Tiger hunting out in India (Bonzo Doodah Band, Circa '69)
Nov 29-Dec 4
Travel adventures Katmandu to Corbett Tiger Sanctuary, Ramnagar, Utarkhand
My friend Nuri Sherpa (one of Bill Kite's trekking guides who guides the dental/med groups on treks in Ladakh and Nepal.) flew on my Spicejet flight to Delhi
(He is headed to Leh to pick up T and Lamo-2 of my students from Lamdon and bring them back to KTM for optometry training so they can work in Bill Kite's new eye clinic at Lamdon. Since they have no identity papers they can not go by air and Nuri will escort them overland by bus from Delhi.)
Nuri agreed to pick me up and give me a ride to the airport in exchange for carrying to Dental team parkas home to my dentist, friend and former next door neighbor Dave Cauble. They were to pick me up at 3 for the <10k drive to the airport for our 6:40 flight (SOP in KTM). Good plan, since because of traffic they did not make it to pick me up until after 4:30! To even get onto the road to the airport we had to go in the opposite direction to get to the end of the line of traffic and then sat in gridlock. A wedding party with brass band dressed in red suits kept walking by us. After lots of anxiety and my heart beating at level 4, we did make it to the airport by 5:30 (pretty tight) and luckily our flight was delayed an hour. The nice thing about having Nuri there was he got us checked in together and with our combined baggage I did not have to pay any excess baggage fee. Unfortunately, that meant I had the Nepali rupees I had saved to pay it and since they are worthless and unchangeable out of Nepal I had to spend them. Bought a bunch of chocolates that I will leave in Delhi with CJ (see later) and his family in thanks for keeping my luggage and getting me a SIM card when I go home next next week.
Spent the night on the 19th floor of a high rise hotel in Connaught Place near what I thought was the railway station and watched American movies on TV (for the first time) and the Pariah Kites picking off pigeons out the window of my room. Waiting around until about 1 for CJ (Yangchan's daughter's friend I met in Leh) to show up. he was supposed to come around 11, pick up my extra luggage and help me get a prepaid SIM card. His car broke down and he showed up in a Tuktuk with the SIM card. His brother came and picked him up with my extra suitcase, which I will hopefully get next Saturday before I go to the airport.
Had lunch and got a cab to the train station at 3 for my 4:10 train to Ramnagar. Except when I got to the station I could not find my train. Turns out I' m at the wrong station and have to get to Old Delhi station about 3 k away (that can be an hour in Delhi traffic). Luckily Delhi now has a fast efficient metro. Ran to the train, paid 8 rupees, squeezed into the over-full train with my big pack and made it to my train by 4- sweaty but relieved!
Had a pleasant 4 hr ride seated with a young English teacher at the Gov't Central School (same as I went to in 65) in the town before my stop. She is a bit frustrated as a teacher, having received a MS in e-education in UK. And now teaching in a school that has no computers or electricity in the classrooms!
Arrived at Corbett Motel (a very nice little family enclave nestled in an orchard with over a hundred mango trees) a few minutes from the train station and finally met Karan ( the naturalist/owner I have been emailing for a few months) and his brother. Turns out Karan's wife and kids were the ones I had been playing peek a boo with on the train. Made arrangements with the brother for my safari into the park the next day, had dinner and sleep- longest in awhile, even with all the loud noise from the other Indian guests.
Dec 1
The SIM card is still not activated. CJ said it might take 24 hrs but it is now past that....?
Sent the morning doing the Indian permit dance and shelling out cash. Spent about 2 hrs at the permit office making arrangements for all the permits I would need to get me, the driver and jeep (Maruti open safari vehicle) into the park and arranging my lodging in the Loghut dormitory in Dhikala (4000 rupees- and as Lonely Planet says everything including guide, driver and car costs are set and no bargaining). Back to the motel, lunch and then back into the jeep with my guide Chotu (working in the park for 20 yrs) and off we go- back to the permit office to pick up the required sticker (another 20 min) and then finally out of town and on the road with a passenger- the oldest Mahoot (elephant man) in the park, and hopefully my guide on my elephant safari.
It's about 30 km to the entrance to the park (actually there are 4 entrances) passing by lots of Tiger resorts on the edge of the park. Of course, entering the park involved showing the permits and filling out more multiple copies of the same paperwork (that's India) and receiving a lecture about everything I can't do (including, but not limited to no smoking, honking horns, littering, drinking, cell phones).
It was about a 4 hr slow wildlife watching ride to go the 30 km out to Dhikala and well worth it! No tigers yet, although we did find fresh tiger tracks! But, I have seen 3 of the 4 deer species (spotted, barking (small dog sized primitive deer with an unusual tusk for a tooth) and Sambar (elk size and saw 2 gigantic stags), elephants, both crocodiles (muggers and the famed gavial of my sea monster site ing in Kanpur in 1965), red macaques and tons of birds (including a huge brown fish owl, Pallas's fish eagle, changeable hawk eagle, osprey, crested kingfisher, laughing thrush, bulbul). Also could see gigantic catfish and HUGE golden Mahanseer (a giant game species only found in this region and no fishing allowed inside the park).
Arrived at Dhikala to millions of macaques and a ton of Indian tourists with cameras with huge lenses (so far I have only seen one other non-Indian couple from the UK-and a family of 5 Swedes). Found my bed in the Loghut- I was the first one there and chose a bottom bunk of the 3-tiered beds.
The plan is 2 jeep-safaris a day (one at 7 AM and one at 3:30PM) each day for the 2 more days (except tomorrow afternoon when I do an elephant safari) and then drive out Tuesday morning. Hopefully we will find tigers and leopards!
