Namdapha (December 2023) - A trip to Goosebump heaven

For nearly a decade, since birds entered (more like took over) my consciousness, I have heard about Namdapha. That word (still) gives me a bout of goosebumps, and having heard Ramki talk about his love for this incredible forest always filled me with a sense of wonder. And I decided to pay him a small tribute with a visit to this most special part of India. And so Sriram and I arrived in Dibrugarh from our Rongtong/Senchal birding leg. We'd spend a night in Maguri Beel, while waiting for our friend and ace birder Lakpa Tenzing to arrive the next day.

The evening birding session in Maguri produced some lovely birds, including a couple of lifers for me Eastern Marsh Harrier and an Oriental Scops Owl, thanks to Jibon Dutta, who not only manages the lovely camp at Maguri Beel, but is a great birder himself. The next morning he took us to 'parrotbill island', only for us to find that it was no more an island. What would be at least a 10 minute boat crossing was now accessible on foot! The river had slightly altered course, so we had to cross on foot. On the 'island' itself, we got Sriram a few lifers with the Black-breasted Parrotbill and Jerdon's Babbler being prominent species. We tried for the Marsh Babbler and then for the Swamp Prinia on another island, but they decided not to give us an audience. Back at camp, with Lakpa joining us, we left for Namdapha, spending the night at the quaintly named town of Miao, where local expert and Lakpa's friend Rahul joined us.

The birding started the next morning at Miao itself, Rahul took us to a little hillock on the town fringes to look for two prized species - White-tailed Flycatcher and Golden-crested Myna. These Myna are found in ones and twos within a flock of Common Hill Mynas, and we feverishly scanned every Hill Myna flock that came our way, without luck. The Flycatchers were slightly more accommodating, at least Mrs. Flycatcher was. The male was camera-shy and refused to leave the undergrowth, while his mate sat in the open and called him incessantly, no doubt rebuking him on his shocking manners! We left them to deal with their domestic squabbles and drove further towards Namdapha.

Namdapha Tiger Reserve is one of India's largest national parks and the only one to have four big cats - Tiger, Leopard, Clouded Leopard and Snow Leopard. Our focus was more on feathered beings, but we wouldn't be averse to a sighting of old stripes, or even a Cloudy! Wishful thinking really; even forest guards hadn't seen stripes in years, that's how dense the jungle is. The reserve also plays host to a couple of refugee tribes, the Chakma and the Lisu. The former have settlements very close to the park entrance while the latter are 120kms away, beyond a small village called Vijaynagar. The only means of communication is a road (if you can call it that) where the average speed is seldom more than 10kmph. An army camp within the park also adds to the action. Any birding would either have to happen along this road, or a trek within the forest. We had only 4 days so the former was our only option. And as we settled into the lovely camp at Deban, with the Noa-dehing river flowing past, I was really keen to see what we got. 

A Pale-blue Flycatcher started things off, but sitting right above our heads did not help get a decent photo. And as we drove further into the forest, Rahul showed us the areas to explore for the endemic Snowy-throated Babbler, which we would try and look for the next day. Further in, we round a bend and he proclaims 'Oriental Hobby' - and we look up and see a majestic Hobby perched high up on a dead tree. We descended, set up our lenses, took aim and got a few decent photos, given how far up the bird was. And then we discover that there was another one on the next branch. This one was shyer (given our track record, it should be the male) and preferred to sit in the shadows, generously allowing its spouse all the paparazzi attention. We stayed on till dusk to try for the elusive Oriental Bay Owl, but given no encouragement, we returned to Deban, highly satisfied with the day's work. Turns out there was more to come, for within the camp, we found a beautiful Red Namdapha Flying Squirrel. It put on a bit of a show, interrupting its feeding to glide to a neighbouring tree, no doubt trying to live up to its name!

The next morning dawned with a bit of bad news, we'd have to do without Rahul for the trip, he'd been called away on an emergency. But we were not worried at all; we had Lakpa with us and even in an unfamiliar place, his instincts and experience were incredible to experience. It was fantastic to see him ate work, gathering as much information on locations from Rahul and filing that all away. We headed out towards the bridge called 22nd mile and en route, had a short encounter with the endemic Snowy-throated Babbler, not enough for me to put it in my 'list'. The bridge itself promised Blyth's Kingfisher sightings and while the stream below held the perfect habitat, the subject did not deign to make an appearance. But it was more than made up by another stellar local species - Hill Prinia. One bird suddenly burst into song near the stream, and we got some decent sighters, even if the photographs were against the light.

