Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan

We were close and figured - despite India's sub-par record on nature conservation - we had to take a stab at seeing a Bengal tiger in the flesh. Rantahmbore covers an area of 392 sq. km. and was once a Maharajas residence + hunting ground. The evidence of this is still present in the numerous lodges, temples + hides that dot the landscape and by the huge Fort that tops a rocky crag in the center of it all. Oddly enough, the park was still hunted by the Maharaja, and probably others, for years after it received the national park designation in 1980. From 1982 to 1992 the tiger population dropped from 44 to only 18 due to poaching. A plan for improvemnt called Project Tiger was instituted and today the tiger count has risen back to 40, including cubs.

We set out early in an open-topped cantor truck. Darin + I were the first aboard, but by the time we'd stopped at several other hotels the cantor was filled with rowdy Indian families, around 20 people in total. My hopes of seeing a tiger sank. The park was strikingly beautiful though, with rocky crags + lakes, so the ride itself was a pleasure. As we drove around the lakes, watching herds of sambar + spotted deer enjoying their morning drinks, the Indians munched on snacks and chatted away, seemingly more interested in social hour than a safari. Plastic bags + wrappers were carelessly tossed out the side and our guide had to hop out and retrieve them on more than one occasion. I was taking deep breaths, trying to not let my temper rise and just enjoy the nature, feeling glad that at least the deer weren't scared away by all the noise. We saw tons of exotic birds, languors + wild peacocks too. It was beautiful, but no tiger. We searched and searched. The guide pointed out fresh paw prints from a young female. Time was running out and still no sign. Then, we saw a lone sambar at the edge of the lake where a couple other cantors had converged, so we quickly drove over and stopped the engine to wait. This finally had the Indians attention, though they were still talking and our guide kept shushing them. The deer jumped in the lake and swam to the other side, but nothing pursued it. Something must have scared it though, so we cruised around the area, searching. All the jeeps and cantors were here now and had created a traffic jam on the dirt lane in their efforts to give everyone their money's worth. The Indians had all rushed to the front and were climbing on top of each other for a better view, their volume was rising with the excitement. The people in the cantor just ahead of us began snapping photos and the volume of our vehicle rose even louder until even Indians in the other cantor were shushing them. It seemed hopeless. I decided to sit back and just wait to see what happened. Many minutes passed and then, lo and behold, a muscular animal of orange, black + white began walking straight towards where I was sitting. I couldn't believe my luck! She was beautiful! The poor thing looked like she just wanted to get away from all the racket - I couldn't blame her. I felt pretty blessed to have been graced by her presence though, and that made it all worth it.


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Wedding Crashers

Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

It's wedding season here and we've been witness to many a procession + party simply by looking out a bus window or walking down the street. It's a sure sign when you see a turbaned, young man astride a horse in full decoration trailing a string of men + women, all dressed in their finest and most colorful. The part that's really fun is that these processions make their way through town with live musical accompaniment. Usually, a man pushes along a chromed, wheeled cart with several huge megaphone speakers attached, music blaring. Sometimes there's a live brass band too. A typical wedding often hosts a thousand or more people, but for this part everyone's welcome. Oh yes, and if it's an evening wedding? Well you just have some young boys carry fluorescent tubes connected to a rolling genny.

A Night in the Great Thar

Khuri, Rajasthan

I decided to head out on my own for a night to a small desert village outside of Jaisalmer to see what life is like at the fringes of livability. It took 2-1/2 hours to go the mere 40km on the local bus - stopping, going, stopping. There was alot of stopping. The bus was jam packed, and that included the entire roof of the bus too, so it took awhile to offload anytime someone would yell out or bang on the roof. It was 105F that day and I was exhausted, drenched + covered with sandy dust by the time I arrived. Within minutes of my arrival though, I was drinking a cup of chai (hot, of course) and had decided to immediately head out on camel-back to watch the sunset and spend a night in the nearby dunes. (Photo: My Driver leading stubborn, young camel away from the village)

Camel (elephant, horse, etc.) riding is torturous on the rear + thighs if you're not used to it and I was soon glad to have made a decision to do an abbreviated trip. An hour later we were at our stopping point for the night and I watched both the sun set + moon rise, simultaneous, from my perch on the dunes. The great Thar stretched as far as the eye could see. Back at "camp" the camel drivers had cooked up a simple meal which I enjoyed by the fading light. After this early dinner, I lay on my mattress on the sand, listening to the Drivers dine on my leftovers and the jingling of the camels. The moon was near full and I lay staring up at only the brightest of stars. I felt totally at ease. After awhile, I popped in my earbuds and listened to a spacey playlist I'd compiled - perfect for the occasion. The moon was luminous and the face of the man clearly visible. It was way too bright to sleep and I lay awake for hours watching the moon arc far across the sky. (Photo above: Note the new piercing on my camels nose. It was driving him crazy so he was doing the weirdest things with his tongue to try and touch it. Photo below: Moon rise over the dunes)


The Driver's dog kept watch all night along our camp perimeter, growling softly but menacingly at strays + other bumps in the night. In the moonlight, I could clearly see the silhouettes of the camels sleeping near their masters. They're restless animals, and I watched with interest their nocturnal fidgeting - the raising + lowering of their heads from the sand. It had become surprisingly cold, especially considering the heat of the day, and I was grateful for the thick blanket I was bundled under. (Photo: Me with Camel Drivers in front of traditionally painted village house)


I awoke after what must have been only a few hours to an even more pronounced lightening of the sky - the rising of the sun. My Driver served me a too-sweet cup of chai, which I stealthily rewarded the faithful watchdog with, before loading up our camels and setting out. The sun finally broke the horizon of the great Thar as we crossed the final set of dunes on our way back to Khuri.

