We had our bags packed the night before so we could enjoy one last safari drive before heading back to Mysore to catch our train home.
The scenery was beautiful, as usual. John caught these shots of the sun rising in the park.
We saw a mongoose, which was something we hadn't seen before, and a lot of deer.
And we had our second near-tiger experience. We had driven for quite a while without seeing anything, when all of a sudden our spotter leaped up and told the driver to stop. He'd heard a langur's warning call close on the left. We slowly backed up, and everyone was silent. We heard the call again, very close. After a while we started hearing the calls on the other side of the road. Our spotter told us the tiger had probably crossed the road very nearby. Another close call, but no sighting. Denied!
John and I have differing views on our not seeing a tiger on this trip. He sees it as a case of seen/not seen, and in our case it's not seen and therefore a failure. I feel like the excitement of the hunt makes it almost OK that we didn't see an actual tiger. Despite the tiger disappointment, though, we agree that Kabini was amazing and that we'd like to go again someday.
We rode with the bird lover from Bangalore again, and he about fell out of the jeep when we saw this crested eagle.
The eagle just sat there and posed for us for a long time. Later we saw this elephant family on the move.
John caught these signs on the way out of the park.
I thought this one was kind of funny (in a dark humor sort of way). It reminded me of those flyers they hand out when you enter Yellowstone. Those ones have a shadow picture of a bison goring somebody. Well, here they have a picture of an elephant stomping on somebody. Beware.
The drive was a nice end to a great family trip. After breakfast we bumped and bounced our way back to Mysore (all three kids slept through most of the drive) and were in plenty of time to catch the train home.
It was a bit of a shock to be back in the crowds and the bustle of Chennai after the quiet of Kabini, but it's always good to be home.
The scenery was beautiful, as usual. John caught these shots of the sun rising in the park.
We saw a mongoose, which was something we hadn't seen before, and a lot of deer.
And we had our second near-tiger experience. We had driven for quite a while without seeing anything, when all of a sudden our spotter leaped up and told the driver to stop. He'd heard a langur's warning call close on the left. We slowly backed up, and everyone was silent. We heard the call again, very close. After a while we started hearing the calls on the other side of the road. Our spotter told us the tiger had probably crossed the road very nearby. Another close call, but no sighting. Denied!
John and I have differing views on our not seeing a tiger on this trip. He sees it as a case of seen/not seen, and in our case it's not seen and therefore a failure. I feel like the excitement of the hunt makes it almost OK that we didn't see an actual tiger. Despite the tiger disappointment, though, we agree that Kabini was amazing and that we'd like to go again someday.
We rode with the bird lover from Bangalore again, and he about fell out of the jeep when we saw this crested eagle.
The eagle just sat there and posed for us for a long time. Later we saw this elephant family on the move.
John caught these signs on the way out of the park.
I thought this one was kind of funny (in a dark humor sort of way). It reminded me of those flyers they hand out when you enter Yellowstone. Those ones have a shadow picture of a bison goring somebody. Well, here they have a picture of an elephant stomping on somebody. Beware.
The drive was a nice end to a great family trip. After breakfast we bumped and bounced our way back to Mysore (all three kids slept through most of the drive) and were in plenty of time to catch the train home.
It was a bit of a shock to be back in the crowds and the bustle of Chennai after the quiet of Kabini, but it's always good to be home.
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