Tigers, Birds and Bianca

Ummm...Don't feed the tigers??? Don't get out of the jeep?? What exactly are we being told?

There is a 25% chance of seeing a tiger at this time of year.  We saw one on our first safari...there is no way we were going to see anymore.  Gordon, Ajeet, the girls and I were up at 5:45 braving the frigid morning weather to hunt down these amazing creatures... we were excited and determined to break the odds!  

We were lucky enough to have Bobby back as our guide and an equally skilled driver...15 years experience, and you could tell, he could easily be a professional rally car driver.  Ranthambore National Park is split into zones and jeeps that enter the park must have a tag on their license plate identifying the zone they are restricted to travel in.  Our jeep was tagged Zone 2 this morning.  We had high hopes of spotting the "Queen of the Mountain Tigress" and her three, 10 month old cubs.  Along the way to her territory we saw alot of wildlife in their natural habitat.  It was breathtaking, even though in the back of our minds we were looking for the tigress and her cubs.

Great Cormorant

Eurasian Spoonbill

Sambar Deer

Banyan Tree

Bobby listens for the warning calls of the monkeys and peacocks to determine if and where a tiger was moving.  His experienced ear told him Zone 4 was the place to be (that is where we saw Machali yesterday).  Without us having a clue of what was happening the driver stopped the jeep, jumped out and quickly changed his license plate tags from Zone 2 to Zone 4 then sped off (higly illegal in the park).  I thought what a brave man, jumping out in the middle of the park.  However, near the end of this excursion Savitri had an emergency bathroom issue and her and I had to hop out of the jeep in the Reserve!  The owlets and spotted deer starred at us and Savi thought it was hilarious that the animals were watching her pee!

Bobby took us to the highest point in the park.  It was a spectacular view.  We were all speechless...but still no tiger.

Then our driver, while maneuvering these rocky dirt paths, clearly only the insane would  define as roads, spotted these tiger foot prints!

Queen of the mountain was on the move! Our hearts skipped a beat!

Unfortunately it was not meant to be this time, but on our way out of the park Gordon spotted an Indian Hare (white tailed rabbit!). It was amazing observation, even Bobby was impressed and the girls were  in awe of their Foofaji!  It was still an exciting adventure.

Alok and Bianca arrived just in time for the last safari.  Bianca came with us and Alok went with Neen, Gordon and Jay.  Off we went on our final adventure.

We began again in Zone 2 because Bobby said he got some more of his invaluable "information".  Our driver this time was significantly more reserved this time and it appeared to annoy Bobby (and us).  Bobby was as eager as we were to see a tiger.  We were looking for Tiger 39, a pregnant female.  Bobby hollered at the driver to speed up and pass other jeeps and trucks.  Not 10 minutes into the journey Bobby motioned to us that Tigress 39 was on the move up ahead and brought the jeep to a hault.  We saw nothing initially...then turning the corner this was our view!

At this point, the pictures get a bit blury..why you ask?   We are actually madly reversing in the jeep because she is walking towards us (seriously within feet)!!!!!

Look in the bottom right corner...that is Bobby's camera lens....T39 (Tigeress 39) was less that 5 feet away from us.  We seriously could have reached out and pet her!  Note her belly as well, she is pregnant!  Tigers have a gestation period of 95 days, she is near the end of her pregnancy.

One of the larger safari jeeps drove up and T39 darted off the road...disappearing.  But very rapidly Bobby brilliantly guided the driver to a nearby spot where she lay resting.   It was amusing listen to Bobby demand the driver go through streams and off road to get a closer look. We watched T39 stretch, lick her hind leg, roll over and wiggle her ears for 30 minutes.  It was a truly spectacular sight and we were obviously still on a great high from having her literally walk to our jeep.

While we were waiting to see if T39 would move a Indian Pie Tree Bird thought Bianca's hat was mighty fine and decided to attack it then take a break on her head!

