A Safarmie & A Train

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A Sarfarmie & A Train



Day 16. 16^th December 2017



Our last day at Skays Camp. Satyendra & Kay have said that Bill & Shirl can send the kids over, on their own, any time & they will be well looked after. The kids seemed keen too so that’s a possibility for the future if Bill & Shirl need a break.



To keep us all occupied Satyendra drove us all (except Mal) to his nearby farm about 5 miles away. On the way we passed many small farms often with kids waving and shouting “hello”. We were on the edge of the reserve here so there were forests on one side & farms or open ground on the other, all very picturesque.



When we arrived, we were greeted by 2 dogs (collie style) who seemed very friendly (maybe too friendly for guard dogs). It appeared a well managed farm with wheat, and other vedge growing around. There was a small lake with lillies about to open, being fed by a pump from a deep bore-hole, which was powered by a bank of solar panels (on 240v AC rather than 12v DC, which I explained would suit his system better).



We saw many birds including a small owl, a puple-headed parakeet and other smaller birds, whilst vultures circled high overhead. Many flowers too but I am not good at their identification. We spent an hour or so here and the kids seemed to like it (as did we).



Back at the camp we had an early lunch of rice, dahl and puri’s. Then Mal, Shirl & me took the kids for a walk into the village as I needed the ATM & the kids needed sweets etc for the forthcoming train journey. Sadly the ATM would not give me any cash, although it did give some to Mal & Shirl so I guessed that my bank had blocked mine. As we were leaving the ATM a taxi stopped and asked if we wanted a lift, which we declined. I bought a hat over the road, Shirl & the kids bought sweets etc. As we passed the school the kids were just leaving and we gathered quite a crowd around us, good photos.



As we reached our camp we saw the taxi which had stopped earlier, it was the same one which had brought us here when we arrived, and was the one to take us to Katni at 6pm! Still, we did not need a life as we were exercising the kids as much as anything.



We had an early dinner and said our long farewells to Satyendra & Kay, getting group photo’s of us all with the staff (which both Saty & Kay treated very much like servants or slaves).



So we set off at 6pm for the supposed 4 hour drive, although Satyendra said 2.5. Our train was due to leave at 9.55pm. It was dark all the way so no scenery to see, although we saw 2 jackals on the road. The road was often a nice wide one, but would suddenly turn into a bumpy, rock-strewn track for a few hundred yards, then back onto a good road again (possible monsoon damage?) So we arrived at 8pm with 2 hours until our train was due. Rather than repeat our Varanasi experience, we turned down porters & headed to a cafe on platform 1, where we waited in relative comfort drinking tea & coffee until 9.15, then making our way over the bridges with our luggage to platform 3. Small neon signs dotted along the platform informed us as to where our carriage would be when the train arrived so we knew where to wait. Cows were wandering along the tracks, even a wild boar at one time! One cow came onto our platform and began browsing in the rubbish bins, Mal shot a good vid of it flicking the black plastic bag out of the bin, had us and other passengers all laughing.



Our train arrived 15mins late and we found our seats quite easily, this time we were in AC 2 Tier which gave us more room (the 2 bench seats, which faced each other, turned into 2 bunk beds, each with a small bag for bits and a light, curtains seperated us from the corridor and we got the usual sheets, blankets, pillows and towels) The western toilet here was the best I have ever seen, with a nice clean bowl and seat and even loo paper – with “For Indian Railways Use” printed on it. The kids went to bed quite soon and we followed not long afterwards.

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