Manoj Gogoi is the eyes and ears ofKaziranga. He’ll make you meet a One- Horned Rhino and follow a Paradise Flycatcher’s shrieks to take you to the bird

AT FIRST, I dismissed him as just another guide.

There was nothing remarkable about Manoj Gogoi, a leanlooking 30- something who seemed eager to show me Kaziranga.

So, one calm and breezy morning, Gogoi landed up at my resort and promised to show me the unseen part of this world heritage site known for the onehorned rhino.

“ You will see much more than what the park offers,” he tells me with an air of confidence. Funnily, what got my attention was his bulky bag. I kept peering into his bag not quite sure why a guide would carry a bulky bag. He finally got the hint and pulled out its contents. Out came a thick photo album and few books.

As I flipped through the album, there were pictures of Gogoi posing with different snakes. “ I rescue snakes and I’m the only one doing it,” he says with unmistakable pride. So, it turned out that Gogoi is also a snake rescuer. In the last 10 years, Gogoi claimed to have rescued more than 500 snakes from villagers’ homes in Kaziranga which is about a seven- hour bumpy drive from Guwahati airport.

Gogoi would catch these reptiles and take them home only to free them after feeding or nursing the wounded.

Some injured are nursed for five days. He has a make- shift shelter in his tiny house.

Locals naturally thought he was eccentric. And Gogoi has his own grouse with them whom he felt are not sympathetic to the reptiles. Now, he has shifted his shelter home away from the prying eyes to a secluded venue. Besides knowing every nook and corner of Kaziranga, he’s also familiar with all the medical plants growing in abundance.

His familiarity came in handy when he led me through a specific gate to spot an animal during an off season visit to the park. There are five entry points: Eastern, Western, Central, Bagori and Burapahar Range. It was from the Eastern Range, closest to many resorts along the main street, that he took me and I spotted a deer crossing the road. At another entry point, Bagori range, as Gogoi promised, I saw the one- horned rhino grazing away. Gogoi knew where exactly to take tourists and rarely disappointed them. His knowledge on birds also makes him popular.

It was after a tourist from Mumbai gifted him a set of binoculars and books that he pursued birding. He would rise in the morning and set off to study birds. No wonder, he can rattle off names of rare birds endlessly. According to Gogoi there are about 500 species of birds including migratory and residency.

He can help you spot birds like Bengal Florican ( Bengal Bustard), Paradise Flycatcher ( Common Paradise Flycatcher) or Lesser Adjutant, a large wading bird. He knows the characteristic of these birds and tells you precisely when and where to spot them.

For those wanting to get a close glimpse of village life, Gogoi is a perfect guide again. He will take you into the villagers’ homes and you can have dinner by the light of a Petromax lamp.

Source: http://epaper.mailtoday.in