Indian JUNGLE FOOD + ASIAN ELEPHANT Encounter | Manas National Park, Assam, India

Look at the baby, look at the baby. He's so cute. No, sorry, sorry. Good afternoon everyone, this is David Hoffman from David's Bin here in Manas National Park, Assam, India. This national park is a UNESCO World Heritage Wildlife Reserve. There's tigers, there's elephants, there's rhinos, there's boar, there's peacocks, lots of different wildlife up here. It is actually three hours north of Guwahati, right next to Bhutan, literally bordering Bhutan. And in there, it's called Royal Manas National Park. And today what we're gonna do is, we're gonna go on a game drive, but before that, we're gonna have lunch, a traditional Assamese lunch. We're gonna have some chicken, some fish, some rice, and some chilies. I'm sure they're really hot. We're basing ourselves out of the Florecon Cottage. This is a nine bedroom cottage, so there's like nine little houses. Each one has either two or three beds, so it starts between 2,100 rupees to 3,500 rupees per night, so very affordable. It's right next to the entrance of Manas National Park, and then from here, you take the game drives, right? In the middle, they have their restaurant, so you have breakfast, lunch, dinner there. We had breakfast this morning there, we're gonna have lunch now. I wanna show you one of the cottages, so you can see what it looks like, follow me. And here we have a cow. And this is called the Bada Bed, so they actually gave this one to us for the day, so we could just use it for the washroom, bathroom. And here we are, if we wanna take a rest. All right, here it is. So this one has two beds, right? Got the fan, this is for mosquitoes to turn it on. No, it's on, it's on, okay? I'm all bit up, by the way, Guwahati killed me. We have the bathroom, very nice. Up to date, shower, toilet. I mean, this place is definitely budget friendly, so if you're thinking of coming out to Manas for at least one night, come up here. The food is awesome, we had delicious breakfast this morning with some toast, some eggs, I mean, it was really filling with jam. Okay, so let me show you the property. Nine different cottages, right? Here we have the first one, the second one, these are the smaller ones, as you can see, they're like, you know, one room. That one is like a double, so a family is actually staying there right now, I think it's six people staying there. And then over here, over here, same thing, we have two different units, very similar to those two. And this is a bigger unit, this is actually the more expensive one, they were telling me this is like 30 to 3,500 per night, so it actually stays three people, or fits three people. There's three beds, and then another one similar, very similar next door. I mean, the difference here, I think, is the colors, but the interiors are all the same. And in the middle, we have the restaurant, so let's go eat some lunch, I'm super hungry, I want some fish, I want some chicken curry, what about you? I want some chicken curry. Chicken curry? With some rice, that will be very soulful. Yeah, that'll be very soulful. But we don't get any boar, huh? There's a lot of boar, but we don't get any. Oh, no. So here we have it, we have dal, we have mixed vegetables with curry, chicken curry, rice, we have tomatoes, carrots, onions, cucumber, and what is this? Papad. Papad, and? Indian version of french fries. Indian version of french fries, like tiny french fries. Yeah. So we're gonna start off with some rice, some curry vegetables, this curry vegetables looks amazing. We also have some dal, what I have to do for the dal is I have to open a hole in the vegetables right here, and then you get the dal, just into it right there, just in the middle. Nice, right there. So this is chicken curry, this chicken curry looks incredible, wow. Just beautiful. I feel bad, I might have to eat all of it. I'm joking, my friend. It's so good, this brown curry with all, ooh, big pieces of chicken, got some tomato in there, got some potato as well, what else is in here? Some herbs, got some carrots, this is awesome. And I'm gonna get some more of the sauce and just put it here to the side, right there. Like some tomatoes, some carrots, and an onion. I don't really like eating onions like this, but it's fine. Inside the burger it's fine. Inside it's fine, and then the pappad, pappad. This fries also. Ooh, I love this. So how should I start, with the dal and the rice? Dal and the sabji. Wow, love the dal. Super light, yellow dal, flavors are great. The rice is like a sticky rice, actually, right? Yeah. So this is local rice. We actually saw the rice fields while we were driving up here. Look at that, loving this rice. Wow, you can see that the dal has basically been absorbed by the rice. Oh, this is amazing. Mixed vegetable curry right here, looks so good. So we have green beans, we have potatoes, we have carrots. Mm, it's a little spicy, like a little bit. What I like the most from there is the green beans. Mm, fire. And here we have some of the chicken curry sauce right here. Oh, the chicken curry, like the curry part. Dude, I love the richness of it. Spices, mm, wow. The sauce is fantastic. Lots of good spices in there. Chicken's nice and tender. Mm, very organic, super local. Mm, brought some chilies. So many chilies, so little time. