Elephants and tigers and bears, oh my!

We took a flight from Calcutta to Delhi, and then from there we took an overnight train to Corbett National Park. We arrived at the train station at 4:55 am, exhausted, but ready for adventure. We were met at the station by our friendly guide, Mohin. We stopped for a quick glass of chai, and then continued on to the hotel to settle into our room and rest before our day’s adventures. At 11, Mohin came to get us and took us for a walk through the outskirts of the park to the banks of a local river. A school group was there doing wilderness activities like repelling and river crossing. We watched them for awhile before heading back to get lunch. We ate a light soup and salad meal, and then went to meet our ride for our first forest safari.
Our first trip into the forest was an elephant safari. Our ride was a 36 year old elephant named Kanchan and her handler. Four of us rode on her back, sitting sideways on a saddle. Her handler sat in front of us on her shoulders. To board the elephant we had to walk up a set of stairs to a platform, and climb on. Once everyone was safely aboard, we set out into the forest.
Kanchan plodded slowly through the forest, following a path that was familiar to her. She seemed unaware of our excitement, stopping every so often to grab a snack off a nearby tree branch. Meanwhile, we were looking around us anxiously, searching for signs of the elusive tigers that inhabit the area. We had heard stories before we left about the man-eater who had been trapped only two months before after killing a local villager, and our guide told tales of handlers who had been pulled right off of their elephants by the mighty cats. We searched the bushes, and caught our breath at every sound, half hoping to spot a tiger, and half afraid to. Our guide taught us to listen to the screams of the monkey, who spot the tigers from the treetops and then warn the other animals to be on the alert, and we walked past the bones of deer that had been dinner for one hungry animal. We spent two hours in the forest, and without spotting a tiger. We were disappointed, but only slightly. We had so much fun riding Kanchan, and at the end of our tour she let us pet her, which we all thought was adorable.
Our second day began with a 5 am wake-up call. We quickly got dressed and piled into the resort jeep. Today we were going to drive further into the park on a jeep safari. We stopped at the park gates to fill out our admission paperwork and pick-up our guide/tracker. It wasn’t long before our guide yelled excitedly for our driver to stop. We all got out to look at his find, fresh tracks from a male tiger! Something was close by. Now we were awake. We were searching the trees with our binoculars looking for clues. There were plenty of spotted deer (referred to as tiger food by our guide), a wild boar, loads of monkeys, and even some wild peacocks. We crossed a river, and then we stopped again; another tiger print, this time from a female. We stopped to listen carefully. We heard the sounds of the monkeys and the peacocks, and then all of a sudden, from far away, a roar! It was incredible! We didn’t see the tiger, but we knew that he was there, and probably saw us. That was enough to send shivers up my spine. We spent nearly three hours searching the forest before calling it a day and heading back to town for a late breakfast. We spent the day relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet provided by the country side and the fresh air (a rarity in India). We had a train at night that we take us back to Delhi and then on to Agra. It was going to be a long couple of days.

Corbett