We headed even further, beyond the bridge and at one point, Sriram invoked the raptor fiend within him, as he pointed to a dead tree stump high above and said, "There's something perched up there". And lo, there was! A Pied Falconet, no less! It was a bird that was so high on my wish list, that there was pretty much nothing above it. And while the distance and size of the bird (it's one of India's smallest raptors) proved a problem for photos, Lakpa's spotting scope proved invaluable for us to observe this amazing little bird; it posed and preened and even as we 'scoped' it, we realised that it was carrying a kill and was probably engaging in a pre-meal preening ritual. It then proceeded to polish off the little bird it had killed and looked on, satiated, with the world being a slightly better place. The rest of the afternoon produced no more excitement and the owl wasn't forthcoming, so we called it a night.

We set out on the same route the next morning, but the forest was totally silent and the birds were not forthcoming at all. But Lakpa, being Lakpa, kept at it. He focused his energies near a grove of banana trees, hoping for some birds to come for the fruit. And finally, his efforts paid off, as a mixed flock of Scimitar Babblers and Parrotbills suddenly burst out of the undergrowth. One moment there was silence and the next, we were surrounded by a flurry of activity. They were in no mood to linger and wait though, so we got only glimpses and record shots. But we could confirm two new species in that (for us, that is) - Brown-crowned Scimitar Babbler and Pale-billed Parrotbill. They, along with White-hooded Babblers completed the hunting party. And before we knew it, they were gone, blowing over like a beautiful little storm of activity.

The afternoon produced more lifers, within the camp premises itself, as Lakpa conjured up Himalayan and Lesser Shortwings, another two on the 'much wanted' list. The former gave a photo, the latter declined. And the day was complete with sightings of two more on the wish list, Red-billed Scimitar Babbler (who was eluding me for a long, long time) and a Rufous-headed Parrotbill, again together in the same flock. The pictures were ordinary, but that's more a reflection on my abilities than anything else. Our friend the Kingfisher continued to elude, though we did see him flash up the rocks, to an upstream hidey-hole no doubt. Later that evening, we had an encounter with the shadowy form of an owl, but it remained just that, a shadow, a call and something flying in front of us. And, just like that, we were down to the last morning.

Since the time I've started birding, I've always coveted many species, some because they're spectacular looking, others because they're elusive and then there are others which are just an itch. Not particularly remarkable that another bird lover would go 'Wow' but they just stubbornly exist on the wish list. And the Collared Treepie was one of them, hard to explain why, but it was there. I'd tried unsuccessfully in many other places. And Namdapha was one of the best places to see it. Except that we hadn't. We'd heard it a few times, sometimes really close by, but it always seemed to be on the wrong side of a tree or bamboo patch or something. So I didn't really hold out any hopes; I was more keen on enjoying that morning just wandering about. 

Till the local guide who was with us, pointed to something in front of us and said "Treepie". No way! I couldn't see it at first because I kept looking further away for a large, noisy bird. It was only when Lakpa said "it's right here" that I refocused and saw a smallish and rather dainty bird on a curved bamboo right in front of me. Small, dainty, but definitely a Treepie! I shot a few frames, more in relief than in excitement and we left the little fella with a huge vote of thanks. What an unexpected treat to leave with!! It was only when we were done with the sighting that I'd realised that this was a watershed moment; another itch successfully scratched. 

We left the park with sightings of White-crowned Forktail and a lovely Grey-backed Shrike, went back to Miao to check for the Myna. And within the multiple flocks of Common-hill Myna, I saw one bird with a yellow-head. Alas, no one else saw it and I had neither binoculars nor camera in hand, so it will remain an unverified sighting. One more goes into the wishlist, one more bird left to see in this wonderful land of ours. I left Namdapha with a huge smile and an even bigger vote of thanks to one man who opened this wonderful world of birds for me. 

Ramki, I owe you even more da!

Namdapha Trip Guide

Getting there

Namdapha Tiger Reserve is about 220kms (6-7 hour) from the nearest airport, Dibrugarh. The closest town is Miao a couple of hours away. Given its location, it makes sense to do a couple of days at Maguri Beel/Dihing Patkai before you head there.

