Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary

A visit to Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary is seen as one of the absolute highlights of every visit to Assam. Pobitora is a Wildlife Sanctuary, where visitors are treated on trumpeting elephants, bands of rhinoceros, beautiful birds, wild buffalos and maybe even an encounter with the legendary wild boar, which moves like a shadow through the undergrowth of the forest. So, this vast area of dry woodlands, with its open areas and small lakes is a must-see attraction in the Assam.

For most travellers, a visit to Pobitora starts with the journey to the Marigaon district of the state of Assam in India.). This is the most convenient base for independent trips to the national park. This is also the place where you can arrange your jeep safari at one of the many agencies or individual drivers. I took the elephant safari. Travellers with a higher budget might choose to stay at Pobitora Village Hotel, and upmarket resort close to the entrance of the park. I decided to stay in a bamboo cottage at Pobitora Village Hotel. At half past three in the evening, the gate of the park opened for me. It was time to start enjoying all the beauty that the park had in store for us.

Eventually, I did see a lot during our safari. The first group of animals that makes us always happy when we see them is the birds. I saw among other birds loads of black kite, black drongo, Indian pond heron, Chestnut-tailed

Starling and of course also the hill myna. I also saw groups of rhino that cooled themselves in the swamp. I was also very happy with the different sightings of the wild elephant which are seldom seen.

The park still has a healthy rhino population which makes a sighting of an rhino in Pobitora substantial. It is fabulous to see these huge animals on just a few metres from the our elephant.

After enjoying the rhino fight for twenty minutes, we decided to ride back to the park entrance. We were in the park already for almost two hours. Most jeeps left the park already, because most visitors only book a tour an hour, based on the assumption that there isn’t a lot to see in the park during the hottest hours of the day.

But we always say: “you definitely see more in the park, than you see in your hotel room”, and that’s why we always try to stay as long as possible. And that theory paid off today. On the way back to the park entrance I saw a wild boars feasting in the muck. My lucky moment came when he decided to ‘use the toilet’ which was the perfect opportunity to make a picture of him. The sighting was tremendous! We looked at each other satisfied; a great safari ended with a fabulous climax.