<H1>Wilderness</H1>

Gorumara National Park

Yesterday on our drive from Siliguri, the entire way to our destination was through picturesque landscapes of tea gardens and hills. Like floating on the wings we reached our final destination Lataguri. The tiny locality of Dooars is adjacent to the Gorumara National Park and the permits of entry into the forests had to be obtained from Lataguri. It was refreshing for eyes surrounded by rustic green and we were in the kingdom of wilderness where the wild animals very often raid the human habitations. I was impatient for my jungle safari of next morning.

Journey through the greens of Gorumara

It was a soothing morning in the Gorumara National Park; the tropical rain forest appeared a bit reluctant to efface its curtain of mist. Keeping the wild greens on both sides our pursuit began on a hoodless jeep accompanying with safari guide. Slowly with a fascinating Sun up, entire jungle was again enlivened with the chirpy note of different birds. It was screaming peacocks welcomed us as we made an entry into the territory of the sanctuary. Agile eyes of the guide were fast shifting on different directions to spot the wild animals and he spotted very often huge peacocks sitting on trees near and afar. The safari jeep stopped at a point from where the forest guide pointed his hand towards a marshland in the forest in our left and began avidly observing the movement of herons. We patiently waited staring towards the direction with our eyes forgot to blink. After a while a herd of Indian bisons or Gaur displaying their heavily toned muscles, appeared with calves, and forwarded calmly on grazing in the meadow. Rest of the safari sometime it was a glimpse of jungle fowl before our jeep; sometime the barking deer stared at us behind the camouflage of greens, sometime the silhouette of flight of birds and huge footmarks of a lone elephant amused us on our journey through the woods.

Peacock at the Gorumara National Park

I knew the time will come to end and we will mingle again with the urban crowd in the sanctuary of concretes but, the memories of visit will definitely remain evergreen and I will ever recognize the freshness of the morning that rejuvenated me thoroughly.