Stay

You can actually do Namdapha in two ways - the straightforward, where you stay at the Deban Forest Camp and bird along the road or cross the Noa Dehing and trek for a few days across Haldibari, Hornbill Camp and Firmbase.  We did the former, given that we had limited time, but the latter option is fabulous as well.  These need to be booked in advance and your guide can arrange for all of these and the permissions as well

Here's a trip report from Ramki from 2010 (https://wildventures.com/gallery/2010-february-namdapha-digboi/)

Naturalist (guides)

A lot of the east Assam naturalists do trips to Namdapha. Ravi Mekola (+91 9402457180) Palash Phukan, Binanda Hatibaruah (+91 7002189756) and Jibon Dutta (+91 9954135613) all do regular trips there. We of course were with the peerless Lakpa Tenzing (+91 9773018122 or +91 73190 25123) and he is special, wherever in the world you bird with him.

Best times of year to visit

The regulars recommend November through February as the best times to visit Namdapha. 

Goa (December 2023) - A whim-chat

This was a mini-twitch, if I can call it that. Right after I got back from Namdapha, we were headed for a family and friends holiday to Goa. While there was no birding on the anvil, the news that some local birders had found a rare vagrant there perked up the ears. The said bird in question was a Whinchat, seldom seen on the subcontinent. So the question, "I'm already there, it's just a couple of hours of birding, what say?" became that much harder to answer in the negative. And so here I was, a couple of hours after arriving in Goa, meeting up with local birder Fondu Rane at a spot near the new MOPA airport.

Fondu took me straight to the spot, a nondescript scrub-field with a few concrete poles serving as a fence. And on one of those sat a bird that looked, at first glance, very much like a Common Stonechat. A slightly closer look, prompted by Fondu, confirmed that it wasn't the above, and was indeed the rarity I had come for. What followed was a few minutes of observing the bird (remarkably like a Stonechat) and taking a few photos. The chap was quite relaxed in his adopted surroundings, allowing me to take photos and not even batting a metaphorical (avian) eyelid when a dog bounded past or two men sauntered across, chatting nineteen to the dozen.

Anyways, I spent not more than 15 minutes with this delightful little vagrant. Then, happy with my lot, I thanked Fondu (who had ridden more than 40kms to show me the bird) with all my heart and put birdwatching to rest for 2023. A year that began with an awesome trip to Kashmir in January, then saw birding drying up for most of the year, finally concluded on a high in the North East and then with this vagrant in Goa.

Next year will feature more birding, I said to myself as I headed back, having bid adieu to my newest friend, the Whinchat.

Rongtong/Senchal (December 2023) - Foothills and Fancy free

India is a bewildering place for a birdwatcher, not least because of the sheer number and diversity of habitats and species. So, the wishlist gets longer and longer without much time to make a dent in it. But sometimes, things just beautifully fall into place, just like they did last December. A two (and a half?) legged birding trip, with Sriram and me producing the always-on parts and other dear friends joining in selected scenes. It all began with the West Bengal foothills of Rongtong, where we were joined by childhood friend Krishnan, on his first ever birding trip. Bagdogra airport saw us connecting with Parag Gurung, local bird guru and our leader for the next 4 days.

We headed to Rongtong first, to a delightful little homestay run by a group of even more delightful ladies. They fed us a sumptuous lunch post which the logical option should have been a snooze instead of a birding sojourn. But we were conscientious birders after all, so we headed out for an afternoon walk. We stopped at what seemed like a nondescript tea-stall and I wondered what the tea-break was for; but the action lay behind and underneath. On the slopes behind the stall, they'd created a small hide overlooking the valley. The place was frequented by Common Green Magpies and Greater-necklaced Laughers, neither lifers for me, but both important photo targets. As we settled down in anticipation, the first visitor was our old friend, the ubiquitous Blue Whistling Thrush. We obliged him with a few photos, but were actually waiting for main course. Which stubbornly refused to appear, causing some anxiety. But when the first dish came, man did it wow! the Common Green Magpie came, posed, strutted and did its stuff in full view. A bird with 'Common' in its name but its appearance is anything but. A truly spectacular species.

