Travels Through India

We arrived after sunset.  As the three vehicles that carried us pulled into the dirt parking area, the headlights shined on a line people.  They were dressed baggy, comfortable clothing—most were draped in a natural white, while a few were splashed with dull, naturally dyed colors.  They were clapping as we exited the vehicles. 
            A woman in a soft red dressed stepped forward.  “Welcome to Kanha Jungle Lodge,” she said.
            “Please come. Please come,” we heard from a myriad of voices.  These polite words of motivation we would become quite accustomed to throughout our travels in India. 
We were led up the walkway by staff well positioned to shine the light from their flashlights ahead of our steps.  Arriving to an open, airy, and wall-less central meeting area to the lodge we were met by two more staff, each holding a tray.  Upon one tray were rolled up, cool, and damp towels to wipe away the dust of our travels.  Upon the other tray was a refreshing, fruity non-alcoholic beverage.  This was customary way to be greeted every time we returned from an excursion or arrived at a new accommodation.  Soon we were led to our rooms with a plan to reconvene in 30 minutes.

My room was spacious and open.  A large king bed was against the longest wall.  A small nook by the door had a desk with a plug-in water heating urn, tea bags, books about nearby Kanha National Park, a notepad, pens, and best of all a sweet treat upon a white plate. 

After a quick shower, I was one of the first of our group of 7 travelers to arrive back at the central meeting area.  Some staff members were there and our tour leader, Harendra (Harry, as he introduced himself).  He introduced me to Dimple, who had welcomed us to the lodge and was half of the couple that ran the lodge.  Then, Harry introduced me to one of the guides who would be taking us on safari the next morning.  As more people arrived, we were encouraged to grab a drink from the makeshift bar. 

We were upon an octagonal, concrete floor with the ceiling high over our heads.  In the middle was a large fireplace—a lovely amenity for other months of the year.  Between the tall posts that held the roof high over our heads was a flat railing, except where four open entrances led up to the platform.  In one corner was a sitting area with a few chairs, couches, and tables.  Atop the tables were books of all shapes and sizes with topics ranging from flora and fauna of the park to the history of India to the stories of Hindu religion.  The bar was directly opposite the sitting area. Next to the sitting area were bulletin boards with maps and information about the park.  We assembled there and listened to Harry and a couple of the guides tell us what our day would be like the next day on safari, including a wealth of information about the tigers of the park and their efforts to document their habits. 

After our briefing, we were led to where we would eat dinner.  A table was beautifully set with flowers and candles.  The food for the meal was on another table off to the side, where staff members stood behind pots of warm food waiting to serve us.  First, we gathered around a Tandoor over, where Dimple told us about it.  We watched as fresh naan was stuck to walls of the oven to be cooked.  Then, we moved through the serving line to choose the components of our meal.  I’m vegetarian and my dietary concern was considered “normal” in India, which has more vegetarians than any other country.  But among the group I was traveling with, there were other dietary needs such as gluten free, dairy free, pescatarian, and more.  Every diet was not only catered to but was attended to with care and an abundance of options.

After we sat down at the table, throughout the meal, servers continued to walk around and offer us seconds, thirds, and more.  They were attentive to dietary choices and concerns, although with so many at the table occasional reminders of who ate what were needed--- these reminders came almost exclusively from Dimple who seemed to have already memorized all of our diets.  At the table, we were joined by Dimple, her husband, our guides for the following day, our tour leader Harry, and we were also lucky enough to have Amit with us, whose grandfather had opened the lodge.  His grandfather was known as “The Tiger-man of India” because he had been integral to changing the paradigm from hunting tigers to viewing and photographing tigers. 
 
A wakeup-knock upon the door came at 4:45am.  I had long since been awake when I heard the knock; I am a creature of habit.  I need my morning routine of yoga and yerba mate, even on vacation. 
“Good morning,” I said upon hearing the knock.
“Good morning, sir,” came the response.

I was out of the room and off to the meeting spot, a short walk from my front door.  The only ones there were staff members and our guides.  So, I walked around a little.  I took some photos of the sitting/gaming area under another roof and the signs in front of the plants naming them and their traditional uses. 

