Advertisement
BUNDI & RANTHAMBORE NATIONAL PARK
A bus ride away from Pushkar is the fairytale town of Bundi. A place well off the beaten track and with very few foreign visitors, but a magical one that was a little hidden gem!
The main town is made up of old havelis and small buildings, many painted the Brahmin blue as is tradition, and surrounded by rocky hills, one of which has the abandoned Maharaja's palace clinging to its side with a ruined fort sitting right on the top!
The palace was abandoned many years ago and shut up with only the bats as tennants and has only recently been opened for the public to see. Unfortunately this means that it's in a really bad state, but somehow this makes it even more endearing and eery, yet magical to look around. The intricate paintings on the walls and ceilings must have been magnificent in their day.
We trekked up to the ruined fort just before sunset which gave the sandstone walls a orange glow. It's quite difficult to get to and so not visited very often, so we were on our own, with a couple of broken branches to fight
the crazed monkeys away with!
This place was like a maze, with stairs leading to different levels and secret rooms, and trees and bushes growing inside the courtyards. As the sun sank we became a little worried that we wouldn't find our way out!
We stayed at a fantastic little Haveli, ran by 'Mama' who's a plump, friendly little lady who cooked us meals both evenings - Naturally I hang around to pick up as many tips as possible, but the way she was throwing in the spices, I'm sure I couldn't get the same measures, and my chapattis were nowhere near as round as hers!
Dan - One of my objectives in visiting India was to glimpse one of the few elusive Tigers. (if you want to see a Tiger then go to a zoo you say??) well no to see a Tiger in a Zoo is like seeing an F1 car in a showroom you will never see it's true potential.
So off we went to a national park, bare in mind you have to be very lucky to see one, so after 2 1/2 hours or so driving around seeing all the other
wildlife Spotted deer, Sambhar, mongoose, owls, many pretty birds, crocodile, wild boar, and many others, there was no sign of a tiger and I started to feel gutted as the end of the safari was near. The sun was starting to set, and it was getting a lot cooler, just then our guide spotted one by the lake under a tree, Yee Haaaaaa. He was difficult to see at first as he was lying down but after a while he got up to stretch and wondered down the hill for a drink in the lake.
So now off back to Jaipur (the bomb site) for a few days before moving onto Agra home of the Taj Mahal.
xxxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.07s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0423s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Nikesha
non-member comment
amazing!!!
Hey nic (and dan), it looks like you are having an amazing time, your photos are lovely and your blogs so descriptive....how jealous I am! You are not missing anything in England especially Stuart Peters! Anyway carry on...bye bye. xx