Ranthambhore Tiger Park

Doug had been to Ranthambhore National Park when I was in Vietnam and saw tigers on each safari, so we decided to go again. Getting the train tickets was a mess in itself as we were on a waiting list that moved slower than I was comfortable with, so switched to foreigners quota. Satender (my driver and all-around savior) took our passports and a letter of authority which says I authorize him to buy tickets on my behalf. However, they wouldn't accept the letter of authority despite him showing proof of identity because his signature wasn't attested to (what???) so this was an all day errand.

We got up all early for the morning train, got to the station about 20 minutes before the train was to leave, it was already at the station so we found our car and bunk and proceeded to kick out the people who were sitting on our beds. As they left they said something about the car not going anywhere (my limited hindi only understood this much) but no one but this one family seemed to be deboarding .... after about 20 minutes we got confirmation from others but since it was all in Hindi it was hard to know exactly what was happening. We eventually walked around the station and found a foreigners information booth and they said there was agitation on the tracks where we were going so the train was canceled. No announcement, I guess people just figured it out. I don't know what all the other passengers (most of whom were headed to Mumbai) would do. We called Doug's driver who agreed to drive for the weekend - we didn't really know how far it was. It ended up being about 7 hours and we had pre-booked a safari that afternoon which we missed. We weren't sure when we set out where the agitation was or if we'd encounter it on the roads. A ethnic group called the Gujjars have been protesting to achieve scheduled tribe status, which they say the government promised them during the last elections (it would get them reserved spots in government jobs and schools - sorta like affirmative action). It's the one year anniversary of their first big protests and they can shut down roads and trains for days. The papers later said they had dug up the train tracks (so good that they canceled the train) and there were gatherings of over 5000 on certain roads which resulted in police shooting and killing some of them. Thankfully not our roads.

It's low season at the park because it's damn hot! So we got to the hotel and were sticky and tired but took a short walk into town (Sawai Madhopur). It's such a tourist place (because of the park, there's nothing else there) that you're accosted by kids - some just saying hello but tugging at you and some asking for money or pens. I did see a discarded used packet of the birth control pills we sell here.

On Sunday, we had booked two safaris, the first at 6am. I made the mistake of bringing a mug of coffee and immediately spilled it due to the bumpy jeep ride to the park. It turned out to be a bad omen. Although we saw all sorts of birds and animals; antelope, deer, gazelles, crocodiles, wild pigs, langur monkeys, peacocks, monitor lizards, we saw no tigers. After the safari we drove back to the park(and I came to fully appreciate Doug's Isuzu Trooper, as the Zen wouldn't have made this trip) to walk around the fort. The fort was built in 944AD and is substantial. The park was originally the maharaja's hunting grounds (in the 1600s). The major temple in the fort is for ganesha (the elephant) - I would have thought Hanuman (the monkey) would be more appropriate. But clearly people come to the temple very early in the morning and the walk it LONG!

After lunch and canceling our return train tickets (agitation wasn't subsiding so trains weren't going) we went for the afternoon safari. The guide immediately struck me as someone I wouldn't like. Arrogant and self centered my first impression was surprise that he wasn't constantly on a cell phone and sure he would try to swindle us (although I couldn't figure out how you'd do that on a safari). He had been told Doug was a diplomat and that we hadn't seen a tiger so he was clearly going to show us a tiger. We also wanted to see one as Doug's driver had indicated that we might need to skip the next morning's safari and leave at like 5am in order to miss the agitation on the way back. As in the morning there were 4 paying customers in our jeep but the guide decided that his two friends should join which made the jeep very tight. The park is split into 5 zones and jeep picks one randomly each time out. We picked 3 but after flying around the zone he decided to cheat and go into all the other zones. So we'd go through the locked gates (he had a key), switch the tags on our jeep for the other zone, fly through that zone. We saw almost nothing that afternoon. At one point he heard from another jeep of a sighting so we zoomed over these very bumpy roads at top speed but when we got there the tiger had gone away. He then proceeded to tell us that he could lose his ability to give tours for 4 months if caught going into other zones and that he was trying so hard to show us a tiger and I realized this was his swindle. Break the rules to try to get big tips. We refused to tips so as not to encourage this but the other passenger gave 1000 rupees which is outrageous! I think it was more than the cost of the safari. We saw no tigers and didn't get a chance to enjoy the park, which was actually stunning at that hour, or all the other beautiful animals and birds.

We got dropped at the Oberoi (nicest hotel in town) deciding we needed a treat but they said they were only feeding hotel guests (what??). So we walked the very long walk home, heavily dehydrated. We stopped at dosa corner which turned out to be really good. The best masala dosa I've ever had (with a damn good coconut chutney and sambar). I don't think I've ever liked a masala dosa before.

We decided to risk leaving later the next day and do the one more safari as word was that it hadn't hit our roads home yet. And indeed the final morning we saw a tiger!

