Hauling many gfree goodies in one (very) overweight bag and one slightly overweight bag, mom arrived safely into Bangalore early early early Thursday morning. Well, there was that brief hold-up with customs, but let's try and forget about that and simply remember the safe arrival. After surviving a first wild eye-opening ride home, we were all safely tucked away and asleep just before the sun came up.
Spending a day to massage, tour Whitefield, and sort-of-recover from the flight, we were quickly off on another early morning flight, destination Pench National Park, aka, Pench Tiger Reserve. Pench covers just over 113 acres in southern Madhya Pradesh, and is one of three tiger reserves in the area. A two hour or so car ride from the airport in Nagpur, which is also the geographic center of India, brought us to the amazing Baghvan Resort. As with my parent's visit, with mom's visit we wanted to mix it up a little with some time sharing our day-to-day life, some time spent in excessive luxury traveling, and some time enjoying some normal India site-seeing. Baghvan was definitely in the "excessive luxury" category, and was amazingly beyond anything any of us could imagine. Tucked away on a few quiet, wooded acres, the resort consists of 12 small bungalows, a kitchen/dining room/great hall, pool, organic garden (from which came many of the ingredients for our over-the-top amazing meals), and staff housing. Very simple, very quiet, very wonderful. And since we were traveling with some friends, we had the place to ourselves the first day and a half.
With all apologies for what may become an annoying refrain, the food was amazing. Even after other guests arrived, each meal was prepared family style just for us, overflowing with fresh garden ingredients and delicious gfree options. Everyone ended the weekend 5 pounds heavier. We were starting to worry that the tigers had a special liking for white people and so the chef was fattening us up for bait! And if the food itself wasn't enough, each night our dinner was served in a different location: a deck off the dining room, pool-side, and in an Indian wonderland.
So yes, every meal was amazing. But the highlight of the resort stay might have been when the chef and his staff prepared a boys vs. girls Master Chef competition for us. Well, OK, the first round Indian food facts quiz was a bit of a disaster (our ignorance seemed to cause the chef actual physical pain (although we were slightly redeemed when we asked him to tell us the five necessary items in an American Thanksgiving dinner and to describe a Juicy Lucy)), but we all did really well in the chaat cooking competition, and enough of us got the blind taste test correct to not be a complete embarrassment.
As wonderful as it was, though, we weren't there for the resort; we made the trek for the wilderness, the tigers, the wildlife. And that we saw in abundance. The first night of arrival we went on a sunset drive through the park buffer zone, capped off by tea and biscuits by the lake.
And then it was safari time: with a 5:15am departure, we were off for the first of our four trips into the park. Driving through the park in the early morning and at sunset, in an open jeep, with good friends and a great guide, we were home in India. Although the 18th century dream of an infinite American wilderness has, in a number of ways, been disastrous, we really are blessed in the US with open spaces to breath with the earth and feel our place in the world. Being based in Bangalore it is really hard to find that space, a place to find your way into that kind of peace. But in Pench, that place was found: the streaks of morning sun through the clouds and trees, the smell of the earth after a quick rain, the sounds of the forest talking to itself; it was perfect, it was home.
And that's not even to begin to speak of the wildlife: the blue bulls, sambar, spotted dear, families of monkeys, peacocks and peahens, hyenas, wild dogs, coveys of quail kingfishers and so many birds that Ramesh could name off at the slightest call but that we can't even remember. It was all too much.
And although we didn't see any sloth bears, leopards, or the very elusive deer-riding-monkeys, we saw tigers!! This was our first safari, so we aren't sure if this is typical or not, but tracking tigers through the park was an experience in itself: listening for the warning calls of the forest to triangulate the location and movement of the tigers, racing from water hole to water hole to sit and wait quietly, hoping to get a good viewing spot. The whole experience was so much fun.
And to make our adventure perfect, we even took an elephant ride through the park.
But then, much too quickly, we were back aboard the dreaded IndiGo, heading home for a day to recover before embarking on our next adventure.
