Saturday 17 February: Safari

We were going on a Safari today but to get there we needed to drive for 5 hours. So at 6 A.M. we woke up and 15 minutes later we left heading for Kabini. We got a box with breakfast in it from the hotel which we ate in the taxi.

We drove for 3.5 hours before reaching Mysore. This is a big city in India on the west coast. We wanted to visit the castle but it was still closed so first we went to another temple on a mountain, the Chamumdeshwari temple.

The view from the mountain was beautiful, you could see the city and see the nature. This was very nice to see. When we reached the top where the temple was located there were everywhere signs saying that there were apes and you needed to be careful with them. We didn’t see them, but the signs told us there were.

So we visited the temple, after taking off our shoes. There was a big ceremony and songs were played. This was impressing to see. We also got a new Bindi on our head and we just had a look there. After our visit I needed to go to the toilet, but when I opened the door there was just s hole in the ground and that was the toilet. This was the first time I saw this in India so it surprised me.

So when we saw everything we went back to Mysore to visit the castle which was open now. We had a quick look because we needed to drive for another 1.5 hours. The castle was very big and very beautiful with lots of decorations. It was very busy there and while we were visiting the castle we also needed to pose for some Indians who wanted to make a selfie with us.

But we needed to go on because we still had a trip of 1.5 hours ahead. So we went back to the taxi who brought us to Karbini.

In Kabini we first got lunch, they said it was a buffet. But there was only Indian food, as I didn’t know how it taste I didn’t eat it and I only could eat rice. So I hoped that this food was worth it for the coming hours, because we would go on a safari.

So at 3:15 P.M. we went for a safari. We could choose between the boat or a Jeep. We were told that the boat was very beautiful in the afternoon so we chose the boat. Before getting into the boat the view was already very very beautiful. You can not see this in the Netherlands so it was already very nice before the safari even started.

The motor of the boat started and we drove away. In the beginning we saw lots of birds and fishes. We even saw a fish jumping out of the water. To see all of this was very nice and we wanted to take pictures of it, but we didn’t brought a very good camera. Everyone else who was also on the boat brought very big cameras with very big lenses.

But after 30 minutes of searching we saw an elephant standing on the beach next to the water. We really wanted to see one because everywhere here they are selling elephants as souvenir. And because we only had seen elephants in the zoo and never in wild before. So we were already happy with this and everything still coming was only bonus.

The bonus was very good. First we saw some otters sitting in a group and diving into the water. There were around six of them. But the surprise still needed to come. After we saw the otters we drove a bit further and we saw a tiger. A wild tiger! We didn’t expect to see this so this was very nice. Everyone on the boat was very quiet and holding their breath not to get the attention of the tiger. Because the tiger was chasing a cow. The cows were walking a big group but this cow was walking alone. So the tiger was chasing the tiger for more as 100 meters. We could see it very well and this was very cool to see. But then we lost him.

We also saw a lot of apes and deers. The apes were running away of the tiger because they already saw him. But we also saw two crocodiles covered by the grass. They were very hard to see but with binoculars you could see it. They were both lying on a small island covered by grass. The color of their skin was really covering them. I never expected to see crocodiles in the wild, this was extremely cool.

Then the safari was finished and we went back to our shanty. The trip also included a movie about tigers. So we watched it and afterwards we had dinner. This was a bit better although much of it was still Indian. I ate a lot of chicken from the barbecue because this was one of the things I liked.

After dinner we went to bed early because we would need to wake up at 5:45 A.M. next morning for another safari.