POSTCARD FROM INDIA - 16 December'16 – 7 January'17

I took off a bit late from Heathrow but had a good flight to Mumbai, and even slept a little.  I checked into the Hyatt Regency in Mumbai and spent the next two and a half days relaxing by the pool in glorious sunshine.  I had two enjoyable evenings out with friends but otherwise stayed quietly in the Hyatt.

 

Very early on Tuesday morning, 20^th December, I caught a flight to Nagpur, which took just over an hour. On arrival I was met by a driver who drove me to Tadoba.  It was an amazing journey, of two and a half hours, through villages in the middle of nowhere and I saw Indian life in the raw!  Saw so many cows, oxen [and carts!], goats, donkeys, pigs, dogs it was incredible and saw a lot of cotton fields too, and I had more cow/oxen/goat traffic jams than you can believe!  Once there you somehow really feel you are in the middle of nowhere!

I stayed in Svasara Lodge in Tadoba – comfortable but basic.  It seems to have most cons and everything worked well!  Sadly no safari that afternoon so had a quiet time unpacking and catching up.  However, next morning I had an amazing safari – within a few minutes of arriving in the park saw tigress, Chotitara, and her two cubs walk straight in front of our car, but almost too quick to catch a photo.  Later on that morning we found a beautiful tigress, named Maya, walking along the track – we stayed with her for about 40 minutes and got some great photos.  At one stage she was right beside me in the car – absolutely amazing!   The

afternoon safari was not quite as exciting, but it did finish up with the tigress Chotitara and her cubs walking right in front of us.  The next day both morning and afternoon safaris were fairly quiet, a few animals but no tigers.  On these safaris the dust is dreadful and you, and everything you are wearing, come back absolutely covered in pink dust!  My last morning at Tadoba was just as barren, only saw a few animals but nothing exciting.  It was another absolutely freezing morning and you have barely warmed up by the time you get back to the lodge at 11am.

At 12.30 on Friday 23^rd, I set off with my driver on a six and a half hour journey across central India from Tadoba to Kanha.  It was another incredible journey, going through many colourful rural villages, one or two small towns, lots of farming land, and a few forests. The sights were memorable and I would love to have taken many photos, but if I had stopped for every photo I wanted we would have been on the road for 10 hours! It was strange not to see any westerners or to be able to read any of the Indian road signs!  I eventually arrived at Kanha Earth Lodge at 6.45pm and settled in there.  Quite a nice lodge but it is freezing cold.  The other 12 all dined in the garden, but they offered me my meal indoors and I accepted.  My room was 

absolutely freezing, but at least they gave me a hottie in my bed!

After a bad night in a very cold room, I set off on my tiger safari at 5.45am.  Sadly we saw nothing, and it was absolutely freezing cold that morning which didn’t help.  The afternoon safari was also barren, so a bad day on the whole.  On Christmas Day I set off on a morning safari with my favourite guide, Happy, but again saw nothing very much, but he took me and another couple out in the afternoon, and we were SO lucky.  We saw a male and a female tiger.  The male went across in front of us quite close but not as close as in Tadoba.  About 15 minutes later we saw a female and we watched her for about 20 minutes as she gradually walked closer and closer and crossed the road just behind us. A great afternoon!

On Boxing Day I was driven to Pench – over three hours through the most wonderful Indian countryside, once again seeing rural life.  So many things to watch – they were farming fields, sorting hay and cattle, getting water, moving cows, goats and other animals around, often done by small children.  Ladies in colourful saris, often carrying the most incredible amount on their heads and many working the fields or the roads!  People on bicycles carrying enormous amounts with them!  Men just sitting around doing not very much!  Babies being washed, cows being washed, children sweeping the hay around the yards for their cattle….. and so it went on and on! 

Eventually I arrived at Pench Tree Lodge, and I had a room built around a tree!  Nicely done, but I am glad I was only there for one night!  Not the most comfortable of places to stay with animals in my roof!   No wifi anywhere so you are cut off from the world if you have no phone, like me.  My safari that afternoon was rather boring with absolutely nothing to see.  There is a lot of walking between your room, the main lodge area and reception and you cannot walk anywhere after dusk without a minder.  Not my favourite place! 

On Tuesday 27^th my driver met me at 5.30am and we drove three and a half hours to Nagpur where I caught a flight back to Mumbai, and was able to spend the afternoon in the sunshine.  On Wednesday after a morning in the sunshine, I took off for Goa.  I have to say the Grand Hyatt is not all that ‘grand’!  My room is comfortable enough although it is testing to find the light switches and how to get hot water from your bath tap.  The resort is enormous and finding your way around is a huge challenge.  I was also not impressed with ‘housekeeping’ in my room, which slowly drove me mad!  The pool was far too busy and I had difficulty in finding a quiet spot in the sunshine. Wherever you went it seemed to be the kids noisy corner – there were about three kids pools and many adults behaving like kids in the main pool! However I spent nine days there soaking up the sunshine and reading many books!

The journey home from Goa to London, via Mumbai, was a little trying as I got food poisoning.  I spent my evening in Mumbai in bed, and had a rather uncomfortable flight to London but was glad to make it home!