P for Pobitora

On By natashabkIn A to Z challenge, Events, Travel
Mama rhino and baby rhino

Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in the flood plains of River Brahmaputra in the district of Morigaon in the state of Assam (A for Assam). It falls in the area of the famous magical village Mayong (M for Mayong). Boasting of the highest density of Great Indian One-horned rhinocerous, the sanctuary is 50 km east of Guwahati (G for Guwahati). The sanctuary stretches over 38 km and has a swampy marshland which is a perfect habitat for the rhinos, wild buffalos .and the wild boars. There are a few embankments through the parks and rough roads have been built for the jeeps to tread.

Legend has it that the King of Mayong gave the name Pobitara to the forest after his lovely daughter who died in her youth. In 1971, the forest was declared a reserve forest to protect the famous rhinos. In 1987, Pobitara was declared a wildlife sanctuary.
In January 2012, my friends and I decided to visit Pobitora. So one fine winter morning, Zaveer, Aparna, Sandeep, Madhusmita and I set off to Pobitora. The road itself to Pobitora is amazing as we have to drive by the Brahmaputra river. We were pretty excited about the trip and planned to take a jeep safari. But on reaching there, we found that the sanctuary was closed (that particular day) as rhinos were being transferred. We were heartbroken. Some of us even tried using our connections for a special permission. But no, it was hard luck. We were told that it was informed in the local newspapers that the sanctuary will remain closed to visitors that day. Well we don’t do newspapers on weekends. So we loaded our long faces into the car and headed back to Guwahati. On the back journey, we did a extensive photo session and shared it on Facebook. When we were asked where have we been, we just said that we went for a long drive! Here are some of the photographs we took.

2012 me
Posing
Celebrities

One year later , we again planned a visit. This time we checked the sanctuary’s schedules. This time the people were Zaveer, Sujoy, Priyobratta, Chander, Roshni, Madhusmita and I (all office buddies). Three of us common from the earlier attempt. We once again took the beautiful route, lots of pictures and this time we took that jeep safari. This trip is very special to me as it was the last outing I had with my friends before I moved to Delhi. I really miss you guys. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

The gang minus the photographer
Grazing rhino
Lassies in the wild

Our ‘hangover’ rhino
The dudes
With the photographer
More information about Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary:

10 thoughts on “P for Pobitora”

  9. Roshni

    awww…. this brings back a Tsunami of memories. This was such a fun trip and i had such a great time. We miss you so much in each of our trips to the wild. with you gone, its just me and madhus.. :'(Lovely post… memories revisited!!

    Like

    Reply

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