Margastha Maarga - The Travellers way

Kaziranga, a world heritage site which homes and protects 60% of the world’s precious one horned rhinoceros, like the rest of north-east, is a beautiful place. The national highway NH-27 connecting Guwahati to Jo rh at makes its way right through this dense jungle. With signboards of the animal corridors scattered all around, we can expect these inmates to traverse our paths as we go along. Rhinos roaming and grazing along the road are a common sight. Aranya lodge run by the Assam govt. is a good place to stay. Having heard  highly of this place from fellow travellers, I wanted to stay there. To my surprise, all the rooms were pre-booked two months in advance!!!!!!. But as there were umpteen other choices, it was not much of an issue. However, it would be wise to book the lodges online well in advance (like I did!) to get a good spot near the main entrance at Kohora. You can also request the hotel manager to arrange for the safaris, either individually or on a share basis.

Situated around 30 km from Shillong, lies an exotic secret of the untouched North eastern India - The Laitlum canyons. Unblemished yet, by tourism and commercialization, the pristine Laitlum lends a majestic view down to the valley of the East Khasi hills, overlooking the Raslong hamlet. Surely, a must visit for any travel enthusiast. Just 11 km from Shillong on the way to Laitlum is the Smit village. This village seems innocently disconnected from the modern world with its traditional houses, the buses from the 60s’ movies, with people sitting over them and simple riding-trolleys to carry water and amenities. Laitlum is a short drive by taxi, from Smit village. Another alternative would be to hire a taxi from Shillong to reach Laitlum in approximately an hour. An expensive option (₹1000 up and down), but works well when on a tight time schedule. The roads are good until Smith village, after which it starts to break down. Sparsely popu