Bannerghatta Safari

Another place I visited when my friend Tom was here in July was Bannerghatta National Park and wildlife preserve in southern Bangalore. The 25,000 acre park is home to panthers, lions, tigers and a large variety of birds, and offers several different safari packages to the interested tourist.

Tom and I decided to head down there for a day and found all sorts of interesting sights. We bought our tickets for the Lion & Tiger safari and decided to walk around the premises beforehand. Much to our surprise there were some elephants walking through the park and their guides were nice enough to stop and let us meet the elephants on their way! We also got to experience a wide variety of monkeys (and their crazy antics!) as we walked around the lake and circled the zoo area.

In the zoo were a variety of snakes, birds, and other animals. I was amazed at how clean the zoo looked (after hearing reports that the zoo was rather shabby) and the variety of exotic birds and other jungle animals was quite interesting. The safari was incredible--we saw male and female lions, both gold tigers and white tigers, and got to ride in a bus with a whole group of kids from a local school. It was a blast! My favorite part was seeing the white tigers...beautiful. In fact, we were so close to them that they were only an arm's reach away--amazing!

After the safari, I introduced Tom to a drink of fresh coconut juice and a bite of the "meat" inside of it--I think he realized just how different it really is from the processed output we are accustomed to in the U.S.--but I love it! Plus fresh coconut juice is good for the body. Check the online photo gallery for more snaps.

All-in-all the trip to Bannerghatta was well worth the noise and hassle of traffic--a short ride for an amazing adventure, and all just a quick trip on the other side of Bangalore. Even though there might not be lions and tigers, you might be surprised about the things that are just outside of your backyard, I know I was!

Peace.

Safari So Good

This past weekend a group consisting of 10 of our Target expats decided to take a weekend trip to Kabini Park, a wildlife preserve in Southern India. Since earlier this past winter Paul had been to Banipur--another park next door--and really enjoyed the visit, he took the task of putting together a group trip to the same vicinity this spring.

Since nearly all of us are living in the same apartment building at Zen Gardens, we took Friday off, met-up outside the building early Friday morning, packed up the van/bus (whatever it was), and started our journey. The six-hour road trip was typical for India--bounces, bumps, twists and turns (not to mention the plethora of animals, cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, people, and various debris on the roads... oh yeah, and India has speed bumps on the highways... yeah... that's a whole other blog entry... I digress :o)

ANYHOO, after singing along to Paul's iPod tunes and lots of snacks, we finally arrived in Kabini, took Jeeps (mighty fast ones!) to the boats, which took us to the resort cabins where we stayed for the weekend. Between the 10 of us we shared 3 cottages--it was just like going to camp! While the days consisted of several "safari" outings (Jeep safari, two boat safaris, and one trekking safari on-foot), the nights were spent playing cards, telling stories, and lots of laughter... in fact, the weekend was filled with laughter from the very start. Yeah!

During the safari outings we saw everything from wild elephants to baboons, peacocks, spotted deer, cows, wild boars, a crocodile, several types of birds, and then the "usual" assortment of cattle, goats, chickens--you know-- the animals that hang out on the street outside our apartment? Yeah, they were there as well... ya just can't completely escape the feeling of home in India--not even in the jungle! Check the online gallery album for more snaps.

All-in-all, the weekend was absolutely fantastic. Yes, the safaris were interesting and we had some interesting guides along the way, like Oopy ("Shhhh! Silent safari! Dancing peacock! Shhhhh... elephant! Oh wait, let me answer my mobile phone...), but the best part of the weekend was the fellowship. We all had time to just hang out with one another--time for stories, jokes, games, and just plain relaxing. It was wonderful.

BIG thanks to Paul for helping to organize a fantastic "Memorial Day Weekend" trip (although India doesn't celebrate Memorial Day and we had to work on Monday...) I am sure we will all remember this fantastic time for years to come. It was, indeed a safari so good--or, in the unforgettable words of Oopy every time we'd see another elephant, "Success!!"