India Day Eight

This morning got off to a slightly bumpy start when I couldn’t figure out how to get hot water in the shower. But I shrugged it off, resolved to try again over lunch when I had more time to mess with it, and got going anyway.

The drive (with a different guide) began where the previous day ended, at a spot I nicknamed Solo Point. I suppose word of yesterday’s encounter spread among the guides, so it was natural enough to see if she was still in the neighborhood.

She wasn’t, but some other interesting denizens were. Just up the road from the point, we saw rangers riding park elephants. I saw some park elephants in Kanha that seemed like they weren’t having a real great time. But these elephants seemed happier and better cared for.

I also took advantage of a pause to take some pictures of the Bandhavgarh Fort plateau.

The fort was the location of the capital for many years, and after the government moved elsewhere, the maharajahs used it as a hunting lodge. Now it’s only open on August 1 every year, and at that time of the summer the park is only open to locals. So alas, no photos from the top.

It was still quite beautiful from the plains, though. Though this isn’t visible in the photo, the guide pointed out white spots on the side of the plateau and said they were vulture nests.

Breakfast at Bandhavgarh was in a crowded spot full of interesting sights, sounds and scents. When we piled into the jeep to hit the trail again, two local girls took the vacant seat behind me.

We went back to more or less where we left off, and before long the guides spotted tigers.

It took considerable maneuvering to get any kind of view of them, and even at best they were distant and difficult to photograph in the shadows. The guide said the pair was two of Solo’s cubs, around 13 months old and looking more like full-grown tigers than cubs to me. As hard as they were to see, it was still amazing to see them.

On the way out of the park I noticed a block with what appeared to be devotional art dedicated to a cobra and a mongoose. It reminded me of the Chuck Jones version of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. And at the same time I imagined the inscription on the side reading, “Watch them shake hands with the devil as they roar through the gates of Hell!” (70s era drag racing joke)

Back at Nature Heritage I got the hot water figured out and had a badly-needed shower. Then when we returned to the park we entered through the second gate rather than where we went in the first two times. The park also had a third gate, but we never went in that way.

Almost immediately we saw a jungle cat in a dry creek bed. This was apparently an exceptionally rare experience. As I saw only one house cat the entire time I was in India, seeing the domestic feline’s wild relative was a particular bit of good luck.

Later that afternoon we passed a field on the park border with a herd of cattle on the other side of a fence. An old man was keeping watch over them, playing a vaguely familiar melody on a flute. Then a little farther down the road we stopped to listen for calls.

All I heard for the longest time was a woodpecker hard at work on a nearby tree.

Then Ana appeared. She too gets her own entry.

After the Ana encounter we drove around the park for awhile. I got a good look at some jackals.

And a really pretty sunset.

Even tea that evening was extraordinary, accompanied by spinach pakoras, which are my favorites.

For dinner that night they added fried chicken and french fries to the bill of fare, special for their American guest.