India diary
Sunday 20 February 2011
Our flight were more than two hours late from Paris, so we landed about two o'clock in the night. My transfer driver were still there so we could go to the hotel.
Monday 21 February 2011
We started visiting well-known places. The Jama Masjid mosque first and then India gate. After Lunch, we visited Humayuns Toomb ,which I have never visited before. It is a mausoleum built for the second Mughal ruler. It was built by his oldest wife. Other top officials are also buried there.
After this we started the long drive to Agra. We arrived late in the evening.
Tuesday 22 February 2011
We had an early rise in order to visit Taj Mahal in the early morning. It was misty making it a different sight from last the time I was here. I learned something new this time. The four minarets are slope few degrees away from the building. In case of an earthquake they will not fall upon the building. Some of the columns have a zigzag pattern in black making it looks like if there were more facets on the surface. (optical illusion)
We visited Agra Fort in the afternoon. It is an enormous building complex of which only one third is open to the public. The rest is occupied by the Indian military. Inside the fort is Shah Jahans Palace build in white marble with mosaics in semi precious stones like Taj Mahal. Here, lived the Mogul rulers, and Agra was their capital.
Wednesday 23 February 2011
The first stop today was Fathepur Sikri 40 km west of Agra. Those who has read Salman Rushdies: The Enchantress from Florence know the story about the greatest of all Mogul emperors Akbar the Great. He decided to build a fort and live here. Nobody spoke against him because he was soveraign. When he died the inhabitants left the place and it became a ghost city. Today the palace is accessible. It was built in red limestone. There are different explanations to why the city was abandoned. Some say lack of water, others say rebellion and revolution. Today a small village is still there. We visited the nearby mosque with the grave of the sufi saint Shaikh Salim Chisthi.
After the visit we went to our hotel in a small city called Bharatpur. Later on we started a tour to the Keoladeo Ghana National park. This is a place mainly known for its birds, but we saw deers as well.
Suddenly a group of rangers in their cars came passing by. A tiger had entered the area. It was
doped and then taken by helicopter to a tiger reserve. We heard about this incident but we saw nothing.
Thursday 24 February 2011
This morning we drove from our hotel in Bharatpur to the next hotel in Karauli. After lunch, we visited the Rai Palace in town. We were carried in a camel driven cart. We had a local guide to show us all the rooms in the palace, and we ended on the roof with a splendid view over the town. After this visit, we attended a Hindu ceremony in the nearby temple. There are two ceremonies during the day one in the morning and another in the evening. In the morning you wish the gods a pleasant day, and in the evening you wish them good night.
Friday 25 February 2011
We drove from Karauli to Jaipur and we arrived late in the afternoon. We drove directly to Amber Palace, which I also visited the last time I was here. We went through the palace in less than an hour. After this, we went to our hotel.
Saturday 26 February 2011
According to the written plan, we should have visited Amber Palace this morning. Instead we had the short visit yesterday, and this gave us a whole day to discover Jaipur on our own. I used my time to visit Mr. Andrews, who I stayed with the last time I was in Jaipur. I hired a bicycle rickshaw and it took some time to find the place again. He looked very well and so did his son, grandson and his daughter in law.
Sunday 27 February 2011
Drove from Jaipur to Ranthambore National Park, where we arrived at noon. After lunch we visited a fort placed inside the park.
Monday 28 February 2011
We have stayed here in Ranthambore the whole day. There are two trips during the day one in the early morning at sunrise and one in the late afternoon at sunset. There were many formalities at the entrance so when we entered the park long after sunrise. We saw many monkeys, deers, wild bores and birds, but we saw no tigers neither in the morning nor in the afternoon.
Tuesday 1 March 2011
We were driving all day from Ranthambore to Orccha which lies in Madhya Pradesh. We saw fields with chili and later on we saw drying of the chili in open air. Just before we arrived at Orchha we visited an ashram where they made paper and paper works as envelopes and paper bags and other thing made from paper.
Wednesday 2 March 2011
We stayed in Orchha today. In the morning we visited the city palace and after this a modern Hindu Temple. We ended our walk in a garden with four Cenotaps. These are buildings made as memory's for deceased kings. They are huge buildings, but nobody lives in them.
The afternoon was free, but I was resting my sick stomach.
Thursday 3 March 2011
Drove from Orchha to Khajuraho. We were there at noon. The afternoon were spent visiting the western temples decorated with erotic art. They are placed in a very beautiful garden. These temples were abandoned at a certain point and the buildings were covered by the jungle. Fortunately they were never found by Muslim conquerors and destroyed.