Spending a day to massage, tour Whitefield, and sort-of-recover from the flight, we were quickly off on another early morning flight, destination Pench National Park, aka, Pench Tiger Reserve. Pench covers just over 113 acres in southern Madhya Pradesh, and is one of three tiger reserves in the area. A two hour or so car ride from the airport in Nagpur, which is also the geographic center of India, brought us to the amazing Baghvan Resort. As with my parent's visit, with mom's visit we wanted to mix it up a little with some time sharing our day-to-day life, some time spent in excessive luxury traveling, and some time enjoying some normal India site-seeing. Baghvan was definitely in the "excessive luxury" category, and was amazingly beyond anything any of us could imagine. Tucked away on a few quiet, wooded acres, the resort consists of 12 small bungalows, a kitchen/dining room/great hall, pool, organic garden (from which came many of the ingredients for our over-the-top amazing meals), and staff housing. Very simple, very quiet, very wonderful. And since we were traveling with some friends, we had the place to ourselves the first day and a half.
With all apologies for what may become an annoying refrain, the food was amazing. Even after other guests arrived, each meal was prepared family style just for us, overflowing with fresh garden ingredients and delicious gfree options. Everyone ended the weekend 5 pounds heavier. We were starting to worry that the tigers had a special liking for white people and so the chef was fattening us up for bait! And if the food itself wasn't enough, each night our dinner was served in a different location: a deck off the dining room, pool-side, and in an Indian wonderland.
First lunch after arrival
First dinner on the deck
Pre-appetizers
Pool-side dinner
Indian wonderland dinner
So yes, every meal was amazing. But the highlight of the resort stay might have been when the chef and his staff prepared a boys vs. girls Master Chef competition for us. Well, OK, the first round Indian food facts quiz was a bit of a disaster (our ignorance seemed to cause the chef actual physical pain (although we were slightly redeemed when we asked him to tell us the five necessary items in an American Thanksgiving dinner and to describe a Juicy Lucy)), but we all did really well in the chaat cooking competition, and enough of us got the blind taste test correct to not be a complete embarrassment.
"This is an easy one; you'll definitely get this one."
How to make a samosa
As wonderful as it was, though, we weren't there for the resort; we made the trek for the wilderness, the tigers, the wildlife. And that we saw in abundance. The first night of arrival we went on a sunset drive through the park buffer zone, capped off by tea and biscuits by the lake.
And then it was safari time: with a 5:15am departure, we were off for the first of our four trips into the park. Driving through the park in the early morning and at sunset, in an open jeep, with good friends and a great guide, we were home in India. Although the 18th century dream of an infinite American wilderness has, in a number of ways, been disastrous, we really are blessed in the US with open spaces to breath with the earth and feel our place in the world. Being based in Bangalore it is really hard to find that space, a place to find your way into that kind of peace. But in Pench, that place was found: the streaks of morning sun through the clouds and trees, the smell of the earth after a quick rain, the sounds of the forest talking to itself; it was perfect, it was home.
And that's not even to begin to speak of the wildlife: the blue bulls, sambar, spotted dear, families of monkeys, peacocks and peahens, hyenas, wild dogs, coveys of quail kingfishers and so many birds that Ramesh could name off at the slightest call but that we can't even remember. It was all too much.
Spotted deer
Wild dog
Baby monkey!
Peacock doing its thing
Peacock just hanging out
What are you running from?
Oh... you were running from the hyena jackal.
Kingfisher
Baby sambar and mama
Racket-tailed drongo
Wild boar
Blue bull
Gaur
Jungle owlet
Baby deer getting a drink
Velvet fronted nuthatch (maybe?)
Road block
And although we didn't see any sloth bears, leopards, or the very elusive deer-riding-monkeys, we saw tigers!! This was our first safari, so we aren't sure if this is typical or not, but tracking tigers through the park was an experience in itself: listening for the warning calls of the forest to triangulate the location and movement of the tigers, racing from water hole to water hole to sit and wait quietly, hoping to get a good viewing spot. The whole experience was so much fun.
Did someone say tiger?
Chasing tigers
Center of the photo, where the tree and the downed tree intersect
And to make our adventure perfect, we even took an elephant ride through the park.
But then, much too quickly, we were back aboard the dreaded IndiGo, heading home for a day to recover before embarking on our next adventure.
Alan:
ReplyDeleteYou did such an AMAZING job at capturing the trip to this point. I just love the story and pictures. And to think that I was there for it ALL. I so loved every minutes. Mom