satyajit_gupte
Member
Hello everyone!
This is my first post to the forum !
I recently returned from a week-long solo birding trip (23 Jan- 1 Feb 2024) to Eaglenest Sanctuary in Arunachal pradesh (India) and wanted to share a few tidbits. I have a longer blog post about my whole experience here too (it's pretty long and not only focussed on birds)
I’ve been birding since I was in high school and I had a very tiny amount of experience with birds of that region through previous (mostly hiking) trips to Bhutan and Sikkim. So most of the species I saw in Eaglenest were new to me. I had a blast the birding is truly spectacular.
When I began looking at Eaglenest, it looked like most folks go on organized bird tours and the prices seemed exorbitant. Also, I’ve always birded solo (or with family) and personally love the thrill of seeing something new and then leafing through the guidebook to see what it might have been.
I think Eaglenest is easily doable solo, and on public transport/hitching (from Lama to Bompu) if you are a bit flexible about your dates. It was a bit cold given the time of the year, and teh birds a little quiet, but on the plus side there were no leeches, ticks, or rain. I was the only birder at Lama for five days and got all the attention.
Practicalities
I spent 5 night at Lama camp and 2 at Bompu. The folks who run the camp (Tenzu at Lama, Angu at Bompu) can easily arrange permits (ILP or RAP). I spent about 3200 INR per day while at the camps. I can share phone numbers of folks who run the camp is needed.
The route I took is
Guwahati-Tezpur-Tenga (public transport)
Tenga-Lama (private taxi)
Lama-Bompu (hitch a pre-arranged ride with the folks who run Bompu)
Bompu-Tenga (again hitch a ride back with the folks who run Bompu)
If you are coming from Guwahati (in Assam), there are frequent public buses/minivans that run from Paltan Bazaar to Tezpur (~ 4 hours). I had to overnight in Tezpur near the STC bus stand.
From Tezpur, there is a shared jeep that departs to Tenga at 6 am and I think another one around noon.
Lama camp
Accommodation: I stayed in a permanent structure with an attached bathroom and plenty of blankets. The days of staying in a tent are gone. You get hot water bags to keep warm at night and there is easy access to hot water from the kitchen below. The food was amazing! You are pampered with great vegetarian fare and eggs for dinner. I skipped breakfasts on all days, but the cook would fry an egg for me for lunch too.
My daily routine was to head out in the morning for a 5-8 km (round trip) easy walk either down from Lama (towards Glowbari) or above. The weather was cold, but most days were bright. The birding was excellent. I would do another short walk (3kms) after lunch. It would get misty/gloomy by around 3 pm.
Bompu camp
Accommodation: tents with shared bathrooms. The food was okayish-good (IMO after comparison with Lama). At Bompu, there was a large group of birders, so I was not the only one.
I again did walks above Bompu or below. It was generally more misty and wet in Bompu compared to Lama. The birding was great (some of the excitement was dimmed, as I had seen many of the species at Lama already).
A lucky break for me was to get to spend time with Umesh Srinivasan, a researcher who has been studying birds here for a decade.
Getting from Lama to Bompu and back
I think this is the part that I was the most apprehensive about. Its ~ 35kms and my initial though was to walk this stretch in one day, which is possible (locals have done it), but probably out of my reach. With frequent stops for birding this trek cannot be completed in a day IMO. There is a defunct concrete shelter at Sunderview and if one has a tent/sleeping bag/food this is an option.
I had spoken to Angu (who runs Bompu) and he told me that at least once a week his pick up truck makes a ride to Tenga with supplies. So my plan was to hitch a ride on this. The dates are obviously not fixed. In any case, birding at Lama was great and I was happy to spend time waiting for my ride.
Cheers, and happy birding!
This is my bird list (apologies for not sorting this by family)
The columns are Lama-A (above Lama), Lama-B (below Lama) and so on.
C indicates commonly seen.
Notable mammals encounters were: a tree shrew, barking deer calls, scat of asiatic golden cat (probable) and plenty of elephant dung !
This is my first post to the forum !
I recently returned from a week-long solo birding trip (23 Jan- 1 Feb 2024) to Eaglenest Sanctuary in Arunachal pradesh (India) and wanted to share a few tidbits. I have a longer blog post about my whole experience here too (it's pretty long and not only focussed on birds)
I’ve been birding since I was in high school and I had a very tiny amount of experience with birds of that region through previous (mostly hiking) trips to Bhutan and Sikkim. So most of the species I saw in Eaglenest were new to me. I had a blast the birding is truly spectacular.
When I began looking at Eaglenest, it looked like most folks go on organized bird tours and the prices seemed exorbitant. Also, I’ve always birded solo (or with family) and personally love the thrill of seeing something new and then leafing through the guidebook to see what it might have been.
I think Eaglenest is easily doable solo, and on public transport/hitching (from Lama to Bompu) if you are a bit flexible about your dates. It was a bit cold given the time of the year, and teh birds a little quiet, but on the plus side there were no leeches, ticks, or rain. I was the only birder at Lama for five days and got all the attention.
Practicalities
I spent 5 night at Lama camp and 2 at Bompu. The folks who run the camp (Tenzu at Lama, Angu at Bompu) can easily arrange permits (ILP or RAP). I spent about 3200 INR per day while at the camps. I can share phone numbers of folks who run the camp is needed.
The route I took is
Guwahati-Tezpur-Tenga (public transport)
Tenga-Lama (private taxi)
Lama-Bompu (hitch a pre-arranged ride with the folks who run Bompu)
Bompu-Tenga (again hitch a ride back with the folks who run Bompu)
If you are coming from Guwahati (in Assam), there are frequent public buses/minivans that run from Paltan Bazaar to Tezpur (~ 4 hours). I had to overnight in Tezpur near the STC bus stand.
