This morning started with an elephant safari into Manas National park. The saddle on my elephant was just straw blankets and ropes so was much ore comfortable. I was alone on my elephant and the mahood was the leader of the safari so I was in front of the others the whole ride.The terrain was much more varied than at Kaziranga as there were large areas of jungle and rivers but very little wildlife to be seen. Plenty of birds but no big mammals. It was still a very cool ride through the jungle despite the lack of Rhinos etc. I had to take a picture of a small land crab maybe 4 inches across trying to square off against the elephant I was on. The elephant went out of its way to miss the little guy as well.
After breakfast I joined a couple from Germany for a nature walk. Again very little in the way of large game but tons of birds. The couple from Germany were not birders, although they were avid naturalists. We ended up participating in several activities together over the next two days, so we got to know each other fairly well. They are both Dentists working in what was once East Germany.
After lunch and a brief siesta, we went out for an afternoon jeep safari which did not end until after dark so we could have a higher possibility to spot a leopard. This time we were much more lucky and spotted wild elephants, Asiatic Water Buffalo and a Rhino.