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna grab one, right? You should not eat these chilies straight. You should cut them up into tiny bits and mix them in the rice. That's what I like to do. So I got a piece of it, right? Mm, mm. Wow, nice and hot, mm. Oh, but it brings out so much flavor in there. Just the spiciness, the level is, I'd say it's a five out of 10. Mm, oh, the chicken curry is incredible. Like, it's awesome. I just love having chicken with a nice thick curry, you know? And now I'm gonna put some of the Indian-style french fries with some rice and some curry. Mm, mm, it's like french fries that are super tiny, super crispy. Put a bunch of chilies. This time I'm gonna go all out and mix everything together. Chilies, vegetables, rice, super hot. I'm gonna get another one, yeah, super good. But you gotta keep going, you know? Assam has the second spiciest pepper in the world, a ghost pepper, second spiciest. I'm not that brave, I'm not gonna try that. Look at this nice, tender piece of chicken. You can see all the curry, it's so rich. Lots of vegetables in here. Mm, definitely need some more rice. I thought I was too much, but I guess I'm really hungry. I'm getting a lot of weight here in India. Like easily getting weight here, you know? Today I couldn't even, so far I couldn't sit down correctly because my pants were so tight. Right there. It's like, it's a whole different world having chicken that's been like literally killed today. Like born here, bred here, and then they butchered him for us. I mean, it's sad, but at the same time, it's the best chicken you can eat. Mm, mm, oh, I had to add this pepper. It just gives it a nice kick. It's so good, I can't stop. After such a delicious lunch, we are ready to go on our second safari of the day. Game drive, love it. And here we have it, here we have a Jeep. This is my spot right here, let's get on. Oh, ready to go. It's a little tight back here, but I can do it. My friend, you ready? Okay. You ready? I'm wearing my hat. This is made of water hythi, it's a product of Assam. Yes, how do I look? You look good, you look good, I like it. The price for the game drive is 2,000 for the Jeep, 300 for the driver, 300 for the gate entry, and 100 per person. I mean, it's a pretty good deal. And right there, is that, oh no, that's a little goat right there. More goat, goat. This is a bird called moina. It gives voice, like, there's another one. There's many actually, there's a peacock also. This bird mimics your voice, as you can see. It's the one with the orange head. It's a little far away, but it's the one with the orange head. There's actually like four or five of them. Then right there we have a peacock. So many birds up here. Yeah. We're on a mission to find some tigers. I pray, I pray. Fingers crossed. With both hands. Yeah, it's really rare, like it's extremely rare to see a tiger, but they're here. Over 36, right? You said 36? 36, and other leopards, black buck. So black panther, leopards. Yeah, I mean, you can see them, but it's super hard. I mean, the thing about the wilderness is that when you go out on a safari, you really have to have your expectations very low, because when you do see something, it's amazing. Even seeing like a wild boar, it's incredible to see him in his own habitat, you know. Deer, deer. We have some deer, like three of them, and two are there, that side. What we just saw was the hog deer. We saw a family, like four of them together to the left, and then we saw two to the far right. We stayed like 30 meters away, because if you get too close to the vehicle, the vehicle makes way too much noise, and they're gonna starve, and they'll run. So from far away, it's the best way to see them. And like that, I changed my lens, and I got really good shots, as you can see. The number one rule on safari is that you can never get out of the vehicle, and that is for your safety, not the animal's safety. Imagine you get out of the vehicle, and there's a rhino, a leopard, a tiger, a black panther, or even a buffalo, you're in extreme danger. And the reason we have a guard with us is because if anything does get close, he won't shoot the animal, he'll shoot up in the air and scare the animal so it runs away, and he will not let you get out of the vehicle any time during the game drive. So never attempt that. This is the dry season, so like, it's pretty dry. The leaves and everything, so it's more fresh. It is available at the Marble National Park, so you need to stay here for five, six days, and go for all the safaris. So we saw two of the buffalos, the water buffalos. So there are two, so one is the baby, and one is the mother. They have another baby, which is hidden somewhere there, so the mother is running for the small baby. Because she's scared. Yeah, huge family of deer. The deer were a little startled, so what we did is we parked, staying very quiet. We really shouldn't be standing in the vehicle because they get startled by that. But as you can see, they're just moving their ears, and if we were to just turn on the car and move, they'll start running. Okay, so right here we have an eagle. It's really hard to see it, so the driver gave me some binoculars. Okay, yeah, I see it. So what type of eagle is that? It's not a bald eagle. Okay, too close. We have seen some elephants. They're the wild ones. There is a group, like father, mother, and a child, maybe. Right there. So as you see, there's a herd of elephants, and what we did is we kept moving because the elephants, they can get too close, and they will hit the vehicle if you startle them. So as you see, I don't know, what do you think, he'll run? No, he's not gonna charge. No, I mean, if they're gonna get too close, if we get too close to them, they'll charge, but not like this. They'll run, they'll run. In a grip, because they're doing