The Dehing Patkai National Park is considered to be the Amazon of the East and it is the longest stretch of lowland rainforests in India. The Dehing Patkai National Park was inaugurated as a National Park and upgraded from a Wildlife Sanctuary in June 2021, and it stretches across the Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Charaideo districts in Assam followed by the Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Covering an area of almost around 575 sq. km. This Dehing Patkai National Park falls under the Dehing Patkai landscape and is also a Project Elephant. The Dehing Patkai National Park has an area of around 111.19 sq. km. and it was declared as a Wildlife Sanctuary of Assam in 2004.
The Dehing Patkai National Park records an average annual rainfall of around 4000 mm and it is significantly higher than the other National Parks in Assam that makes it to have a tropical climate. The climate and the natural surroundings of the Dehing Patkai landscapes made several ethnic groups settle across the area of the landscape because of the availability of the forest cover and even today, many of the ethnic communities of Assam live across the area of the Dehing Patkai National Park which include Singphos, Tai Phakes, Tai Khamyangs, Tai Ahoms, Khamtis, Morans, Chutias, etc. Even many of the Nepali and Tea garden tribe people inhabit the areas across the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary. Sanctuary.
The vast pristine rainforest of the Dehing Patkai National Park harbors a rich variety of flora, fauna and avifauna. The National Park has recorded 47 mammal species, 47 retile species, 301 butterfly species and 293 bird species. Some of the animal species found inside the forest reserves of the Dehing Patkai National Park in Assam are royal Bengal tigers, Indian elephants, Himalayan black bears, Hoolock Gibbons, Slow Loris, Capped Langurs, Indian leopards, Gaurs, Clouded leopards, porcupines, Sambars, barking deers, marbled cat, etc. The bird species inhabiting the forest reserves of the Dehing Patkai National Park in Assam are Khalij Pheasant, Hill Myna, Great Indian Hornbills, Brown Hornbills, Ospreys, Greater Adjutants, Lesser Adjutants, White Winged Wood Duck, Spotted Eagles, White Cheeked Partridge, etc.
The Dehing Patkai National Park is a beautiful forest area that reminds you of the gifts of Mother Nature when you go inside the forest reserves of this place and the entire flora is dominated by tall canopy of Hollong, Nahar, Meloni trees. In case you are planning to explore the forest reserves of the Dehing Patkai National Park in Assam you will need to travel to Digboi from the Dibrugarh airport because Digboi is close to the Range Forest Office at Soraipung village and you can seek permission at this place to enter the forest reserves of the Dehing Patkai National Park and also hire the services of a local guide who will take you deep inside the forest reserves because it is not possible to go on your own as it is bound the you will lose you way inside the thick rain forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park. The services of a guide is also necessary because there are wild elephants on prowl inside the Dehing Patkai National Park and you can never be sure when you are about to startle these wild animals in the forest reserves.
To plan your visit to Dehing Patkai National Park in Assam please tell us:
Western Hollock Gibbons can also be sighted at the Dehing Patkai National Park like in Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary near Mariani in Assam
Option 1: Itinerary for visiting Dehing Patkai National Park
Day 1: Guwahati – Kamakhya Temple – Kaziranga National Park
Day 2: Kaziranga National Park Safari – Kaziranga Orchid Park
Day 3: Kaziranga National Park – Jorhat – Sivasagar
Day 4: Sivasagar – Dehing Patkai National Park
Day 5: Dehing Patkai National Park – Digboi
Day 6: Digboi – Margherita – Digboi
Day 7: Digboi – Dibrugarh Airport
Option 2: Itinerary for visiting Dehing Patkai National Park
Day 1: Dibrugarh Airport – Dehing Patkai National Park
Day 2: Dehing Patkai National Park – Dibru Saikhowa National Park
Day 3: Dibru Saikhowa – Maguri Beel – Digboi
Day 4: Digboi – Margherita – Digboi
Day 5: Digboi – Dibrugarh Airport
Option 1: Itinerary for visiting Dehing Patkai National Park
Day 1: Guwahati – Kamakhya Temple – Kaziranga National Park
Arrive early at the LGBI airport at Guwahati and upon arrival you will be welcomed by our representative offering you a warm welcome in traditional Assamese style and from the airport we board the comfortable vehicles to drive to Guwahati city where we will go to visit the Kamakhya temple shrine to seek the blessings of Goddess Kamakhya. Located atop the Nilachal Hills, the Kamakhya temple is the holiest temple shrine in North East India dedicated to Goddess Kamakhya and this temple celebrates the spirit of womanhood and the ability of a woman to give birth to a new life. The Ambubachi Mela festival that is celebrated at the Kamakhya temple every year in the month of Asad (June) is the most important festival often referred to as the Eastern Mahakumbh that draws devotees and holy Sadhus from across the World.