This is definitely a great relaxing place and an awesome place to see Indian wildlife and I can not understand why we never came here in 65/66. Seems like a place Ruthie would have loved and I know we came to the hill station 30 km away at Nanital at least once (and I think twice). I also know that at the time or before, I had been hooked on the series of books (Man-eaters of Kumaon) written by Jim Corbett (the former tiger hunter turned conservationist) the founder of the park and would have thought I would have wanted to come......?
Dec 2
Safari 1: 7AM-10AM
Animals: More of the same species, including large herds of Cheetal (spotted deer) in the grasslands along the river. In addition: langur (black-faced) monkey, wild boar and jackal and a large(12) herd of wild elephants with a number of babies across the river from the guesthouse
Tiger: fresh tracks (pugmarks) and fresh scat in a large scratch pit in the sand (like a cat in a litter box)
Birds: tons and probably >20 new species if I was a "lister". Luckily, Chotu is not only an excellent tracker and spotter but also knows most birds by their calls.
New Species (that I can remember) included: huge flock of rose ringed parakeets, 3-4 species of kingfishers, 3 species of woodpeckers, black hooded oriole, red jungle fowl (big flock), cormorant, wooly-necked and black-necked storks, purple and grey heron, white bellied sea eagle, some kind of sandpiper, hoopoe, oriental white-eye, rufous treeline and baya weaver (actually just the characteristic hanging nests).
Elephant Safari
3-5 PM
Rode 4 people to an elephant and I rode in a group of 3 elephants with a large extended family from Mumbai (who when they saw me were certain their uncle had shown up).
Rode through various ecosystems from grasslands to huge Sal and Teak forests with dense undergrowth. One section of about 20 min was a dense understory of 10-20' tall cannabis plants laden with buds and seeds mixed with many shrubs with small bright orange, yellow and purple flowers and some colorful hanging fruits and gord-like things. Saw a Langur and huge flock of jungle fowl (wild chickens). It was interesting watching the elephants rip large leaves off of plants or rip out big bunches of elephant grass and clean it by swiping and banging it against the ground with the trunk.
So yes we did find a tiger (4 yr old male)! Unfortunately I was not on the elephant that got the really good view of it, but did get 3 views of its butt in the jungle as the elephants chased it. And then one more as it streaked across the road behind us as we all gathered together again. Maybe the coolest part was after he streaked behind us and we could follow his progress through the jungle by listening to the alarm calls of the birds, barking deer and langurs.
Hopefully tomorrow Chotu will find us an even better view and I can get a picture.
Sleeping with (or near) young Indians and Monkeys: After suffering through the noise and rudeness of monkeys and young Indian tourists last night and early this morning I was going to rant about how inconsiderate and self centered the latter are, but luckily I had many good interactions with a number of very nice and helpful Indians later and I can now just write the large rowdy bunch of assholes who occupied the room next door as a bunch of,thugs and their girlfriends who hollered and laughed uncontrollably (for those who know- think Bob Burgess or Whit Ross) late at night and at 5AM without any thought that anyone else was trying to sleep. They are the same ones who are currently smoking, drinking beer, littering and feeding chips to the monkeys. Add in the 3 snoring Indians occupying my room and needless to say, I did not sleep well.
The positive interactions included a group of 4 young Indian guys-one wearing a CU sweatshirt! Turns out 2 of them just completed MSs there and are working for Intel in Austin.
Monkey Business: As far as the monkeys go- guess I can't blame them for screaming, fighting and copulating outside the room all night. There are about 20 males, females and babies that hang out on the wall and in the trees in front of the Loghut dormitory-thus the need to always keep the door secured. There is one couple (a young male with a seemingly permanent erection) that sit directly in front of the door. Normally she is grooming him, but every time he thinks I'm looking at them he grunts, gets aggressive and a threatening look on his face and mounts her. I think he is threatened by me and now I am entertaining myself by egging him on a bit by grunting back and waving my arms.
Later, another large male, who had been being fed by the thugs, tried to steal my water bottle and knocked it over a cliff. When I tried to retrieve it he got nasty and threatened me. Eventually he stole a bunch of food from the thugs and while he was doing that I got the water bottle.
Travel concerns: the SIM card is still not activated, but I just spoke to someone else who told me that Vodafone is taking up to 4-5 days to activate the cards. Guess I will just keep trying.
Last night I read in Lonely Planet that the train from Kathgodam to Delhi is an overnight train leaving at 8PM and arriving at 3AM-my plane is at 2 AM. Got concerned(!) and checked my ticket- LP is wrong it does leave at 8 AM and arrives at 3 PM-phew!
But, I then noticed that the ticket I printed in August says I am wait listed (which I either did not know or forgot) and I don't know if I have a seat yet or what car I am in. You definitely need to know the car number before boarding or you will never find the right one and I obviously need to find out if I have a seat! Unfortunately, there is no Internet out here and no way to check until my phone starts working or I get back to town on Tuesday. Or, I think CJ may be able to check it and get back to me tomorrow.
CJ did check and I am still wait listed, but according to a number of people I have talked to here they don't update the status list until 3 days before the train. So, when I get to Nanital I should be able to figure it out. If nothing else, I can always take the 8 hr bus ride on Saturday and still make my plane.
Dec 3
Safari 1: 7AM-10AM
Animals: pair of mongoose
Tiger: 0
Birds: new- white-necked stork,Eurasian marsh harrier, red-headed and white-rumpled vultures, Indian peafowl (peacock), plum-headed parakeets, long-tailed shrike, black-hooded oriole, jungle babbler, plain prinia
The thugs left so sleeping was easier, but they were replaced by a large group of forestry students from the Indian Institute of Forestry in Bhopla and a lot of them snored- wish I had some earplugs!
