Rhino viewing and Bhutan in the afternoon.

In the words of our 2 sons we got up at Silly O’clock this morning. The alarm went of at 0445hr so as to meet at reception for a 0515 departure to a local wildlife reserve to look for Elephants and Rhinoceros. We all got in to little open 4x4s and headed of to the park. ½ hour later we stopped at the gate to pick up our guides and into the jungle we travelled. About 5 minutes into the Jungle we site our first group of elephants so the excitement level in the group way high with great expectations for the morning. We spent nearly 2 hour on the lookout but the Rhino is still mythical for us all. We did see wild Peacocks and Peahens plus quite a bit of other birdlife along with many other Indian tourists on the same quest as us.

We returned to the resort for breakfast before doing our Blogs and departing for the day at 1130hr. The first stop for the day was only 12ks away for lunch at a plantation down some very narrow country roads. As we where leaving for the afternoon drive we passed a shed with a small engine running with some machinery and a fire. I decided to stop and investigate what was happening.

We found a small rice processing operation inside with the motor running a dryer, a screen and a mill. The process was the rice was put in dryer for about 5 minutes then into the mill for a similar time till the husks were broken off and the rice slightly rolled before being feed through the rotary sieve to separate the grains from the husk. The really interesting thing was that one man feed the husk in to the fire drying the grain slowly.

It was then into the traffic mayhem for a couple hours to the afternoon visit at a tea plantation and processing facility. Sadly we were delayed and when we arrived the processing had stopped for the day and everything was being cleaned so we didn’t see the complete process.

The border was only 12ks so in no time we arrive at custom to get the carnet filled out then on to immigration for our Indian exit stamp. I must say it was probably the fastest road exit border I have ever done.

Then through the Arch into Bhutan where we were meet by our guides and taken straight to our hotel to park before walking back the 200 metres to get our passports stamped. So the whole process is as slick and fast as could be asked for.