Gold Coast, AustraliaCrazeyness t-1 until journey to IndiaDarwin CrewSingapore Airport: The epic waitChennai - TouchdownDelhi Crowds & ColorsRumbles in the night, Delhiat the foot of the himalayasTaking it easy in McLoed GanjThe Zen of wildlife watching and photography.Corbett Tiger Reserve (t-9 days to b-day)Meeting the Locals in RamnagarAgra, IndiaRajasthan!Pushkar, IndiaJaisalmer, IndiaUdaipur, India"arse of india" excuse my frenchCaves caves and more cavesHyderabad, India
 | Nathan&Ellie |  | India Adventure Bliss |  | The Zen of wildlife watching and... |
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Dec 8 2007, 10:00 AM
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Rāmnagar, India
But I should start at the beginning… we arrived by bus at the closest town to the park, Ramnagar, after 24 hours travel from Mcleod Ganj, via Daramsala (bus), Pathankot (bus), Moradabad (overnight train).
A helpful local lead us to the national parks office where we met Mr Patwal and some government bureaucrats who helped us navigate the paper work and liberated us of copious Rupees but finally (after a night in a dodgy government hotel in Ramnagar) let us into the park. Mr Patwal is out driver. He has a green topless jeep and extensive knowledge of the park and has been our companion the past two days. We will always remember Mr Patwal for his saying “I wait for the animal. Animal doesn’t wait for me”. With this quote our education in the Zen (and patience) of watching wildlife began.
Such is life in a dormitory. It seems the majority are ready to sleep so it’s lights out time. There’s so much more to tell about our time here and hopefully when I write tomorrow I’ll be able to report a tiger sighting!!
Guten Nacht!
…
So here I sit back in civilisation. We tried so hard but didn’t glimpse the elusive tiger. A shame, but the time in the peace and quite of nature was worth it anyway.
On the first day we headed off early and saw heaps of deer, and monkeys. We arrived at Dikala camp at about lunchtime and spent the afternoon sussing out our surroundings. The “camp” is a collection of buildings run by the forestry department. Most of the accommodation is ridiculously expensive by Indian standards ($35 a night) so we stayed in the dorms ($6 each), which was fun because we met some cool delhi-ites the first night and some forestry department trainees the second night. We had this great view over the Ramganga River from the little restaurant. And while we were drinking hot chocolates on the first afternoon one of the drivers spotted some strange movement out in the water. Eventually we figured out it was five wild Elephants, three adults and two calves crossing the river, which at that point is at least a kilometre wide (!), Apparently a rare occurrence.
The next morning the elephant adventures continued. This time with domesticated elephants. We took an elephant safari through the jungle to see if we could spot a tiger. The area we went though ended up being more like a field of lantana with the occasional pot plant (in the marijuana sense of the word – see the photos) which was quite random but there were certainly tigers there. We were really close to one, which we heard roaring and the people on another elephant glimpsed for a second. We even saw the remains of its breakfast: the antlers of an unfortunate deer.
Determined to see the elusive animal we headed on a jeep safari that afternoon. We saw crocodiles, deer, many birds and monkeys but again no tiger. We decided our last chance to see the tiger was the next morning. If we woke up at the crack of dawn and were first to leave the camp we would surely spot one at it’s prime hunting time. But no luck. At one spot, a look out over a narrow part of the river, Mr Patwal was certain if we waited our patience would be rewarded. I was so bored. My meditation skills are so not up to scratch for wildlife watching. And my instinct was right, after what seemed like a lifetime even Mr Patwal gave up. We took the long way back to Ramnagar on a road that’s practically deserted. We had a scare in the jeep which suddenly decided to die. But Mr Pawal put on his Mechanic hat and got us out of the bind (but only after Nathan and I got out and pushed)
Another highlight of the time at Dikala was last afternoon when I got to help feed the working elephants. They usually eat grass but once a day they are fed some elephant sized chapatti (bread) no one could explain why but it was fun being so close to such amazing creatures. I want one!!
We took the night train from Ramnagar to Delhi arriving at 4:30, making that the 4th night in a row of waking up before 8 am. It’s getting ridiculous. We survived the 6 hour wait for a train to Agra (but only just… damn Delhi!) and I write to you now from smoggy Agra, home of the Taj Mahal… stay tuned!
Love Ellie
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frank
Written by seroka 28 months ago
wonderful photos and dialogue. a great photo of Ellie with lake in background and she is looking though binoculars. I love sharing these scenes with you, thanks. I am sending all these to poppy with your writings.