From Tezpur, there is a shared jeep that departs to Tenga at 6 am and I think another one around noon.
Lama camp
Accommodation: I stayed in a permanent structure with an attached bathroom and plenty of blankets. The days of staying in a tent are gone. You get hot water bags to keep warm at night and there is easy access to hot water from the kitchen below. The food was amazing! You are pampered with great vegetarian fare and eggs for dinner. I skipped breakfasts on all days, but the cook would fry an egg for me for lunch too.
My daily routine was to head out in the morning for a 5-8 km (round trip) easy walk either down from Lama (towards Glowbari) or above. The weather was cold, but most days were bright. The birding was excellent. I would do another short walk (3kms) after lunch. It would get misty/gloomy by around 3 pm.
Bompu camp
Accommodation: tents with shared bathrooms. The food was okayish-good (IMO after comparison with Lama). At Bompu, there was a large group of birders, so I was not the only one.
I again did walks above Bompu or below. It was generally more misty and wet in Bompu compared to Lama. The birding was great (some of the excitement was dimmed, as I had seen many of the species at Lama already).
A lucky break for me was to get to spend time with Umesh Srinivasan, a researcher who has been studying birds here for a decade.
Getting from Lama to Bompu and back
I think this is the part that I was the most apprehensive about. Its ~ 35kms and my initial though was to walk this stretch in one day, which is possible (locals have done it), but probably out of my reach. With frequent stops for birding this trek cannot be completed in a day IMO. There is a defunct concrete shelter at Sunderview and if one has a tent/sleeping bag/food this is an option.
I had spoken to Angu (who runs Bompu) and he told me that at least once a week his pick up truck makes a ride to Tenga with supplies. So my plan was to hitch a ride on this. The dates are obviously not fixed. In any case, birding at Lama was great and I was happy to spend time waiting for my ride.
Cheers, and happy birding!
This is my bird list (apologies for not sorting this by family)
The columns are Lama-A (above Lama), Lama-B (below Lama) and so on.
C indicates commonly seen.
Notable mammals encounters were: a tree shrew, barking deer calls, scat of asiatic golden cat (probable) and plenty of elephant dung !
| Lama-A | Lama-B | Bompu-A | Bompu-B | |
| Whiskred Yuhina | C | C | C | |
| Stripe-throated yuhina | C | C | ||
| White-naped Yuhina | C | C | ||
| Brown parrorbill | 2 flocks | |||
| Yellow-cheeked Tit | C | C | C | |
| Yellow-browed Tit | C | C | C | |
| Rufous-capped babbler | C | C | C | |
| Bar-throated Siva | C | C | C | |
| Green shrike-babbler | 2 | |||
| Golden-breasted fulvetta | C | C | C | |
| Beautiful Sibia | C | C | C | C |
| Rusty-flanked Treecreeper | 1 | |||
| Green-tailed sunbird | C | C | C | C |
| Black-faced warbler | C | C | C | C |
| Rufous-breasted accentor | C | C | ||
| Scaly laughingthrush | flocks | |||
| Dark-breasted rosefinch | C | C | ||
| Speckeld wood Pigeon | 2 flocks | |||
| White-tailed nuthatch | 1 | C | ||
| Crimson-breasted Woodpecker | 1 | 2 | ||
| Streak-throated Barwing | C | C | C | C |
| Blue-fronted redstart | C | |||
| Black-chinned Yuhina | 3 | |||
| Mountain bulbul | 1 flock | |||
| Bhutan Lauging thrush | C | C | ||
| Himalayan bluetail | 2 | |||
| Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush | C | C | C | |
| Straited Bulbul | C | C | C | |
| Fire-breasted flowerpecker | 2 | |||
| Yellow-bellied fairy fantail | 1 | |||
| Gold-naped Finch | 3 | |||
| Greater-rufous headed Parrotbill | 1 | |||
| Slender-billed scimitar babbler | 1 | |||
| Ashy throated Warbler | C | C | C | C |
| Rufous-breasted bushrobin | 1 | |||
| Pygmy blue flycatcher | 1 | |||
| Red Tailed minla | flocks | |||
| Black-eared shrikebabbler | flocks | |||
| Orange-bellied leafbird | C | C | C | |
| Yelow-rumped honeyguide | 1 | |||
| Streak-breasted scimitar-babbler | C | C | C | |
| Blyth's tragopan | 1 | |||
| Grey-cheeked warbler | C | 2 | ||
| Aberrant bush warbler | 1 | |||
| Kalij pheasant | 3 | 2 | ||
| Grey-chinned minivet | flocks | |||
| Golden babbler | 4 | |||
| Yellow-throated fullvetta | C | |||
| Brown-throated treecreeper | 1 | |||
| White-throated fantail | 1 | |||
| Golden bushrobin | 1 | |||
| Rusty-fronted barwing | C | |||
| Great barbet | C | C | C | |
| Collared Owlet | heard | |||
| Hill Partridge | heard | heard | heard | |
| Chestnut-breasted partridge | heard | |||
| Green-backed tit | C | C | C | |
| Straited laugingthrush | C | C | C | C |
| Spotted nutcraker | 1 | |||
| Large hawkcuckoo | 1 | |||
| Black-throated tit | C | C | C | |
| Plumbeous water redtstart | 1 | |||
| White-capped redstart | ||||
| Olive-backed pipit | C | |||
| Black-bulbul | flocks |
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