Day 6

After having a warm and cozy sleep it was very difficult to get up. After some time baba called me and I had to leave the bed. After completing the daily chores I walked up into the lawns around the manor. It was a perfect day for photography. So out came my camera. There were some beautiful flowers around. It was a delight to have these favorable conditions so close to comfort.
Soon breakfast was served. After having boiled eggs for breakfast we chatted with owner of manor. He was telling us about the resort he is developing uphill. He was building an infinity pool there which was going to be the major attraction in that area. So we decided to go to the site. It was a beautiful there. We could see the mighty Bramhaputra River below. It was flowing with an audacity that commanded awe and respect. After spending some time here we moved on to the tea gardens. During this time Mr. Date had catastrophe! He mistakenly deleted all the photos in the memory of his camera. It seemed like we were going to lose some memories. It was a beautiful experience in the tea gardens. The trees were not so big. We also visited a Kamakhya mata mandir in nearby. Over here we even performed aarti in Marathi. There was a guy name Ravi with us. He was acting as our guide and translator. He was telling us various things about tea gardens. We interacted with some of the tea plucking ladies there. They gave us there baskets for snapping some pictures. It was great the way they plucked the leaves and all. We tried it but failed utterly. Soon it was time to head back to the manor.
Once in the manor we spent some time resting in the lounge and on the lawns. After having our lunch we had a small afternoon siesta. In late afternoon we were moving towards Kaziranga national park for jeep safari. On reaching Kaziranga we found two jeeps waiting for us. We soon boarded the jeep and were just into the forest when our jeep stopped. On right side of our jeep around 50feets away was a one horned rhino! We never expected to spot one so easily and so early. In another jeep in front of us there was a foreign tourist family. The amazing thing about them was that the guy in that family was carrying a camera with its lens so big that even a bomb canon would be ashamed of itself! Soon they went the other way. We were spotting rhino is the tall grass around. Even some elephants were present there. But we could not get a close fine look as they were hidden in tall grass. But we kept on moving. After traveling for around an hour and finding nothing specific we decided to retrace our tracks. While going back we had a wireless message saying that one rhino was on the road and to be careful. On hearing this we moved swiftly towards that spot but with caution. We were disappointed to see the rhino just moving into the grass. We were disheartened. But soon fate had something else in store for us. Just a few feet away there was another rhino! He was almost as if posing for the shutterbugs. It was awesome. I think I got almost 20-25 pictures of the rhino. It was breathtaking. For the first time I have seen some wild animal so close in his natural habitat. The animal commanded respect. After about 20 minutes he moved away. We went ahead towards a watch post nearby. From here we could see the banks of Bramhaputra. It was a fine view. We were mind-boggled. There were animals in the swamp on the other side of the river. We could see them move but could not make out as to what they were. They looked like swamp deer. Over here there is a watch post. Just besides it there is a stack of skulls of rhino, wild buffalo, and deer. It was awesome. The teeth in the skull were like just out of a horror film. Even a normal photo of them looked like a macro picture. After spending some time here we moved on. Now the sun was almost setting and it looked as if it would rain any moment now so we hurried back to our waiting car and moved towards the manor. Once in the manor the rain started pouring. I was sitting in a small closed balcony type room. Reading a novel in that dimly lit room and then feeling the actual thrill from the novel in reality. After spending a good hour and half we moved on for dinner.
After the tasty dinner we toured the manor at night! It was like a guided tour. The changes that are carried out in the manor now and many other things were shone to us by the owner. He was an amicable man. So the night ended with a group photograph with him and us sleeping pretty in our warm cozy beds.