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

Notes from the North East - Tinsukia to Wakro

After two nights stay in Guwahati at a friend's place and a quick visit to Pobitora, I set out for my long journey to the east. Almost equal number of 22 days which I had done in the year 2002 while travelling across Arunachal Pradesh with a group of senior citizens. Boarded the night train to Tinsukia. Arrived around 8ish and freshened up at another friend's place. Prashanta of Help Tourism had arranged a Bolero for my entire trip. Mulla the driver, an expert who knows most of the Arunachal roads arrived by noon.

I had to purchase 100 books to be gifted to the Wakro Library which we purchased in Tinsukia .Happy with the deal I got for the books as it made sense for not having carried the books all the way from Bangalore..Picked up our guides Bidyut and Poksham for both of whom it was an exciting exploration to be in  too.

Stopped at Drak for the mandatory tea break and quick entry formalities a little ahead to enter Arunachal Pradesh.

We took the road to Namsai. Had our lunch at this daabha owned by two ever smiling friends at a place known as Duo mile. 

A little ahead spotted this vulture which looked like white rumped. Could not venture out of the vehicle as it started pouring heavily around that time.

The entire route looked as if it was soaked in water.

I decided to take a look at the Golden Pagoda and stopped the vehicle just around the road where the road takes a turn to take you to the Pagoda. The place is good for early morning birding But again rain did not allow much scope for us to stay back there though this Greater Racket-tailed Drongo ( Note the crest which differentiates the Himalayan Race from the Andamans) posed happily at a distance.

The hoary bellied squirrel made a quick dash down a tree trunk

It was getting darker soon

The spot undoubtedly has lot of potential for birding so I marked the place for future bird-watching .

We reached the gate of the Golden Pagoda post 4.00 pm and were not sure if it was still open . In Arunachal Pradesh time winds up by 4.30 pm. Checked with few monks around and they gave a green signal to enter the gate

Monks and to be monks were playing together at a corner

Poksham was eager to click the photos of the kids and they were more curious to know how they looked in his camera.

Kids were all over Poksham

Godlen Pagoda has a welcoming well laid and manicured path to lead

Constructed with contributions by Chowna Mein, the then Minister PHED and his wife MLA Namsai, Nang Sati Mein ,Golden Pagoda or 'Poi Lu Kongmu Kham’ as known in the Tai-Khampti dialect is a marvelous architecture and craftsmanship in this side of the country.Situated in Thengapani ,it is also one of the largest Pagodas of North East India. It took six years for an architect from Mynamar and 300 masons to build this Pagoda and was inauguared in the year 2010. The pagoda is also a Centre for Buddhist Study and Research which was engineered to keep together the Institute of Cultural Research and Work on folklore and folk song of the Tai Khampti-Singpho tribes, which are vanishing rapidly. Eastern Arunachalis follow the Theravada sect of Buddhism hence you wont find the inner walls painted with mural of divinities and saints like those of Gelugpa Sect.Built on a three hectare of elevated land,the whole outer structure is painted with golden color which giives it a majestic look even from a distance

For the memories sake with a tired look:-)

 All of us spent some time clicking the beautiful surroundings of the Pagoda

Inside the main pagoda is the beautiful five feet tall gilded statue of Buddha facing north, modeled on the Kala Buddha of Nalanda archive.

It was pleasant to see many happy young faces in the compound. Everyone seem to be busy doing something or the other

After a quick round over we decided to continue our journey to Wakro

I wanted to to enjoy and  soak in the sunset in the land of the rising Sun and felt time stood still on this bridge on the River Kamlang

When you pass through such scenery , you know you are in a beautiful land

We arrived at Wakro late evening . Our stay was booked at the well maintained simple Wakro Circuit House thanks to "Uncle Moosa " of Apne Library. The caretaker was instructed to make dinner for us .Had good simple meal and retired for the day

What he thought what we are ..!! A note about a note from Bikramjit

Travel is not only about exploring a new place, it is also about making new friends along the way specially when you travel as a group.

+Bikramjit Maitra ,who was part of the group along with his wife Ishani. during the recently concluded tour of Mishmi Hills.He is a  gem of a person,very down to earth, who can crack jokes at the drop of a hat,keen observer and an excellent mimic is how I would describe him. 

As I type this I am laughing aloud thinking about an excellent mimic show we had, him enacting the birding behaviour of his fellow travelers ..:-)

I received a small note from him today about what he thought about the rest of the group..and hope all of you will enjoy reading it as much as rest of us did , knowing about ourselves..:-)

Here is what he wrote..and yes, read what he says about himself..:-)

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+Ravi Rajagopal : Be very careful of not to be in his way when he is chasing a rare bird. He may run over you and worst part, without realizing the same. From confidential sources I came to know that he clearly stated that if he gets an opportunity to shoot (through camera) a rare bird and a tiger simultaneously first he will go for the bird and then the the tiger if it has not moved by that time. What I did not ask whether he wil prefer to shoot a photo of a rare bird or to collect another birdie.

