We got up early this morning at 6:45 because we had a bus to catch to White Haven near Theppakadu, a wild resort near Bandipur National Park.
After showers, packing, breakfast and check-out we got our usual rickshaw driver who brought us to the Central Bus Station.
We met 2 English couples there and were chatting on and off with them while waiting for the bus, which turned out to be an hour late-but no problem, on holidays you're not really in a hurry - and instead we watched and laughed over some of the other tourists we noticed that are obviously not taking as laid back approach to things as we have acquired on our 5 weeks in India.
When the bus finally arrived around 10:30 we even managed to get the driver and his minion to agree to stop and drop us off in Theppakadu, rather than bringing us an hour further down the road to Ooty - and when we got there at 12:30 they wouldn't even accept a tip, which was quite interesting. They're probably not allowed and so can't be seen in public to be taking "bribes" perhaps..?
Anyway a jeep and driver was waiting for us there and we quickly got underway through the park to Wild Haven, roughly a 15km drive up a narrow and potholed, but mostly tarmac'ed road. On the way we even saw an elephant - very promising! The driver told us that we would be very unlikely to see tigers, as expected, but that if we're lucky we may spot leopards.
On arrival we spoke to John who turned out to have been travelling a fair bit in Sweden and he had even been to Copenhagen by boat. He also gave us the room that Ajith&Laika had previously been staying in, which has its own balcony overlooking some of the park - very nice view indeed.
After a bit of conversation we were shown to our rooms to relax before going to their artificial watering hole at 16:30, which can be spotted from the roof (well 1st floor of an uncompleted building) - with chairs and a concrete barrier. The watering hole is located at the edge of their premises and is like a small clearance where deer (well, they're every where), birds and a few monkeys were spotted.
Just after 17:00 our driver Kamur returned to Wild Haven with another batch of tourists from Switzerland. On arrival he came over to us and asked us if we wanted to to see a black bear to which we jumped off our chairs and came with him in the jeep a couple of kilometers down the road towards Ooty. While the bear had been sleeping when he had last passed it, it was now very much awake - but unfortunately there were plenty of noisy Indians around in their cars and so it was a mad rush to pull out the camera and take pictures before the bear disappeared in under the trees and shrubs. But it was well worth it, at one point I was no more than 10 meters away from it - but it was obviously somewhat used to people because it lingered longer than they probably normally would.
Afterwards Kamur took us to a partially dried out river but we didn't spot anything there and instead he brought us through the village nearby where he turned out to be living - and we said hello to his daughter, mother and wife from the jeep before continuing onwards past a "Happy Home" orphanage where we said hello to the local kids. Then we returned to Wild Haven where we got up unto the roof of the building again, which overlooks the watering hole, but we didn't spot anymore wild life and instead we returned to our hut to freshen up before going down to the dining room sometime after 19:00.
There we had a nice meal - John was previously told by Claire that my stomach is a bit of a mess - so he had arranged with the kitchen to serve Western style food, including vegetable soup for starters, barbequed chicken with roast potatoes and buttered vegetables - and even a dessert in the form of some cake formed as a ball and partially submerged in syrup. Very nice.
While there we met the Swiss tourists that arrived earlier, a daughter and her two parents. It turns out that the daughter was not so much a tourist as she's heading up a new Wild Haven for/with John nearby, which is due to open soon. My suspicions are that the parents are there to stay for the opening - and that perhaps they are part investors...? But who knows.
Anyway, it turns out that the dad has been in Ireland a few times for work purposes and that he is fond of the Irish whiskey, specifically Jamison. He had even managed to bring a bottle with him, which he brought out and asked if we wanted some - of course, Claire wasn't going to say no and had a shot of it with the dad while we talked around the table.
Claire also enquired the staff about whether it's possible to donate to the Happy Home orphanage and they said to talk to John about it - we explained that we'd already decided to donate perhaps to the Mother Theresa foundation in Colcatta when we arrive there. But we shall see...
Anyway, at around 21:00 we returned to our room and watched a couple of episodes of Chuck (the last ever episodes) before going to sleep in absolute and utter silence, baring a few animals. How blissful, away from all the usual civilized madness... ;-)
After showers, packing, breakfast and check-out we got our usual rickshaw driver who brought us to the Central Bus Station.
