[Assam] Horse-riding in India: Perfect blend -The Independent,UK

Sun Oct 1 19:04:48 PDT 2006

Nice travellogue by Amanda Hemingway on her visit to Dibrugarh, the tea
gardens and horse riding.
--Ram
____
http://travel.independent.co.uk/asia/article1772074.ece

 Horse-riding in India: Perfect blend From the fabled tea gardens of Assam
to the realm of the one-horned rhino, Amanda Hemingway rides the outer
reaches of the old Empire Published: 30 September 2006

The chicken neck of India doesn't sound like a particularly appealing
destination for a horse-riding holiday - but this is where you'll find
Assam. Just above Bangladesh, and bordered on the other three sides by
Burma, Thailand and Tibet, it's an area that still feels virtually untouched
by Western influences. Dibrugarh, in particular, where we were based for
nine days, retains the ambience of old India. The shops are open-fronted
booths and the streets are crowded with bicycles, rickshaws, motor-scooters,
hand-painted trucks, cows, goats, stray dogs and women in saris bright as
flowers. As we wandered around the labyrinthine market, fish sellers held up
writhing eels to tempt us, while in the vegetable section we browsed mounds
of lethal chillis, fire-red and venom-green, and stalls selling dozens of
varieties of rice, fruit and exotic sweets.

Our accommodation was a two-storey "bungalow" with four palatial bedrooms,
terraces upstairs and down, shaved lawns and shady trees. We were living the
lifestyle of colonial times with silk sheets and "bed tea" in the morning.
Michael Palin stayed here briefly on his Himalayan tour and visited the tea
gardens; we, however, had the time to explore further.

Tea is the "green gold" of Assam, employing large numbers of people and
bringing the region both its wealth and its fame. The gardens stretch for
miles, with the bushes pruned to a height of about three feet, so cropped
and tended that their topmost leaves spread in a level carpet broken only by
the irrigation ditches and the long, straight paths where we rode. Trees are
set at intervals to shade the precious plants, so the whole effect is of a
well-spaced woodland growing out of a smooth green sea. There was no wind,
only the warm, winter sunshine filtering through the canopy in an
Impressionistic dapple of light.

It's a place of quiet beauty and perfect tranquillity. We visited the
factory where the tea is processed, also an unexpectedly tranquil
environment. Amazingly, it takes less than twenty-four hours from plant to
pot, including drying, shredding, heating and more drying. We tasted
unblended teas (as with wine-tasting, you spit them out, presumably in case
they go to your head), drank brews of assorted strengths, even had nibbles
of whole fresh leaves fried in light batter. In Assam, there are a hundred
uses for tea. Most unusual of all was the story of a tea-picker on a remote
plantation who was attacked by a tiger. The animal pounced from behind, and
its claws sank harmlessly into the sack on her back - saved by a teabag.

Our host was Manoj Jalan, vice-president of the Equestrian Federation of
Assam. The horses here are exceptional: pure thoroughbreds trained for
endurance riding - the equine version of marathon running - they were
rippling with muscle and gleaming. At our initial encounter with them, we
stared with dropped jaws. I got the stallion - a first for me. I had always
understood riding a stallion was a special experience, and had fantasised
about the challenge and the mysterious bond we would form. However, it took
me very little time to realise that this particular stallion was just a
good-looking hunk of muscle with mares on his mind.

Over the first few days we rode through the tea gardens and down to the
banks of the Brahmaputra. The valley forms a vast, flat alluvial plain with
the Himalayas to the north, rising sudden and jagged against the skyline.
The river spreads over much of it, at its widest broader than the Dover
Straits, flowing with melt-water from the mountains, swift and very cold.
When we were there it was sunken, exposing low islands and sandbanks, its
shallower channels completely dry. Sometimes we rode across to one of the
sandbanks with the object of going for a canter, and fanned out into
Magnificent Seven formation, side by side, racing blithely along the sand.
Other days, we followed the endless paths on top of the dykes that
criss-cross the countryside in an attempt to control flooding. We watched
people fishing in the pools, or paddling their long, low boats in the river,
or washing their clothes on the edge of the bank.

