Brahmaputra Voyage Tourism

Exploring the NE via air, road, rail,  and water can be made highly   thrilling. The main water route will be the Brahmaputra. There is feasibility of designing dreamlike cruises along this mighty river with leisure stays at heritage sites on its banks. Tourists can be encouraged to view the virgin beauty of nature on both banks with picturesque landscapes covered with vast tea gardens and other agro-farms, hill terrains, commercial ports, mythological stations and monuments in serene atmosphere, wild life with endangered flora and fauna, varieties of birds, river islets, bird sanctuaries, and reserve forests. In addition, heritage lifestyle shows and cultural fests with traditional dresses, ornaments, dishes and sports can be organized on deck. Our travel agents, tour operators and resort agents of the Brahmaputra Valley, under the guidance of the Tourism Department, must coordinate among themselves to conduct the river voyage perfectly and to provide exemplary services and facilities for safe tour and stay to all. To develop voyage tourism on the Brahmaputra, all heritage sites on its banks must be facilitated with elegant jetties and bus stops with information posters and kiosks.   
Let us propose some most encouraging and thrilling water routes. These will be memorable for any tourists.

For 1(a) and 1(b) below, Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) should have at least two well decorated double-deck ferries with deluxe vehicles, rubber boats as well as emporia, libraries and restaurants. Cultural teams would travel from opposite directions between Dibrugarh (Tezu) and Guwahati (Sualkuchi). To boost river tourism, elegant jetties need to be constructed and old jetties to be upgraded. For enhanced heritage tourism potential, additional ferries of similar kinds can be routed between Guwahati and Tezpur to cover Guwahati-local and Tezpur-local areas comprising Kaziranga National Park (KNP) and Nameri National Park (NNP). The cruise ships should have all necessary facilities. First, travel agents of ATDC and West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) can book for boarding in Guwahati and Dibrugarh; two tourist groups of equal size will arrive separately from Kolkata Airport and board at Dibrugarh for the 1(a) and in Guwahati for the 1(b) tours on the same day. The best season will be from September to November.

1(a) Tour route: From Kolkata by air to Dibrugarh, then by cruise to Guwahati, then by air back to Kolkata. 1(b) is just the opposite, i.e., it will start at the same time from Guwahati and will complete at Dibrugarh.
 
Let us detail a thrilling voyage of one week through the Brahmaputra from east to west. There will be a DJ functioning on board organizing shows related to local cultures. The food served will be local dishes. The package journey will be made thrilling, enjoyable and memorable. The cruise-ships should have all facilities. Road vehicles will be arranged to transfer the tourists to Tezu to cover the local area including Parshuramkund, Rukminikhat, Mayodiya and may also include Namsai Reserve Forest (RF), Mehio RF, Saikhowa NP, Namdofa NP. Registered tour guides will explain that the mighty Brahmaputra, through its journey from the source at Kailash—Manas Sarobar to Bay of Bengal, has caused the establishment numerous commercial and mythological ports. Mythological stations with stunning landscapes surrounded with people friendly animals and pretty birds will draw tourists who seek spirituality. These small spiritual parks will have the potential to be upgraded with facilities for residential yoga and meditation programs. The 1st night will to halt at Majuli, the heritage river island. Next morning, the voyage will start for KNP for elephant or jeep safari; the KNP tour will continue for two days followed by viewing of river-dolphins at Silghat, further followed by visits to Baneswar Dham, Kamakhya-Trishul-Dhari at Silghat, Burha-chapori (an upcoming tiger project), then to station at Tezpur. At Tezpur, tourists will enjoy Agnigarh (Usha-Anirudha Park), Chitralekha-Park (Cole Park) and a beautiful river-beach. On the 4th day, the tourists will visit Shingri-Shiva, Laokhowa, Orang, Bordowa, Mayong, Ganesh-Pahar leading to station in Guwahati. On 5th & 6th days in Guwahati, the important sites to cover will be Umananda, Nabagraha, Ashwaklanta, Shukleswar, Panbazar-Church, Doul-Gobinda, Kamakhya, IIT, GU, Agyathuri’s Ganesh and Buddha Mandir, Langkeswar-Dham, Lachit-Uddyan, and Chilarai-Uddyan. Other important sites in the outskirts of Guwahati are Powa-Mecca, Hoygrib-Madhav, Dhareswari, the silk-town Sualkuchi, Madan-Kamdev, and Chanddubi. On the 7th day, the visitors will be taken to Balaji, Basistha and Sankardev Kalakshetra by road.

1(b) Tour route: From Kolkata by air to Guwahati, then by cruise to Tezu/Dibrugarh, then by air to Kolkata. It would be just the opposite of 1(a), i.e., from west to east. On completing Guwahati-local, cruise voyage will start from Guwahati towards Dibrugarh.  Both the cruises meet in KNP area and jointly enjoy the KNP programs.
 
1(c) Port city evening cruise: Following the example of the existing ‘Jolporie’ in the port city of Guwahati, the same idea will be incorporated at Tezpur, Silghat, Nimatighat, Dibrugarh and Goalpara with small single-deck decorated ferries. The best season will moonlit nights of September to November.

1(d) Short routes: Short tours will be effective between Guwahati and Tezpur covering Silghat up to KNP’s Burhapahar range. In the next phase, similar short-route cruises will be added between Dibrugarh and Tezu.  As Goalpara rail station is well connected with New Jalpaiguri (NJP),  to and fro cruises in between Goalpara and Guwahati will be extended in near future.
 
Being gateways to the NE, the Kolkata airport and the NJP rail station are getting huge benefits from tourists to NE. So, ATDC (astdcorpn@sancharnet.in) should have better coordination with WBTDC to make tourists aware and pre-familiar with the exciting and adventurous voyage routes in Assam for exploration and enjoyment, to the fullest. Warm Assamese hospitality will also entice the tourists to visit again.

by Abhayananda Medhi, Numaligarh

Photo courtesy: Purvi Discovery Pvt. Ltd, / www.purviweb.com