The trip home was long and hot (as the AC broke about 4 hours in) and we hit the Delhi suburb of Gurgaon at rush hour but no agitation! After a quick stop at the American compound for cheeseburgers and a Sam Adams - I finally reached home to enjoy the mango smoothie Tenzing always leaves for me and an episode of Air Crash Investigations with Kali. Not bad:)

Andamans!

Okay - I admit it, I'm totally blessed. Just returned from an amazing long weekend in the Andamans, mostly Havelock Island. The Andamans are a string of islands off the coast of Myanmar and Thailand but technically part of India (and strategically important to them militarily). There's the Andamans and then Nicobar islands which are part of the same string. Most of the islands are off limits to foreigners and even Indians. There are only a few, Havelock being one, that are open to foreigners - and you need a special visa (that is really easy to get). There are still some very remote tribes in the Nicobar islands, which are completely off limits to travelers.

Doug was doing two weeks of work in Chennai and I needed to visit our activities there too so I also went for work. We then took off Friday thru Tuesday. Getting there takes a full day really so it was a really quick trip. It's a two hour flight to the capital Port Blair and then a two hour + ferry ride to Havelock island. The ferry was miserable! There are lines of chairs in this room with fans and AC (broken) for about 60 people. It's a hot, muggy place to begin with but then bunches of people in an enclosed room - it was soooo hot. Crawling with cockroaches. No drinks or food options. The boat was clearly not meant for people ferrying - maybe fishing? Once it started moving everyone left the seats to go on the upper decks but there you could just stand amongst machinery. There were no seats and a lot of water accumulating....

But the water was clear aqua and we passed by gorgeous islands that all looked completely deserted, full of palm trees and mangroves.

What we really came to do was scuba dive so we stayed at Vinnie's - the DiveIndia place. Basic tent accommodations that seemed eco-friendly. We'd get up in the morning, go for two dives and get back somewhere between noon and 3pm. The first day we got back early and thought we'd check out "beach #7" which was rated by Time Magazine as the best beach in Asia. What we didn't realize is that is was 12 kilometers away- I think we thought it would be like 30 minutes walk max. So by the time we got there (about 10 kilometers in - after much blistering of my feet due to a poor choice of footwear we accepted the ride that some very nice passer by offered us) all we wanted was food. And to be honest I'm still not sure if it was beach #7 or elephant beach, which are both in the same area but apparently different. It was pretty - the only beach that had waves. But it was an Indian family beach so it would not have been comfortable to lay out in my bikini while all the Indian women were in the water fully sari'd up.

The only other afternoon we had we stayed at our beach (beach #5, the second best beach on the island). Sadly the dive had taken longer and we spent a long lazy lunch chatting with the other folks we went diving with so we really only got like 10 minutes of beach sun. Since India has only one time zone - they force the Andamans to be on the same time, which is ridiculous as they aren't close in proximity. So the sun rises at 4:30 in the morning and sets at 5:30pm. But I went out into the water which was child-peed-in-the-pool warm. I went out at least a quarter of a mile and was still only up to my knees. It's the kind of water that I associate with the Caribbean... crystal clear, white sand, aqua. In the end we both wished and regretted that we didn't have more beach time.

The dives were pretty amazing too. Other guests said it had rained the whole previous week, but it only rained for a few minutes a day while we were there. The first two days visibility wasn't great but good enough. The water was choppy too, and our boat on the first day died so we had to be towed the 30 minutes back to shore (top left picture). They have stunning fish - which I know nothing about so I can't tell you what I saw exactly but we did see a turtle, a bunch of lobsters, moray eels, and at least one fish as big as me. Most were medium sized fish with amazing colors. And vibrant coral. It's definitely the least polluted/touched beach I've ever seen. The #7 beach had tons of live shell fish on the shore - not a shell fish eater myself they looked big enough to eat. It is a bit weird to go diving to look at these gorgeous fish and then go eat fish....

There's very little to do on the island and it's not much effected by tourism. We're just past peak season (ended in March/April) so there weren't many people. The first day's dive was just Doug and I. There were a scattering of small huts, not a single big hotel. People don't seem to bother you - occasionally an auto would ask if we wanted a ride but there weren't really tourist shops. There was one central market but it was really for locals. Most locals are Bengali (came during Independence as I understand it). All the dive operators (there's two) are burmese who came from before Independence. Most of the locals make their money from farming it seems. They have goats, cows and land (rice, bananas and coconuts mostly it seemed).

The return trip took a day and a half as flights and ferries aren't timed to match so you take a ferry back to Port Blair in the afternoon and take a morning flight out the next day to Chennai and then another to Delhi. The ferry on the way back was slightly nicer (even with the kid in front of me throwing up on the floor and no one cleaning it up) and one cockroach that walked across my back, which is a very disturbing feeling. And the first class upgrade back to Chennai helped:)

As Doug is in the last few months of his India tour and we're about to hit monsoon season where everything closes - we're packing in the last big trips. This weekend we're going tiger safari-ing.