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Published: October 27th 2017
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On our way into the parkWe arrive at reception as requested at 6am, there are a various assortment of people, waiting to be picked up for their safari by a various assortment of safari companies. Mainly we consist of Indian families, with very few westerners. The excitement is palpable among the children as the Gypsies (4x4 jeeps) and Canters arrive to transport us all into tiger country. We have booked the Gypsy as it is only for 6 people, the Canter is more like a bus with the roof ripped off, you could call it a convertible bus, these ones are unable to go to all the places that the Gypsies manage to get to.
We are last ones to be picked up , we purposefully head out towards the park, even being on the main road is a bumpy ride. Visitors are allowed in 20% of the park and this is divided into 10 areas with 10 gates. We are entering the park at gate 7. This guarantees that no one area is overrun. The park is well organised and is easily able to accommodate the many tiger hunters that come here every year to get lucky and ’shoot’ a tiger. Here anyone is
able to shoot a tiger with a Canon, if they so choose!
As we enter the park the terrain is rocky and bumpy and the jeep bounces around all over the place. We see a few different deer and an antelope but no tigers. The scenery is spectacular and we are all enjoying the ride, at one point the driver thinks he sees a tiger print on the floor so goes hurtling up a steep hill saying “hold on” but this proves to be a red herring, the wild life here truly is abundant. We head down the hill and all congregate with the other Gypsies in our sector in an open area next to what seems to be a public road. The Indian people in the car with us have a heated discussion with the guide in Hindi and we can tell from the tone that he is not happy about sitting here and thinks he could have driven his own car along the road and sat here to wait for a tiger. We circle around for another hour and still no sign of the tiger, maybe the tiger balm I put on my back is repelling them…
Shenton asks me if we don’t see a tiger this morning do i want to go on another safari this afternoon and I say no because ‘Once you haven’t seen one tiger on a safari you haven’t seen them all.’
Just as we think its time to head back our driver receives a call and he shouts ‘hold on.’ The gypsies roar into life and we charge forward anticipating a meeting with a tiger, either that or his wife has told him his breakfast is ready.
As we are suddenly propelled onto the public road that cuts through the park, I am now thinking his breakfast is getting cold and his dosa is in peril of being in the dog,
It’s not so! A tiger has been spotted. Though all we see at this point are 2 or 3 Gypsies and a public bus bursting at the seams with people. The road is blocked and excitement is buzzing around us, our driver manages to squeeze into a small space in front of every other vehicle, we now have the front row seats. We all look towards where everyone is pointing and 30m in front of us,
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Early morning drink just the other side of a small stone wall that divides the public road from the park, there we see him, a tiger crouched down, its front legs and paws extended forward holding onto something, we are told that he has just made a kill.
More vehicles are now arriving, motorbikes, trucks, buses and more and more people are now pointing and the excitement grows even greater. The guides are trying to hush the crowd. It is then that the tiger stands up and the screams from the crowd cause him to look around. He is a huge male tiger, superlatives at this point are pointless as it is his size that astounds us, just the sheer size of him. The tiger then slowly walks into the bush to the right of us.
We head a bit further along the road to try to get another glimpse of him, Shenton has my mobile phone ready for where we are hoping he may appear, we wish we had something better than a mobile phone to take the pictures with. Even more local people are now gathering too. At one point a local man dressed in a white sheet stands
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The waterhole attracts a lot takers up on the wall to try and attract the tiger, gesticulating for the tiger. The park rangers guides and the local people scream at him and throw stones at him I guess they don’t want the tiger so close to all the tourists and probably more importantly themselves. The tiger has now disappeared into the bush, ‘his fearsome symmetry is shining bright’, somewhere else away from our gaze.
Back to the hotel for a breakfast. Everyone is talking about the tiger viewing and the excitement of the experience. The owners say we are very lucky to have seen a tiger especially as we only did one safari. We are told later in the day that the tiger left it’s kill probably due to the noise and mayhem the other side of the wall, pesky humans. The rangers we are told will drag his kill further into the park and they are confident he will find it and have his feast.
The hotel has a spa in it which has a lovely sign advertising all kinds of different massages, the pictures are beautiful couples massages being advertise, I ask Shenton if he wants a massage too but he doesn’t
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Antelope, Blue bull?? Half cow half horse. want one so i book just for me. I go down to the spa area and there is a brown door with “spa” written on it, on a very dodgy looking sign swinging on a single nail. Why worry I think as the pictures of the spa look the part. An indian lady turns up who doesn’t speak any English and gestures for me to follow her into the spa. As the door opens my dreams of a lovely massage evaporate as I am faced with three metal doors, the first is to the shower (I will not be going in there) the second is to my massage room which has a metal bed and a dodgy looking sheet and some towels with stripes on the bed and the third leads to god only knows. The lady leads me into the massage room and gestures for me to get undressed as she tries to shut the door and realises it doesn’t actually shut, great! The massage itself is very nice if a little oily and as she finishes she motions for me to sit on a plastic stool, it is not the nicest feeling to sit on plastic while covered
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A horses head with the back end of a cow. in oil but hey ho. She now proceeds to put about half a litre of oil in my hair and gives me an indian head ‘scratch’. I can’t really call it a massage as all she seems to be doing is rubbing oil into my hair. It is very dry so can probably use it, I think. Overall I would say that this massage was akin to what a prison massage would be like if prisons had spas but even so it was a nice massage and I feel very relaxed and slippery from all the oil. Thank god we didn’t book the couples massage! We relax at the hotel for the rest of the day and pop out to the “dosa corner” restaurant to have a local dining experience before we head to the Train station in Udaipur. This time we know we are in a carriage together.
As we arrive at the station, immediately outside we see a multitude of people before us, we must quietly pass by them as they are all very much asleep. They lay on the floor with their belongings surrounding them. The platforms are relaxed and a few cows have decided to
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More Samba different water hole turn up, there is never a herd of cows in India as far as we have noticed, these cows don’t seem to like each others company. Do they sleep here inside the station with the sleeping people outside? Or more pertinently, are they leaving here? With us on the train? Perhaps leaving we decide, as they have heard about the tiger’s recent kill. Not so stupid then these cows. We get on the train and find our cabin which this time is a four berth. There is already a family sound asleep in the carriage, I hope they are not snorers as its an overnight, 7 hour train ride, to Udaipur
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