It is Sat. Dec. 4, and we have a full days drive ahead of us. The Lalit hotel in Khajuraho packed us a very unhealthy box lunch to take along the route. We are heading to Bandhavgar National Park with its steep cliffs, rocky hills and dense bamboo forests to find the Tigers of India.
Along the route, we passed through many small towns and villages. Every one of them was overcrowded. People, animals, garbage, and vehicles continue to be everywhere. The average age in India is 37. We stopped around noon for a washroom break in a busy town. We went into a store and purchased some deodorant and then had an opportunity to speak with several young men who were in their early 20’s. We took pictures of them. The first 3 questions Indians always ask are ....1. Where are you from? 2. Where are you going? 3. How old are you? Indian men and boys like to stand very close to you and they like to touch you. They always smile and want you to take their picture. Some of them even want to exchange emails.
Later in the afternoon, we came upon about 20 people walking down the middle of the road carrying a flag and doing something very strange. One of the males would lie on the road, place a stone in front of himself, do a front roll moving the stone a body length. Then another man would continue to do the same. They took turns to move the stone along. They were parading their way to the temple which might have been more than 10 km. They did this ritual if they had prayed for something and a god answered their prayers.
After leaving this morning around 8 a.m., we finally arrived at the Tiger park lodge around 5 p.m. The road was so bad leading into the park, that the jeeps had to come and save us and our luggage for the last 4 km. Each of us got our own tree house for accommodations. Early tomorrow morning, we begin our search for the elusive Tiger.
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