Bird count in Pakhui - Arunachal

After the quick safari at Pobitora, the plan was to meet with the rest of the group and head out in the mini bus to Seijosa in Arunachal to break for the night. However plans have a way of going off-track. Around 6.30 in the evening it was already dark and at about 6-7 km before the Assam border, we were stopped by the commandos who warned us that the road ahead until Arunachal was not safe to travel at night. The unscheduled break at a guest house in a village nearby set us back a couple of hours in the morning but we managed to get to Seijosa safe. There was a light birding session in the morning near the base camp and after lunch we set off for the anti-poaching camps deeper in the forest.

The route was quite interesting with monitor lizards, langurs (maybe golden, couldn’t get shots to confirm) and great as well as pied hornbills. As a few of us decided to walk the last couple of kilometers, Deepak, who stayed with the jeep spotted a python on the road. The camp itself was quite comfortable especially after the stay at the village guest house. Electrified fence, couple of bedrooms with attached bathrooms, hall, kitchen and comfy beds, it was actually luxurious. Lack of running water due to elephants having messed up the pipelines even gave us an excuse to bathe in the river. 

 

The treks over the next few days through the forest kept us very busy. Two motorable roads, one towards dhikurai camp and the other towards Seijosa gave us some easier walks. The one along a stream and then return through the transit gave us a lot more leeches. Leech socks are not helpful at all when leeches are on the back and head, was the lesson learnt. Packed lunches and breakfasts (eaten on leaves) allowed us longer treks while Resham, our guard and guide got us to try some fruits from the forest. We trekked on an average about 10-14 km on each day and did make it to another camp (camps are 7-8 km from each other) and back on one occasion.

 

 

The birds and animals are extremely shy to human presence owing to the hunting in the past; however the numerous butterflies, spiders and the jungle itself add to the experience. Risham could recognize most events by sound alone and elephants he knew by smell. He pointed out tracks of porcupines, deer, dholes, tiger, clouded leopard, bears and so on whenever he found them. We heard a pack of dholes tearing into a wild boar and found the torn up carcass on the next day with paw prints of the dogs near it. We also came across a couple of wild boars, many squirrels and langurs and a snake but the real scare was when we saw a wild elephant on the roadside. While we waited, Resham shouted and whistled as he readied his gun and walked briskly towards it. Fortunately that was enough to scare it away. Among birds there were a total of close to 80 species that we had spotted in all, some of which were the wreathed, pied and great hornbills, pied falconet, Eurasian hobby, pintailed pigeons and redstarts.