Our day began very early, at 4:30am to be exact. We got up and showered – after wasting about 10 minutes before we figured out that you had to push a special button to turn on the hot water. We then met our bleary-eyed tour group at reception at 5:25am, and jumped in our jeeps heading for the Kanha National Park. We wanted to get into the park right when it opened so we wouldn't have to queue (or wait in line).
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| James and Erin sitting in the jeep getting ready to go on a safari... bright-eyed despite the dark night! |
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| The entrance to Kanha National Park. |
The safaris are via jeep, and our group took two for the safari. Our jeep held two guides, one from the National Park, and our tour guide – who has received specialized training in wildlife identification. It was quite cold as we started our journey - and we sat in the front row of the jeep along with one other member of our tour, bundled up underneath our blanket to keep warm.
Early in the morning, we saw quite a few spotted-deer, langers (white monkeys), a wild boar, peacocks, a jungle rooster, and several other birds. However, we were hunting for the tiger – and we were unsuccessful. We stopped for a quick breakfast and got word that other safari groups had spotted a tiger. Once we heard this, we decided to try another of the park's offerings - and drove to attempt to ride an elephant in order to get close to the tiger. However, by the time we got to the elephants, the tigers were on the move and the National Park staff decided it wasn't safe anymore. So, we jumped back into our jeeps and rode alongside where the tigers had been spotted. And, sure enough, after a few minutes, we saw the tiger! We were pretty far away, but we were still excited we got to see it in its natural environment.
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| Around 9am James started to crash...this is a picture of him falling asleep! |
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| They use elephants to find the tigers in the park and can also use them to herd the tigers move in certain directions. |
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| Tabitha rode on top of the jeep for a bit. |
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| One of the monkeys was very close to us, so James decided to see how close he could get... |
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| This is James running away from the monkey after it started chasing him when it started to get too close. |
The park closes from 12pm to 2:30pm each day because it is too hot and the animals usually take shelter around this time, making it difficult to sight-see. So, we headed back to our hotel for a quick lunch and nap before heading back out.
Unfortunately, when we went back out for our afternoon safari, it was raining. We hopped into the open-air jeep and hoped the rain would subside. We tried putting the rain cover on the jeep, but it didn't fit properly and just ended up being more of a nuisance than it was worth. During the safari, we saw several spotted-deer, white monkeys, and we even saw a male tiger! The drivers during the safari work very hard to help you get the best sightings, so if they get word that there was a tiger spotting, they will immediately turn the jeep in the direction of the sighting and drive as fast as they can, which makes it much more exciting!
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| Erin is sitting in the back of the jeep under the tarp-like rain cover. |
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| This banyan tree had been demarked sacred, and now had a shrine at it. |
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| One of the wild boar that we saw in the park. |
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| On our way out of the park, we noticed these three small owls inside the tree! |
The park closes at dusk, so around 5:30pm we headed back to our hotel. James decided to go into the village a bit and purchase some snacks for us. While James was away, Erin decided to shower. During Erin's shower, the power went out in the hotel room and it became completely dark. Erin stayed in the shower hoping that it would come back on quickly, and it did return about 5 minutes later. Our tour guide explained to us that these power fluctuations are very common, especially in the countryside.
The hotel had a buffet dinner that was very reasonable in price, so we had the dinner with our group again tonight. We enjoyed learning more about the people on our tour – surprisingly, we are the only Americans, so it was interesting to learn more about the different cultural backgrounds of our tour members.
After dinner we returned to our room and did some laundry using the bucket in the shower. The hotel was very remote – there are not televisions, no radios, and no access to internet. So, it was an easy decision to head to bed early.