Whack-a-Mole with Tigers: Looking for tigers is a lot like fishing for tuna (or hunting elk for that matter), except instead of looking for and chasing baitfish and working terns and gulls you look for pug marks, drive to wear you think they may be heading, listen for deer, monkey and bird alert calls and wait and hope the tiger comes out of the jungle somewhere within site. Repeat. The other way to see them is to just drive around a lot and hope you intersect one by accident.
Watch Tower:11AM-2PM
Animals: wild boar, elephants, jackal
No new birds or tigers
Chotu dropped me off at a watchtower overlooking the river. At first I had it to myself, but 2 other parties of Indians showed up. One group was 3 amateur naturalists with large lenses cameras from Delhi who come here a lot and new quite a bit about the animals. The other group was 2 couple from Mumbai who could not keep quiet and one of the women was an ignorant wildlife "expert". Every bird we saw was some species from Siberia-annoying!
Safari 2
3-5 PM
Animals: elephants, all 4 deer (sambar, Cheetal, barking and hog)
Tiger: 0
New Birds: Common Kingfisher, Black-rumpled flameback woodpecker, red-headed green woodpecker, emerald dove, white crested laughing thrush, scaly-breasted Muniz
Heard some Sambar alerts that Chotu says we're "100% tiger". Watched some ver talent sambar and waited for over an hour but the Tiger never came out where we could see.
On the way back a couple of wild elephants crossed the road I front of us. Chotu somehow saw them way before they were visible and sped up to intersect- no idea how he knew.....
Dec 4
Safari: 7AM-9am (then head to Ramnagar and buses to Haldwani and then Nanital.
One last chance to see tiger/leopard.
Animals: same same and elephant and a jackal
Tiger: YES!
New Birds: scarlet minivet and Kalin pheasant(2 best of all!)
Early morning mist- drove around in the jungle for about 30 min with no signs or sounds and then out to the grassland where someone went by who had heard alarms. Waited about 30 min and the tiger ram across the road about 50 meters from us and disappeared into the grass. But, it was long enough to see the entire tiger including stripes, but not enough to get a picture. Success! It's funny, when you return to camp you are now a celebrity and everyone wants to know details and it is posted on the blackboard and recorded.
Also had a close up/photo-op of a jackal and some elephants and the 2 new birds may have been the best yet! Finally, got to observe huge herd of Cheetal and watch sme of the stats sparring at the start of rut!
Sleeping with Indians Part 2: Sleeping in the Loghut dormitory is definitely an experience but if you want a good night sleep bring earplugs (toilet paper works pretty well) and eyeshades (or shell out the money for one of the nice rooms)! After 3 nights sharing sleeping quarters with Indians, I can see that while the "thugs" were thugs, the general sleeping behavior of "normal" Indians is far different than we are used to! They all seem to snore loudly and produce other loud noises and eruptions throughout the night and really do not seem to have any concept of whispering or quiet! As soon as they wake up- it seems 5AM is normal- they start talking and laughing very loudly! They also don't seem to mind falling asleep with the lights on and apparently don't realize that other people might be sleeping and not appreciate lights early in the morning! As soon as they wake up and start hollering and laughing the lights go on!
Last night I shared with 5 cousins from Delhi- one who claims his name is Yassar Arafat....?! , One of whom sounded like he was dyeing of consumption and besides snoring coughed and hacked all night. Even though there were many empty beds available 3 of them crowded into a single berth sized single bed!? Their English is not very good and I could not find out why they chose to sleep this way.
Corbett overall: Definitely a place to come for any wildlife or especially bird enthusiasts! Don't come if riding around in an open jeep for 6-7 hrs a day, sitting quietly listening and observing for 30-60 min at a time and never getting to walk around, except in the compound, sounds boring, but if you want to see tons of new Asian birds and a lot of cool wildlife and habitat this place is out of this world!
If you choose to come, definitely stat at the Corbett Motel, a few minutes from the train in Ramnagar, nestled in Karan's grandfather's mango orchard with great food(see Lonely Planet). And use Karan to organize your trip to Corbett. He is a great naturalist and a very nice person. if you can not get Karan as your guide, then definitely ask for Chotu as your guide. Even though his English is not great (understandable) he knows every bird and their call in the sanctuary and a ton about animal behavior and is an awesome tiger tracker If he stops and waits for a long it e while everyone else drives off- don't worry, he knows what he is doing.
Nanital: Chotu dropped me off at the bus station in Ramnagar around 10:30 for the public bus to Haldiwal (home of Jim Cobett). Waited around until 12:30 eating peanuts and oranges and bananas until the people told me the bus arrived (the signs are all in Hindi) and rode to Haldiwal where I changed buses for Nanital ( each bus about 40 km and 51 Ruppees) and arrived in Nanital around 4:30. Someone took me to a hotel at the Talital end of the lake but I wanted to go to the other end (Manital) to find the Hotel City Center (Lonely Planet recommendation) and took a bike rickshaw for 10 Ruppees- a bit more expensIve but nicer and at the better end of the lake. First shower/beer in 4 days and will eat and head to town to see if I can get my phone activated and send some emails.