Later we visited the eastern temples which are a minor complex of Jain temples. In every Jain temple you can see a statue of Mahavira, the founder of the Jain religion. He was a contemporary of Budda, and the statues could resemble a Budda figure, but there are differences.
Friday 4 March 2011
We were up at five o'clock in order to drive to the nearby Panna National Park. We had been warned that there were only a small chance to see a tiger here. We were in the neighbourhood of something when we heard the monkeys warning cry. It may have been a leopard.
We were eating our breakfast in the park when two Mahouts tiding on their elephants came by. It was a elephant mother with one of her youngsters. The Mahouts were tracing tigers, but they had not seen any.
The afternoon was free, but the whole group went to the local market.
Saturday 5 March 2011
Drove from Khajuraho to Bandavgarh National Park. We arrived in the early afternoon. Our hotel lies inside the park and is called Mowgli residence. The rest of the day was free.
Sunday 6 March 2011
We were up at a quarter to five in order to get early into the park. We do not get any breakfast before return to the hotel at about ten o'clock. All people entering the park is thoroughly checked and this takes time. The activity of the animals are highest at sunrise or at sunset. Again, this morning there was no tigers to see. Our mood in the group is pretty low now.
In the middle of the day we can relax at the pool or walk around in the neighbourhood. On the afternoon safari we were driving around for a long time without seeing other than the usual. But suddenly the tiger was there and I saw it. In no time there were ten safari trucks on the same road all filled with tourists trying to take pictures of the same tiger. I saw the tiger to the left of the road at 20 m. distance in the bush. It passed quickly and then it crossed the road in front of all the cars. Later I got a short glimpse of it before it disappeared. It was a mahout on his elephant that had traced the tiger and tried to make it pass the road, where it was possible to take pictures. It was impossible for me to take pictures because our car were back in the row.
Elephants are used to trace tigers because they move freely in the terrain. The tiger sees only the elephant and is usually scared.
Monday 7 March 2011
We went on safari this morning like yesterday but saw no big game except deers. We saw a small night jar. It was sitting on the ground, and it was almost invisible. In the afternoon the safari trip was optional, and we had to pay. We were all put into one truck and driven into the park through another gate. Another group had seen a tiger mother and her two cubs this morning. It was on a mountain ridge in another corner of the park. We drove around in the same area, but saw nothing. We were looking at other places, but had no luck.
Tuesday 8 March 2011
Drove from Bandavharh to Kanha National Park. We arrived late in the afternoon. On our way we saw bats hanging from the upper branches of a tree. We also visited a school for 15 year old girls.
Wednesday 9 March 2011
The first day in Kanha Tiger Reserve. This mornings experience was a tiger show. It is carried out in the following manner. Some mahouts with their elephants has surrounded a tiger. They sent a message by radio to the office. Here they start selling tickets at 600 Rs a piece to those who wants to see and photograph the tiger. Those who has paid are driven to the nearest spot on the road. Here are two elephants which take you from the road to the tiger so you can get your pictures.
In the afternoon we saw a tiger again. We could only see parts of it when it was passing inside the bush. It was impossible to take pictures. Later on it passed the road, but at a long distance so no pictures could be taken. This tiger was the only one we saw, where elephants were not involved in the hunting.
The safaris in this park are longer than in the other parks. We are in the park from seven to twelve and again from three to six p.m.
Thursday 10 March 2011
We repeated the tiger show this morning and got some better pictures of the same tiger. I also got a picture of the prey, a Gaur calf, who was nearly eaten up.
In the afternoon nothing really happened until the end . Then we spotted a leopard on a great distance. It was apparently sneaking up to a spotted dear. We did not see the kill because we had to leave. We had to be out of the park by 6 p.m. I did only see part of the animal with my binoculars, but it was very clear that it had spots not stripes.
Friday 11 March 2011
Departure from Kanha National Park. We drove to Jabalpur, and we arrived early in the afternoon.
We ate lunch here, and we received a package of food for the train. We had a couchette waggon in the night train to Delhi.
Saturday 12 March 2011
We arrived in Delhi at seven o'clock, and we went immediately to our hotel where we had breakfast. I wanted to use this day to buy gifts for my family. The rest of the group visited the Zoo. I went to the Zoo last time I was here. In the evening we had our farewell dinner.
Sunday 13 March 2011
The British members of the group left for the airport right after breakfast. My airplane is leaving tonight at a quarter to two. I had a whole extra day in Delhi. It was a very long day. I spent some hours visiting the Lotus Temple (Bahai religion)
Monday 14 March 2011
I left very early for the airport.