Soon, the group began to trickle in.  First was our tour leader, Harry.  Most grabbed a coffee or a tea from the station that had been built where the bar was the night before.  There were also pastries and fruit to choose from. By 5:15 we were loading up the jeeps.  We were assigned to particular jeeps, as the permitting system for the national parks dictates this. 

At the entrance to Kanha National Park the three jeeps from our lodge were the first ones in line.  We watched as more and more jeeps filed in behind us.  Our guide was in the office checking us in.  He came back with our government appointed guide, the gate to the park was lifted, and we were on our way. 

The morning mist clung to the forest floor and wrapped around the tall, narrow sal trees.  Away in the east, the sun was rising slowly and the golden light of morning gleaned through mist.  We passed island-like patches of the tall sal trees amidst vast meadows with narrow streams and shallow wetlands.  It was the end of the dry season.  It was thought provoking to contemplate what it all might look like in a few months when rain would be a regular visitor to the landscape.

It took very little time to see our first wildlife: spotted deer and langur monkeys enjoying their respective breakfasts of grass and leaves.  This pairing of forest inhabitants would be a constant as they work together to spot predators, and their numbers are high.  Throughout the day, our guides spotted all manner of wildlife from birds to deer to mongoose and wild pigs.  We had a near brush with a tiger that didn’t come to fruition, that would arrive on day two.  After, an amazing spread of local cuisine prepared by the lodge and pulled from a classic metal, Indian “lunch box”, we were back rolling down the forest roads searching for wildlife and learning about the forest, the wildlife within it, and the human population around it from our incredibly knowledgeable guides.
 
By noon, we were back at the lodge enjoying a little downtime to clean off the dust from the open jeeps before sitting down to lunch.  In the late afternoon, we took a nature walk through the woods around the lodge.  We were guided by Tarun and Dimple, the couple who run the lodge.  They led us to a river’s edge and we wandered over river rocks and amidst giant boulders until we arrived to a natural basin created by the dark grey, quartz veined boulders.  There, we found a small fire prepared upon a waist-high, flat-topped rock.  Several of the lodge staff were hustling about making preparations.  We settled in and listened to Dimple give us a presentation about making masala tea, which included a bit about its cultural significance.  Small bites of appetizers were served amongst us by the staff as we sat and listened attentively.  When the tea was ready from its perch of preparation upon the campfire, milk according to dietary preference was added to individual cups, and we were all served masala chai tea by the riverside. 

Back at the lodge in the evening, cleaned up, and back in the meeting area under the high roof, it was cocktail hour.  With drinks in hand, we were soon led down a path to a clearing in the trees.  Chairs were set out in a semi-circle with tables between them.  A table was set for dinner.  Strings of lights in the trees and candles upon tables created a warm glow of ambiance.  After some time to enjoy drinks and appetizers, we sat down to another amazing meal of local Indian cuisine with our guides, and our hosts. 

The following morning began in the same way.  We traveled along the jeep-roads of the forest, the sun still low and belying the heat of the day that would eventually arrive.  We were heading to a different zone than the day before.  The park is divided into four zones; only three of them are used at any time for visitors.  The per-safari permits are zone specific.  There had been reports of several tigers the day before, in the zone where we were heading.  The excitement in our jeep was palpable.  True to the reports, it took hardly any time to find a tiger.  A young male was resting in a rain ditch along the side of the road, on the edge of the forest.  He yawned, licked his paw, and cleaned his face.  We were one of two jeeps on the scene.  The tiger seemed hardly fazed by us, as he slowly woke up from a morning nap.  After a few minutes of yawning and cleaning, he stood up, stretched and wandered slowly into the trees and undergrowth.  The first tiger that I’d ever seen in the wild was no disappointment.  His majesty was immense and the feeling of seeing him exceeded my expectations.  We saw two more tigers that day, including one chasing down a young deer.  We heard the danger-calls of langur monkeys and spotted deer when they spied one of the tigers.

 
Oh, and we saw swamp deer, owls, wild dogs, gaur (the largest wild cattle on the planet), and so much more.  We moved on from Kanha Jungle Lodge and Kanha National Park that afternoon with a sense of accomplishment and excitement for what might lie ahead.