I had gone to Kaziranga National Park with my daughter, Pritvi, in December 2017 along with Aranyamithra friends. It was absolute winter with low temperatures and I was worried about Pritvi but I need not have. She handled the conditions excellently and participated in all the safaris to the core zone of the National Park.
Of course, the intent was to spot and photograph the one-horned rhinoceros and large cats, and one knew that there were wild elephants within the Park. But it never prepares you for when it finally comes out in front of you.
We were driving through in a post-noon safari and we requested the driver to take us through paths that would not be frequented by most tourist vehicles. He was very happy to and warned us, "You won't see Tiger or Leopard. If that's ok, I am ok."
"Ok! Ok!" we said and we drove for nearly an hour through good forests above the Brahmaputra plains. We could continue to see the river and the floodplains through the forest canopy and we realised that we were higher than the rhino areas. As we drove through, the driver slowed down. He pointed to a vigorous shake on one of the tall bamboo clumps.
He said in a whisper, "Makhna!"
We stopped the vehicle and sat there, perhaps for nearly five minutes or something. And then, he came into view. Slowly, he climbed up the ridge to the road and stood in the middle, watching us and scouting for other vehicles. It was a majestic sight. Quite terrifying and all that, but thrilling.
The sighting of the 'Makhna' was worth driving through the desolate trail in Kaziranga.