the sound. Yeah. I don't know. I've been in Africa where they're right here, and they don't do anything. You think? Much more wilder. No. I think so. They have destroyed many houses. They come overnight and destroy everything. Actually, they love salt, the Indian animals. Elephants love salt. They get a smell of salt, that attracts towards maybe the neighborhood. We can see another elephant that's alone, and that's a male one, and it's quite big, quite a big one. You can tell it's a male because it has a big tusk. So we're not gonna go over there? No, no. That's the elephant of the forest, like the forest guard's elephant. So the guards here, they also have their own elephants that they've basically tamed, and they ride on. As you can see, he's riding it right now. Look at the baby, look at the baby. He's so cute. No, sorry, sorry. Oh, all are going for a bath. Amazing. Oh my God, can I see this? Incredible. Wow. So this is why I need to do two game drives because I didn't know which one would be the best. And as you can see, this second game drive is unreal. See these guys bathe the elephants here in the river. It's such an incredible experience. I mean, so beautiful to see them with their animals. Wow, he's scrubbing them hardcore. This is so cool. Like it's a happy moment of the trip, like the best one. Though it's not the wildest one, but I'm seeing this for the first time. Me too. That's why I think it's so special because I've never seen them bathing the elephant in the wild. I mean, obviously they're domesticated to them, but still in the wild because they're still here. And especially the kid one, he's having the best time. Yeah, he's really enjoying himself. Yeah, he tried to actually touch me when we were on the car and the owner didn't like that, but I want him to touch me. I mean, it's such a great experience watching them here. This is so cool. I really wish I can get down there and help him, you know? That was epic. That was really cool. I've actually bathed elephants before, but at a sanctuary. I've done that. It was very nice because they enjoy it. They really like to get wet. And here's another herd of elephants. There's like six right there. The only problem is we can't get too close to the elephants either because they can then, you know, ram the car. It's the Asiatic water buffalo. It's a 30-year-old, like it's a pretty old one. So here's a tree where we can see the racking mark of a tiger while hunting something, maybe. Wow, right here? This one? So he basically put his claws into it, scratched it up. Wow. So that means we're close. I wish. Man, so the tiger could be literally right there sleeping. By this thing, they make their nails sharp and like clean after their hunting. Like it's a nail art and all the stuff's in their nails. So they clean their nails and sharpen them. Incredible. It drags out, so it gets sharp like a, when you do something or a knife. Sharpened, sharpened. Yeah. Or you do with a knife or a stone, it gets sharpened, right? So when he does with his nails, like it gets clean and sharp at the same time. So for his next hunt, he's ready. So this jungle, the Maharashtra National Park is 2,837 square kilometers. Like it's quite a big area. Like it's a huge one. Like we did two safaris, but still we'll have some areas that will not cover much. And that includes Bhutan? No, no. No, that's separate. No, it's only Indian part. Nice. Manas River. Manasbiki River. Look at this. We're here on the river bank and there's a lot of turtles and fish down here. Very cool. Right there is the Himalayas and that's Bhutan. If you guys don't know about Bhutan, Bhutan is a landlocked nation between China, India. That's it. China and India is the only borders that Bhutan touches. As you can see, the river's like crystal clear and the water's really cold. I'm sure it's delicious to drink. I'm not really that brave. I don't drink water in India from rivers. But what we're gonna do now is we're gonna take a drive back to where our car is. And on the way, if we see any animals, we'll get that. And if not, the game drives over. What is it? Kapit. Kapit langurs. What is that, like a monkey? Yeah, monkey. Okay. So as you can see, there's a family of monkeys up here. One, two, three, four, five, six monkeys. And I think that's an endangered species, right? Endangered species. I think they're endangered. I know there's a lot of endangered species here. Yeah, yeah. That's why. That's the golden langur one, which is endangered. So here we have another group of kapit langurs. And they're really high up in the tree, as you can see. There's one, two, three, four, five. Oh, they're coming down. Look, look, look, they're coming down. Oh, they went back up. A lot of babies, too. The sun has set, and our game drive is now coming to an end. It was an incredible experience. We started off with a delicious, delicious lunch. The chicken curry and the vegetable curry, delicious. And then after that, we came on the game drive. We saw, I think, two herds of elephants. We saw the people who, like, watch over the national park with their elephants bathing them. What an experience that was. And then after that, we saw a buffalo. We saw some deer, like a little herd of deer. And then we saw two gringos coming out here to Manas National Park. I highly recommend it. Three hour drive north to Guwahati. Stay out here for at least one night. And guys, if you love this video, please give me a thumbs up. Leave me a comment below. Subscribe to my channel. And I'll see you guys in the next travel food adventure somewhere in Assam, India. Peace.