In Forests of Dooars, North Bengal

[Rishi]

Day 2. Date: 03/01/2019
We drove from Lolegaon (not shown in map) back to the plain for Murti lodge, beside the river flowing through Gorumara NP & west of Chapramari, named after it.

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Before we left, sunrays falling on Kanchenzonga (world's 3rd highest peak) at India-Nepal border in the background. 

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On the way down.

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Train passing through tea-plantation. Ours passed through this exact same spot on our way to Malbazar the day before.

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On the way to Murti by NH-31C, Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary to the left (north) side of the road.

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From the national highway diverges a single lane through headed for Murti. Thankfully it now remains closed at night.

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The forest on the east of river Murti's pebbled bed.

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From Murti forest lodge we were booked for afternoon safari at Gorumara National Park.

BTW For ease of estimating size of animals by comparing to the vehicles by forum members, i took a fairly accurate assessment of the Maruti Gypsy. The front of the bonnet is roughly 105cm high & it rises to ±115cm where the windscreen starts.

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In Gorumara, only car-safari is done that too only within the buffer zone, the area where NH31 passes through (see map).

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And the safari itself was a really exciting but also bit disappointing at the same time! The undergrowth was super dense in most parts & we heard an elephant herd, less than 50m away.
Hanged around near the place for half an hour. From the absence of images you should be able to conclude that i did not manage to catch a glimpse of any of them.

Here's a peafowl though...

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...& this pond had rhinos that morning.

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The best i got was when we ran into a grazing herd of gaurs surrounding the vehicle from all sides. I could make out massive silhouettes of them inside the bushes all around us. 
There are two in this photo, a calf in the center & an adolescent, both less than 10 metres away.

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The forest itself was very beautiful though. 

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Tiny forest village of few hectares.

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Although i had mixed feeling about that day, little did i know that next one will more than make up for it (our guide called it "better than any sighting in all 2018")! Reply