Bhorelli Wild Resort.

Binod Sarma, manager of Jia Bhorelli, greeted us. After a cup of tea Ali and his party took leave – they would go back to Banshbari and possibly would drive whole night. We checked into a cottage. Simple. Clean. At dinner they served Chocolate Mahseer (locally called Khilgaria) curry with rice. We retired early.

***

By 6:30 AM in the morning our guide arrived. It is not mandatory to take a guide in Nameri – as an armed forest guard accompanies you anyway. But it was our first day. We often had seen elsewhere that having an experienced guide in an unknown forest helps a lot. You can easily figure out the wildlife hotspots.

Our guide today was Phukan Miri. He was from Mishing community. He did not look impressive – but came with Binod’s recommendation. We took a shortcut through the village, crossed a breached wall, and arrived at the forest office.

There were no tourists – but two guides were waiting for their respective tourist teams’ permits. But the officer was late and slow. By the time we received out permit, the clock already touched 7 AM.

We, along with two other groups, walked about a km and half through dirt road with vegetation on both sides. At the end, a beautiful river lied ahead of us. With calm blue water it really looked like ‘Jia Bhorell’, which translates to ‘full of life’.

We would have to cross it. Couple of feeble boats can be seen moored to the bank. But no boatman around. We chatted with an amiable American couple waiting before us. They just saw a hornbill before we arrived.

Phukan managed to find the boatmen, who worked for forest. We all boarded it. Surprisingly, the boat was sturdier than it looked. Phukan pointed to a bird flying over – Crested Kingfisher – a lifer for us. But, alas! With low light – there was not a chance to shoot it.

On other bank – another KM of walk through sands and boulder was waiting for us. With cloudy sky and light breeze, we did not face much challenge to cover it. Potshali forest camp. Phukan entered our details at a dusty dog-eared register book. Then all of us started walking together.

We started with a Peregrine Falcon perching on a tree top. The short forest guard accompanying the American couple appeared to be really knowledgeable. He was very generous and willing to spot and show birds to anybody interested. Quickly we developed a mutual liking. He turned out to be Minaram Gogoi, the most famous of Nameri guards. Binod Sharma tried to get him for us – but he was already booked.

In quick succession we spotted Maroon Oriole over a tree, and then Great Stone Curlew (Great Thick Knee), and Little Heron near the boulder islands in Jia Bhorelli. A pair of Brahminy Ducks was bringing in spots of colour over grey sand and boulders. A female Great Crested Grebe swiftly used wings and feet to move in half-swim half-fly motion against the current and then just floated to lose the distance gained through this effort.

So far we walked along the river. We did not take the first left turn that moved inside the park. That would have taken us to the usual circular 5 KM trek. A second left turn arrived. All guards ensured that we were accumulated together before taking that turn.

Though unspoken so far – all the trekkers were after the most sought-after species of the park: White-winged Wood Duck, one of the critically endangered birds in the world. With about thousand left in the wild, this park gives the best chance to spot them. But challenge is, once they are aware of human presence, these shy birds fly deep inside the forest. After that, spotting them would have very little chance. As a good practice, guards ensure that all teams go together to enhance the chance of spotting them together.

We followed the guards in tip-toe. The narrow road slithered through dark vegetation. Soon it opened up into a cluster of interconnected ponds covered with green algae. Phukan, Minaram and other guards tried to check their presence. A handsome Sambar stag emerged from one of the ponds. And, yes! There were ducks around!

Alas! They were no Wood Ducks. Common Teals only. On any other day I would have tried to get a good frame of a male Common Teal, a beautiful bird. But not today. We decided to go back near the river, wait half an hour and come back.

At river bank, over dead tree trunks few Assam Roofed Turtles were soaking the sun pierced through broken clouds. Hoary Bellied Squirrels moving from tree to tree. One of the tourists even spotted a Malayan Giant Squirrel. A new team of three noisy photographers came in. We requested them to wait with us. But they were not in listening mood. They left the trail and disappeared into deeper jungle – an act that could not be allowed at any cost.

