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June 19th 2013
Published: June 19th 2013
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Strutting his stuffStrutting his stuffStrutting his stuff

One of many peacocks being proud.
Leo originally agreed to write the blog for today and yesterday, but then he wigged out. So here I am again. I write to you from Jaipur, in the state of Rajasthan. We arrived here this afternoon on our drive from Sawai Madhopur, where we spent two nights in a safari lodge just outside of Rathambore National Park.

During our stay we had the opportunity to go on three separate safaris. Our 12 hours of riding in the back of a jeep, yielded a wonderful adventure, but no tiger sightings. We did get to see beautiful wildlife, a beautiful jungle (I would call it a forest) and experience a really amazing jeep ride. We saw: spotted deer, samba dear, antelope, lizards, peacocks (many, many, many), a large variety of beautiful birds, wild boar, monkeys and a mongoose. The thrill of the hunt was fun. With our naturalist, we spied animal tracks, listened for warning calls of other animals and sought out known hiding spots for the Royal Bengal Tiger. However, the rains of the last few days have allowed the jungle to go from its previously barren, arid state just a week ago, to a newly foliated, denser forested area.
Tiger tracksTiger tracksTiger tracks

This is as close as we got.
The tigers (and other animals as well) no longer needed to go to the known watering holes to find water. It was everywhere. It was even pouring on our heads during our first few hours on safari. At least the second 2 safaris were dry. Oh well, maybe next time.

The afternoon at the lodge provided the opportunity to chat with other guests. Most guests were of Indian descent, either living in India or visiting ‘home’ from another country. Given we are staying at 4 and 5 star accommodations (You already know I am spoiled), we are meeting the higher socioeconomic strata of India. Quite the contrast from what we have seen driving along the roads. (I will add more comments in a few days on the disparities of India socioeconomics. ). This morning we had breakfast with one young man, who “follows his passion for photography and wildlife”, while alternating trips between India and Africa. When we asked what kind of work he does, he stated, “My family invests in construction”. He did promise to share some of his pictures of tigers he caught earlier in the week. When I get them, I will post them as well.



This evening in Jaipur we had dinner out and enjoyed an entertaining acrobatic dancer along with a very weird puppet show. The only casualties were Leo’s humility and my reading glasses (which fell out of my pocket and got crushed), while we joined in the dancing fun.


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monkeymonkey
monkey

on the veranda at our lodge.


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