Kabini

Katrina had a four day weekend so we decided to take advantage of that vacation over in Kabini. The Kabini dam has backed up the river to form a huge lake which is surrounded by jungle. We went on a boat safari around the lake and saw elephants, a crocodile, wild boar, spotted deer, sambar (big deer - a tiger's favorite food!), and many, many birds. The following morning we went on a jeep safari through the jungle. The vehicle was a truck with six seats attached theater style to the cab. There were three rows of two seats; the cab had been extended to allow room for the back two seats. The seats themselves were fairly comfortable, but without seat belts. The roads really aren't that great, so whenever we went over large potholes we found ourselves launched at least a foot from our seats. There were a couple times that I almost found myself in Katrina's lap.. and she was sitting diagonal from me! It's a good thing I was hanging on! The most exciting part of the jeep safari happened as we were driving down the road to the lake. It was morning, so of course that would be the best area to spot animals. We were driving along, straining to see the birds in the trees, when in front of us a group of 12 people ran across the street.. what?! The number one rule when you're in the middle of the jungle: Stay Inside You Vehicle! We drove a bit further to ask why they had abandoned their jeep and they pointed to a stuck vehicle next to the lake. Apparently the driver had done off the dirt road closer to the lake to get a better view of an elephant. Well, he drove a little to far and managed to get stuck in the mud. He tried to back out and nothing happened. The elephant noticed the disturbance and decided to meander on over to see what was happening. The guide told everyone to run for a place to hide across the street, and that's what was happening when we drove up. They all piled into the back of our truck and we watched the elephant walk slowly by, minding his own business. He sufficiently cleared the truck and the drivers and guides went to push the truck out of the mud successfully. We drove a little further on after everyone had returned to their proper vehicle, and stopped on the road where we could get a proper look at the large creature. He was sixty feet away. He passed a couple trees, turned, and started towards us. He stopped at a tree about thirty feet away and started scratching himself: his back, his legs, etc., on the bark of the tree. I got lots of pictures! I even took a video because I thought that would be better than mere photographs. That was by far the highlight of the trip. It would have been wonderful to see a tiger or leopard, but it was nice to see an elephant up close.

-One of the many beautiful views of the water and trees from the boat

-The first elephant we saw!

These are a couple pictures I took of the birds. I have tons more, but they aren't the best pictures. I liked the contrast, especially in the second picture, of the tree and the clouds. We saw herons, osprey, kingfishers, snake birds (they dive into the water and swim for awhile before poking their heads above water to breathe and see around them! That was exciting to see...), hornbills, eagles, and many others.

-an egret
-the jungle road

-Spotted deer! The males had magnificent antlers! This is just one of the many herds that we saw that morning.

-Here everyone is taking a picture of the truck stuck in the mud.
-This is the elephant that scared them out of their vehicle...

-Monkeys!

-A pretty tree

-Katrina and I are so excited for the Jeep safari!

Sambar

Wild Boar

Here are a couple of elephant videos. The first is the elephant that chased the people from their vehicle, and the second is the first elephant I saw.

The food at the resort was amazing! It was a buffet of Indian food. I am still trying to get used to the spice, as it is in everything, but I am certainly enjoying the experience of eating new food. I am amazed at how many different ways there are to cook potatoes.

We ended up leaving a day early because we had "done all there was to do", (though how that's possible in a new area I'm not sure). We stopped in Mysore on the way home and visited the Mysore Palace. If you want more information about it, visit: http://www.mysorepalace.org/ I was not able to take pictures of the inside, but I did get a few of the outside and grounds. It is an impressive place, to be sure. There is a lot of history there. For 700 years while Mysore was still an independent State, though the British occupied the rest of India, the same family ruled. A 700 year monarchy is a great feat, especially in light of the conquests of the British and Portuguese. The palace was built out of fire-proof materials (100% fire-proof, the guide said, although there were quite a few wooden doors...) and contains many imports from Britain, Belgium, Italy and France. We discovered that Mysore was the first city in India to have electricity, thanks to the nearby dam. Mysore was also the first city in India to have indoor plumbing! It seems it has been at the forefront of those technologies in India because of the affluence of the area. Apparently there was a rather large gold-mine there for some time.

We attempted to find another palace between Mysore and Bangalore, but we managed to only find the fort in that area. We stopped to ask for directions near a man-made hill that I assume was a watchtower of sorts when the fort was active. There were these darling children at the top of the hill who tried to hide when I pointed my camera toward them. I don't know why they initial shy reaction, because as soon as I was about to put my camera away, they all posed for me. They all wanted to shake Cindy's and my hands. They were adorable.