Once our 30 min was over, we again checked the ponds. No sign of Wood Ducks. A Wedge Tailed Green Pigeon sat on a tree above us. And exactly then Phukan whispered - ‘Wood Duck’.

His whisper came with a catch. Apparently the wood duck was flying to the pond. But looking at our fellow enthusiastic birders, it did not land and flew away. We were disappointed again. But decided to keep a watch in a disciplined way by keeping ourselves hidden behind various bushes and trees.

Then came our lady luck, or should we say gentleman luck? A second wood duck, a male, flew and landed at the second pond. He did not notice the human intrusions and swam with a good mood - plucking algae, preening back, stretching wings.

Then all hell broke loose. Our fellow birders did not like the distance. And couple of them, led by a Bengali gentleman from the noisy team, with rest of the members somewhere inside deeper jungle, moved forward. At this moment, you could do two things – either maintain distance or follow them. I did later.

I crawled and sat behind a tree. Thankfully rest of my birding mates did the same and the bird was still in ignorance bliss. After 10 min or so, he flew deeper into the forest.

There was some commotion behind. Rest of the birders from the noisy lot, who ventured deep into the jungle defying the rules, came back slightly later when we were already clicking the birds. The guides and guards did not allow them to move forward. Besides them, the rest of us were visibly happy. We found one of the thousand odd wood ducks in this big world. We clicked him. And most importantly, we did not disturb the bird. What else do we need!

All elated, we came back near the camp. While the American gentleman and I were exchanging visiting cards, the guard showed us to a tree. A pair of Malayan Giant Squirrels was resting a branch atop. But there were more wonder. Tum and I were taken to a large tree with many holes. At least two beautiful Tockay Geckos were taking the best of sunshine. Regretfully, the biggest one, fondly called ‘Laden’ by the locals, was not seen for couple of days.

Sun was harsh near the river. Walking back through the sand and boulder was not easy.

***

After lunch, we found an SUV waiting for us at the resort. A rubber raft was tied at the roof of the car. Inside, we met Sukleshwar Kush, a local Ahom, our local guardian for rest of the stay. He was accompanied by Giskel Tana, a gentleman from Nyshi tribe of adjoining Arunachal.

We completed formalities at forest office and drove 14 Km north towards Bhalukpong. After crossing an army camp we parked near the river. Sukleshwar and his team quickly pumped the raft, and placed two wood planks that would act as our seats. We put on life jackets and off we went.

The river was rather gentle for us, the beginners. There were few rapids – but nothing scary. However, we found photography would be really tricky even with such gentle ride. And we needed our photography skills today – as we were in search of another famous species – Ibisbill. Though they are not really endangered, in India, they are rare. And they are monotypic genus, which means only one species exist for that genus. In India, only seven birds enjoy that status. It means something special for us birders.

We provided a wishlist to Sukleshwar – Ibisbill being at the top. He seemed very confident in his sweet demeanour. We did not believe him much. Many such confident answers at the start of our many earlier safaris generated nothing more than damp squibs.

How wrong we were! In less than 15 min, we spotted a pair of Brahminy Ducks. As we were busy clicking them, while keeping the horizontal posture at swaying raft, Sukleshwar whispered in slightly agitated tone: ‘Ibisbill!’

And Ibisbill he was. Behind the ducks. Close to the boulders. It was amazing to see how nature evolved their plumage colour to match that of the boulders. Without his trained eyes, Tum and I would never have spotted them. It was a beautiful wader. Ashy body, black face, and a red bill. Droplets of water hanged around its tip.

We looked at Sukleshwar with enhanced respect. With a shy smile he said – even he was not sure of their sighting. Though they kept themselves near this spot, once they were behind the boulders, it was extremely difficult to find.

