The last hour of the day we again spent at the tea estate adding White-throated Bulbul, Puff-throated Babbler, White-browed Scimitarbill, Grey Treepie and Crimson Sunbird to our bird list.

During dinner I leafed through the lodge’s diary and read that a few years ago someone saw three tigers in two days and even managed to film them! Again I got the feeling that we were just a bunch of suckers.

Tuesday 25 February

A morning visit to nearby Panbari Forest proved rather fruitful. Working the forest edge bordering tea estates, we made short sorties inside the forest, each time finding something new. The forest reserve gave us a whole new set of species, such as Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, a brightly-patterned Yellow-vented Warbler (my second bird ever), Small Niltava, Pale-chinned Blue-Flycatcher, White-tailed Robin, Abbott’s Babbler and Asian Fairy-Bluebird. A group of the evocative-sounding Hoolock Gibbons, the only ape of India, and a group of Capped Langurs were in full view in the treetops.

In the afternoon we again headed to the eastern range in a last desperate effort to find the Bengal Florican. Many of the birds here were of course the same ones as seen on our first visit, but inevitably we found several new ones amongst them the recently split Indian Spotted Eagle and Pale-capped Pigeon.

However our search for the target birds Bengal Florican and Falcated Duck proved to be a fruitless search. The weather & bird gods definitely did not smile for the rest of the day and in the late afternoon a pall of thick, impenetrable clouds came in and then consistent heavy rain sabotaged further birding, driving us back to the Wild Grass Lodge and a little disheartened we left Kaziranga.

Wednesday 26 February

The following day was largely a travelling day as we headed for Dibrugarh in the east of Assam. After a short shop in this town, sending a few E-mails to Holland & Belgium, we arrived at 14.00 hours in the small village of Guijan, where we met our local guide Joynal Abedin.

With a vibrating motorised boat Joynal escorted us across the Dibru to the Dibru-Saikhowa Reserve. We had a late lunch at his birding camp (local style huts) on the river island and here we saw our first Sand Larks.

The late afternoon was spent checking the extensive grasslands along the Dibru River near Guijan and we hit the jackpot immediately because amongst the birds we saw there were White-tailed Stonechat and Jerdon's Babbler.

When we returned to Guijan, Joynal told us that the police refused to give us permission to camp on the island, because there had been an attack by separatists on a nearby army post. We spent the night at Joynal's house in Guijan.

Thursday 27 February

The following day we ventured into the heart of Dibru-Saikhowa in search of the very elusive Marsh Babbler. To get to this bird it was necessary to do some hard-bottom wading, and the removal of trousers was required, as the water was almost thigh deep. In this area we saw our only Jerdon’s Bushchat of the trip, a bird I had only seen once, many years ago in northern Thailand. We also saw a few shorebirds here with Spotted & Common Greenshanks, a few Temminck’s Stints and a single Long-toed Stint. Wintering Bush-Warblers included Pale-footed, Grey-sided and Spotted, as well as a few Smoky Warblers.

Then we explored the elephant grass and here a singing Marsh Babbler was playing hide-and-seek amongst the large grass tussocks and we also saw the distinctive localised Swamp Prinia. We had a warm lunch in a camp of the forest guards.

After a short siesta we made a stroll in the forest and most noteworthy of the birds encountered here were Red-headed Trogon, Grey-hooded Warbler, Chestnut-crowned Warbler, Small Niltava, Green Magpie and Greater & Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush.

Friday 28 February

At 5.30 we were transported by boat to another part of the Dibru-Saikhowa WS. All morning we checked the long grass but couldn't locate our quarry, the much sought-after Black-breasted Parrotbill. Things looked bleak, nothing was calling and desperately we followed Joynal back and forth in the long grass. Perhaps they were not singing yet?

We did get our first looks at Thick-billed Warbler, another Jerdon’s Babbler and mixed flocks of Rosy and Olive-backed Pipits were also good. In the afternoon we made another try and although Joynal had told us he that he had never dipped the Parrotbill here, we did NOT find the bird, our second major dip. I should have known: Murphy’s Law.

Amongst the birds we did see today were Striated Heron, White-rumped Vulture, Swamp Francolin, Zitting Cisticola, Blue-fronted Redstart, Rufous-necked Laughingthrush, Marsh Babbler, Striped Tit-Babbler and Asian Drongo-Cuckoo.

Very disappointed and in a gloomy mood we returned to Guijan.

Saturday 1March

It rained heavily during the night, but again the skies were clear when we left Guijan at 7.00. Namdapha was our destination today. The tarmac road to the border was scarred by many potholes and we had to drive very slowly. At the border with Arunachal Pradesh we had to wait, but soon the inevitable paperwork was complete and we were heading off south to Namdapha. At mid-afternoon we arrived at the tiger reserve and a stop along the stony Noa-Dihing River added Common Merganser and Crested Kingfisher to our list. On arrival at the forest rest house in Deban, we were given a warm welcome and hot tea by our hosts, and after suitable sustenance and refreshment we were back in the field to work out our first forest trails enabling us to get a first taste of Namdapha.

