Rhino chase at Burapahar range of Kaziranga National Park

In the spring of 2022, I along with my friends visited the Kaziranga National Park in Assam. The weather was very dry and hot. I had never seen so much dust inside the forest in my previous visits. The prevailing weather condition was not conducive to animal spotting. Seeing little activity in the central and eastern range, we decided to visit the Burapahar range, which had much denser forest covering. After crossing the dense forest, we came into a large grassland where a rhino was grazing. The spring sun felt like summer. In the shimmering heat, we approached the rhino in our safari jeep. MIntu, our driver had taken a gunman for the safari. As we approached the rhino, it started staring at us, and without provocation, it charged. Mintu being a very good driver, backed the jeep at high speed while we all hollered at the rhino. Especially our guard, who made quick hand movements and shouted fiercely. The rhino somehow got freaked out by the shout and aborted its chase. The day was saved!