Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Gday kiddies and hello from sunny India.
We are currently in Jaipur on a tour of Rajasthan.
Since our last update we ventured to yet another national park in search of the illusive tiger, this time Rathambore, a few hours south of Delhi.Over three days we had booked 4 separate safaris to maximize our chances of coming across the great beast.Our hotel said over that many we would be able to cover most of the park and so should surely see at least one, our guides promised us and other travelers at the hotel told us on the first night that during that day they had spent 40mins watching a mother and her two cubs playing in the forest.This was going to be it!
For some reason we could not fathom, the park is split into 5 "zones'.The jeeps which take you on each safari can only travel in their allotted zone on any one excursion.Safari one at we visited zone 3 - nice lake, heaps of deer and birds but no tigers.Safari two - again zone 3, again lots of deer, no tiger.Oh well we were told, jeeps are given zones at random but you won't get the same zone again.Safari three - yep you know the drill - zone 3 lots of bored looking deer, no tiger.Last safari and last chance for the big one.We get to the park entrance, get to our jeep - zone bloody 3.At this point I toss the teddy out of the pram, demand to be switched to another zone ("I have traveled half way around the world to see a tiger", etc, etc)."Sorry sir but all jeeps are full".Sitting in the jeep, half asleep, haven't even bothered to pull the camera out of the backpack, and low and behold a bloody tiger comes out of the forest and walks right past our jeep!Managed to regain my composure enough to get a few quick snaps.Ends up that no tigers were spotted in any other zone so if we managed to switch we wouldn't have seen any!!!
Went to the Taj Mahal yesterday, pretty impressive.LB ate a doggy curry and has been suffering in the back of the bus for the last few days (at least the weight loss program is going well!).
Going to be an odd Xmas this year.Not a major build up for the festive season in India.Hope you all have a great one, get lots of pressies and 2009 is a big one.
All the best,
MT&LB
- comments