(penned this down finally after 2 years from 2015 and blogged it after another 2 years 🙂  read on..)

How do you begin a story that you never want to have an end to? Yet, something that must not end must begin in the first place. And thereby, follows a prologue to this magnificent story.

However, before launching into an ocean of words, it is my duty to issue an obligatory disclaimer – this narration may run into thousands of words, hundreds of lines & paragraphs, tens of sheets and tons of excitement as it encompasses infinite memories spanned over a relatively infinitesimal time! So brace yourself, plan your time and energies. Lastly and also strictly, don’t complaint that you were not pre-warned. For it was a trip to remember and it does not simply end at that!

The Background: A trip to the Namdapha National Park was a wish since long (around 2011). Back then, for me, it was a place in the eastern most state of India and a beautiful forest, like many others in our country. I had been to Assam before but never to a forest in the North-east. Based out of Mumbai, they seemed really remote. Around the start of June 2014, while chatting with a friend, we casually discussed planning for Namdapha in the coming November. The ensuing days saw us getting real serious about this planning business. It seemed we could actually materialise the plan. After considering leaves and other factors, we zeroed down the month of January, year 2015. Enquiries about tour operators in and around that region followed. We learnt that Namdapha didn’t have the regular safaris like most of the National Parks in India; it involved treks; it was frequented mainly by bird watchers; as also butterfly lovers; and a large part of it still remained unexplored! It was acclaimed to be a virgin forest. With that knowledge and a particular blog which influenced me the most, I committed myself to a dream. A dream to touch the eastern most tip of India – Namdapha!

About Namdapha (courtesy Google): The Namdapha National Park lies in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Covering an area of 1985 sqkm, it is the third largest protected forest in India and the largest in the Eastern Himalayas. The park is snuggled between the Patkai range and Daphabum range of Mishmi Hills covering an altitudinal variation from 200 m to 4751 m. With such a wide altitudinal range and strategic biogeographic location in the Eastern Himalayas, Namdapha is one of the most avifaunally diverse regions of the world. A little more than 490 bird species have been recorded (last records 2009) and it’s still counting. No wonder it is the only park in the world which is a common home to the four big cats – the Royal Bengal Tiger, the Leopard, the Clouded Leopard and the Snow Leopard. Most of the flora and fauna of the park remain endemic to the region. It was declared a Tiger Reserve in 1983.

The Background (contd.): Back to the dream! After talking to a naturalist friend we decided to avail the services of a local tour operator Mr. Phupla Singhpo. Asking friends for the trip actually evolved into warning them. It was to be made clear that this was not going to be a simple trip. Birding was to be accomplished by camping inside the forest for six days. The statement in itself seemed very easy to digest but the cautions that ensued caused the indigestions.

Six days of no electricity, no internet, no network, no concrete bathrooms, no modern amenities, simple food, extensive treks, low temperatures, unprecedented heavy rains, plenty of tick troubles and leech bites were all guaranteed. There was one more fear. North East had always been plagued by terror outfits. Arunachal Pradesh being bordered by China to the North and Myanmar to the East, to some, safety was an equal concern. Finally, by June end we had five brave hearts ready for the trip.

The Groundwork: What did we need to survive six days in the forest? A man wouldn’t need much but man-made machineries and technologies wouldn’t survive without necessary assistance. Without any means to charge, our battery operated devices would not withstand continuous usage for more than a day. Keeping this in mind the list of gears and gadgets were numerous. It all summed up to – extra camera batteries to sustain easily more than thousand shoots, extra memory cards to store the shoots without the need to transfer them elsewhere, powerful torches and batteries, power banks for mobile, extended eyes – binoculars, a compact but resourceful rucksack, protective rain cover for bags, comfortable sleeping bags, faithful hiking shoes, windcheaters, jackets, leech socks, normal socks, winter clothing, water bottles, purposeful swiss knife, all types of medicines for whatever medical disorder we could think of, salt to ward off leeches, anti-bacterial turmeric, insect-repellent neem oil, mosquito-repellent odomos, soap, moisturizer, sanitizer, nylon ropes to dry clothes and so on. Everything that we could think of went into the rucksack.

Physical fitness was required to be able to cope up with the six day long treks carrying our bags and wearing the heavy hiking shoes. January 2015 was still far away from June 2014. I was confident of doing regular exercise and building my stamina for the trip till then. To-do lists and excel sheets to record work out details were formulated.

We took the first concrete step and formalised our trip by booking air tickets towards June end. Another friend joined the gang in August.

With countless phone calls made to varied people on what to carry, what not to carry, how to carry, what to look out for, what not to look out for, we prepared ourselves mentally. As birding was a common purpose for all, we sought bird lists of the area and also made a list of some particular birds that we wished to see. By November, we realised that physical fitness had gone for a toss as work out remained more an excel activity than an on-field one. We adopted the Nike motto ‘Just do it’.

Thus, by December end, six passionate and determined souls had decided to brace everything and undertake this journey from the western island of Mumbai to the north eastern end of India. Birding, adventure, trekking, forests, relaxation, their reasons may have been different but a certain passion bound them together for an incredible and adventurous journey into one of India’s last pristine forests.

The day arrived. January 24, 2015. My ever accurate alarm went off at 2:45 AM.

And, so it began!

(to be continued…)