I am in Nanital- A small city of around 40,000 with the regional high court (interesting seeing the barristers heading to court with their funny little collars- I thought the first one I saw was a minister) and originally built as an old British summer hill station located at 2000 m around Naini Lake (said to be one of Shiva's wife's Sati's emerald eyes) in the foothills of the Himalayas- because it is a place I came to with my parents to escape the heat of Kanpur at least 2 times in '65-66 and I have fond memories. The road to Nanital is still the twisty 40 km climb from 100 to 2000 meters that I remember except instead of a single lane partially paved with steep unprotected drop offs (I have thought a lot about how daring Louie was to do the driving he did here!) it now is a modern 2 lane road completely paved with no potholes or cracks (perhaps the best road I have ever seen in India) with large cement guard rails protecting the edge and it even has white lines down the middle (not that anyone pays attention!). The city is much the same as I remember but maybe on steroids (more hotels and shops): rowboats on the lake, many hotels in terraces going up the steep hills along the shore (kind of reminds me of how Kechikan is built into the hills) and a nice road around the lake. Lots of British colonial influences in many of the older Victorian style buildings from the 1850s, the Nanital Yacht Club and particularly in the number of churches! I will have to find out if there is actually a large Christian population here (apparently yes- in all the hill communities). There are also 3 prominent Indian religious sites on the north end of the lake- a large mosque, the Naina Devi Temple and a large Sikh Gurdwaras (temple)- all surrounding the large cricket field in the "Flats"-a memorial area to the people killed in a large mudslide in 1880. Will be interesting to explore tomorrow.
Public Buses: Everyone should ride a public bus in India- quite an experience! If you want the full affect be sure to ride in the front seat behind the driver. However, if a clear view of weaving through children riding bikes home from school and bands of monkeys in the road, or watching the driver pass a slow line of trucks around a blind corner makes you nervous you might want a seat further back. Also, you may want some earplugs if you don't want your ears blasted every 1-2 minutes by the air horn, seemingly mounted inside the bus by the steering wheel. And, don't forget to stay away from the window to avoid the red spray when the driver spits paan out his window! Oh yeah, and be prepared for some breakdown- we ran out of gas 8 km from Nanital. I couldn't really tell what was going on, but for awhile I thought the passengers were going to beat the driver up! Fortunately, we only waited about 25 min before 2 other buses came by that we could all fit in. No big deal.
Dec 5
The good news: my train seat is confirmed for Saturday, so I will make it to Delhi for my plane home-assuming no bus or train breakdowns.
Spent the day taking care of errands (train, phone, etc) and walking around and exploring and trying to recall things we did here in 65/66. Did walk way up to the top of the hill to the zoo. A pretty lame place and even after you walk way up to it- it is built into the hill as terraces and requires even more climbing-not a place to take your old grandma!
So many questions it would be nice to ask my parents..... Was able to make arrangements to go kayaking on the lake Friday morning and to take a horse ride into the hills tomorrow morning (it will probably be pretty tame and lame, but I fondly remember doing it before and want to repeat it. Will probably also take the tram to Snowview and do some walking on the trails up there tomorrow or Friday afternoon.
It is definitely past the main tourist season and things are winding down for winter. Many of the tourist businesses are cutting back or are closed and except for a handful of Indian tourists it's pretty quiet. I am pretty certain I am the only non-Indian here! A very different tourist scene than that of Leh, Pokarah and the Thamel district of Katmandu, which are all geared towards western Trekkers. Here, the shops tend to be more aimed at Indian tourists and are mainly Indian outlets or trashy tourist stuff you might find in Wall Drug or Niagara Falls and the restaurants are mostly Indian and very little in the way of real coffee or "German Bakeries". There are also 2 or 3 trashy amusement park/arcades at the tourist attractions.
Had one interesting interaction with an elderly, patriotic, educated Indian from another hill town about 20 km away while waiting to check my train ticket. It started out quite friendly, but then he began to lecture me about the evils of America and all the terrible things we have done (America is the biggest terrorist) and how badly we treat India- I really couldn't argue with him much and could just say that not all Americans agree with many policies. He did start to go a little overboard when telling me how great and inclusive India is....?, but I held my tongue and didn't bring up the castes, corruption, filthy cities and slums or how pushy and rude Indians can be, or..... and let him go on.
Ended the day by buying a day membership to the "exclusive" Nanital Boat Club and watched the sunset over the lake while having a drink on the deck and then made full use by going back for dinner and a beer on the deck.
Dec 6
Now I am no longer the only non-Indian here. Woke up this morning to a young American girl,from Jackson Hole playing guitar outside my room on the roof-top restaurant. We had coffee together and a nice visit-she is volunteering for 5 months helping to run an organic farm about 40 Km from Haldwani on the edge of Corbett Sanctuary. After awhile another American couple (middle-aged Missourians living in Pokara and running an English language school. How unusual to have 4 Americans be the only westerners in town and to be in the same hotel (I guess the hotel part is not as unusual as it may seem as it is the Lonely Planet's top choice).
I am definitely ready to be out of here and on my way home. Even if I hadn't been gone for over 3 months, 4 days in Nanital is way too much. One day and 2 nights is plenty to see and do everything worth doing here! The horse ride was even lamer than I had thought (after doing it, I think the ride I have been remembering was actually in Kashmir!) and the cable car to Snowview was also pretty lame. I did seems few more animals and birds and decent views of the Indian Himalayas, including Nanda Devi, but the views are not even close to Nepal! My suggestion is not to even come here. If you are going to be in this part of India definitely go to Corbett and then head further into the mountains where you can trek (Pindari Glacier or the Nanda Devi Sanctuary) or at least see them better.
Dec 8- Heading Home!
left the hotel at 5:30, Bus to Katghodam 6 AM
Train to Delhi 9 AM-3 PM
PLANE HOME 2 AM (now delayed until 4:20- guess it's a good thing I have a 4 hr delay in Seoul)
Maybe I am just tired and ready to be home, but I am so fed up with the unsmiling and unfriendly ( so different than the Ladakhis,Nepalese and Tibetan) pushy Indians shoving in queues (have become an expert at taking up a lot of space and being aggressive in lines) and the in efficient security and immigration people (took 1.5 hrs to get into the boarding area!). And, this very fancy new airport with nonfunctional wifi and no place to even connect to Internet in a cafe.