We also got a picture of Bianca's face when the Pie Tree initially swooped onto her head, but can't upload it at the moment...stay tuned because it is worth the wait!  We were all very impressed at how calmly she handled herself, after a moment of initial shock she was spinning around letting tourists on the jeep behind us snap shots of her.

We ended the trip with this sunset....seriously does life get any better?

Overall an amazing day and a truly once in a life time experience.  My only regret...the rest of the crew was not with us...Nina, Gordon, Jay and Alok were in Zone 4 with less luck.

Tomorrow we move on to Agra, where the Taj Mahal awaits us!

Shannon, Ajeet, Jaya & Savitri

Bengal Tigers?????

We began the day with a drive from Japiur to Ranthambore.  Considering it was only a 4 hour drive we thought it would be easy…however on Indian roads it was more like a 4 hour roller coaster ride.  

To say the drive was chaotic is a vast understatement.  We narrowly dodged fire trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, pedistrians with a death wish, tractors, camels, pigs, warthogs, uncountable other animals and motorized modes of transportation.  I am shocked that our driver didn't flip our mini-bus on countless occasions.   Actually at one point, when I was holding baby Jay, we went over a road bump (about a foot high) in the middle of the one lane highway that sent us literally flying out of my seat onto the floor.  Luckily, I had a death grip on Jay so there were no injuries but the trip was frightning.

Gordon was feeling slightly ill, I was unable to spot even a fragment of road that was not bombarded with pot holes and the kids, they just giggled away.  The icing on the cake was when I heard Mom (Pushupa) tell Ajeet that she was amazed how organized and well built these roads compared were to Varanasi!  We are in for quite the treat there.  Ajeet believes that the Indian roads are one of the reasons that people in India are so religious.

And we thought our ride was bumpy!

Rudolph the red nose camel!!

We made it to our hotel Oberoi Vanyavilas where we will be spending the next 2 nights in a Luxuary " tent".

As the gates to the property opened we were greeted by 3 monkeys!

We didn't realize what a common occurrence this was!













Next stop…Ranthambore National Park.  Covering 410 square km, Ranthambore runs along the easternmost spur of the Aravalli to the Vindhya Mountain ranges.

At one time, Ranthambore was a private hunting ground for the Royal family of Japiur, and home to 26 villages and thousands of Tigers.  In 1972 it was declared a Sanctuary and brought under the Project Tiger Plan with only 28 Tigers remaining. For more information how on Project Tiger check out this site: projecttiger.nic.in

Since it is winter we would told we would only have a 25-30% chance of spoting a tiger… we were a little disappointed (scared actually) as Ajeet and I were under a severe pressure from our daughters to show them a tiger in their natural habitat.   We kept our hopes up and went to meet our naturalist to begin our safari in an open air jeep.   Now as karma would have it our naturalist was named Bobby and for those who know ChaCha Bobby (the whistling dancer at our wedding) we felt this was a good sign.  Moments after meeting Savitri, Bobby realized the intensity of Savitri's desire (more accurately termed need) to spot a tiger.

Our driver who, thank God, had 25 years of driving experience, sped along on a rocky (by my standard small boulders), narrow, sandy paths at 60km per hour following "information" he had received of a tiger sighting.  I had a death grip on Savitri and Jaya as we sped our way through the jungle.  They giggled the entire time singing and shouting at the wildlife, as my entire body began to seize up with tension.

I was in awe of the dry deciduous forest covers followed immediately by open valleys with lush vegetation around lakes, and wide grasslands in the higher slopes…on steep inclines of up to 60 degree angles to these higher slopes.  The varied flora supports a large number of animals, including somber and spotted deer, langor monkeys, wild buffalo, warthogs, peacocks, crocodiles, mongoose, and a wide variety of birds including parakeets with the most vibrant green I have even seen.

Spotted Deer

The watering hole

…but still no Bengal Tiger..












Moments later we whipped around a corner and came to an abrupt halt….only to see.... A BENGAL TIGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is me controlling my excitement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Not only did we see a BENGAL TIGER we saw the mother of Broken Tail, star of the documentary we watched numerous times prior to our trip!!!!!!!!  My heart is pounding just writing about the experience hours later.

