After a full day trek to the Double Decker Living Root Bridge it was time to relax and spend the evening at the hotel. Next day we visited the beautiful town of Cherrapunji. It has got some breath taking scenery. We saw a tall waterfall called the NohKalikai waterfall. It's a very tall waterfall with beautiful stream of water falling throughout the year. It also has an interesting back story to it on why it was named NohKalikai, I am not going to tell the story because locals do an amazing job at narrating it and I don't want to spoil the fun.
After breathing in the beauty of NohKalikai waterfall, we moved on to visit the Mawsmai Cave. The caves are beautiful well maintained. At some points you will have to cross natural water, while at others you have to pass through very narrow zone, overall a great experience.
Next we visited one of the lesser know places called the Garden of Caves near Cherrapunji, it's a beautiful place with lots of things to see in it. We also drank the medicinal mountain water and collected a bit of it in a lush green bamboo stick to carry it along with us.
It was now time to say good bye to Cherrapunji and move on to the last destination in our trip. The formidable Kaziranga National Park. By late evening we reached our hotel at the Kaziranga National Park. We were all very excited for the next day, especially because in the morning we will be visiting the Park for an Elephant back safari!
Next day, we all woke up very early and reached the Kaziranga National Park gate well in time. Before this I had been to many Jeep and Bus Safaris, but an Elephant Back Safari was a first time event for me. It is one of a kind experience! You basically get to sit on the elephant and mahout takes us in the jungle to see Rhino's, Tiger's, Deer's, Bird's and other wild creatures.
A funny incident happened during our ride, our elephant decided to race with other elephant nearby and for a good minute or so we were forced participants to our very first elephant race! It was both funny and adventurous at the same time :D
After this safari, we did 2 more Jeep safari one in the evening and another in the morning the next day.
In addition to the wild animals, Kaziranga National Park is filled with rich flora and fauna.
In the evenings, after the safari we saw the traditional north east cultural program. Lots of talented artists can be seen performing, while wearing traditional north east attire. I would strongly recommend everyone to see it at least once.
Truly, the trip to Meghalay was majestic and mesmerizing. We came back with our hearts filled with joy and lots of love for the beautiful state and its lovely people!