It is believed that during the first three days of the festival, the Goddess menstruates and the temple doors are kept closed and on the fourth day the temple doors are opened to devotees who throng the temple to seek the blessings of the Goddess. We will go for our Darshan of the Goddess at the inner sanctum and later come out and proceed on our drive to Kaziranga National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its population of the Indian One Horned Rhinoceros, Asian Elephants, Asiatic Wild Water Buffaloes, Swamp Deers, Bengal Tigers, Hoolock Gibbons, etc. Lunch will be served at the Anuraag Dhaba at Nagaon and we will reach Kaziranga National Park by later afternoon. We will check into our resort at Kaziranga National Park and freshen up and in the evening Bonfire and cultural dance performance (upon request) of the Bihu dance and the Jhumur dance will be arranged to be followed by dinner at the resort.
Night Halt: Dhanashree Resort at Kaziranga National Park
Meals Included: Dinner
Day 2: Kaziranga National Park Safari – Kaziranga Orchid Park – Sivasagar
Today in the morning we go for a jeep safari ride into the interiors of Kaziranga National Park at the central range of the Park at Kohora and we will get to sight the varied animals and birds of Kaziranga National Park and post our jeep safari ride we will come back to our resort to have our breakfast and check out to travel to the Kaziranga Orchid Park and admire the grand species of orchids at the place. We explore the green house at the Kaziranga Orchid Park to be followed by the section of handicrafts and handlooms, monument photo gallery, orchid photo gallery, rice museum, souvenir section and later we board our vehicles to travel to Sivasagar – the land of the might Ahom Kings via Jorhat. At Jorhat we will atop at the Swargadeo Sukapha Samanway Kshetra that is a huge complex dedicated to the founder of the Ahom Kingdom of Assam Swargadeo Sukapha and the museum at this place will provide us a deep insight into the Ahom Kingdom and post witnessing this we will continue on our drive to Sivasagar.
We have lunch at the Jhanji Dhaba and we reach Sivasagar by afternoon and we will head to explore the Talatal Ghar at Sivasagar that is a historic fort of the Ahom Kingdom at the ex-capital of Rongpur and the Talatal Ghar was known to have a secret network of underground tunnels that was designed to confuse the enemy in case of an attack. We admire the grand construction of the Talatal Ghar and later we travel to the Rang Ghar monument at Sivasagar that is said to be the oldest Amphitheatre in Asia and the Rang Ghar was the Royal Pavilion where the Ahom Royals used to enjoy the various traditional sports like wrestling, cock fights, bull fights and even the grand Bihu dance of Assam from atop the Rang Ghar.
The unique thing about the Rang Ghar and the Talatal Ghar both is its construction and the mortar that was used to bind the bricks to build these two monuments. The mortar was made with a paste of sticky rice, duck eggs, lime and sand and the bond was so strong that both these monuments have braved some of the most extreme weather conditions including two major earthquakes of Assam and are still standing tall even today with minimal repair works. We will admire the grand construction of the Rang Ghar monument and we will call it a day and go to check into our hotel at Sivasagar. Dinner will be served at the Hotel itself and you can unwind your day with your recollection of the day of visiting Kaziranga National Park and getting to sight the majestic One Horned Rhinoceros of Assam.
