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.
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