Nov 29-Dec 4
Travel adventures Katmandu to Corbett Tiger Sanctuary, Ramnagar, Utarkhand
My friend Nuri Sherpa (one of Bill Kite's trekking guides who guides the dental/med groups on treks in Ladakh and Nepal.) flew on my Spicejet flight to Delhi
(He is headed to Leh to pick up T and Lamo-2 of my students from Lamdon and bring them back to KTM for optometry training so they can work in Bill Kite's new eye clinic at Lamdon. Since they have no identity papers they can not go by air and Nuri will escort them overland by bus from Delhi.)
Nuri agreed to pick me up and give me a ride to the airport in exchange for carrying to Dental team parkas home to my dentist, friend and former next door neighbor Dave Cauble. They were to pick me up at 3 for the <10k drive to the airport for our 6:40 flight (SOP in KTM). Good plan, since because of traffic they did not make it to pick me up until after 4:30! To even get onto the road to the airport we had to go in the opposite direction to get to the end of the line of traffic and then sat in gridlock. A wedding party with brass band dressed in red suits kept walking by us. After lots of anxiety and my heart beating at level 4, we did make it to the airport by 5:30 (pretty tight) and luckily our flight was delayed an hour. The nice thing about having Nuri there was he got us checked in together and with our combined baggage I did not have to pay any excess baggage fee. Unfortunately, that meant I had the Nepali rupees I had saved to pay it and since they are worthless and unchangeable out of Nepal I had to spend them. Bought a bunch of chocolates that I will leave in Delhi with CJ (see later) and his family in thanks for keeping my luggage and getting me a SIM card when I go home next next week.
Spent the night on the 19th floor of a high rise hotel in Connaught Place near what I thought was the railway station and watched American movies on TV (for the first time) and the Pariah Kites picking off pigeons out the window of my room. Waiting around until about 1 for CJ (Yangchan's daughter's friend I met in Leh) to show up. he was supposed to come around 11, pick up my extra luggage and help me get a prepaid SIM card. His car broke down and he showed up in a Tuktuk with the SIM card. His brother came and picked him up with my extra suitcase, which I will hopefully get next Saturday before I go to the airport.
Had lunch and got a cab to the train station at 3 for my 4:10 train to Ramnagar. Except when I got to the station I could not find my train. Turns out I' m at the wrong station and have to get to Old Delhi station about 3 k away (that can be an hour in Delhi traffic). Luckily Delhi now has a fast efficient metro. Ran to the train, paid 8 rupees, squeezed into the over-full train with my big pack and made it to my train by 4- sweaty but relieved!
Had a pleasant 4 hr ride seated with a young English teacher at the Gov't Central School (same as I went to in 65) in the town before my stop. She is a bit frustrated as a teacher, having received a MS in e-education in UK. And now teaching in a school that has no computers or electricity in the classrooms!
Arrived at Corbett Motel (a very nice little family enclave nestled in an orchard with over a hundred mango trees) a few minutes from the train station and finally met Karan ( the naturalist/owner I have been emailing for a few months) and his brother. Turns out Karan's wife and kids were the ones I had been playing peek a boo with on the train. Made arrangements with the brother for my safari into the park the next day, had dinner and sleep- longest in awhile, even with all the loud noise from the other Indian guests.
Dec 1
The SIM card is still not activated. CJ said it might take 24 hrs but it is now past that....?
Sent the morning doing the Indian permit dance and shelling out cash. Spent about 2 hrs at the permit office making arrangements for all the permits I would need to get me, the driver and jeep (Maruti open safari vehicle) into the park and arranging my lodging in the Loghut dormitory in Dhikala (4000 rupees- and as Lonely Planet says everything including guide, driver and car costs are set and no bargaining). Back to the motel, lunch and then back into the jeep with my guide Chotu (working in the park for 20 yrs) and off we go- back to the permit office to pick up the required sticker (another 20 min) and then finally out of town and on the road with a passenger- the oldest Mahoot (elephant man) in the park, and hopefully my guide on my elephant safari.
It's about 30 km to the entrance to the park (actually there are 4 entrances) passing by lots of Tiger resorts on the edge of the park. Of course, entering the park involved showing the permits and filling out more multiple copies of the same paperwork (that's India) and receiving a lecture about everything I can't do (including, but not limited to no smoking, honking horns, littering, drinking, cell phones).
It was about a 4 hr slow wildlife watching ride to go the 30 km out to Dhikala and well worth it! No tigers yet, although we did find fresh tiger tracks! But, I have seen 3 of the 4 deer species (spotted, barking (small dog sized primitive deer with an unusual tusk for a tooth) and Sambar (elk size and saw 2 gigantic stags), elephants, both crocodiles (muggers and the famed gavial of my sea monster site ing in Kanpur in 1965), red macaques and tons of birds (including a huge brown fish owl, Pallas's fish eagle, changeable hawk eagle, osprey, crested kingfisher, laughing thrush, bulbul). Also could see gigantic catfish and HUGE golden Mahanseer (a giant game species only found in this region and no fishing allowed inside the park).
Arrived at Dhikala to millions of macaques and a ton of Indian tourists with cameras with huge lenses (so far I have only seen one other non-Indian couple from the UK-and a family of 5 Swedes). Found my bed in the Loghut- I was the first one there and chose a bottom bunk of the 3-tiered beds.
The plan is 2 jeep-safaris a day (one at 7 AM and one at 3:30PM) each day for the 2 more days (except tomorrow afternoon when I do an elephant safari) and then drive out Tuesday morning. Hopefully we will find tigers and leopards!
