This March, Untamed director Jozef Verbruggen will travel to India with the adventurous mission of spotting the fish cat in West Bengal and the red panda in the Himalayas. It is part of a very varied travel program that includes an extensive exploration of Varanasi, a trip on the Brahmaputra River and a visit to Kolkata.
Varanasi
After a smooth flight at Delhi, I travel on to Varanasi, a must for anyone going to India. One lands in a totally different world, a world of religion that shows how important it is in India’s society today, at least among Hindus…. It is particularly known for its cremation rituals, the aarti ceremony held every evening on the banks of the Ganges. In terms of crowds, it’s like Venice, hundreds of boats of all kinds. Varanasi ticks off all boxes ivm clichés of India. Chaos everywhere, beautiful buildings sighing for maintenance, small alleys where you are almost knocked over by mopeds. A maze.
Brahmaputra river
A domestic flight takes me to Guwahati, from where I embark on ABN Sukapha for a boat trip down the winding Brahmaputra River. This is uncharted territory for Westerners. Villages are visited that are not at all commercially invaded by gangs of tourists. Everything authentic. Even the workplace from which caterpillar cocoons one of the most sought after and most expensive fabrics in the world is created; silk. Wars have been fought for it. Here “my kingdom for silk” sounds.
Kaziranga National Park
Next stop is Kaziranga National Park, we have now reached Assam, known for its one-horned rhinoceros, many “hornbills” and India’s only monkey, the “Hoolock Gibon.
Kolkata
I fly on to Kolkata – the old capital of the British Empire in The Indies with insanely beautiful buildings – from where a road transfer takes me to the Homestay Baghrol Basa 55 kilometers away in the wetlands of West Bengal. 55 km through the chaos of this vast land, continent, takes two and a half hours. Another world passes before you. Our driver makes his way through tuktuks, trucks beautifully painted, mad buses and crowds of people shopping for the evening. 12 million people live in Kolkata; another 7 million in the region where we are going, the suburbs. Comparable figures to our Western world are ludicrous.
Baghrol Basa in West Bengal
That India harbors unknown natural treasures is a fact for many of us. Pallas cat, snow leopard, lynx…. My mission is to spot the wild fishing cat. It has evolved as a species with some unique characteristics that allow it to survive in wetlands. Fishing cats are just larger than a large domestic cat, but with jaws so powerful that they drag fish as big as themselves out of the water. They spend hours on the bank of a fishpond peering at any movement in the water, looking for edible prey. When it rains, the fish are lucky; then they cannot hunt because of the many ripples on the surface of the water.
In the region around Baghrol Basa which is as big as half the Netherlands, among the fishing ponds, in tuktuk and armed with camera I set out just before midnight. Eventually with success … Wow!
Singalila National Park
I fly on to Bagdogra and, after an overland transfer, end up in Singalila National Park in the Himalayas, on the border of Nepal and India, in Harbre’s nest. It is the base for spotting one of the most cuddly mammals, the red panda. It is the only real panda; the famous black and white one from China is a bear.
The next four days we see some specimens in the bamboo cloud forest which is also rich in yellow throated marten, cloud panther, leopard cat and several endemic birds including Satyr Tragopans. It is a paradise for adventure travelers, in a beautiful landscape.
Surprisingly phenomenal
India is a surprising continent. Insanely beautiful landscapes and animals completely unknown to us. I can recommend everyone to visit these regions of our planet. Truly phenomenal for “Forest Dwellers. One travels from one highlight to another. I enjoyed it! ‘Where the world can’t find you…’