Night Halt: Comfortable Hotel at Sivasagar
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 3: Sivasagar – Charaideo – Tipam Village (Dehing Patkai National Park)
Today is our day of exploring the Pyramids of India – the Charaideo Maidams at Sivasagar and post this we will explore the Kareng Ghar, Sivadoul temple and Joysagar Lake and later proceed on our drive to Tipam Village to check into the Tai Phake Ecotourism Camp. We start our day after breakfast and we proceed on our drive to the Charaideo Maidams at Charaideo and Charaideo was the first capital of the Ahom Kingdom established by the great King and founder of Ahom Kingdom Swargadeo Sukapha. The Ahoms Royals followed a burial pattern that was similar to the Pharaohs of Egypt and once an Ahom Royal died, huge pits were dug underground and a grand structure was built across the place that had two big chambers and the King used to be buried here and as per history all the belongings of the King including this loved ones like his wife, pets and servants used to be buried along with the Kings and the various gold ornaments that was possessed by the King and the chamber used to be sealed and this completed the Maidam.
Several Maidams were present here at Charaideo but once the news had spread (after the collapse of the Ahom Empire), miscreants who had heard about the riches buried inside these Maidams, had dug out many of these Maidams and destroyed them but to no avail and they did not find any riches because they couldn’t reach to the entrance of the chambers. Today around 29 of these Maidams are still intact and are protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Charaideo is a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site as well. We will explore the historic site of the Charaideo Maidams and admire the grand construction of the Maidams here and post this we will go to explore the Kareng Ghar at Garhgaon area near Sivasagar. This was the Royal Palace of the Ahom Kings and the Kareng Ghar is spread across seven floors that is again built with the same mortar paste that was used to build the Rang Ghar and the Talatal Ghar. The Kareng Ghar Palace was connected to the Talatal Ghar fort by the network of underground tunnels so that in case there was an enemy attack, the soldiers of the Ahom Army could rush from the Talatal Ghar to the Kareng Ghar to protect the Ahom Royals.
The Palace area was surrounded by deep trenches that used to be filled with water so that the enemy would take time to approach the main gate of the palace in case of an attack and by that time the reinforcements would arrive. We will admire the grand construction of the Kareng Ghar and later go to visit the Joysagar Lake that is the largest man dug out lake in India and a unique thing about this tank is that the water level in the tank never goes down below a specified level or rather overflows be it the harsh monsoon season or the dry winter season and this unique feature about the tank speaks highly about the grandeur of the Ahom architecture several hundred years back. We will explore the Joysagar Lake and later we will go to explore the final destination at Sivasagar that is the Sivadoul temple that is one of the other prominent temple shrines across Assam dedicated to Lord Shiva and we will go to offer our prayers at the Sivadoul temple and this temple has a striking feature of the temple dome on top that is built with pure gold. We will admire the grand construction of the Sivadoul temple complex and post this we will proceed on our drive to Tipam Village via Moran and Naharkatia.
We will reach Moran after crossing Demow and we will stop for lunch at Moran and later we continue on our drive towards Naharkatia and further to Tipam village and the beautiful tea gardens of Assam on both sides of the road will welcomes us to Naharkatia. We will reach the Tipam village where we will go to check into the Tai Phake Ecotourism Camp here and as the name suggests this place is inhabited by the Tai Phake tribal people of Assam who are a part of the greater Tai community of Assam. The four Tai group of Assam are the Tai Ahoms, Tai Phake, Tai Khamti and the Tai Khamyangs who inhabit the major parts across Upper Assam and are part of the Tai group who had migrated to Assam from the Shan Kingdom in Myanmar and while the Tai Ahoms went on to establish the Ahom Kingdom of Assam and upon learning about the practices of Shakti and Tantra prevalent at the Kamakhya temple they converted to Hinduism the other three Tai groups continued to practice Buddhism as their faith and hence you will find many Buddhist Monasteries across Upper Assam that are inhabited by the Tai Phake, Tai Khamyang, Tai Khamti and also the Singpho people of Assam we well continuing up to the eastern most parts of Arunachal Pradesh.
The forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park extends across the three districts of Assam viz. Charaideo, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia and continue up to Arunachal Pradesh at Tirap and Changlang districts so we can say that we have been driving alongside the forests of the pristine Dehing Patkai National Park and the forest entrance for visitors to explore across the pristine landscapes of the Dehing Patkai National Park is present at the Jeypore rain forest area. We will check into the Tai Phake Ecotourism Camp and here we will witness the rich traditions and customs of the Tai Phake people of Assam. We take a stroll across the area in the later afternoon and we visit the nearby Monastery and also explore the nearby village where we get to witness the various traditions of the Tai Phake people of Assam and we look at the distinct hand weaving technique of the people here and we visit a local person’s home to understand more about their traditions and culture. We will return back to the Tai Phake Ecotourism Camp for our dinner and night halt and we will savour an ethnic meal of the Tai Phake cuisine and you will be surprised that the people here make minimal use of oil to prepare their food and most of their food preparation are boiled and loaded with the natural ingredients like ginger, garlic, coriander, green chillies and various herbs and leafy vegetables.
