1-18-09

Today, we went on the bamboo rafting tour. It lasted all day and involved a short hike, breakfast, a ride in a bamboo raft, more hiking, lunch, more rafting, and more hiking. I really enjoyed myself, despite the sunburn I (amazingly) acquired. I generally tan without burning, but Mom says a slight burn is quite becoming on me. It was very nice to relax on the raft, gliding across the lake while the guides did all the work paddling. We saw quite a lot of animals, from squirrels to elephants. One of the guides said we had a lucky day for sightings. Mom went crazy looking at the tracks in the dried mud – there were perfect conditions. There was one guide who was excellent at identifying animal tracks, scat, etc. I enjoyed looking at tracks and seeing who had been there before me as well. We even got to see a few tiger tracks but, unfortunately or fortunately, not the tiger who made them. I think we came quite close to seeing a tiger, though. We heard something growling behind the treeline, which the guide said was probably a tiger, but could also be a wild boar or a bear. It was probably only 30 feet away, at the most (I don’t know how well tiger roars carry through jungles) but some of the people made way too much noise and moved around a lot which is, of course, the last thing that will earn you an animal sighting. I was furious and frustrated because I’d really been hoping to see a tiger. To vent my fury, I spent the next 45 minutes or so thinking up all the evil things I could say on this blog. But they are quite rude and my temper has cooled somewhat so I won’t say anything. ( I actually typed out an “except that” end to the previous sentence, but deleted it. This was very difficult for me.)
To make up for not seeing a tiger in the “Periyar Tiger Reserve”, we did see lots of other wildlife. There were several pigs, both a number of lone ones and a large family. There was also a herd of buffalo, many varieties of birds, two squirrels (which are much larger than those in the US), and possibly 10 wild elephants. I especially enjoyed the elephants. Animals aside, however, it was a lovely day, with beautiful countryside to be traversed and excellent weather.
The tour ended at around 6:00 and I was both tird and ravenous, which is a bad combination. I also wanted a chance to take a nap before Patrick and I went on a night hike, so I was trying to organize everyone and hurry them along. We told the rickshaw driver to take us to Chrissy’s café because it’s close to our rooms and we knew what it was called, but when we got there, it was a bit outside our price range. I was a bit disappointed because I’d been craving lasagna, so when Dad said we had to find somewhere else to go, I said (a bit nastily, I’ll admit) could we pick quickly because I was hungry. HE lost his temper and marched off home, followed by Patrcik. Mom came out of Chrissy’s at this point, to see Patrick storming off and me fuming, rather loudly. It wasn’t until the next morning that I discovered that Dad’s heart had been troubling him and that he had to take a nitrite and rest when he got home. I felt terrible.
In the night, from 10-1, Patrick and I went on a night tour. I expected there to be at least a few people besides us, but it was just the two of us, our guide, and the guard who didn’t appear to be particularly competent with the rifle he carried. I can’t really talk though, because I have yet to shoot anything more powerful than a BB gun. It is very different in the jungle at night – it was beautiful, but I would not have wanted to be there alone. We saw lots of deer, probably around fifteen. There are three kinds of deer in these parts and we saw two of them. One was the Samba deer, I think, but the guide’s accent was quite thick and it was hard to understand more than “deer” or “cat” or “here is somebody, see?” Besides the deer, we saw a wild cat; it was about the size of a bobcat, but more than that I couldn’t tell. Of course, when we first spotted it I got over-excited and managed to convince myself that it was probably a baby tiger, but it wasn’t and that’s probably a good thing. Tigers are most likely to bears in that, where there’s a baby, there’s a mama nearby and if you mess with that baby or get too close, the mama is likely to get a mite touchy - to put it nicely. We also saw a few cast off king cobra skins and two porcupines. The porcupines were enormous. My first thought was that if Aunt Kathryn or Uncle Bill were here, they would have a heyday. (If you don’t know them, they both do quillwork.) I would say they were probably a good 2 ½’ - 3’ long and 1’-1½’ tall. And FAT: these were obviously well fed porcupines. Mom saw the tracks of some and was very impressed as well. By the end of the hike I was exhausted and was quite glad to flop into my bed, although I was still happy enough to describe the porcupines and the other animals to Mom. All in all, I think it was a good day