Bikramjit Maitra : Official joker whose past time during the trip was to fight and complain about his photographic equipment.

Ishani: No comments. I lost the the privilege of commenting about her in public an eternity before. Even in the court of law I beleive a husband can't testify against his wife.

+Santhinam Krishnan  : Can provide awful lot of mouth watering snacks when she is awake and can sleep like a baby sitting straight in the car even when she is being driven through roads which could never be recognized as one. Loves her music and can easily take on some of the young stars of today on SMS sending speed.

+Geetanjali Dhar  : Don't get fooled by the slight voice, polite verbiage and smiling face. There are tons of steel, not steel as even steel could bend, may be loads of concrete behind that voice. Perfect project management and people handling without spending on decibel.

+Kharavela Ballal : His name was always a confusion so going with his second. Quiet, observant ever smiling chap who turned beetroot red when the girls from the island waved us farewell.

Baburaj : Our Zari expert who was ever ready on his phone to find out progress of business and to supply garlic powder during our meal to make them more potent. Even though he was not focussing too much on birding when he did he could spot few of the more tricky ones.

Abhilash : I believe his name means desire, if he has many he doesn't like to share it with others. Conserves his energy being economical in speech and showing of any feeling. Between Ballal and him they had every small logistics details got chalked out to an extent that they could make a small pair of scissors appear from no where to cut the packet of snacks in the moving, jumping and jostling car.

+Amith Kumar : I don't know what is his personal target .May be he wants to shoot more than 500 or thousand species of birds before his baby is born. Telling him to be crazy may get some angry protest from real crazies as they at times do give in to wild goose chase but never for wild sparrow chase like Amit.

+shankar sg  I am sure during the ten days we were together he has not uttered more than 100 words in public. Sadly a vast amount of those words were to convince me that the dogs near the vulture congregation were actually jackals and make me take some shots.

+Abhijith Rao  Another person who got highly infected by birding. Given to his choice many days we would have our lunch after the sunset. Like many other birders he also was short on words in general and used to break that rule while having long telephonic conversation apparently with his wife.

+Ajit Rao  Was a real enigma to me who was a controlled crazy. He never used to forget his hunger or his grueling back but be equally enthusiastic about birds and its identities. Specially if it is a warbler. Has impeccable dress sense and his dress in one of the dinner session with quite hursh shorts on long john, socks, strapped shoes and jacket won the Oscar hands down.

+Kannan AS  The man with the buzoooka! The lens he had gives an impression he can take potrait of moon but good that he focussed on butterfiies and warblers where even the whiskers were visible. May be extra large lens was to get the extra dimension in his pictures such that they become 3D.

Stephen: He is practing lawyer form US and commenting about him without taking permission may not be prudent but where . He was such a strong believer of testimonials that he never opted for taking evidence on a camera sensor. It appeared that a good day of birding used to give enough food for thought so he could pass the food for stomach during dinner.

Jerry: A real globe trotter not only geographically but also academic as well as professional sense. I know my metaphors are getting horribly crossed here but if one considers the superset of academic options and professional options are globe and going through many of them are trotting then first sentence makes perfect sense. Thanks to her realized the value of a good birding binocular during the trip.

Dara Gaon Village Retreat

I must say this was one of the chance bookings that I had made...not a person to take any sort of risks while taking my guests on a tour, I was totally convinced while talking to Shiva, the host of this beautiful home stay that we will not be disappointed. He is a soft spoken Gurung, who went out of his way to make sure that we had a lovely stay in his home.

We reached Darap late in the afternoon . A bit of confusion and they had assumed that we wont be arriving for lunch, hence had to wait for a wait on reaching for the food to arrive. And it was worth the wait..Radha may not be able to cook exotic stuff but they are homely and definitely very tasty. One day she prepared a typical Gurung breakfast and each one of us hogged on to it as if we haven't had breakfast for ages..:-)

We never realized how fast our two nights passed by....as it was a relaxing holiday ,none in the group were interested in going for the sight seeing trips around Pelling, though we did visit the monastery and the waterfalls.

A visit to the Darap village was a eye opener too. We learnt that many women in the village suffer from Lung cancer, a possible cause may be the the traditional cooking methods using the firewood. The houses are built with low ceiling, and without any outlet. Hence, the smoke remains indoors. Coupled with their tobacco eating habits, its no wonder that many women suffer from this dreaded disease. Shiva was keen that we should do something about smokeless Choolahs for this village. Will work on this project soon.

All in all, it was a well deserved holiday for every one of us .. truly an amazing holiday in the mountains...