January 23

The morning started with a bit of an adventure. We planned to leave by
6 am to avoid traffic on the Mysore Road. We needed to be at Kabini by
noon, and this would give us plenty of time to get there (we were told
to expect about five and a half hours of diving time). This was also
Anand's first time driving to Kabini, and although he assured us that
he knew where to go, I expected to waste some time getting lost.

At 6 am, we walk out of the house, and ... no Anand. Call him, nobody
is picking up the phone. There is another car from Viji Cabs that is
taking someone to the airport, and the driver promises to come back
and drive us to Kabini. We continue waiting and trying to call up
Anand until 7, when the other driver comes back. We drive to the gas
station to switch to another car (Ford Icon), because the car we are
in now does not have enough clearence for the road. Switch cars, get
gas, start driving out of the city, and suddenly Anand calls up. We
agree to meet up with him on MG Road, so that he can drive us. At
around 7:30, we are finally driving to Kabini. I am a little worried
about the time, but the really interesting activities don't start
until the late afternoon, so in the worst case we'll just miss lunch.

And then we get lucky. Some government official is driving on Mysore
Rd, accompanied by several police cars. They are holding up oncoming
traffic for the convoy, so we get behind the last police car and go
really fast. We made it to Mysore in 2.5 hours.

Next, we are trying to follow the sketchy directions on the back of
the Kabini broshure. We find the sign that points to Kabini Jungle
Lodge, and try to go where it is pointing, but somehow end up on the
wrong road. Anand asks around, most people don't know where Kabini is
(and I cannot correctly communicate the name of the road to him), but
finally we get onto something that looks like the right road. It's
potholed and narrow, but that does not prevent Anand from going 60
kph. There are various unmarked roads splitting off, but we manage to
find the right way, and finally get into Nagarhole Park. The whole
exercise can be compared to giving someone who does not speak English
MapBlast's LineDrive directions to Yosemite and nothing else.

Anyway, with our recond speed, we end up at Kabini exactly at noon
after only 4.5 hours. The guy at reception was impressed. We rest,
have lunch, and at 4 get into the jeeps to go into the jungle. No
tigers or leopards (we didn't expect any), but we did see lots of
deer, a herd of elephants and a lone tusker, various birds, and in the
evening wild boar and gaur on the banks of the river.

In the evening, there is a movie about the Nagarhole Park, followed by
dinner. We go to bed at around 10 pm.

Next day, "the boy" knocks on our door at 6 am announcing that tea is
ready. We dress, drink the tea, and get into the jeep by 6:30. The
jeep takes us back to the reservior for a coracle ride. Along the way
we see some barking deer (they are very small, and pretty shy, so we
were lucky to see them), and stop to admire the various birds (there
is a couple from England in the jeep with us, who are avid
birdwatchers). When we get to the river, all the coracles are already
taken, so we end up going in the boat. The driver (boatman?) takes us
to the middle of the reservoir, where there are cormorants and other
birds nesting in the dead trees sticking out of the water. The ranger
did not go on the boat with us, so the English couple are very useful
in pointing out the various birds. There are a couple of people on the
boat who are talking loudly, which is a little annoying, the coracles
would have probably been quieter. After about half an hour on the
water, we get back to our jeeps.

Next activity is the elephant ride. We drive for about 20 minutes to
get to the elephant camp, stopping to see more birds and a Malabar
Giant Squirrel (Rodents of Unusual Size, anyone) along the way. The
ride is about half an hour long and goes along a jeep road and then a
narrow trail in the jungle. Our elephant has a baby with her, and the
baby has its own handler, who pokes it with a stick when it gets in
the way (it tries to suckle while we are going through the forest) or
tries to grab people's ankles. The mahout (elephant handler) is
sitting on the elephants head, with his legs on top of the elephant's
ears. When he wants to turn, he shouts something and then pushes the
elephant's eat with his foot.

Once we get away from the jeep track, there are lots of cool birds in
the forest, including drongos (they have cool tail feather which look
like two dots following the bird when it flies), kingfishers, and
rolos, which have beautiful blue plumage.

After the elephant ride, we are taken back to the lodge, where we get
breakfast, and then check out at 11. This is basically their daily
program, if you stay for longer, you do the same activities the next
day.

On the way back, we stopped in Mysore so Kostadis can see the
Maharaja's palace. This time we were smart and didn't walk through the
little market in front on the palace, avoiding most of the touts.

In general, although Kabini is pretty expensive by Indian standards
($110 per person), it is absolutely worth it. It seems that the
Indians, who get a lower rate, also get put up in cottages instead of
bungalows (not as nice, no AC), and get taken around in larger
groups. We had at most 6 people in the jeeps, while they had a larger
open air bus and about 20 people. The Indians also tend to get taken
on the river trip in the large boat instead of the coracles. If you
can avoid it, try not to take the boat (take the coracle, or do
another jeep ride), since it's noisy, and the people tend to talk
loudly (there were several times when the noise scared off some
birds). Various guidebooks and websites promise you a jungle safari on
elephants. It seems that the Forest Department does not do this
anymore, limiting the elephant rides to 20-30 minutes around the
elephant camp. People staying in bungalows (foreighners) seem to get a
slightly longer elephant ride. It's a good idea to bring binoculars
with you.