Tigers, Birds, Elephants and Crocodiles

This post is also available in: Slovenian

Jim Corbett National Park. Now this was something special.

We took an overnight pass for the park-you get a jeep and a driver and you go at about 10:00. Then you reach the camp (Dhikala), get a guide, try to find some elephants or tigers and get back to camp in the evening. There you sleep in loghuts with 10 other turists (we were the only foreigners there-the camp is not known so much internationaly, but a lot of Indian people come to visit). In the morning you have another jeep safari or elephant ride. Weee! :) And at the end: checkout.

The park is closed in summer because monsoons flood their temporary roads

The drivers were all saying they know where tigers can be found, but we kept our cool and stayed with Dany (Danish – 22 year old guy who’s actually a great driver. Knows a lot about birds too). We knew we had to be extremely lucky to see a tiger, because the sightings are rare (and for elephants – it’s not the elephant season now :/).

On the way there and back again Tilen got his treat: we saw at least 50 species of birds that he hadn’t seen before. Dany was shouting for them too, so it was kind of nice seeing them on the toes with curiosity. (there is a whole list of sighted species in the slovenian translation of this post)

Tiger claw marks on tree (just to let you know you're on his terf now)

So we reached the camp, got a guide and went on search for wild cats. The jeep stopped on a long straight road in the bushes. The other jeeps were there too. Waiting in total silence we were afraid to ask what we were doing. .. And then we heard it: snap! Something’s mooving! Somehere slowly coming out of the bushes was … an elephant? With tourists. Dissapointment. :/ But wait,they went back in the bush. Something was up… There was to much excitement in the air. Is there something in that part of the thick forest? We heard banches break and some fast steps… Looking through the sea of leaves and branches I thought I saw something orange… Is that a bird or is it.. OMG, it’s a fucking TIGER!!! It came running out, jumping across the road just 5 meters from our jeep. I still can’t belive it was so close and we saw it after 10 minutes of searching for it.
Tilen got some crazy shots and I made a video. Happy!

Back at the camp the receptionist explained: ‘door on loghut always close-pin here,close here.’ then nodded his head: ‘… monkey problem…’ it was hilarious! But when we went to sleep, we found monkeys were the least of our problems. We slept with 7 indians – three of them snoring and one farting all night. A full orchestra. I had my music on full but couldn’t get to sleep until 3am.
Tilen was sleeping on the bed below. He had one more problem… Rodents – and not the pretty ones. But after two visits on his sleeping bag, they let him sleep. Or maybe he just didn’t notice it anymore. :)

The idyllic jungle in the morning sun

The next morning we booked an elephant ride. It was very misty and seeing the giants come slowly out of the dark was just like in the movies. It definetly set the mood for the morning: tiger hunting in the unknown woods. On an elephant. Pretty awesome.

Well, what can I say … Incredible India.

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