Then it was just spotting one after another from our wishlist. A Great Cormorant and an Indian Cormorant stood intervening in a merganser family on submerged rocks – creating a marital rift. Learning from this sad story, slightly ahead, a Mallard family kept their family integrity intact by staying away from external elements. At the bank, on top of a silk cotton tree, an Osprey (second monotypic genus member today) watched us with deep suspicion. A solitary River Tern enjoyed his narcissism on top of a submerged rock.

Sukleshwar took the raft near a bank where a large flock of Small Pratincole were enjoying themselves with evening play. They were literally fearless. Many of them stood near us and observed our intrusion with evident interest. Then for some unknown reason, they all flew away together demonstrating epitome of swarm intelligence. And we? Happy happy!

Very soon we figured out why merganser families were so fragile. We saw a male flirting with a bunch of females. And with their unkempt hair, the females exhibit a fearful look comparing to the much composed male. Another group of spinster female mergansers were apparently happy with their ladies’ club. They started a race hovering over the water with droplets spattered around.

We were close to the Potshali camp. Our rafting trip was almost over. Near the steep rank Sukleshwar and Giskel tried to find the last item in our wishlist – Crested Kingfisher. We found something close – Pied Kingfisher.

The dusk settled rapidly. Far away, where the river took a turn, locals were busy offering their respect to the river; a river, which was full of life: Jia Bhorelli.

***

In the morning, we were back at the park. We did not have any guide today – but accompanied by a young member of Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF), Dipankar Bhattacharya. Keeping the Peregrine Falcon, Maroon Orioles, Great Thick-knee, and Little Herons behind, we marched on to the Wood Duck Pond.

A big team of senior and noisy citizens from Maharastra checked in last night at the resort. To our horror, we found them near the pond. No wonder that no wood duck was around. We retreated and requested them to retreat as well. They did not pay any attention.

Near the river, beautiful Katanda flowers blossomed. Dipnakar educated us of its medicinal value. While checking the Great Thick-knees near their islands, we found their cousin Indian Thick-knees camouflaged beautifully amongst stone boulders. Minaram was around, accompanying couple of American gentlemen. He waved to us and asked us to check the ponds again. Apparently the Wood Ducks flew towards the pond.

We ran. The Maharastrians stood near the bank of second pond. Excitedly and animatedly, they announced two Wood Ducks came, stayed for a while and then again flew away. We did not say anything but could not suppress our annoyance in our body expression.

Disappointed again, we simply sat down on a tree trunk. The senior citizens moved back. They would be taking the raft in the afternoon.

And Wood Ducks came again. A couple. They stayed with us for at least 20 min before retiring at the forest. Not just us, a Malayan Giant Squirrel was equally captivated by them from the tree branch above.

Near Potashali camp, Sukleshwar waited for us with brunch. We would be staying in the park for whole day.

Now that we already saw Wood Ducks twice, we decided to take the usual trekking trail. The trail started near the Gecko Tree, traversed 5 KM before emerging behind the camp again.

First part was a meadow covered with ‘torapat’ or ‘chepti’ grass, favourite among the elephants. A solitary elephant observed us from distance. Dipankar was full of tales about a recent tiger encounter around this place. Couple of Great Indian Hornbills flew past us. Grass was burnt down at places. We walked to a watch tower. But it was very quiet there.

Wooded area started. A Rufous Woodpecker was busy even at this advanced hour of the day. A second watch tower by a stream. As Dipankar told, the stream started from Jia Bhorelli, near the place where Ibisbills were spotted. It meets Jia Bhorealli again at downstream.

Another meadow. Again woods. We passed through large trees. A tree slit emitted resin. Lovely unknown red fruits hanged from unknown tree. Possibly poisonous, Dipankar advised, he never saw any bird to try it.

This area was often frequented by hornbills. So we waited. Soon we were blessed by the sighting of a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbill. They allowed us to photograph.

In afternoon, we found a Hog Deer at Wood Duck pond. It seemed not just the ducks, deer also loved this place. Common Teals and Wood Ducks were giving her company.

In the evening, staffs showed us dressed Chocolate Mahseer at the resort. We took carp at dinner instead.