Night Halt: Tai Phake Ecotourism Camp at Naharkatia
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 4: Dehing Patkai National Park – Digboi
Today is our day of exploration of the grand rainforest of the Amazon of the East at the Dehing Patkai National Park. We will leave early from the Tipam Village to travel to the forests of Jeypore that is also called as the Jeypore Rainforest and these are one of the most beautiful forest reserves in Eastern India that harbours a rich variety of flora, fauna and avifauna and some of the very endangered species of animals and birds are inhabited in the protected forests of Dehing Patkai National Park. The Dehing Patkai National Park was upgraded from a Wildlife Sanctuary to a National park in June 2021 after a lot of intervention from not only naturalists and NGOs but after a very successful social media campaign as well that raised the concern of illegal coal mining inside the Elephant Corridor of Dehing Patkai National Park and to protect the habitat of the Asian Elephants here and the Govt. of Assam upgraded the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary to the Dehing Patkai National Park to provides more identity to the beautiful rainforest of India and to adopt better conservation measures of wildlife of the place. We will reach the forest office of the Jeypore Rain forest area and here we will be met by our local guide who will assist us with the forest entry formalities and we will go to explore the vast forest reserves of Dehing Patkai National Park. The services of a local guide is mandatory to explore the forests as this is one of the most dense forest reserves of Assam and the tree canopy here is very tall and one will never have the accessibility to the place on own and the knowledge of the forests of a local person who had spent his life around the forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park is absolutely necessary.
The guide will lead the way and we will walk across the dense forests and all we will hear is the soulful chirping of the birds, the cry of the Hoolock Gibbons, and the occasional roar of the elephant hers or even a tiger as well and we trek across the dense forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park. The tall tree canopy is quite dense and you have to be observant to spot the various birds and primates perched atop the trees here. We will trek as per the directions of the guide and go deeper into the forests as we will identify the various butterfly species that are recorded here at the Dehing Patkai National Park and after our day of trekking inside the forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park is done we will come out of the forest reserve to travel on our way to Digboi – the Legendary Oil town of Assam. We will travel towards Digboi via the Duliajan-Digboi highway and the forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park will be along our entire route to Digboi and we will soon approach the Digboi town where we will stop for lunch and later go to explore the World War II Cemetery at Digboi.
The Digboi War Cemetery contains around 200 burials of the soldiers of the Allied Forces who had laid down their lives during the Burma Campaign of World War II especially during the construction of the Stilwell Road. The American Army under the able command of General Vinegar Joe Stilwell and the British Army had come to Assam to restore the connectivity with China as the Japanese Army had cut off the alternate route to reach China and so they had to build a roadway for quick movement of the troops and goods across the dense forests of the Dehing Patkai mountain range starting at Ledo in Assam passing across Myanmar to reach Kunming in China. The Stilwell Road passed across the Pangsau Pass aka the Hells Pass and the Lake of No Return and the construction was across the harshest and treacherous environment conditions across the dense forests of the Dehing Patkai forest reserves and many soldiers along with the local men had to give up their lives to build the Stilwell Road. While the injured were treated at the 20th General Hospital of the American Army at Margherita, the soldiers who couldn’t make it were laid to rest across the war cemeteries and once among these was the Digboi World War II Cemetery. This cemetery was built and is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves mission and hence it is in a very proper condition unlike many others that have been lost with nature.
The burials here are well aligned and a centre cross looks over the entire cemetery area and also there are flower plants growing in between two cemeteries that pay tribute to the brave soldiers who laid down their lives so that we could have a better tomorrow. We admire the grand burials of the Digboi World War II cemetery and post our exploration we will go to check into our guest house at Digboi and we will drive across the Digboi Oil Refinery that is the oldest oil refinery in Asia and tomorrow we come to visit the Digboi Oil Museum after exploring Margherita. We go to check into our place of stay and evening dinner will be served at the place.