The forest echoed with the voices of Sultan Tits and White-crested Laughingthrushes and we eagerly started exploring the forest. Most noteworthy of the birds we encountered here were Great Barbet, Ashy Bulbul, White-browed Shortwing, the beautiful Sapphire Flycatcher, large groups of Silver-eared Mesias, many Streaked Spiderhunters and best of all in a small area of bamboo a Collared Treepie.

The last hour of the day strolling along the riverbank revealed a White-capped Redstart and a very bad flight view of what I thought was probably an Ibisbill.

Sunday 2 March

We slept well and woke up to a bright day with clear sunshine. In the company of seven porters, a guide, a cook and two elephants from the forest department, we crossed the Noa-Dihing River and were in another world. The forest here was amazing with huge trees and ideal, broad, flat jeep-width trails. Japang, our guide, told us that this trail cut straight through the 2000 km² of untamed jungle. The forest was alive with the sounds of birds, very noisy Hoolock Gibbons and it was also loaded with leeches.

The habitat was superb and the area was very birdy and produced some excellent birds. The dense undergrowth was evidently Tesia heaven and with the help of my tape recorder we managed to see both Grey-bellied and Slaty. Other highlights were good numbers of Great Hornbills, Brown Hornbill, Mountain Imperial-Pigeon, Bay Woodpecker, Golden-fronted & Blue-winged Leafbird, Rufous-faced Warbler, Nepal Fulvetta, Rufous-throated Fulvetta, Large Niltava and Grey-throated Babbler. After a late lunch at Haldibari we continued towards the next camp.

We were used to the noisy Hoolock Gibbons now, as we trudged steadily. Occasionally the trail drew near the river, the view becoming increasingly impressive as we slowly climbed higher up the valley.

Here among many other species we found Blue-bearded Bee-eater, White-spectacled Warbler, Yellow-bellied Warbler, Orange-bellied Leafbird, Yellow-browed Tit and a flowering Bombax tree, which attracted large numbers of Long-tailed Sibias and Blue-throated Barbets. We also heard, but couldn’t draw out a White-cheeked Partridge and several Blue-naped Pittas. All afternoon we checked the huge epiphyte- and moss-covered gargantuan trees and already on our first day in the forest we were lucky enough to see the Beautiful Nuthatch, the most gorgeous of the nuthatches.

On our arrival at Hornbill, our second camp, we were greeted by the sight of our neatly erected tents (complete with a clean latrine tent) and helped ourselves to a cool beer by the campfire, while the meals that our crew turned out were incredible. This was to be a daily routine.

Monday 3 March

The next day we continued further into the welcoming depths of the forest, another four kilometres to Bulbulia, where we camped for the following two nights. Everybody had encounters with the leeches, but I had far more leeches crawling over my khaki leech guards than the others had, there was definitely something wrong with my shoelaces or my blood. I watched a porter impassively flick a few leeches from his foot with the tip of a machete, as he relaxed silently after several hours of trudging with the heaviest of the packs.

Highlights of our stroll to Bulbulia included a few noisy Long-tailed Broadbills, a beautiful male Rusty-bellied Shortwing, White-tailed Robin, Slaty-backed Forktail, a flock of more than 10 Rusty-fronted Barwings, Red-tailed Minla, Black-chinned Yuhina and Striated Yuhina.

Japang showed us the tracks of a tiger, but our chances seeing one were not good. Namdapha wasn't like Ranthambore or something, where the tigers practically posed for me in 1988.

It was past 5.00 when we reached the hot spring and mud-volcano of Bulbulia Camp (950m). The porters chained the elephants on the trees and erected our sleeping tents and made a campfire complete with folding chairs and tables.

I fell asleep within minutes of crawling into my sleeping bag. My sleep was heavy, dreamless and deathlike and when I awoke, I awoke instantly, completely alert and heard a Mountain Scops-Owl and a Jungle Nightjar calling.

Tuesday 4 March

Today was probably the best birding day of the whole trip. The break of dawn found us walking to Ranijheel.

In the early morning hours we added an ample array of Namdapha specialities to our list amongst them Pin-tailed Pigeon, Rufous-necked Hornbill, White-browed Piculet, Pale-headed Woodpecker, Pale Blue-Flycatcher, Red-billed Leiothrix, Rufous-vented Laughingthrush, Black-headed & White-browed Shrike-Babbler, Beautiful Sibia, Rufous-headed Parrotbill and again the Beautiful Nuthatch.

However, the undoubted highlight of the day was a superb White-winged Duck at the pool in Ranijheel, perhaps Northeastern India’s highest ornithological prize.

At midday, the skies became overcast again and the light faded quickly, followed by heavy rain and wind. Luckily it did not last long and a short while later we returned to the bamboo zone. A large bamboo bird-wave contained a Black-browed Parrotbill, Red-billed & Coral-billed Scimitar-Babblers, Snowy-throated Babblers, White-hooded Babblers and Long-tailed Broadbills.

Our shoes were soaked and the conditions were beginning to tell on our bodies. When we returned at the camp, we started to dry out our shoes and wet kits over the fire in our camp. We had a delicious meal with rice cooked inside bamboo stems over an ordinary campfire and fresh fish caught by the porters in the small stream near the camp.

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Gurudongma Tours & Treks