Ice broken, the Greater-necklaced Laughingthrush also graced the audience with their presence and a few photos later, we were well satiated. We headed back out for a little drive to see what else we could get. A Red Junglefowl floated in and out of frame and a Great Hornbill gave us distant sightings, so it was a very happy bunch of birders that came back to the homestay, to tuck into yet another delicious meal, so kindly served by the ladies. For Krishnan, it was his first ever birding experience (still not sure what he made of it) and for the two of us, it was business as usual in birding paradise!

The next morning was spent in and around the tea gardens that dot Rongtong, hoping amongst other things for some raptors - Sriram has a huge raptor-fetish and I'm not averse either to helping myself to a sighting or two. However, it was the smaller birds that really obliged - a beautiful Yellow-vented Flowerpecker was joined in the sighting by a Plain Flowerpecker, and both put on a really good show. Further down and a Grey Bushchat raised some hopes of being a rare bird, which were quickly quelled. A flock of Scarlet Minivets flitted about the trees, resplendent in their spectacular colours. All of which made for a very satisfying morning of birding. And now it was time to head to the second leg - the Senchal hills near Darjeeling.

The name Senchal is more familiar to birdwatchers, other tourists know the area as Tiger Hill, which gives grand views of some of the world's highest peaks, including Khangchendzonga up close and a more distant Mount Everest. However, we were only interested in the birds, specifically a couple of Parrotbills and a laughingthrush of particular interest. The latter, a Grey-sided Laugher was known to frequent a hide near the shops below Tiger Hill, along with a family of Hill Partridges. We waited for a bit and quite quickly saw a pair of beautiful Hill Partiridges. The female was more amenable to a pose, the male was more shy but we did get some decent photos nevertheless. The laughers didn't show up, and our spirits dimmed with the local shopkeeper said they hadn't been visiting for a few days. We occupied ourselves with a walk down the hillside to see what we could find.

Parag led us up a little slope to the hillside and we waited near a clump of bamboo. And within a few minutes, our calls were answered in the form of a mega-lifer - a flock of Great Parrotbills! We knew there was a chance, but hadn't hoped for such a sighting even with the slight mist that hovered around. And it was a very happy bunch that made their way to a rather cold Darjeeling to hunker down for the night. And cold it really was, but our evening sightings had certainly warmed our hearts! The next day dawned with a Grey-sided hope, but more on that later.

First up, we chose to avoid the tourist crush up to Tiger Hill and went looking for birds in the valley below. Finding nothing of note, we headed back to the Hill and once again were defeated by the Laugher. Determined to make the most of the situation, we walked up on the path upwards and were rewarded by sightings of Brown Parrotbill and White-browed Fulvetta. Mount Khangchendzonga rose up in all its might in front of us as we crested the hill and we spent a few awestruck, fan-boy moments just lapping it up. On our way down, a Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler called incessantly and we decided to investigate. As we sat on our haunches in front of a particularly interesting patch, the bird was right behind us, less than 6 feet away! We moved a bit to allow it some space and it returned our favour with a grand sighting. Lovely little fella!

Parag took us for a walk, to try and look for some rarer birds, but apart from a flock of White-throated Laughers, who dominated visual and audio, we had to move further down the valley to encounter some other species, albeit still commoners; a Rufous-breasted Accentor and female White-browed Rosefinch helped close the afternoon and this leg of our North-east trip with a broad smile and some decent pictures. We stayed that night near the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, in a lovely little homestay, with some outstanding food. The appetiser had done its job, bring on main course - Namdapha!

We left, like with most places, having planned a repeat. In the monsoons of 2024.

Rongtong/Senchal Trip Guide

Getting there

Bagdogra is the nearest airport, New Jalpaiguri (in Siliguri) the nearest railhead and Siliguri and Darjeeling are the nearest towns.

Stay

Darjeeling being the tourist hotspot it is, has all kinds of options, but we birders prefer smaller, quieter, and more local homestay options. Which are available aplenty here. Your guide will make all arrangements

Naturalist (guide)

We went with Parag Gurung, local to the area and highly recommended by none other than Lakpa. Parag is not much of a talker, but he more than makes up with his expertise, he knows the area and the birds better than most and has incredible bird sense and work ethic. You cannot go wrong with him. You can reach Parag on +91 9475624816

In addition to morning and afternoon safaris, you can also do half and full days in the forest, though it is restricted to very few vehicles. The rules are more cumbersome now, but they still give you advantages that the regular safaris don't - like being able to choose which zones you want to go to (at least for part of the day)

Brown Parrotbill

Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler

Plain Flowerpecker