To The Kingdom Of The Homrai - The Great Hornbill

Bansbari Range, Manas National Park

“Damn ! I need a new plan.” I was lying in a hospital bed in recovery from my hip replacement when that thought hit me. They’d slashed, hammered and cut in there a lot longer this third time. I could tell from the vibrations that the rest of my body felt during the procedure that it’d be a long road to the new normalcy that would follow. The cut on the surface was more than double the length of the last two times as well. I’d been waiting for this procedure for so long and fantasizing about the exotic locations I’d walk in unaided that I hadn’t given any thought to the transition period which google was saying could last upto a year. Yeah, I needed a new plan for this period in between alright.

I was sorted as far as work was concerned cause I already had a system there which factors my cane aided mobility into it but what the hell was I to do for wildlife during the summer? The same places? Tigers again? I’m not a huge fan of those choices unless the heart calls for it. So then what? Well, a long hard look at my gallery here the next morning and the obvious started to show itself. Primates. I’d paid very little attention to primates so far and they were sure to be a new fun adventure. Maybe I could get to them without trekking. They‘re totally different, move different, act different, were bound to be a new learning experience for sure and they weren’t far. In fact, if I got back to the cane fast enough and got myself a hydraulic jack for the car for emergencies, I could be with rare primates in 3 hours and by myself. There, that was the plan then. I just had to now fit it into the start of summer.

So, two months of physio and slow recovery later there I was last week, speeding down the highway, on my way to Manas National Park and in search of the vulnerable Capped Langur and The Assam Macaque. I reached a little late and hit Bansbari range as soon as I got there. First realization, this place was dense forest. Nothing like anything I’d seen before. So gorgeous and the densest woodland I’ve seen so far. The trees were tall and ancient and the woodland areas would not be easy to photograph in for sure. The foliage and trees would play many tricks with the light and perspective of photos and any cloud cover or harsh light would make things very hard for me given that most of what I was here to catch would be in the trees. Well, we didn’t find any Primates that day, all day. What I did find out though was that this was a place where The Great Hornbill was abundant and at ease. Interestingly, they preferred the woodland to the grassland in Manas, something I’d never imagine given their wingspan and my assumption that they prefer to fly around where they had space, something that I’d seen in 2023 and wrote about in “Homrai”. Well, that was that particular guy’s foraging strategy for sure cause here they were in groups of upto 4 individuals and all in the thickest, densest forest. They were completely relaxed and would get from one point to the next with a single leap and maybe one or two flaps of those mighty wings. I think I saw about 12 individual Hornbills in both Bansbari and Bhuyanpara ranges of Manas National Park in my 7 trips into the park. Yep, this was The Kingdom Of the Homrai where they were probably always watching you from a perch as you moved through the forest. Just this time, the King hadn’t incidentally run into me. I had incidentally gone into His Kingdom.

My first take on this landscape was absolutely on the money when it came to taking pictures. The foliage was always in the way and it took me a most of the first day to get the guy driving to stop turning his gypsy off every time he hit the brake for me to get pictures. I needed him to go back and forth a lot in these conditions when my subject was also constantly moving. White sky behind thick foliage is always an issue as well and no matter how far back or forth you go, you can’t do much to turn your guy’s head now can you? Well, thankfully I had quite a few go’s at Hornbills here and slowly a system of sorts did develop with my driver given that everything I wanted to see was in the trees and we were in sort of repeat mode.

Most of the sightings of Hornbills on this trip were ones that I couldn’t do much with the camera. There was always something in front of the subject. But that gave me the time to just watch them which I’m very happy about. The sightings which were clear on the other hand gave me ample opportunity to get my pictures, like the one of my guy who’s on most of the pictures here. They’re just so graceful in their movements and move their huge heads so slow and gently going about what they’re doing. I honestly never would have thought I’d see a Hornbill cleverly stalking like my guy here is in Pic : 7.

I also learnt a lot about their way of life which I’ll get to soon as I get through all their pictures from the trip. The story of the Homrai, will be continued . . .