This is definitely a great relaxing place and an awesome place to see Indian wildlife and I can not understand why we never came here in 65/66. Seems like a place Ruthie would have loved and I know we came to the hill station 30 km away at Nanital at least once (and I think twice). I also know that at the time or before, I had been hooked on the series of books (Man-eaters of Kumaon) written by Jim Corbett (the former tiger hunter turned conservationist) the founder of the park and would have thought I would have wanted to come......?
Dec 2
Safari 1: 7AM-10AM
Animals: More of the same species, including large herds of Cheetal (spotted deer) in the grasslands along the river. In addition: langur (black-faced) monkey, wild boar and jackal and a large(12) herd of wild elephants with a number of babies across the river from the guesthouse
Tiger: fresh tracks (pugmarks) and fresh scat in a large scratch pit in the sand (like a cat in a litter box)
Birds: tons and probably >20 new species if I was a "lister". Luckily, Chotu is not only an excellent tracker and spotter but also knows most birds by their calls.
New Species (that I can remember) included: huge flock of rose ringed parakeets, 3-4 species of kingfishers, 3 species of woodpeckers, black hooded oriole, red jungle fowl (big flock), cormorant, wooly-necked and black-necked storks, purple and grey heron, white bellied sea eagle, some kind of sandpiper, hoopoe, oriental white-eye, rufous treeline and baya weaver (actually just the characteristic hanging nests).
Elephant Safari
3-5 PM
Rode 4 people to an elephant and I rode in a group of 3 elephants with a large extended family from Mumbai (who when they saw me were certain their uncle had shown up).
Rode through various ecosystems from grasslands to huge Sal and Teak forests with dense undergrowth. One section of about 20 min was a dense understory of 10-20' tall cannabis plants laden with buds and seeds mixed with many shrubs with small bright orange, yellow and purple flowers and some colorful hanging fruits and gord-like things. Saw a Langur and huge flock of jungle fowl (wild chickens). It was interesting watching the elephants rip large leaves off of plants or rip out big bunches of elephant grass and clean it by swiping and banging it against the ground with the trunk.
So yes we did find a tiger (4 yr old male)! Unfortunately I was not on the elephant that got the really good view of it, but did get 3 views of its butt in the jungle as the elephants chased it. And then one more as it streaked across the road behind us as we all gathered together again. Maybe the coolest part was after he streaked behind us and we could follow his progress through the jungle by listening to the alarm calls of the birds, barking deer and langurs.
Hopefully tomorrow Chotu will find us an even better view and I can get a picture.
Sleeping with (or near) young Indians and Monkeys: After suffering through the noise and rudeness of monkeys and young Indian tourists last night and early this morning I was going to rant about how inconsiderate and self centered the latter are, but luckily I had many good interactions with a number of very nice and helpful Indians later and I can now just write the large rowdy bunch of assholes who occupied the room next door as a bunch of,thugs and their girlfriends who hollered and laughed uncontrollably (for those who know- think Bob Burgess or Whit Ross) late at night and at 5AM without any thought that anyone else was trying to sleep. They are the same ones who are currently smoking, drinking beer, littering and feeding chips to the monkeys. Add in the 3 snoring Indians occupying my room and needless to say, I did not sleep well.
The positive interactions included a group of 4 young Indian guys-one wearing a CU sweatshirt! Turns out 2 of them just completed MSs there and are working for Intel in Austin.
Monkey Business: As far as the monkeys go- guess I can't blame them for screaming, fighting and copulating outside the room all night. There are about 20 males, females and babies that hang out on the wall and in the trees in front of the Loghut dormitory-thus the need to always keep the door secured. There is one couple (a young male with a seemingly permanent erection) that sit directly in front of the door. Normally she is grooming him, but every time he thinks I'm looking at them he grunts, gets aggressive and a threatening look on his face and mounts her. I think he is threatened by me and now I am entertaining myself by egging him on a bit by grunting back and waving my arms.
Later, another large male, who had been being fed by the thugs, tried to steal my water bottle and knocked it over a cliff. When I tried to retrieve it he got nasty and threatened me. Eventually he stole a bunch of food from the thugs and while he was doing that I got the water bottle.
Travel concerns: the SIM card is still not activated, but I just spoke to someone else who told me that Vodafone is taking up to 4-5 days to activate the cards. Guess I will just keep trying.
Last night I read in Lonely Planet that the train from Kathgodam to Delhi is an overnight train leaving at 8PM and arriving at 3AM-my plane is at 2 AM. Got concerned(!) and checked my ticket- LP is wrong it does leave at 8 AM and arrives at 3 PM-phew!
But, I then noticed that the ticket I printed in August says I am wait listed (which I either did not know or forgot) and I don't know if I have a seat yet or what car I am in. You definitely need to know the car number before boarding or you will never find the right one and I obviously need to find out if I have a seat! Unfortunately, there is no Internet out here and no way to check until my phone starts working or I get back to town on Tuesday. Or, I think CJ may be able to check it and get back to me tomorrow.
CJ did check and I am still wait listed, but according to a number of people I have talked to here they don't update the status list until 3 days before the train. So, when I get to Nanital I should be able to figure it out. If nothing else, I can always take the 8 hr bus ride on Saturday and still make my plane.
Dec 3
Safari 1: 7AM-10AM
Animals: pair of mongoose
Tiger: 0
Birds: new- white-necked stork,Eurasian marsh harrier, red-headed and white-rumpled vultures, Indian peafowl (peacock), plum-headed parakeets, long-tailed shrike, black-hooded oriole, jungle babbler, plain prinia
The thugs left so sleeping was easier, but they were replaced by a large group of forestry students from the Indian Institute of Forestry in Bhopla and a lot of them snored- wish I had some earplugs!