Night Halt: Namdang Guest House at Digboi
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner.
Day 5: Digboi – Margherita – Digboi
The forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park will continue along our drive today as well when we will explore the eastern most parts of Assam at the beautiful places of Digboi and Margherita continuing up to Lekhapani area where we will drive along the Stilwell Road and come back to Margherita and later to Digboi to explore the Digboi Oil Museum. We start after breakfast and we will start on our drive from Digboi to Lekhapani and we will cross the beautiful tea gardens of Powai to reach Margherita – the Coal Queen of Assam and here again we observe the Dehing Patkai mountain range crossing along with us and we are greeted by the lush green tea gardens of Margherita and Ledo we keep driving towards Lekhapani and we cross the open cast coal mining sites of Tirap under the operations of NECF (CIL).
We will soon approach Lekhapani and here we will go to the starting point of Stilwell Road where we will go to a huge display board area where we will learn about how the concept of constructing a road across such a location has come to the thought of the Allied Forces and how they had flown in good and soldiers to build the historic Stilwell Road. The starting point of the Stilwell Road is Ledo in Assam and this continues via Myanmar (Burma) to Kunming in China. We observe the details on the signage and we take the historic opportunity to drive across the Stilwell Road to reach Indian Railways final frontier at the Lekhapani Railway Station. We will return to Ledo after this and we will go to visit the historic Ledo Airstrip area that was used by the airplanes of the Allied Forces to land and bring in supplies and men to build the historic Stilwell Road and next we go to visit the Mounglang Khamti Buddhist Monastery of Bhante Baba’s fame. This place is also an International Meditation Centre and visitors can come here to spend their time in meditation and also seek the blessings of the holy Bhante Baba.
We will visit he altar of the Mounglang Khamti Buddhist Monastery and here we seek our blessings of the holy monk and later we drive back to Baragolai to make a stop at the Singpho Villa Restaurant where we will enjoy a sumptuous Singpho tribe lunch that is again a cuisine that is based on the use of natural ingredients, herbs and spices to power the food and we will try the special tupula vat, boiled country chicken recipe here along with the steamed herbs and vegetables and the pork Khorika. After lunch we will proceed to visit the remains of the 20th General Hospital at Margherita and from here we get a panoramic view of the Dehing Patkai mountain range and this was a grade A hospital of the American Army that was built to treat the injured soldiers of the Allied Forces by the American Army and this place had treated many great names like that of General Stilwell and even Lord Mountbatten as well. We visit the remains of this grand hospital of the Burma Campaign and we will next go to explore the India’s only Coal Museum at Margherita. The coal museum was built to illustrate the various artefacts of the ancient times around Margherita and also depicts to visitors about the various practices of coal mining that were prevalent at the Makum Coalfields. There are vintage steam locomotives on display here and also the various model of the open cast and underground coal mines. The demo underground coal mine is a must visit at this museum.
The underground coal mine model depicts how the workers used to travel down the coal mine mouth and walk up to a distance of about 2-3 km where the coal mining excavation process was being carried out and the coal tubs track line was placed to allow the coal tubs to come down to the excavation site and later be loaded with coal and pulled back to the surface by the haulage equipment. Later the steam locomotives used to draw the coal tubs from the mine area to the dumping sites and here the coal would be loaded on to trucks to be transported all across the country. We will explore the museum further and we go to the main display hall that highlights the grand history of Margherita town and the details of the construction of the Stilwell Road, the arrival of the British to begin the coal mines, tea gardens and factories, etc. and various relics from the times of World War II. With this we wind up our visit at Margherita and we travel to Digboi where we go to visit the Centenary Oil Museum at Digboi and here we will be greeted by the Air Raid Shelter from 1942.
The Digboi Oil Museum was built at the site of the first oil well that was dug here and this is the oldest oil well in Asia and as oil still seeps out from the ground and is often called as the Oldest Operational Oil Well in the World as well. We will witness the various artefacts from the times of the establishment of Asia’s Oldest Refinery and also explore the various relics in the main display hall area of the oil museum and also view the mini model of the Digboi Oil Refinery as well. After our exploration we will return back to the guest house for every dinner.
