We Saw Tiger Poop

Yeloooooooooooo people....I am back from the wilds. We had gone to Corbett this weekend with some friends who had come down from US of A. One of them is an Indian, born and brought up in the States and venturing out of Bombay for the first time ever on her third trip to India. We sure showed her some sights and sites she never saw before :)

We left early Friday morning, really early on a cold winter morning and reached Corbett around 11 in the morning. We had booked two cottages overlooking the Kosi river and an awesome view. Our bathroom was bigger than the room by the way and we had to carry our buckets and go get hot water from the kitchen to bathe. The rest of Friday we just chilled and lazed around, had some really yummy food - it wasn't any five star food, but just simple sabzi, dal, chicken & hot hot phulkas straight off the tava. Post lunch, after some rest, we went on a trek to the river. We had to go down a rough path eked out of the hills - getting down was not that scary, but getting back up sure was cuz it was steep path with no handholds, and we were a little wary of holding onto twigs and putting our hands on rocks because we had been warned off snakes. We spent the rest of the evening just chilling around the bonfire and spending lots of quality time with Arjun.

Saturday morning, the boys went off to get passes for the jungle safari, while we ladies slept in. We had opted for the afternoon safari, which in retrospect was a good idea in the winters otherwise we would have been shivering in the chilly morning at 6:30. After a hearty brunch of alu ka paranthas, we left for the safari at 1:30 n the afternoon. We entered the park from the Brijrani side. We spotted quite a few spotted deer and some sambar deer too (which is allegedly the favourite meal of the tiger, which led us to believe that tigers are South Indians :P). One sambar deer just came and stood right in front of us as we were going along the path. We saw a herd of elephants too - there were about 2-3 full grown females, 2 teenagers and 1 baby. They were quitely grazing one one side of the path that we were taking. Our guide had warned us to switch off the flash on the camera, so that we don't disturb/ distract them. Unfortunately another group right behind us did not switch off their flash, and suddenly one of the full grown elephants came charging at us. Oh boy, we sure told our driver to take off asap. We saw tiger poop, mounds of elephant poop and we caught a deer pooping. Lots of poop tales. We never got to see any tiger. Our guide told us that Corbett has about 164 tigers but very rarely are they spotted. We however did get to see some tiger pug marks which we were informed were pretty recent. At one point, we just stopped and took in the serenity of lots of greenery, tall trees practically blocking out sunlight, a small stream gurgling away, birds chirping, monkeys jumping from tree to tree. It makes one realize that money and the hustle bustle that we are used to is not everything, sometimes we just need to stop and smell the roses.

The rest of Saturday evening again was spent chilling around the bonfire, and everyone else laughing while I got stalked by the smoke. I swear, each time I shifted my chair around, the smoke followed me. Not funny, cuz I had a bad bad headache by the end of it.

Sunday morning, we were up and sadly had to get back to Delhi and to the daily grind. This was a welcome and a much needed break. We stopped to smell the roses, hear the birds chirping and watch the stream gurgling away. Sure puts things in perspective. Also makes me realize that I still have so much to see in India itself (though I have traveled quite a bit around the country with friends and family) - we got snow, rain, desert, beaches, mountains, nightlife, swamis, culture, crowded streets and friendly people all here in India.