Whack-a-Mole with Tigers: Looking for tigers is a lot like fishing for tuna (or hunting elk for that matter), except instead of looking for and chasing baitfish and working terns and gulls you look for pug marks, drive to wear you think they may be heading, listen for deer, monkey and bird alert calls and wait and hope the tiger comes out of the jungle somewhere within site. Repeat. The other way to see them is to just drive around a lot and hope you intersect one by accident.
Watch Tower:11AM-2PM
Animals: wild boar, elephants, jackal
No new birds or tigers
Chotu dropped me off at a watchtower overlooking the river. At first I had it to myself, but 2 other parties of Indians showed up. One group was 3 amateur naturalists with large lenses cameras from Delhi who come here a lot and new quite a bit about the animals. The other group was 2 couple from Mumbai who could not keep quiet and one of the women was an ignorant wildlife "expert". Every bird we saw was some species from Siberia-annoying!
Safari 2
3-5 PM
Animals: elephants, all 4 deer (sambar, Cheetal, barking and hog)
Tiger: 0
New Birds: Common Kingfisher, Black-rumpled flameback woodpecker, red-headed green woodpecker, emerald dove, white crested laughing thrush, scaly-breasted Muniz
Heard some Sambar alerts that Chotu says we're "100% tiger". Watched some ver talent sambar and waited for over an hour but the Tiger never came out where we could see.
On the way back a couple of wild elephants crossed the road I front of us. Chotu somehow saw them way before they were visible and sped up to intersect- no idea how he knew.....
Dec 4
Safari: 7AM-9am (then head to Ramnagar and buses to Haldwani and then Nanital.
One last chance to see tiger/leopard.
Animals: same same and elephant and a jackal
Tiger: YES!
New Birds: scarlet minivet and Kalin pheasant(2 best of all!)
Early morning mist- drove around in the jungle for about 30 min with no signs or sounds and then out to the grassland where someone went by who had heard alarms. Waited about 30 min and the tiger ram across the road about 50 meters from us and disappeared into the grass. But, it was long enough to see the entire tiger including stripes, but not enough to get a picture. Success! It's funny, when you return to camp you are now a celebrity and everyone wants to know details and it is posted on the blackboard and recorded.
Also had a close up/photo-op of a jackal and some elephants and the 2 new birds may have been the best yet! Finally, got to observe huge herd of Cheetal and watch sme of the stats sparring at the start of rut!
Sleeping with Indians Part 2: Sleeping in the Loghut dormitory is definitely an experience but if you want a good night sleep bring earplugs (toilet paper works pretty well) and eyeshades (or shell out the money for one of the nice rooms)! After 3 nights sharing sleeping quarters with Indians, I can see that while the "thugs" were thugs, the general sleeping behavior of "normal" Indians is far different than we are used to! They all seem to snore loudly and produce other loud noises and eruptions throughout the night and really do not seem to have any concept of whispering or quiet! As soon as they wake up- it seems 5AM is normal- they start talking and laughing very loudly! They also don't seem to mind falling asleep with the lights on and apparently don't realize that other people might be sleeping and not appreciate lights early in the morning! As soon as they wake up and start hollering and laughing the lights go on!
Last night I shared with 5 cousins from Delhi- one who claims his name is Yassar Arafat....?! , One of whom sounded like he was dyeing of consumption and besides snoring coughed and hacked all night. Even though there were many empty beds available 3 of them crowded into a single berth sized single bed!? Their English is not very good and I could not find out why they chose to sleep this way.
Corbett overall: Definitely a place to come for any wildlife or especially bird enthusiasts! Don't come if riding around in an open jeep for 6-7 hrs a day, sitting quietly listening and observing for 30-60 min at a time and never getting to walk around, except in the compound, sounds boring, but if you want to see tons of new Asian birds and a lot of cool wildlife and habitat this place is out of this world!
If you choose to come, definitely stat at the Corbett Motel, a few minutes from the train in Ramnagar, nestled in Karan's grandfather's mango orchard with great food(see Lonely Planet). And use Karan to organize your trip to Corbett. He is a great naturalist and a very nice person. if you can not get Karan as your guide, then definitely ask for Chotu as your guide. Even though his English is not great (understandable) he knows every bird and their call in the sanctuary and a ton about animal behavior and is an awesome tiger tracker If he stops and waits for a long it e while everyone else drives off- don't worry, he knows what he is doing.
Nanital: Chotu dropped me off at the bus station in Ramnagar around 10:30 for the public bus to Haldiwal (home of Jim Cobett). Waited around until 12:30 eating peanuts and oranges and bananas until the people told me the bus arrived (the signs are all in Hindi) and rode to Haldiwal where I changed buses for Nanital ( each bus about 40 km and 51 Ruppees) and arrived in Nanital around 4:30. Someone took me to a hotel at the Talital end of the lake but I wanted to go to the other end (Manital) to find the Hotel City Center (Lonely Planet recommendation) and took a bike rickshaw for 10 Ruppees- a bit more expensIve but nicer and at the better end of the lake. First shower/beer in 4 days and will eat and head to town to see if I can get my phone activated and send some emails.
