Day 7 - Safari Adventure

Up early today to drive into the next state, Karnakata, to the north of Tamil Nadu. Breakfast was plentiful, as it was yesterday. On the menu were pancakes, fresh fruit, jam, honey and toast amongst a range of other Indian breakfast foods. I couldn't resist buttering a couple of pancakes, slicing up a banana and drizzling honey over it all. A couple of of our American friends thought it was quite a strange thing to do, tried it themselves and loved it. Soon they all partook of this "new" breakfast delight and a trend was started. One of them described me as a breakfast "influencer". LOL!

Clement took "the road less traveled" once we passed through Ooty, along a winding forest road that was relatively devoid of traffic. A few little towns popped up here and there and the road in between them was relatively free of litter. The eucalypt forests were more dense than ever as we descended to the plain below. By the bottom of the descent the landscape had changed to become quite dry and scrubby. After an hour or so we stopped at the entrance to the Mudumalai National Park for a coffee and to stretch the legs for 20 minutes. We didn't stop in the National Park as our objective was it neighbor – Bundipur National Park. This park has the largest population of wild tigers in India (so, therefore, the world). We crossed the Park and arrived at our accommodation in time to unload our luggage and prepare for our safari.

At 3:30pm we boarded a 20-people, open air troop carrier and headed deep in the park on rough and winding dirt tracks. What a jolting, jarring and bouncing ride that was but it was great fun. Over the next three hours we saw water buffalo, monkeys of different species by the score, spotted dear, sambar deer, peacocks, mongeese, wild boar, squirrels, sloth bears and elephants. The driver essentially took a path from one water hole to the next. There was not much action at most of them but the sloth bears at one of them was a rare sighting as was the squirrel. 

We thought we'd done pretty well when the driver got a call on his two-way radio from a colleague elsewhere, but nearby, in the park. He sped past some sambar deer, refused to stop for a photo and then cut his engine and rolled to a stop. There, lying just 20 metres from the track, hidden behind some tall grass was a magnificent female tiger. The cameras where buzzing and whirring and clicking ten to the dozen with photographers jostling for the best position to get the best shot.

She got bored with all of this, gave a big yawn, got to here feet and began to saunter down the track. To see her in the clear and in motion was a sight to behold. The driver followed her down the track, keeping a respectful distance and she remained unperturbed all the time. The cameras just kept on clicking. After 15 minutes she turned left and disappeared into the scrub. None of us had expected to actually see a tiger on this safari. How lucky were we! The day was getting on and a magnificent, dusty sunset told us it was time to head home when a call cam of another sighting so of we sped down another track. By the time we got to the location three other smaller 4WD vehicles were there. I just caught a brief glimpse of another tiger 100m further down the track. Too many trees were in the way to get a good camera shot. Two tigers in one day! Wow! And I never thought I would ever see one in the wild.

It was dark by the time we got back to the "resort", checked out our very comfortable digs, had a beer with our traveling companions under a little rotunda and then enjoyed another Indian feast.