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Ok, so if you've just read the Bundi blog you'll know that I ended it by saying that we stayed with a family in Bundi who were lovely and the owner's cousin has a guesthouse in Rathamborne National Park so we decided to stay with him..
So we arrived and the guesthouse looked like a perfect little freaky doll's house village place. Despite being in the desert the garden was as green as home, and there were 3 seperate little cottages with green roofs and..... im not explaining this very well. To most people it would have been gorgeous but it was so weird and fake and just.. FREAKY! Anyway Vishnu (Chintu's cousin) seemed cool. We had a sleep (we'd got the 6am bus from Bundi) and then got some dinner. I opted for a 'mixed veg curry' and colin chose a 'potato shahi' (which is kind of like a stew with fruit). However we both got a meal that was 95% made of tofu. Tofu curry, can you imagine anything worse?
Anyway, the freaky village was owned by '5 partners' (they kept saying that). We met 4 of the 5, 3 of which were tossers. SO arrogant! One came and joined us while we were having one of the best night yet (it was dead clear and we were trying to put our star spotting skills to the test) and COMPLETELY ruined it! he spoke for 40 minutes before our meal arrived, and then a further 20 minutes while we were eating about SHARES AND BUSINESS! He told me that I should go home and open up a travel agency so we can be partners (by the time we left, 2 of them had suggested this to me!).. Then he decided that I should be a broker for his textile business in the Uk as he wanted to supply to John Lewis. It was so bloody weird. He said 'I dont ask people who come here this because they are important and are doctors and stuff, but you, you are unemplyed so you have lots of time to help me' hehehe. Colin eventually lost it and basically told the guy to b***** off. 'You have a big heart, your husband, he has a small heart'.. honestly..
Anyway, the next morning at 6am we went tiger spotting! The safari lasts 3 hours and after 2 hours and 55 minutes we still hadnt seen any tigers. We had seen lots of other animals though, deer, antilopes, wild boar, peacocks, mongoose etc...and then as were were driving out this tiger walked past the canter (like an open top mini bus), sprayed her scent onto a tree, walked right across the road infront of us and then away into the jungle, the whole time roaring as she's got 3 cubs and she was telling them she'd just made a kill. I nearly wet my pants. (the photo of her is in the photo album bit ). Stunning. Our guide seemed to think we'd seen a really amazing sighting, he was delighted!
WE went back to bed for a few hours and in the afternoon, Vishu took us by jeep up to the fort (theres an actual fort inside the national park, its crazy!). It was staggeringly beautiful with all the animals wandering about and the views across the big lake. (He told us that the tiger we'd seen was called the lady of the lake because that was her home. She'd once made a kill beside the lake and a crocodile had jumped out and tried to steal it, so she killed the crocodile too! She had a great munch but it had left her with only one big tooth left.. crazy).
He showed us around and took us up to the temple inside the fort. There were lots of extremely camp monkeys outside! Oh and all the people from the village go there to build a wee house out of stones and it apparently brings them luck to have a nice home in the future so Vishnu made us make our wee house (you can see the photo of it - there was a swimming pool, gym, cinema room and the stone outside of it was our car) hehe..
Vishnu's getting married on my birthday and he invited us to the wedding, but it doesnt look like we'll be able to go. It was interesting actually, he told us that he'd had a girlfriend for 3 years (compleyely unheard of here) but they couldnt marry because she was a Brahmin (the highest caste) and her father wouldnt allow it. So his father decided to sort him out with an arranged marriage. He seemed quite progressive about the whole thing and wanted to meet the girl before they got married but it wasnt allowed, so a photo had to do. Shame..
ANYWAY, the next morning we did a safari but we didnt have any luck seeing a tiger. In the afternoon we went with one of the other 'partners' who is a professional photographer (I was far too excited!) and guide in the park so he knows his animals and birds inside out. He took up right up into the mountains in a jeep where we would have more chance seeing a leopard, hyena or sloth bear. On the way up, we stopped at a wee camp as they'd found a tiny baby leopard a few months ago that had been abandoned by its mother, and were keeping it there until it was taken to a zoo, poor wee thing. It was gorgeous.
We then went right up to the top of the mountain (qudos to the driver) where we saw a wee indian hare and vultures. It was really stunning up there. We were allowed a wee cheeky couple of beers too!
Next morning, we did another safari and saw a tiger sitting under a tree having a wee snooze. It was lovely, but not quite the amazing sighting we'd seen before! Amazing anyway. We went to a completely different part of the park that day and the scenery was just incredible.
Anyway, from Ranthamborne we got the overnight train to Udaipur, where we are now so that's all folks!
Hope you're all smashing! Love, Jenny xxx
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