Nameri

Today we got up completely crocked by the hard, cold beds; having been woken at 4.30 by the muezzin. Breakfast at 8.15 was cornies completely soggied by pretty hot milk, sweet scrambled eggs and slightly leathery toast! Still, no Basils at breakfast, and Polash soon arrived to take us off to Nameri. We drove for about one hour through the road works and road blocks - they have hand made roads here, and arrived at Eco-camp by ten-ish. The camp is lovely, about a dozen cabins and tents set around the edge of the compound. Alan and I are in cabin Dizee with D&M next door in a very superior tent with mossie net windows and a jazzy interior. The beds are bamboo frames and each unit has an outhouse with basin, loo and shower. The manager walked across and met Alan going to investigate the red fronted parrots on a tree in the compound. He was a tea plantation manager and took over here when he retired. A very knowledgeable man , he is licking it into shape, as Alan gathered that it was somewhat run down. They served us tea, coffee and biscuits before we set off for a walk down to the river with Polash. We never made the river, but saw nearly twenty birds, many of which were 'new' to be added to the list. We had to turn back for lunch - eating yet again. This time we had chicken, cauli, beans with spuds, rice, dhal and not only chapatis but popadoms, too. For dessert there was a delicious village made yog with a liquid molasses sauce we think is called 'jaggery'. We ended with tea and coffee.
Soon it was time to go down to the river to catch the boat across to the reserve. Down at the riverside there was a great picnic going with loud music, bonfire etc. The people had passed us earlier with their loud music blaring out from the back of a couple of bikes. Huge speakers and a battery were strapped to the parcel carriers.
The ferryman rowed us across and we started spotting birds immediately. We saw some beautifully coloured ones - the barbets and flycatchers of several types (pied and a blue one, too). Orioles and woodpeckers, glossy drongos and one racket-tailed. Then Polash spotted a troupe of rhesus monkeys jumping around in the trees. We walked on a bit further, but then we had to turn back as it was ten to four and the sun would be soon setting. Just before we came out at the river there was a Hill Myna up in the trees. We walked down to the riverbank and watched as the sun was quickly setting. A common kingfisher was perched on a bare trunk in the river and the swifts were swooping about. Then there were flocks of birds flying close to the water. These were pratincoles and they twisted and turned up and down stream. But now we had to hurry to the ferry, and were rowed across the still river in the pink streaky reflection of the sunset after glow. Back at Eco-camp we showered - Alan and I from buckets of hot water, then sat on the veranda as the electricity came and went and the generator did,too. Dinner is at 8pm. The bird count has reached 110. We saw fire flies in the bushes behind our rooms – quite fantastic. Alan couldn’t find his specs case, but eventually located a rather chewed wreck, which was presumably taken by one of the camp dogs!

We have just arrived at the tea estate bungalow where we are to stay for two nights. We have staff running around after us - firstly serving us afternoon tea of cucumber and tomato sandwiches and almond madiera cake.
Today we were up at 5.30 to be ready to go walking across the river. As we waited for the boat, watching a spectacular sunrise, three chaps arrived with e-n-o-r-m-o-u-s monoculars on tripods and notebooks, in which they were recording their sightings. It turned out that they were serious French twitchers!
We went across the river and immediately saw a line of buffs walking down to the shore. We walked up to the guards’ village, but turned inland there into a new area. Polash spotted a tiny bird, but couldn't identify it, but we started to see all the little birds from yesterday. Then we walked down into an open area and along, spotting a serpent eagle looking quite honey fronted in the low sun. There were some cotton trees flowering with red blooms, and these trees were covered in birds. We saw several very pretty starlings, a spider hunter, bulbuls and green leafbirds(?). We turned off this path and as we walked along the guard asked us to keep very quiet as we were nearing the place where the white-winged ducks could be. These are very rare. We arrived to find only a forktail, a river lapwing and a wagtail. So we retraced our steps, pausing to inspect a rather dodgy lookout platform with some very dangerous steps. As Dougal looked back he spotted something in a tree at the far distance. This turned out to be a giant jungle squirrel, which must be pretty big as it was clearly visible even at a distance. Back on the main path again, we crossed a small stream via a sort of causeway of stones, and heard something crashing about quite near. This was a wild boar which Mel glimpsed charging along an embankment. Here we watched another serpent eagle, then turned off the main path again, walking as quietly as possible down to another bend of the stream. This time we saw no wildlife, but we did see the elephant watering hole. This is a natural spring bubbling up into a small pool. We could see tiny particles of mica floating up, and the sand around the spring was quite grey-black. So no rare ducks, but interesting, nevertheless. Dougal was busy making close-ups of purple flowers (ageratum), and there were some dew-spangled spiderwebs. We were back on the main path, when A&M saw a tree full of fantastic blue birds. These were fairy bluebirds and the male is again spectacular in the sun. The female is more all over turquoise with slightly wine coloured edges to her wings. As it had now almost got to 9.50 we were getting late for the ferry again, so hurried back to the river. We were soon across, and our driver whisked us down the track to Eco-camp for breakfast. Polash had arranged an Assam speciality - yog with 'flat' cold rice and puffed rice with sugar - sounds a weird mixture, but very refreshing. There was of course, scrambled egg and toast and coffee or tea, too. In the compound the carpenter was putting together some fabulous rustic bamboo chairs and a bench. They are also constructing a long woven length of banana leaves about two or three meters long which may be used as fencing. Then we had to get organised for the rafting experience- some juggling with the camera equipment into waterproof side bags, Tevas etc. and we were off with two boats on the roof, life jackets and four boatmen in the back of the van. Just the ten of us in the van! The driver took us away from the river, through the village where they make the yoghurt and along for about twenty minutes. We arrived at the river quite a long way up stream where some locals were having one of their famous picnics with loud music blaring. The boats were launched and in we climbed - Alan and I in one with two rowers and Dougal and Mel with Polash and the other two boatmen in the other. The first rapids were a bit splashy and cameras had to be dried! But after that all was OK. We saw common mergansers and several Brahminy ducks, some cormorants and little swifts scooping up flies from the surface of the water. Suddenly Polash had the boatmen paddle across the river. He had spotted some ibis bills - a rare bird and an endangered species. We managed to watch them for a while, although they flew up stream a little way from us. It meant D, M and I standing in the shallow water. This was a very good sighting. More rapids and river bends, and we came to a sandy island where we disembarked to stretch the legs. There were cormorants and brahminies across on the opposite bank, as well as two male mergansers. Then we were back in the boat and off down stream, spotting kingfishers and a fish eagle. The others crossed to one side of a shallow stony bar and we then saw that it was full of little grey birds. As they took off we took pics, they were the flocks of pratincoles we had seen last evening.
After more rapids, and a slide past some stony cliffs, we came round the last bend and saw the ferry point. We put in just above this, and the driver was waiting for us. The van was soon loaded up and we were back at Eco-camp in no time. We dried off, tidied up and then headed across for soup and egg butties (poor Dougal!). It was time for us to leave, so we said goodbye to all the very pleasant and helpful people who looked after us during our short stay. It was about a half hour drive to get here at Balipara Heritage House. We were greeted with the afternoon tea! Then we got organised and sat in the library for a while, looking at Salim Ali's birds of India. One of the staff came and invited us into the drawing room for pre-dinner drinks in front of a roaring log fire.We have just finished dinner -tom soup, lamb byriani, aloo, salad and raita, ironmongers rice pud, and are sitting in front of a log fire. Everyone has been fantastically attentive - like going back a century in time, but we were woefully underdressed! Time for bed as we will get bed tea at 5.30 again! Tiger Trails Ltd Balipara Heritage House