Chased by a rhino
The fateful day was January 16th, 2006.
It had been two days since i had arrived in Assam. this was going to be one of my 'rejuvenation' holidays. THIS time i was determined to soak in all that Assam had to offer. the beautiful hills, the lush tea gardens, the Brahmaputra, the cool, fresh air and the cyrstal clear sunlight. this time i was determined to turn down the numerous lunch and dinner invitations (though i can't complain... Assamese people know how to treat a guest like royalty!). this time i was going to explore Assam like a tourist. i had eleven days and i was going to make the most of it. for eleven days i DID NOT have to stare at the computer screen and look at numbers. for eleven days i did not have to travel through Airport road traffic and take in the polluted Bangalore air...for eleven whole days i could explore my roots and learn more about the state which i am in love with though i have visited it only a few times.
the first and most obvious thing to do was to visit Kaziranga... i was twenty two years old and not once had i visited this world famous National Reserve. it was a shame! my uncle, Tarun Mama had taken a lot of trouble and booked rooms in a beautiful guesthouse a stone's throw away from the gates of the park. within half an hour of arriving at kaziranga my ever-cheerful and never tiring uncle proudly announced that he had gotten us to kaziranga just in time for the last safari of the day... i was more than happy to hop onto the safari jeep... experience had taught me that most of these safaris ended in disappointment and if you were REALLY lucky you might catch a glimpse of the wild animal's tail. but that didn't dampen my spirits... ANYTHING out here in the open was better than sitting in the AC environs of the office.
While i enthusiastically set the digital camera and sat in the jeep little did i know the adventure that was in store for me. little did i know that today was going to be the day which i could look back upon and safely say that it was one of the scariest yet most memorable days of my life.The first one hour of the jeep safari at Kaziranga National Park was pretty uneventful. everyone in the jeep was cribbing about shelling out 500 rupees, when all one could see were a few specks the tour guide called 'rhinos' and a few deer and turtles.while we were bumping along the muddy path through the forest, the jeep in front of us screeched to a halt and we heard a loud bang! the forest guard in the jeep ahead had shot his blanks in the air. this is what they do to scare aproaching rhinos away. the jeep in front then proceeded not realizing the peril it had put our jeep in.
Our jeep just stood there for awhile and before i could realize what was happening a baby rhino ran out of the bushes, took a wide U-turn and ran back with his gigantic mother in hot pursuit. they both disappeared in the bramble in a matter of a few seconds. while i was complaining that i didn't have the camera on video mode and had missed recording the two rhinos the our driver was shifting to first gear to continue on the safari.
all of a sudden my cousin screamed that the mother rhino was now approaching towards our jeep. i told my cousin to stop over reacting, because i didn't see anything. but then i looked up from my camera and towards the direction in which her trembling finger was pointing i knew we were in grave danger. displacing the tall grasses and crashing through the branches of the dried up shrubs, a very angry mother rhino, followed by her baby charged towards our opened jeep. this was the first time i had seen a rhino and it was a little too close for comfort! the driver manoeuvred expertly in reverse gear for a good 30 seconds to avoid the rhino, who was hell bent upon toppling our jeep over. it didn't care for the blank shots the forest guard in our jeep was firing and managed to get hold of the weak plastic bumper in the front and rip it a part of it. thoug we managed to avoid it for quite a while, eventually our jeep's rear wheels got stuck in the shallow trench by the narrow mud path... that's when we were hit and for those two seconds i was sure i was going to die in a National Park in Assam.
* Babul, the clear hero of the day. Had he not driven the way he did...Never had i dreamt i would get a taste of the rhino's awesome strenght first hand. never had i imagined that an animal so bulky could move so fast. never had i thoguht that an animal so peaceful was capable of such fierce rage. A rage that blinded it of the fact that we weren't there to harm it's child. it was the frist time i had seen an animal so angry that it's eyes had turned red. i couldn't believe i was actually close enough to a rhino to see it's teeth and to feel it's breath.
The forest guard in our jeep shot one blank right near the rhinos ear, just as it's teeth and horn was inches away from my uncle. it wasn't scared but it unexpectedly turned away. i'm guessing it was hurt while it hit our jeep the first time... while it was a little dis oriented the driver hit the gas and we sped away.for a few meters the scared and confused baby rhino ran in front of our jeep and we feared that the mother rhino will again chase us.we were all shouting and screaming hoping to get the baby rhino out of the way. it eventually turned and feld into the bushes.
* the damage done by the rhino. notice the tiny blood splatters.
this was one of the scariest moments in my life but in no way has it effected my love and respect for this majestic creature and that was the day i fell in love with Kaziranga as well. it is a haven for such wild animals. u can see it in their movement that in this place they feel protected and in control. it's like as if in Kaziranga, they fear nothing. Poaching was rampant in Kaziranga. But that has all changed to quite a great extent now. for now the wild buffalos, rhinos, deer and the elephants peacefully co exist in this vast grassland.
posted by Blotter @ 2:41 AM
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