Friday 7 January 2005

Wild life and wild rides!

Another early start with tea at 5.30-we were ready to leave for our walk at six. No sun visible, but just light and the sound of reveille from the army camp. We walked among the fields of tea bushes, all marked up with the date of planting - some from 2000 but one group from 1900. We came to a small river where some egrets and pond herons were enjoying the early morning sun. Up in the trees there were monkeys, some very young ones playing. An adult male landed on a rotten branch which gave way and he had to fly on to a nearby branch to save himself. He sat there glaring around at all and sundry. Coming back into the plantation we were treated to the sight of two beautiful flame-backed woodpeckers. And on the other side of the path were some bronzy bee-eaters. The sun was quite high by now and getting warm, so we headed back to the bungalow for breakfast. We had tangerine juice, cornies with milk and bananas, scrambled egg, two kinds of sausages, b beans and toast and jam. All too much really. We then made our way out into the garden and sat reading in the glorious sunshine. We just stayed there until Polash came to say lunch was ready!! It was one o'clock by now. Lunch was chicken with peas and spuds, dahl, rice and perathas. Nobody was eating much and we finished with coffe and tea.
A quick gathering up of cameras and shoes and we were off to Nameri again. We just walked up the path to the river and once again saw so many birds - no less than 4 hornbills, capped langurs, niltava, red breasted parakeets, drongos, mynahs inc. hill mynas and much more. Dougal and Mel were keen to see some bean pods from the trees. They found a small one, but were unable to find a big one on the ground. There was one tree with several pods, so Polash tried knocking off a pod by throwing a stick at it – no good either. By now a group of villagers had come along and one of the men just walked up to the tree and gave it a huge shake. A snowstorm of seeds and whole pods came floating down, which provided the two with a pod each and some papery seeds. This was all very jolly. Meantime Alan and I had spotted a pair of grey headed pygmy woodpeckers. Further along the road Mel was using her lastolite to photograph some red flowers in the low sunlight. Suddenly Polash shouted 'Ah, ping-pong!' We had no idea what he was referring to, so he showed us what looked like white fungus on a bush but which was a collection of insects. When he touched them with a stick, they jumped in all directions. D & M took pics in the fading light. Now it was time to return to the van, so we set off back down the road. Nearly back at the Eco-camp, Dougal spotted a flame-backed woodpecker, then two more. They were on a bare tree with lots of holes in its trunk. As we watched some hill mynas came to a branch close to one of the holes. Apparently, they roost in the old woodpecker holes. Anyway, the woodies did not like this and tried to stop them, but the mynahs dodged the bombardment and both managed to sneek into their hole. The woodies then set up guard outside! We left them to it and got back to the van. The manager of E-c came over and spoke to us and wished us well on our way. Polash told us that this man has been written about by Mark Shand. We got back safely to the bungalow despite awful traffic and being asked for help as someone had been knocked off a bike - but the driver and Polash said there was nothing they could do. Pity.
Back at Addabarie, we have just had afternoon tea again - how can we eat any more! Dinner will be at eight. So its showers and packing time as we will be leaving at 7.30 am for Guwahati. Bed tea is ordered for 6.30.

Today was a long drive not helped by my having stomach cramps. We have all been OK up til now, and we have had some 'English' style food at the bungalow - maybe we should have stuck with Indian! We stopped only to take pics of Adjutant storks on their nests by the road side and for tea & loo at the little cafeteria where we stopped on the way up. We arrived in Guwahati about one-ish where we met up with Deepak from the Wild Grass Office here. First he took Alan to the bank, then we side stepped lunch and headed off to Sualkuchi to see the silk weavers. Another hairy drive for Dilip, who has been excellent. We arrived, and discovered that the weavers were on their midday break. Still, one or two came back in the first place and we were able to see how the looms worked. The patterns are punched out on cards which fit into the looms. These are 'read' by the loom and the appropriate warp threads are lifted for the operator to shuttle through the coloured thread to make the pattern. It is amazing what beautiful cloth they produce in this way. Here we bought some black and gold cloth. We moved on to the next workshop, where four women were weaving using the muga - locally 'processed' silk. It is goldy in colour and the weave colourful patterns into it, like the one the woman in Wild Grass was doing. Then we moved on to another place where a young lad was winding thread onto a spool ready for use. Here we were invited to drink tea while they showed us some samples. We saw one 'set' which was very Christmassy and we could use it as a table cloth; so we got that too. Then Mel asked if we could go back to the second place where she had seen a special muga cloth with a black and red design, to go with her bedroom. All our purchases were negotiated by Deepak and Dilip, but still cost about £50 altogether.
It was time to head back to Guwahati, so off we went as the sun was setting. The villages were thronged with the evening traffic- cows being brought home, women meeting together for a gossip, people buying stuff for their meals, bicycles, rickshaws, motor bikes, tuc-tucs and great big hairy trucks. Amongst all this were wandering dogs and goats, you wonder how they survive. On the approach to the bridge D tried to take a pic of a sign saying 'Photo prohib', but Deepak was very worried and said he wasn't to, especially as we were in a queue of traffic with a policeman standing at the back of our van. The queue was really bad and due to a bus which had broken its back axle - the offside back two tires and axle were sitting by the edge of the road quite separately. The traffic had to take it in turns to get round it within the confines of the bridge. We soon got to the Hotel Brama Putra, on the banks of said river. Not as good as Taj Bengal, but not as bad as the Luit in Tezpur. We managed to have a little rest, shower and change before dinner at 7.15. This was Dom Aloo Kashmiri, Garlic chicken, Paneer Butter Masala, veggie fried rice, raita and naan. Then cups of tea only as the ice cream didnt put in an appearance - a misunderstanding we think. There is a conference going on in town, and one of the meetings was going on in the hall in the hotel. All of a sudden the lobby was full of people and a chap in a white Indian suit and Neru hat was escorted to the lift and about 5000 Indians tried to get in with him. Luckily sense prevailed and away he went, to be followed by subsequent lifts full. We elected to walk upstairs reckoning that was safer than getting stuck in the lift if the power went out! So this is the last night in India as tomorrow we get back to Kolkata and our flight home at four in the morning Sat night/Sun morn. Tiger Trails Ltd Balipara Heritage House

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