One night in Jaldapara

Tista, green fields, tea gardens, forest, deep forest; our car was cruising on a thin road. Nobody was seen. The strong smell of forest, the wild tune of wind blowing through high Duars trees, chirping of birds at a distance, the melody of silence; we were taking in every bit of it.
We reached Jaldapara forest bunglow at lunch. Booking a room was a bit difficult but the service was nice. Wooden bunglow, with a great view of the forest; Bengali cuisine was served. We loitered around the bunglow after lunch. A stream of sweet water flows near the bunglow where you spot animals at night. We were excited.
In the afternoon all of us went on a Jeep safari into the forest in the hope of spotting some rhinoceros or a leopard. And lucky we were to spot a fight between two rhinos. Evening falls, we roamed in the area which was within the electric fence of the bunglow. Sudden sparkling of eyes of wild animals behind the darkness, roar of a tiger from a distant forest; we were enjoying the cold stream of fear going down our spines. After dinner everybody went to the watchtower with a spot light and waited to spot a radium eye in the dark and to focus the light on the animal to see it. We were out, near the sweet water stream; because the animals come to drink sweet water and salt at night. Hours passed, suddenly we spotted a pair of eyes in the far. Within half an hour we spotted a few more.They kept a group of eight guys motionless and silent for around three hours beside the stream before they came near and become visible to us. And the spot light was on from the watchtower and we have seen the beast from a distance of 6 feet. It was a little surprised at the beginning but then ignored the spot light and started drinking water from the stream and moved to the heap of salt near it, put by the forest department staffs in the daytime. We were afraid, but we could not move.

Early morning we went for an elephant ride inside the deep forest, this two hours ride gave us a picture of deep forest, we have seen sunrise in the far end of a meadow, a lot more rhinos from a distance of 20-30 feet, the mahout smelled the smell of urine of the rhinos and followed then to show them to us. It was a wonderful experience. After that we left the place, tired from lack of sleep but overwhelmed by the forest and its habitats.