The tigress' name is Machali, translating to Lady of the Lake, as she lived by the watering hole, until her daughter was born.  After 1 year of nurturing her daughter and the next year teaching her how to hunt, Machali's daughter (born in 2002) kicked her out of the prestigious lake area.  Now Machali resides deeper back in the forest.  Machali was born in March 1997 and she is regarded as the Mother of Ranthambore because she has produced so many litters (5 to date).   She is a beautiful tigress, with exquisite markings.  She has a unique stripe on the side of her face that is in the shape of a fish.   The pictures tell the rest of the story far better than any words I can muddle together.  Please enjoy and wish us luck tomorrow as we venture out again at 6am!

Shannon (photography by Ajeet!), Jaya & Savitri

Monkeys, Crystal and Art

What do these 3 things have in common you may ask?  In Udaipur they are within 100 feet each other!

India is a country that, with over a billion people, is attempting the art of living in harmony with what I would consider "Wild" animals without caging them.  In fact, many of these "wild" animals become a routine ingredient in India's fabric of life.  While walking the streets of India one must constantly be on the lookout for camels/cows/monkeys/elephants etc.  On the sidewalk awaiting our van, numerous Languor (black faced) Monkey's casually scurried just feets away from us.

We were in awe watching primate babies balancing on fences, eating leaves, snuggling with their mom's and entertaining us with their playfulness.  Savitri wanted Ajeet to feed the monkeys some berries.   When he refused Jaya quickly jumped at the opportunity....but unfortunately/fortunately we stopped her for fear of some rabid monkey attack!


We had a brief walk through the Crystal Gallery, one of four interconnecting palaces inside of the City Palace in Udaipur.  This gallery had an eclectic collection of Crystal Object d'art and furniture including a complete crystal bedroom set, discovered recently in a store room in the palace.  Now you can understand with 3 kids why the visit was kept brief!  There are no photos of this gallery as we were all trying desperately to keep our children from smashing the priceless crystal.

We had a cruise on Lake Pichola stopping at a 17th century Water Palace that was refuge for Prince Shah Jahan (later to be the one who develops the Taj Mahal), when he was exiled by his father.  His palace here is a curiosity - the upper floor designed in the Hindu style while the lower floor is built Muslim style.

Local's launduring their clothes as we drive ride by them...it does not go unnotivced to any of us how lucky we are.  We are having some very interesting discussions regarding the balance of wealth here and how we contribute to the problem but want desprately to help with a solution.

Next stop, an art gallery for a brief sampling of the magnificently detailed paintings.  And of course by the end of the the presentation the girls were invited to join the artists and create their own works of art!

At the gallery we  bargained for out first souviner. A painting titled Maharana Swarup Singh Ji: Watching an elephant fight at the Chaugan.  The original is in the city palace which we saw the next day.

Hotel Fateh Garh is perched on a hilltop overlooking Udaipur and its many lakes.  Hotel Fateh Garh is heritage hotel is derived from the Urdu word for victory 'Fateh', and the Sanskrit word 'Garh' for fortress.  The view is stunning and the place is beautiful yet, after our Lake Palace experince/high not fully appreciated.

Shannon, Ajeet, Jaya & Savitri

Udaipur .. Experience India's Opulence.

The Lake Palace Hotel... words WILL fail me... but i will give it a shot anyway.

Udaipur is a relatively small city of 500,000. But its a real jewel in a crown for the region that was the Mewar kingdom. The city was supposedly born when the Maharana - Udai Singh II was out hunting and came upon a hermit that blessed him and upon listening of the "Maharanas" troubles with invading Moghuls (a derivitive of mongal), passed advice to build his kingdom's capitol on the site. Principly becouse the mountain terrain of the aravalli range presented good defencive ground and hindered the movement of the Moghul army's armoured horses.