***

A swiss gentleman and some members of Central Government’s Tourism Department accompanied us to park in the morning. We took the trek first – since our thirst for Wood Ducks were almost quenched.

But we could not stop talking about them. We learnt there was another pond five Km down the road by the river. The area was called Muniram. Few years back, a flood filled the pond with sand – thus killing the habitat. There was no proper census done for this bird. But the guards believed not more than 15 birds exist in this park. Quite a feeble number!

We walked up to the first watch tower. The Swiss gentleman was sitting at the top. He saw a Sambar stag before we arrived. Few Imperial Green Pigeons perched on top of a distant tree. We climbed down.

We followed a group of foresters. They would cross the stream near second watch tower and go another four KM to work on a road. I admired their knives (daos) hanging from the shoulder. Could not we buy one? We decided to check with Sukleshwar.

Dipankar spotted a Wedge Tailed Green Pigeon camouflaged within green foliage. We admired his spotting skill. Couple of forest department elephants were waiting near the hornbill spot munching on elephant apple freshly plucked from the tree.

At the hornbill hotspot Great Hornbills were abound. But Pied Hornbills were not seen. But in quick succession, we saw Pygmy Woodpecker, Large Woodshrike, Maroon Oriole, Scarlet Minivet, Streaked Spiderhunter, and a Green Billed Malkoha (missed again).

During lunch, we observed the Malayan Giant Squirrels near the camp. The male came down from tree and, sat at the entrance of an abandoned hut, and tasted the decaying bricks. Geckos were missing though.

In the afternoon, we visited the pond cluster again. Since the day was quiet in absence of tourist, we found one Wood Duck on the first pond itself. A big splashing sound annoyed them. Later checking the photos, we realized that was caused by the jumps of large Water Monitor Lizards sunbathing on dead tree trunks.

We sat behind a bush and observed this mysterious bird for long 30 minutes peacefully. Only we were around and nobody else. We took a closer look of the algae that they ate. In our inexpert eyes that looked like the normal algae found elsewhere. Then what brought them huddle back to these ponds only? We guessed that would remain a mystery for now. But that cannot suppress our ecstasy of spotting them on three consecutive days.

We took a picture of a Common Teal, which we neglected so far. By all means, he looked much better than his more famous cousin. Hornbills started to fly over us – their activities for the day were over. A female Long Tailed Minivet enjoyed the brilliant sun. Near the river, a Hoary Bellied Squirrel played on a tree.

Babulal Dolui, a forest employee, served us tea at the camp. When we arrived at river bank, to cross it, for the last time, the water was molten gold.

Sukleshwar was waiting for us on other bank. We checked the Pygmy Hog breeding centre. The endangered and funny creatures were curious and came closer the barriers to check us out. There were about 20 in captive and another 16 in an enclosed jungle. They would be observed there for four months, before being released to forests like Orang National Park. This cousin of wild boars needs a type of grass to survive. Some of them were digging hole at the bottom of such clamps of tall grass.

Sukleshwar took us to a Miri village. Miri handlooms are excellent pieces of art. While Tum was picking up few items, Sukleshwar told me: “These folks are poor”. “And you?” – I asked. “I am also poor. I do not have much land. Have a large family to feed” – he replied nonchalantly.

A family of capped langurs sitting at tree above tried to decipher these mysterious activities of fellow primates.

***

A car came to pick us up in the morning. Sukleshwar accompanied us to Arunachal border, at Bhalukpong. Acting true to his local guardianship, he bargained hard with the local ironsmiths to buy a tribal knife (Nyishi Oryok or Apatani Dao) for me. We walked down to the river. The river was beautiful and dirty at the same time, like a drunken prostitute after a wild night. Only few Ruddy Shelducks were around.

The local bazar was brimming with activity. Ahoms, Nyishis, Apatanis, Monpas, Bengali, Bihari, Marwari – a cauldron of Indian anthropology. Piles of oranges. A dressed pork. Free range chicken. Cheap cloths. Local vegetable.

The same car would drop us at Guwahati airport.