Return to the Motherland: Last Tripping with Marco : Meghalaya + Assam

So as the title suggests, this was our last 'tripping' together in India....and I must say a FINE way to delicately close a great chapter of our lives. We managed, for a change not to travel in the worst possible season, but in a period laced with few tourists, good weather (aka no rain) and cheaper (relatively) rates for us. In case you're wondering whats up with all the rhino's and elephants, we started our journey with the Kazi Ranga National Park in Assam, which was a solid 12 hour journey by road from Guwahati. Well worth it, I might add since I got my first taste of the wilderness with what seemed like a late evening lined-with-fatigue-apparition of a HUGE tusker on the roadside. Now mind you, the Kazi Ranga National Park has the unfortunate national highway running right through it, and even more unfortunate for the animals is that they dont read signs, dont give a damn about borders and fences and migrate as freely as man allows them too, and in this case, through the national highway that connects Assam from the North East corridor to the West. We took two 'safari's', one a jeep safari where we saw many turtles, langurs (monkeys), wild buffalo, deer, wild hogs, wild fowl (vivacious and colourful) and tons of amaaaaaaazing birds and then a second safari starting early morning on elephant back. With the jeep safari you are forced to stay on the marked roads, from where actually you dont see much, but with the elephant safari, you are able to go deep into the elephant grass (as tall as....you guessed it, elephants, and understandably the tallest grass in the world) where if you're lucky (or not, depending on your fate), you might just spot a tiger. Have you ever seen that video on youtube of a tigress emerging from tall grass, out of what seems like NOWHERE to attack the cameraman sitting on elephant back and then the film goes black? Well it took place in Kazi Ranga, and our guide had the fortune of being there when it happened. What makes the tigers in the Sunderbans different from the tigers in the North East is that the latter are not man eating, and only attack if provoked (which this tigress was completely, having her cub stungunned and taken away just the day before, she was understandably pissed), whereas the ones in the Sunderbans, if youre unfortunate enough to meet one, will most likely attack, kill and eat you.

ANYWAY, on that happy note, let me move on and tell you about the second leg of our trip which took us from Assam to the magnificent state of Meghalaya, where, if I must be honest, makes you feel like you are in the furthest place on earth from India. We travelled all day and almost all evening till we finally reached Shillong from where we headed south to a place called Cherrapunjee (which I MUST mention, like any good travel writer would, receives the MOST amount of rainfall per year of any place on this planet). This was where Mauro, met us and mind you, for a change, we DIDN'T go in the worst possible season (ref: Kerala in November aka MONSOON SEASON). Cherrapunjee is also known for an incredible natural/man made phenomena that I have ever seen and experienced: The Living Root Bridges, which as suggessted by the name, are bridges desgined by man and exquisitely crafted by nature, made of living roots. It was a holy pilgrimage for me, since these are the things I need to see in this world that a.) makes me believe in 'god' and b.) keeps me curious about all things Natural. The bridges were crafted almost 200 years ago out of rubber trees that grow in abundance in the region. In an area which plays little or no governmental part, the root bridges were designed by local tribes living in random, remote and in deep parts of the forest, in practically inaccessible to the outside world (until a series of stairs, approx. 5000 were built leading down into the valleys AND which of course we had to take to reach anywhere...more on that later) to connect one hill to another for trade and crossing of the rivers. Also, and later on steel rope bridges were built in parts where the living root bridges failed to serve their purpose and started to become too dangerous to use.
So now, that I've shared many words with you, I'm pretty sure you've either skipped passed all this or you're ready to skip past this and get to the photos.
One last thing, the photos at this point are in no particular order since I was shooting film the whole time and in my editing process failed to put them in chronological order, and since I'm without time, and paying through my nose (approx Rs. 180/hour for internet), here in Kenya (oops, did I forget to mention I'm no longer in India?!). Yes, Im in Kenya, and I should be posting on Kenya, but alas, such that is life, I need to (at least virtually) finish one chapter before I begin another...
So here we go...!

Mauro Furbetto Mambretti

Prithviraj - the Elephant

Can you see the little turtles on the branch in the water all lined up? No? Well neither could I at first, then it was ALL I could see, like 50,000 of them in 1SqKm!