Assam: Kaziranga and Nameri National Parks: Mar 29—Apr 07, 2009

Great Hornbill — Photo: David Bishop

A rare window onto one of the world's most exciting ecosystems, replete with many mega-charismatic and often globally endangered species; exceptional opportunities for seeing and photographing fabulous numbers of large mammals and birds—elephants, water buffalo, rhinoceros, waterbirds, eagles, and hornbills.

Kaziranga, with its rich melange of swamps and marshes, grasslands, and forests, supports teeming numbers of mega-charismatic birds and mammals, and, as such, the epithet "Asia's Serengeti" is well-deserved. Nowhere else in Asia can you sit atop a superbly trained elephant and watch great one-horned rhinoceroses at barely a few meters while herds of wild Asian elephants rumble and splash nearby, globally threatened Bengal Floricans exhibit their brief displays, and decidedly ugly Greater and Lesser adjutants lumber away in ungainly flight, and all this against a backdrop of towering, snow-capped Himalayas.

Kaziranga is a gem of a park that provides a rare opportunity to see what the wild lands of Asia were once like. Albeit relatively small at ca. 900 sq. km, located on the south bank of the mighty Brahmaputra, Kaziranga hosts the highest density of Bengal tigers anywhere in the world. A recent count garnered approximately 90 of these magnificent creatures. It is quite astonishing to enumerate just the globally threatened species that make their homes here. In addition to those species mentioned above, Swamp Francolin, Spot-billed Pelican, Pallas's Fish-Eagle, Black-breasted Parrotbill, Asian water buffalo, swamp and hog deer, and Hoolock gibbon, to mention but a few, are all resident here and regularly seen on our Assam tour.

Kaziranga provides a rare window into what wild Asia must once have looked like. On previous tours to this reserve we have recorded more than 230 species of birds and a large number of spectacular mammals; furthermore, the photographic opportunities on this tour are outstanding. Assam is truly a great birding and wildlife destination. There is no doubt that it offers one of the most amazing wildlife spectacles in Asia or, for that matter, anywhere in the world, and the addition of Nameri really enhances and rounds-out our experience here.

On previous tours our groups were the first birders to ever see the rare, virtually unknown, and spectacular Black-breasted Parrotbill. We also enjoyed sensational views of the similarly little-known Jerdon's Babbler. All this was to the accompaniment of trumpeting herds of Asian elephants—indignant at our close proximity to their young, and Hoolock gibbons ululating through Panbari Forest, raising the hairs on everyone's necks. Common and nonchalant great one-horned rhinos, capped langurs, and giant squirrels beguiled even the most focused birder. And there is so much more! Tiger, fishing-cat, Wreathed Hornbill—the list is seemingly endless.

In addition to all this we have added a couple of days at the lovely but little-known Nameri reserve where, in addition to many of the species mentioned above, we will seek out several very special birds such as Black and Jerdon's bazas, the irrepressible Sultan Tit, and, with luck, the rarely encountered White-winged Duck.

Accommodations include the attractive Wild Grass Lodge and the equally attractive walk-in tented camp at Nameri; travel largely by jeep, some moderate walking on easy, level terrain; weather at this time of the year is delightful and ideal for photography.