Corbett 2

We set off for yet another section of the reserve. This one even further away. We needed to pass through a couple of villages on the way. Driving in India is like nothing I have ever experienced before. I can still recall the first time I drove round the Arc du Triumph in Paris. It felt like the wild west. In Marrakesh, we had traffic streaming on both sides of the truck and in both directions. In Lima I saw vehicles short-cutting a roundabout by going the wrong direction and using the pavement. None of this prepared me for India. Here is road life without rules. There are rules but nobody takes any notice of them. Just drive where you want. And use your horn. A lot. Every manoeuvre is a game of chicken. Never give way. Except possibly at the very last moment and then only by millimetres while sounding your horn. Pulling out across a highway with four lanes of traffic bearing down on you? – just go for it, most of them will give way. Motorbikes will always go through any gap even if you are driving into it.  Tuk-tuks will try. On roundabouts, priority goes to the bravest with the best horn. Use whichever direction has most space. Two vehicles confronting each other head on is not uncommon on roundabouts and elsewhere. We stopped at a level crossing. By the time the train had passed both sides of both roads were choked with traffic. Four lanes of vehicles all driving straight at each other. That took some serious sorting out and a lot of horn blowing. Driving is a full-body contact sport. All vehicles bear numerous scars and nobody stops for anything less than a serious injury. Don’t come whining about a dint in your front wing. You need to be a much better driver to survive here. Seriously. In the UK everyone follows the rules and pootles along in their own little world occasionally reacting to something that gets in the way. You would last mere seconds driving like that here. In India you need to be planning and watching, seriously watching, in all directions at once. Relying on anyone doing anything is to invite a collision. There is no right of way. Anyone can and will turn in front of anyone else at any time. Most drivers manage this while also using their mobile phone. Motorbikes typically carry three people. Can be up to six, in which case at least two will be infants. Tuk-tuks may contain eight or more grown adults. And there are cows. Cows are holy and must be avoided. They are allowed to wander however and wherever they want. Even on motorways and sometimes in big gangs.  Also, some of them are very big and have horns. The sharp, pointy kind of horn. Do not pick an argument. You will lose. There may also be monkeys, pedestrians, cyclists, men on donkeys, horse drawn carts, people pushing carts, people just having a chat and people trying to sell you stuff. All directions, all vehicles, all at once. To be a good driver you need three good things: a good horn, good brakes and good luck. It is terrific fun.

After a half hour transfer, the calm nature reserve with elephants, tigers and leopards was a place to relax. Today we focussed on tigers. None seen yesterday so this time our guide was more determined. As far as I can tell, and I am a serious novice at this, there is no way you can spot a tiger in the undergrowth or grass. They are just too well naturally disguised. There appear to be two basic techniques the guides use. The first is to listen for the alarm calls of deer and monkeys. The second is to go to where everyone else is parked up. If you are near a tiger, stop the vehicle and hope it will come onto the road.

First thing we saw was an elephant. A big old working elephant with two people riding it. I thought it must be rather grand riding on top of such a large beast. I think it was a female, no tusks. Hopefully it had a happy life. We also saw a barking deer, some spotted deer, some termite mounds and the elephant people heading home again. Then it was back to Jungle Jim’s for a late breakfast.  

In the afternoon our guide was determined to find a tiger. We were back in the closest section of the reserve but this did not help. We saw a jackal with some sort of skin problem. Looked to me like mange mites. We saw another tusker, some birds including a woodpecker, some deer and a vulture. No tigers to be seen anywhere. I cheered the tiger for being so elusive although a small glimpse would have been nice. Tigers or not, it was still lovely driving around the reserve and seeing the enormous range of flora and fauna.

In the evening, was another fire pit, and a documentary about Himalayan brown bears. Such a bear may well have been Kipling’s inspiration for Baloo in the Jungle Book. Note that the Jungle Book is a book. Not a cartoon by Disney. Get that out of your mind (although the music is pretty good). If you have not read the Jungle Book, then you should. Another terrific meal and then we retired for our last night at Jungle Jim’s.