Night Halt: Namdang Guest House at Digboi
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 7: Digboi – Dibrugarh Airport
Today is the end of our tour of Kaziranga National Park and Dehing Patkai National Park and we will drive to Dibrugarh airport at Mohanbari after breakfast crossing Tinsukia and we will drop you off the airport for your flight to your onward destination. Tour Ends. Bid Adieu!
Option 2
Day 1: Dibrugarh Airport – Dehing Patkai National Park
Arrive at the Mohanbari airport at Dibrugarh and upon arrival you will be welcomed by our representative offering you a warm welcome in traditional Assamese Style. From the airport drive to the Tipam Village near Naharkatia where we will check into the Tai Phake Ecotourism Camp and we freshen up and take time to explore the nearby village and learn about the customs of the Tai Phake people of Assam. Next up we visit a local house and we witness the traditional weaving of the local people and we will return back to the eco camp for evening dinner.
Night Halt: Tai Phake Eco Camp at Tipam Village
Meals Included: Dinner
Day 2: Dehing Patkai National Park – Dibru Saikhowa National Park
Today in the morning we will drive to the Jeypore Rain Forest area that is one of the forest entrance to the Dehing Patkai National Park and we will meet our local guide here and after the forest entry formalities we will stop in to explore the dense rainforests of the Dehing Patkai National Park. The Dehing Patkai National Park was upgraded to a National Park from a Wildlife Sanctuary in June 2021 and this was done mostly to protect the biodiversity habitat of the Asian Elephants of Dehing Patkai National Park as the elephant corridor here were destroyed by illegal coal mining activities. The Dehing Patkai National Park is one of the most pristine rainforests in the country that extends across the districts of Assam at Charaideo, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia extending up to the Tirap and Changlang districts in Arunachal Pradesh. The tall canopy of tree inside the forests of Dehing Patkai National Park make it an ideal habitat for various rare and endangered species of flora, fauna and avifauna. The Dehing Patkai National Park is home to various animals like the Asian Elephants, Bengal Tiger, Leopards, Clouded Leopards, Hog Deers, Barking Deer, Sambar, Jungle Cat, Civet Cat, Hoolock Gibbons, Capped Langurs, etc. and various species of birds are to be found inside the forest reserves of Dehing Patkai National Park. This will be experienced because when we are travelling inside the forest reserves of the Dehing Patkai National Park we will hear the soulful chirping of the birds, the cries of the Hoolock Gibbons and the occasional roar of the Tiger as well.
Hiring the services of a local guide to explore the forest reserves of the Dehing Patkai National Park is compulsory because there is no defined track inside the park unlike the other National Parks where visitors can go to explore the forest reserves on a jeep safari ride and the forest cover at the Dehing Patkai National Park is so dense that at certain parts the sunlight doesn’t pass through the forest cover here at Dehing Patkai National Park and so we might get lost on our way inside the forest and therefore the knowledge of a person who has taken numerous trips inside the forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park is necessary to explore the forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park. We will take some time to explore the dense forests of Dehing Patkai National Park and get to sight the various animals and bird species here and later we will come out of the forest reserve and thank our local guide and we will travel from the Dehing Patkai National Park to Tinsukia area where we will go to Guijan to visit the Dibru Saikhowa National Park – another prominent National Park in Upper Assam. We will reach by afternoon and we stop for lunch along the way and at Tinsukia we will go to explore the Railway Heritage Park and Museum that illustrates the heritage of the Dibru Sadiya Railway – that is one among the oldest rail heads in the country and post our visit at the museum we will go to the Guijan Ghat are where we will check into the Banashree Eco Resort at Dibru Saikhowa National Park.
Night Halt: Banashree Eco Resort at Dibru Saikhowa National Park
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 3: Dibru Saikhowa National Park – Maguri Beel
Today we set out to explore the forest reserves of the Dibru Saikhowa National Park that is known to be home to the Feral Horses, Asian Elephants, Bengal Tigers, Leopards, River Dolphins and the various bird species. At first we will cross the River Dibru on a country boat to travel towards the forests of the Dibru Saikhowa National Park and we will set out to explore the Kekjori Tree here that is a famous tourist destination. We will need to do some trekking inside the premises and therefore is advised that you wear comfortable shoes while coming out and we will cross a local village to reach the site of the Kekjori tree that is basically a tree that spans across huge area of land and this is that draws many visitors here and we admire the Kekjori tree and we will get to sight the various bird species at the Mora Beel area. Post this we come back to the boat and the boat will take us to the Dolphin view point on the River Dibru. Earlier the Gangetic River Dolphins were found in abundance across the rivers of Assam especially on the Brahmaputra River but uncontrolled hunting have reduced their numbers to a grave extent and today only a few thousand remain in the protected waters of the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries of Assam.