We met 2 English couples there and were chatting on and off with them while waiting for the bus, which turned out to be an hour late-but no problem, on holidays you're not really in a hurry - and instead we watched and laughed over some of the other tourists we noticed that are obviously not taking as laid back approach to things as we have acquired on our 5 weeks in India.
When the bus finally arrived around 10:30 we even managed to get the driver and his minion to agree to stop and drop us off in Theppakadu, rather than bringing us an hour further down the road to Ooty - and when we got there at 12:30 they wouldn't even accept a tip, which was quite interesting. They're probably not allowed and so can't be seen in public to be taking "bribes" perhaps..?
Anyway a jeep and driver was waiting for us there and we quickly got underway through the park to Wild Haven, roughly a 15km drive up a narrow and potholed, but mostly tarmac'ed road. On the way we even saw an elephant - very promising! The driver told us that we would be very unlikely to see tigers, as expected, but that if we're lucky we may spot leopards.
On arrival we spoke to John who turned out to have been travelling a fair bit in Sweden and he had even been to Copenhagen by boat. He also gave us the room that Ajith&Laika had previously been staying in, which has its own balcony overlooking some of the park - very nice view indeed.
After a bit of conversation we were shown to our rooms to relax before going to their artificial watering hole at 16:30, which can be spotted from the roof (well 1st floor of an uncompleted building) - with chairs and a concrete barrier. The watering hole is located at the edge of their premises and is like a small clearance where deer (well, they're every where), birds and a few monkeys were spotted.
Just after 17:00 our driver Kamur returned to Wild Haven with another batch of tourists from Switzerland. On arrival he came over to us and asked us if we wanted to to see a black bear to which we jumped off our chairs and came with him in the jeep a couple of kilometers down the road towards Ooty. While the bear had been sleeping when he had last passed it, it was now very much awake - but unfortunately there were plenty of noisy Indians around in their cars and so it was a mad rush to pull out the camera and take pictures before the bear disappeared in under the trees and shrubs. But it was well worth it, at one point I was no more than 10 meters away from it - but it was obviously somewhat used to people because it lingered longer than they probably normally would.
Afterwards Kamur took us to a partially dried out river but we didn't spot anything there and instead he brought us through the village nearby where he turned out to be living - and we said hello to his daughter, mother and wife from the jeep before continuing onwards past a "Happy Home" orphanage where we said hello to the local kids. Then we returned to Wild Haven where we got up unto the roof of the building again, which overlooks the watering hole, but we didn't spot anymore wild life and instead we returned to our hut to freshen up before going down to the dining room sometime after 19:00.
There we had a nice meal - John was previously told by Claire that my stomach is a bit of a mess - so he had arranged with the kitchen to serve Western style food, including vegetable soup for starters, barbequed chicken with roast potatoes and buttered vegetables - and even a dessert in the form of some cake formed as a ball and partially submerged in syrup. Very nice.
While there we met the Swiss tourists that arrived earlier, a daughter and her two parents. It turns out that the daughter was not so much a tourist as she's heading up a new Wild Haven for/with John nearby, which is due to open soon. My suspicions are that the parents are there to stay for the opening - and that perhaps they are part investors...? But who knows.
Anyway, it turns out that the dad has been in Ireland a few times for work purposes and that he is fond of the Irish whiskey, specifically Jamison. He had even managed to bring a bottle with him, which he brought out and asked if we wanted some - of course, Claire wasn't going to say no and had a shot of it with the dad while we talked around the table.
Claire also enquired the staff about whether it's possible to donate to the Happy Home orphanage and they said to talk to John about it - we explained that we'd already decided to donate perhaps to the Mother Theresa foundation in Colcatta when we arrive there. But we shall see...
Anyway, at around 21:00 we returned to our room and watched a couple of episodes of Chuck (the last ever episodes) before going to sleep in absolute and utter silence, baring a few animals. How blissful, away from all the usual civilized madness... ;-)
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| A black bear captured just before it ran off |
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| And here's the picture for those with maternal instincts - pesky monkeys that would swoop in and still your stuff in a flash! ;-) |
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