Manas National Park

Manas takes its name from the river that comes crashing out of the Bhutan Himalaya, runs south through the reserve and leaves it as the Beki on the way to the Brahmaputra; the park is the Indian half of one continuous forest that carries on over the border as Royal Manas National Park. Declared a tiger reserve in 1973 and a World Heritage Site in 1985, it was placed on the danger list from 1992 to 2011 while insurgency emptied it of rhinos and guards; the recovery since, led largely by Bodo villagers who once poached here and now guard and guide, is one of India's best conservation stories. The park is riverine forest, sal woodland and grassland along the foothills, home to golden langurs found almost nowhere else, pygmy hogs and hispid hares that survive only in tall grass like this, wild water buffalo, elephants and a slowly growing tiger population.

Enter at Bansbari, drive 20 kilometres north through forest to Mathanguri, and the road ends on a bluff where the river runs jade beneath forested Bhutanese hills; the old forest bungalow here is the finest place to sleep in Assam. A day is a dawn safari for langurs and hornbills, a raft down the Beki in the heat, an afternoon drive on the Bhuyanpara grasslands for elephants, and an evening of Bagurumba dance and onla stew in a Bodo village. Manas is quieter than Kaziranga in every sense, which is precisely its gift.