Lovely to be woken up at 5:30am with a quick "good morning madam" outside the tent. Beautiful large breakfast and then straight onto our ellies for the day's journey. Back on Sham Kali for the day and excited about the prospects ahead.
Lots of bird life - woolly necked storks, open billed stalks, little egret, honey buzzards, owls, green beeeaters, brown bar its and their loud call (such a little bird such a big voice!). A large rhinoceros (no consensus from the men whether it was a bull or cow) but it wasn't happy being disturbed by two elephants and called and snorted its disapproval at us before turning tail and stomping off in the opposite direction.
We then did some proper off roading and I have the scars to prove it. Sham Kali is quite keen on forging her own path with the help and encouragement of her Mahjot Suklal. No obstacle to big to be pulled down by trunk and snapped or stamped upon. Sadly of me that's not compatible with Capri pants and so although some ice old man once said to "leave nothing but footprints", I also left half of the skin from my shins too and now look like I've been self harming.
I was at the point where I was beginning to feel that I could quite happily pass on seeing anything exciting to get back to camp immediately as I wasn't sure how much more shin de gloving and rib bruising I could take (the Howdah is small on Sham Kali so sitting at the back when moving at pace, you tend to get flung into the wooden rail around bra level) when Ashik our guide started sayings "tiger, tiger, tiger" very excitedly, we had to stop the mahoot and get him to back up and low and behold, beautifully camouflaged in the long grass between the trees was a magnificent striped cat. It took me a while to adjust my eyesight but finally saw him relaxing, tail flicking and ears twitching. We tried calling the other on the mobile - bizarrely there is reception but clearly not in whatever forest they'd trailed through but after about 20 minutes of watching and stomping down some trees to get closer the other finally arrived. The tiger had been aware of our presence, at this point we were on an elephant only about 20 metres away but apart from lying down haunches up for about 30 seconds he was unphased and certainly not "bovvered", the arrival of the second elephant though was a different matter as they drew nearer he felt stuck in a wartime pincer assault, raised himself up roared at them and ran sideways towards them but not forwards as a warning and then disappeared into the jungle. High on life we let him escape and turned around and headed towards the nearby river and across to our camp.
The camp is a truly magnificent spot high up on a bank right over a fast running but shallow river, with plenty of shade from trees to keep the tents cooler. Then men have cut away steps into the sand bank to step down to the toilet tent and the dining table is positioned in a dappled spot close to the edge of camp and the river.
After greeting us with glasses of chiso pane, Lunch again a massive affair with several courses was served by the stewards (we have three!!) at our riverside restaurant. Chill out after lunch, each of us separate but united in our ways. For me it's togs on! Chillaxing in a chair writing this blog whilst intermittently Oning out and go using on the nature surrounding me. It is so so peaceful here, with the sound of running water, birds gently calling and beautiful large butterflies gliding through camp. The air is still and warm, like a thick woollen hug cosying you into a dreamless sleep. One could easily waste a lifetime here and yet not have wasted a single moment. The chance for reflection and contemplation is like a mindfulness wish come true.
After starring at nature for an hour or so we walked down to the river to have a special bath with Ram and Sham, who very much enjoyed their massages and elephant showers, not sure quite how clean we were after Ram Kali defecated in the water next to us!! After drying off we took the jeep for a safari. We sa lots of wild boar, spotty and hog deer but sadly no more tigers!! We went to some beautiful spots and did a long walk though the jungle past giant tree with large trite/ant mounds and hollows where, deer, Tigers, rhinos and elephants had been gouging out bits of the clay for the salt and minerals contained within. We walked to a rickety old bridge that Bimh had lakes across with another client clinging on for dear life, it was tempting and D took a few steps but soon dismissed the idea. A rafting crew silently drifted beneath the bridge as we sat in quiet awe if e beauty around us. Back to the jeep and another waterhole, this time where there were known to be tigers but sadly as the park rangers had been fire lighting, only a few brave (or daft) deer were to be seen.
Finally we headed to one of the elephant watchtowers and climbed up the rickety old structure as the sun was setting, the views were amazing, especially as the tower gently swayed in the breeze like a precarious house of cards, ready to topple T any moment. We survived the backwards stairs back to terra firms and saw Nightjars darting off the tracks in front of the jeep as we drove back to camp.
Dinner was another triumph and sleep came easily and was full of tigers.
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