Super-Size

From the very moment we entered Rajasthan, I had the immediate impression that we were somewhere different. Everything's more colorful; the people are taller, many have light eyes, and they wear turbans and skirts in vivid colors + lots of gold jewelry; the cows + goats are huge, and camels are the main animal-powered transport. It's an exotic land in the style of 1001 Arabian Nights. While much of the rest of India feels like it's on the path of modernization, however slowly, Rajasthan oozes history. (Photo: Co-travelers on our bus ride into the state. They thought it quite funny that we were so excited about all the camels.)


Day 5 in Jodhpur, the Blue City. It's a loud + dusty place to walk around and I constantly fear being run over by reckless rickshaws + motos (a fear that's not unfounded with several near misses). But the winding, pedestrian backlanes that climb up the sandstone slopes are a treasure trove of discovery. These lanes are lined with sandstone block homes - most painted Brahmin blue - with elegant tracery windows + colorful detailing. The people that live in the old neighborhoods are friendly and I've received several offerings by women in to their homes for tea during my solo wanderings. Most guesthouses in Jodhpur are in old (200-500 year) family-owned havelis whose interiors hold hand-painted murals. What's even better is that most have converted their rooftop to a restaurant, and the views from above looking down over the cubist, blue mass of buildings is amazing. The room where we're now staying is the nicest (and one of the cheapest) we've had in all of India. Rising up on a steep escarpment in the center of it all is the impressive Mehrangarh Fort. Towering over the city which it once served to protect. (Photo: Turbaned men carry Goddess during Festival)


The Fort is fascinating, especially after having read repeatedly about so many of these powerful Maharajas. To see their swords + gifts to one another (including Shah Jahan , the builder of the Taj Mahal) and walk through their private quarters makes the place feel so alive. And all before America was even discovered! This Maharaja - Jodha - was one of the good ones and his people produced some of the height of art + design of the period. They lived with pride + passion, and by a strict code of honor. In battle, they shunned the use of gunpowder, because they felt killing at a distance was without valor. It was only after being slaughtered in a subsequent war that they revised their position. In the event that they were obviously + completely overwhelmed in battle, Rajput men would don saffron robes and fight to the death, while the women + children would commit jauhar (mass suicide) to keep from getting captured + violated. Even the Rajput rulers fought in battle to protect their people... can you imagine ours doing the same?! How proud would/should you feel coming from tough stock like this?! (Photo: Jodhpur Fort + Blue City)


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A Big Impression

So, awhile back I said that I'd gotten to the point where I need to be more "Wowed". Well, our past couple days touring around the UNESCO Heritage Ellora + Ajanta Caves sure did it!

(Photo: Darin admires dynamic Hindu carvings)

All the rock-cut architecture here was carved in the period between 200BC - 900AD, primarily by Buddhists + Hindus as temples and monasteries. The dramatic, basalt rock landscape of central Maharashtra state is surreal in and of itself, and the caves are like the tasty, hidden filling. Originally, the Buddhists chose these sites specifically because the austerity of the landscape lent itself to simple, monastic life, and because the basalt rock was good for carving. The interiors of some (especially Ajanta) still hold elaborate mural paintings - done with natural pigments on wet plaster - but almost all were originally completely painted inside + out. (Photo: Darin on rock-cut ledge + stairs leading into caves at Ajanta)

We were so impressed by what we found here that we spent a full day at each site exploring. The caves were also great places to escape the heat of the day and do a little meditation of our own. As these are temples, you must remove your shoes before entering, and the cool stone feels wonderful on hot, tired feet. Despite the fact that Ellora + Ajanta are two of the more heavily-touristed destinations in India, being here in the shoulder season is refreshingly mellow (besides the sellers who are probably more aggressive than normal from lack of customers). The nearby, and dramatically sited, Daulatabad Fort also makes a worthy half-day stop before hoping a night bus to your next destination. (Photo: Striking stone columns at Ellora)

While I'd put all of these on my "must-see" list, most impressive of all is the giant Kailasa Temple. Aptly referred to as "one of the most audacious feats of architecture ever conceived", this temple (initiated in 760AD) is an enormous representation of the sacred Mount Kailash in western Tibet. To accomplish this, three huge trenches were cut into a cliff face and then the temple was born by subtractive method from the top by removing 200,00 tonnes of rock! To give you an idea of it's size, Kailasa covers twice the area of the Parthenon in Athens and is 1-1/2 times as high. How the architects + carvers achieved symmetry on this scale is beyond me, but the technique afforded multiple layers of carving, walkways + flying stone bridges (the latter, but one, are unfortunately no longer here). An amazing and beautiful feat of architectural achievement. Wow! (Photo: Cave guard takes an afternoon nap in a cool stone gallery)


(Photo above: Kailasa Temple at Ellora, Photo below: Note how tiny the men are standing on the rim)


(Photo below: View from rough-cut side terrace to second floor of Temple)


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