Our guide told us that The title of 'Maharana' should not be confused with 'Maharaj' meaning great king. 'Maharana' means great warrior and the there is a great deal of pride based on this distinction. On a side note its not surprising that given India turbulent history of invading dynasties all shaping the country, the caste system has its own representation of this with the warrior caste - the Kshatriyas. Our guide Jitu Singh explained that he is decended from this caste and the Singh (meaning Lion) is a common surname in this caste. Whilst very popular with Sikh faith, it is not exclusively sikh.

So it turned out the Hermit advice was sound and whilst much of the other parts of the kingdom fell, Udaipur did not and the decending line of the Maharana rulers have added more and more opulence to it. And thats really what this blog entry is about.

      

Udaipur Palace provides a good example. On discovering the city, Europeans referred to it as the Indian Venice. I thought Monte Carlo personally but lets not split hairs. A small story i liked, could be referred to as a Maharana version of "Cash in the attic". To enlighten Indian readers this refers to a mildly crass UK television show in which the premise of entertainment is derived by irritating "professionals" pontificating over the value of someone's junk regarding its value before hawking it all off at an auction house. I suppose the premise is that one of these forgotten unwanted artifacts may just be a hidden teasure. Of course they never are.

  

The Udaipur palace version was a little better when a huge collection of Crystal was found. For 300 years it was forgotten. So the crytal was used to make th most opulent of furniture. Chairs, tables, lamps etc etc all out of pure crystal. My particular favorite was the crystal 4 poster bed. Unfortunately the ruling Maharana never got to enjoy the use of any of it as he died at the age of 29. His successor deemed the crystal to be bad luck and has never permitted its use. It sits only as a museum attraction.

However many other of the treasures of Udaipur are in use. On the picturesque Lake pichola sits 4 man made islands where kings retreated for indulgences beyond what we could imagine and on a scale we wouldnt believe. The three arches below are common place for major entrances, the middle arch is for the king and perhaps his close entourage, all others would pass through the side arches. Two of the islands where specifically built for the king to enjoy indulgences that were forbidden for anyone else. He even forbade his own son to enter a 'pleasure island' on account of his activities being too much of a  a bad example to expose his son to.   

Lake Pichola has some strange but enchanting characteristics. At some angles it captures the Light  like liquid silver. It never seems to break into a a wash. The boat wakes roll to the shore like liquid glass.

           

But the real point of opulence that still remains is the The Lake Palace Hotel - a marble island retreat built in the 1750's as a summer retreat for the king, and now a luxery hotel of the Taj group in which you are treated like a king. Sounds like a cheesy tag line right. This place just floored us from the outset...... 

Now James Bond entered the establishment via a mini sub disguised as a Crocodile in the movie Octopussy. I'm quite a Bond fan so i remember that he unzipped his dry suit to reveal a full dinner tuxedo. Our entry didnt quite live upto that but not that far off.

A private fotilla brings you to a front dock where you are greeted by a trio of strikingly beautiful young women and a large gentleman of an Indian strongman resemblance. (Kshatriya descendant im guessing) bearing a large red and gold umbrella. On approaching the middle arched front door, a shower of rose petals rained down on us.

We were escorted to an open marble courtyard where the clientele were seated around and served exquisuite tasting fruit snacks and juice, there was already a Rajistani dance performance. This involved a striking women witha an array of tricks such as balancing a tower of pots on her head  and intermittingly standing onto objects, such as swords. The surrealness of it all was nothing short of dream like, the live music accompaniment increased the drum and chanting pace fevourishly while extrodinarily complimented with a chorus of birds that had descended into the 4 small trees in each corner of the courtyard. Upon the end of the show we were led (still mesmerised) through the main garden courtyard where another dancer was sillently shadow dancing as a backdrop to the stunning lotus garden courtyard..... someone pinch me.... but then i couldnt even dream this place up.   

Views are nothing short of stunning. The service really is exempolary. Everything about this place is just ultimately refined to service you to the highest standard.

Although looking at Jay's face......you can never please everyone.

Breakfast in the gardens.

 

Our rooms were on the top balcony and looked onto the city palace on the shore.

Myself and Ajeet enjoying the rooftop terrace.

Gordon Nina & Jay