I am in Nanital- A small city of around 40,000 with the regional high court (interesting seeing the barristers heading to court with their funny little collars- I thought the first one I saw was a minister) and originally built as an old British summer hill station located at 2000 m around Naini Lake (said to be one of Shiva's wife's Sati's emerald eyes) in the foothills of the Himalayas- because it is a place I came to with my parents to escape the heat of Kanpur at least 2 times in '65-66 and I have fond memories. The road to Nanital is still the twisty 40 km climb from 100 to 2000 meters that I remember except instead of a single lane partially paved with steep unprotected drop offs (I have thought a lot about how daring Louie was to do the driving he did here!) it now is a modern 2 lane road completely paved with no potholes or cracks (perhaps the best road I have ever seen in India) with large cement guard rails protecting the edge and it even has white lines down the middle (not that anyone pays attention!). The city is much the same as I remember but maybe on steroids (more hotels and shops): rowboats on the lake, many hotels in terraces going up the steep hills along the shore (kind of reminds me of how Kechikan is built into the hills) and a nice road around the lake. Lots of British colonial influences in many of the older Victorian style buildings from the 1850s, the Nanital Yacht Club and particularly in the number of churches! I will have to find out if there is actually a large Christian population here (apparently yes- in all the hill communities). There are also 3 prominent Indian religious sites on the north end of the lake- a large mosque, the Naina Devi Temple and a large Sikh Gurdwaras (temple)- all surrounding the large cricket field in the "Flats"-a memorial area to the people killed in a large mudslide in 1880. Will be interesting to explore tomorrow.
Public Buses: Everyone should ride a public bus in India- quite an experience! If you want the full affect be sure to ride in the front seat behind the driver. However, if a clear view of weaving through children riding bikes home from school and bands of monkeys in the road, or watching the driver pass a slow line of trucks around a blind corner makes you nervous you might want a seat further back. Also, you may want some earplugs if you don't want your ears blasted every 1-2 minutes by the air horn, seemingly mounted inside the bus by the steering wheel. And, don't forget to stay away from the window to avoid the red spray when the driver spits paan out his window! Oh yeah, and be prepared for some breakdown- we ran out of gas 8 km from Nanital. I couldn't really tell what was going on, but for awhile I thought the passengers were going to beat the driver up! Fortunately, we only waited about 25 min before 2 other buses came by that we could all fit in. No big deal.
Dec 5
The good news: my train seat is confirmed for Saturday, so I will make it to Delhi for my plane home-assuming no bus or train breakdowns.
Spent the day taking care of errands (train, phone, etc) and walking around and exploring and trying to recall things we did here in 65/66. Did walk way up to the top of the hill to the zoo. A pretty lame place and even after you walk way up to it- it is built into the hill as terraces and requires even more climbing-not a place to take your old grandma!
So many questions it would be nice to ask my parents..... Was able to make arrangements to go kayaking on the lake Friday morning and to take a horse ride into the hills tomorrow morning (it will probably be pretty tame and lame, but I fondly remember doing it before and want to repeat it. Will probably also take the tram to Snowview and do some walking on the trails up there tomorrow or Friday afternoon.
It is definitely past the main tourist season and things are winding down for winter. Many of the tourist businesses are cutting back or are closed and except for a handful of Indian tourists it's pretty quiet. I am pretty certain I am the only non-Indian here! A very different tourist scene than that of Leh, Pokarah and the Thamel district of Katmandu, which are all geared towards western Trekkers. Here, the shops tend to be more aimed at Indian tourists and are mainly Indian outlets or trashy tourist stuff you might find in Wall Drug or Niagara Falls and the restaurants are mostly Indian and very little in the way of real coffee or "German Bakeries". There are also 2 or 3 trashy amusement park/arcades at the tourist attractions.
Had one interesting interaction with an elderly, patriotic, educated Indian from another hill town about 20 km away while waiting to check my train ticket. It started out quite friendly, but then he began to lecture me about the evils of America and all the terrible things we have done (America is the biggest terrorist) and how badly we treat India- I really couldn't argue with him much and could just say that not all Americans agree with many policies. He did start to go a little overboard when telling me how great and inclusive India is....?, but I held my tongue and didn't bring up the castes, corruption, filthy cities and slums or how pushy and rude Indians can be, or..... and let him go on.
Ended the day by buying a day membership to the "exclusive" Nanital Boat Club and watched the sunset over the lake while having a drink on the deck and then made full use by going back for dinner and a beer on the deck.
Dec 6
Now I am no longer the only non-Indian here. Woke up this morning to a young American girl,from Jackson Hole playing guitar outside my room on the roof-top restaurant. We had coffee together and a nice visit-she is volunteering for 5 months helping to run an organic farm about 40 Km from Haldwani on the edge of Corbett Sanctuary. After awhile another American couple (middle-aged Missourians living in Pokara and running an English language school. How unusual to have 4 Americans be the only westerners in town and to be in the same hotel (I guess the hotel part is not as unusual as it may seem as it is the Lonely Planet's top choice).
I am definitely ready to be out of here and on my way home. Even if I hadn't been gone for over 3 months, 4 days in Nanital is way too much. One day and 2 nights is plenty to see and do everything worth doing here! The horse ride was even lamer than I had thought (after doing it, I think the ride I have been remembering was actually in Kashmir!) and the cable car to Snowview was also pretty lame. I did seems few more animals and birds and decent views of the Indian Himalayas, including Nanda Devi, but the views are not even close to Nepal! My suggestion is not to even come here. If you are going to be in this part of India definitely go to Corbett and then head further into the mountains where you can trek (Pindari Glacier or the Nanda Devi Sanctuary) or at least see them better.
Dec 8- Heading Home!
left the hotel at 5:30, Bus to Katghodam 6 AM
Train to Delhi 9 AM-3 PM
PLANE HOME 2 AM (now delayed until 4:20- guess it's a good thing I have a 4 hr delay in Seoul)
Maybe I am just tired and ready to be home, but I am so fed up with the unsmiling and unfriendly ( so different than the Ladakhis,Nepalese and Tibetan) pushy Indians shoving in queues (have become an expert at taking up a lot of space and being aggressive in lines) and the in efficient security and immigration people (took 1.5 hrs to get into the boarding area!). And, this very fancy new airport with nonfunctional wifi and no place to even connect to Internet in a cafe.