Children herd the water-buffaloes, sitting astride the necks of massive
beasts which could easily gore or trample them - but they never do, it would
be too much effort. In the town the traffic may be frantic, but beyond its
borders the pace of life is slow, and each day seems to go on more or less
forever. The people of Assam take their tempo from the landscape, whose huge
stillness seems to mock human endeavour.

One lunchtime we picnicked in the tea gardens, in a bamboo rondavel built on
stilts above the green lagoon of the tea plants. Another day we were met by
a boat on the riverbank and taken to our own private island for a lazy meal
under a canopy. And one morning we rode out early from the bungalow to a
wonderful garden of medicinal herbs and plants where we stopped for
breakfast and were given a guided tour, nibbling (cautiously) on leaves that
tasted of sugar, sniffing flowers that smelt of fruit, learning that this
plant cured fever, that one infection.

In the middle of the week we did a two-day trip to the Kaziranga National
Park nature reserve. It was founded in 1905 by Lady Curzon to preserve the
rare one-horned rhino, its numbers then down to 12. She was shown a
hoof-print in the mud and took it as proof of the rhino's existence - she
never actually saw one. But thanks to her faith, there are now 1,500. We
went on elephant-back to see them, wading through eight-foot grasses as the
sun sucked up the morning mist, while the rhino watched our approach with
the incurious stare of long habit.

Later in the day, we explored by four-wheel drive, spotting sambhur and hog
deer, water buffalo and wild elephant, auburn-haired macaques, fishing
eagles, parakeets. The terrain consists of wide pools and marshland studded
with water hyacinth, alternating with a dense jungle of giant ferns and
creeper-hung trees. We saw the tracks of a tigress and her cub but no tiger,
though the reserve has 82. But it wasn't so much a disappointment, just a
reason to go back.

On our return to Dibrugarh, our last major ride was to a school in the
rainforest sponsored by Manoj and In the Saddle. All visitors give a small
amount to help - in Assam, a little goes a long way. We left feeling
humbled, the way you do, and thinking predictable thoughts about children in
Britain, who have so much and sometimes seem to value it so little, and
their counterparts on the forest's edge, struggling to learn with barely
more than paper and pencils and a roof over their heads.

*Amanda Hemingway's new book, 'The Traitor's Sword' (Voyager, £12.99) is in
bookshops now*

*TRAVELLER'S GUIDE *

*GETTING THERE*

There are no direct flights between the UK and Dibrugarh. The most
convenient hub is Delhi, served from Heathrow by British Airways (0870 850 9
850; www.ba.com), Virgin Atlantic (08705 747747; www.virgin-atlantic.com),
Air India (020-8560 9996; www.airindia.com), Jet Airways (020-8970 1500;
www.jetairways.com) and Air Sahara (00 91 11 2335 9801; www.airsahara.net).
Qatar Airways (020-8896 3636; www.qatarairways.com) flies from Heathrow and
Manchester via Doha. From Delhi, Dibrugarh is served by Air Sahara and
Indian Airlines (020-7565 7979; www.indian-airlines.nic.in). To reduce the
impact on the environment, you can buy an "offset" from Climate Care (01865
207 000; www.climatecare.org). The environmental cost of an economy class
return flight from London to Delhi is £14.10, The money is used to fund
sustainable energy and reforestation projects. In the Saddle (01299 272 997;
www.inthesaddle.co.uk) offers 10-night horse riding trips in Assam from
£2,140. This includes flights, transfers, accommodation, park entrance fees
and all riding and activities. Dates available this year are 8 November and
13 December.

*STAYING THERE*

Mancotta Chang Bungalows, Jalan Nagar, Dibrugarh (00 91 373 2301 120;
www.purviweb.com). Doubles start at R1,600 (£21).

*FURTHER INFORMATION & RED TAPE*

UK passport-holders need a visa from India's High Commission (0906 844 4544,
calls 60p/min; www.hcilondon.net). India Tourism (020-7437 3677;
www.incredibleindia.org).