Happy journeys

The air from the fan above my head is hot. Evening does not seem to make any difference to the weather. Yet when I look back to my travels of the last twenty days through plains and mountains,  an air of contentment passes through.  Travels through Neora, Lava, Maane Bajang, Garibas, Singalila, Darjeeling, Jaldapara will always linger on....

Road to Pasighat

Whistling Teal

We started off early from Dibrugarh to our next destination - Pasighat.It was such a beautiful sight to see miles full of paddy fields and birds enjoying the morning Sun

Rufous Treepie

Cotton Teal

Open-billed Stork

Can you spot the Lineated Barbet on the tree?

Red Junglefowl

Lesser Adjutant

As always while crossing over to Arunachal Pradesh from Assam, you may require to cross the river on a ferry.In spite of having gone through this n number of times ,I always hold my breath while watching this

Ferry was chock a block with people and vehicles

 Brahmatputra seemed calm and serene

As soon as we approached the bank people were all set to jump out...This always reminds me of Bombay local trains as everyone seem to be in a hurry to go somewhere..:-)

Time for Mulla's driving skill test!!

And Bingo!!! Mulla passes the driving test with flying colours..:-)

We were on the road again.On the way spotted this striated grassbird "god only knows why" sitting on the wire, whereas there were ample tall grass down below.

Nearby spotted this male bronze-winged jacana trying his level best to woo the female

The female was royally ignoring him as it should be..:-P

In the distance , the hills of Along were beckoning ..but our destination was Pasighat. We reached Pasighat by late afternoon. Had a quick lunch at the only cozy restaurant of Pasighat. Met DFO Tasi Mize, who briefed us about the schedule for the next day. Sounded very exciting . Spent the night at the NEPC guest house, where we were booked by DFO for the next three days

Final day in Wakro

On the final day of the tour, decided to meet the lady with magic tea.Basamlu, the lady in Pink is also famously known as the "Tea Lady" of Wakro.She not only cultivates organic tea but also motivated many local youth  including few drug addicts to go in for chemical free beverage farming.The tea made in her small mechanical factory has a distinct taste and believe me , even a hard core " Bambaiyya Cha i" drinker like me is now hooked on to it..

Her tea is processed manually and truly organic. 

After meeting the lady we decided to proceed towards Pasighat

Checked into a stay option on our way

The Nepali caretaker was charmingly beautiful

And this sweet lil girl was shy to face the camera

It was a long drive hence, reached Dibrugarh and decided to spend the night in my regular Hotel Devika.

Notes from the North East - Wakro

We decided to take a chance at birding inspite of the showers the previous night and a cloudy morning ahead. There were plenty of Ashy Wood Swallows swooping above the circuit house with their squeaky calls...

A little ahead this colorful insect was basking itself on a bridge of a small stream

Striated bulbuls were in plenty everywhere in Wakro

Lush greenery around the hills due to rains gave a beautiful feeling to be around there

Pin-tailed pigeon seemed to be waiting for sunshine

Degradation of the forests can seen everywhere which has also brought in huge migrant labour population from other states to Arunachal Pradesh.They are employed as labourers in the tea gardens or orange orchards everywhere. In fact at few of the places we saw more non Arunachalis than the locals

One more birding spot marked

When birds weren't plenty you start aiming your cameras at the butterflies..:-)

This fellow was curious about the strangers in his land and that was definitely not a friendly look!!

Sad truth about how packaging of what we consume is affecting everyone's life

We drove little ahead to Parashuram Kund as the rains did not allow us much birding.

Situated at the deep gorge of river Lohit, the entire area around Prashuram Kund is very windy.No wonder this Horizontal  Axis Wind Turbine seemed to be working really well

Hornbills love this fruit, but did not see any at that time

There were two of the HAWTs there...for some strange reason they looked like a couple, one was silent and the other was full throttle ..:-)

This beauty made me chase for long time before settling down on the leaf

Lohit seem to be flowing ...but isn't as happy as I had seen it in the year 2002.  The construction and excavation have ruined the unique geographical features as a result of the work on the dam, as well as a bridge a few hundred meters away

Malayan giant squirrel (Ratufa bicolor) seemed oblivious about our presence

Just a board without a single soul around...

The rocky outcrop is supposed to be the axe of Parashuram

The setting was beautiful. But was longing for hot cup of tea. Hence, crossed over the bridge and found a tiny shop run by a Nepali to enjoy the tea

Saw this cutie waiting for someone

Being not really a very religious person, I was happy to see the kund from afar..

We returned to Wakro and as planned met "Uncle Moosa" at his Apne library ..more on this very inspiring person will be posted soon on this blog soon..

We were to meet again, but never mind one group photo..:-) 

We decided to check on the routes for Kamlang .We could not but admire this beautiful Mishmi dwelling on our way...

The typical frontal roof of the Mishmi House

The brother n sister were chooo chweet and enjoying their school vacation time.

uuuuhhhhh look at that sweet smile when we requested her to do pose.

At a closeby house saw the well preserved Mithun remnants

The fruit resembled Brinjal  

When the clouds cleared a bit, butterflies started showing up

 A wide variety of wildflowers can also seen around the place.

Emerald dove was pacing across the road. You can see these birds all over Arunachal

Love the pink of the wild banana flower 

 It was time to return back to the circuit house 

The entire landscape was mesmerizing in the setting sun.We decided to explore this beautiful spot again the next day day and finally drove back to the circuit house to retire for the day...