We will go to the dolphin point and wait patiently for the opportunity to sight these river dolphin species and soon we will see them leaping out of the waters and we will take our pictures here and return back to our resort for lunch. Post lunch we will go for our birding opportunity at the Maguri Beel area that is known to be home to various birds both resident and migratory and as we will be visiting during the winter season we will get to spot the various migratory bird species here. This area just like the Dehing Patkai National Park is surrounded by tall trees and the waters of the Maguri Beel is a perfect place for birds to come and find their food source. The place is also known for the sightings of the Mandarin Duck that is a very rare bird species to be found. We will board a country boat here at the Maguri Beel and we will go for an hour long boat ride here accompanied by a birding guide who will help us sight and identify the various bird species. Also we will witness the local fishermen come on their boats on the waters of the Maguri Beel to setup their fish traps and this place is a rich source of fish and the local fishermen take their produce to be sold at the local markets and they earn a livelihood this way. After our boating session here we will come back to the resort for an evening bonfire and we retire to bed after dinner.
Night Halt: Banashree Resort at Dibru Saikhowa National Park
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 4: Dibru Saikhowa National Park – Digboi – Margherita – Dibru Saikhowa National Park
Today we will go to spot the forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park again when we travel from Guijan across the National Highway towards Makum and further to Digboi and at Digboi we will explore the Digboi World War II Cemetery and Digboi Oil Museum and we continue further to Margherita where we will have a traditional Singpho cuisine at the Singpho Villa restaurant and later explore the coal museum at Margherita and return back to Guijan before sun down. The forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park will welcome us again near Bogapani and this is the place that is a very renowned Elephant Corridor of the Dehing Patkai National Park. We will soon reach Digboi and we go to the Bapapung area to visit the Digboi World War II Cemetery and this cemetery has around 200 burials of the brave soldiers of the Allied Forces who worked on the Burma Campaign of World War II. The burials are neatly aligned and there are flowers growing across each burial as a tribute to their brave souls and a centre cross looks across the entire cemetery. We pay our respects to the brave soldiers who laid down their lives so that we could have a better tomorrow and with this we go on to visit the Digboi Oil Museum that illustrates the rich history of the oil industry in Asia and also the oldest oil refinery in Asia. The place also is home to the discovery oil well No. 1 that was the first commercial oil well in India and as oil still seeps out from the ground even today it is referred to as the oldest operational oil well in the World.
We will next travel to Margherita area and along the drive the forests of the Dehing Patkai National Park will follow us and at Margherita we will get to witness the lush green tea gardens of Assam and we will head to visit the Singpho Villa Restaurant that serves authentic Singpho tribe cuisine and we will get a taste of the Tupula Bhat, boiled local chicken and boiled vegetables as well. We savour our food at the Singpho Villa Restaurant overlooking the tall mountains of the Dehing Patkai and we proceed to visit the Coal Museum at Margherita. This is India’s only coal museum and the place has several relics from the times of the establishment of the Makum Coalfields, the tea gardens of Margherita and the Dibru Sadiya railway. We will go to visit the model of the underground coal mine here at the museum and this is a detailed underground mine that shows how the coal miners used to enter the coal mine mouth and walk for long distances to reach the site of the coal excavation and later load the coal tubs that would be controlled by a haulage mechanism and the steam locomotives used to haul the coal tubs to the dumping sites. We will also see the various relics at the museum and after our exploration we will travel back to Guijan.
Night Halt: Banashree Resort at Dibru Saikhowa National Park
Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 5: Guijan – Dibrugarh Airport
Today after breakfast we will pack our luggage and board our vehicles to drive to the Mohanbari airport at Dibrugarh where we will drop you for your flight to your onward destination thereby ending this tour of the Dehing Patkai National Park and the Dibru Saikhowa National Park. Tour Ends. Bid Adieu!
