Actress Nandita Das on being chased by a rhino: It was scary!

Taking to her Instagram timeline, actress Nandita Das posted pictures of herself and her son at the Kaziranga National Park. She also went on to recollect what had happened that particular day.

She began the post saying, “In Kaziranga…waking up to birds chirping, breathing clean air with the fragrance of leaves and flowers, eating delicious Assamese food. And we have each other for company. Bliss!!”

Then she went on to say, “This morning was the first safari. To the Eastern Range, the less touristy part of the forest. So it was a gentle start with many birds, trees that looked like installations, curtains, winding pipes etc. Ample proof that humans have used biomimicry for many of its inventions.

We saw many deers, wild buffaloes, boars and elephants, a big lizard and far away, a few rhinos, what this national park is most known for.

“Just before the safari was to end, we saw a rhino rather close. As I was getting my phone out for a well-deserved photo, it turned and looked at us and began to run straight towards us, at full speed.

“We had been just told by our naturalist guide that rhinos run at 60km per hour, can’t see much but can hear and smell exceptionally well and they can attack jeeps and people.

“In a split second, we knew it to be true. We both froze, the guide told the driver to drive as fast as he could. The rhino was chasing at full speed. As he came too close for comfort, the guide made loud sounds to ‘shoo’ him away. And the rhino stopped and suddenly turned away, without giving us a second glance, he went into the bushes.

“Phew!! We all skipped several (heart) beats. After some silence, we spoke about all that we thought in those split seconds. All that could have happened. It was scary! #kaziranga”