Day Three

 We were woken up very abruptly the next morning at 4:30 by a sambar calling right below where we were sleeping. I tried going back to sleep but strangely felt totally fresh already and decided to lie around watching the jungle. I didn’t realize it then but Sanjay was also awake and doing the same. At around 5am, one could hear some activity and soon we heard Tripathi ji calling us for delicious morning tea. After helping the others pack away the mattresses followed by some lovely tea, we headed off for our first trek in the Khinanauli area.

It was a strange feeling looking up at the usual viewing area at "High Bank"

We came across our first set of pugmarks where Ramsingh Road and the Kamarpatta vehicle track meet the main road. We did not take any traces as this particular tiger had already been recorded the day before. Soon we turned left and headed through thick bushes along a small dry stream. On reaching the river we turned right and walked along the bank all the way till High Bank.

It was a strange feeling to look up at the normal viewing area from where, all these years, we had looked down at the riverbed to see many animals on different occasions, including the tiger. Here we now were on that very same riverbed looking up at the tourist spot! After a rest of ten minutes, we waded across the river and then headed back in the direction of Khinanauli. We passed an area with thousands of butterflies. All purple, yellow and black.

There were thousands of butterflies all around!

I had seen a tiger cub very close to this area on my previous visit

Saw many interesting birds, deer of all kinds and fish of many varieties. Then we came to an area named Taulia. This was particularly interesting for me as, in my previous many visits to the park, I had had my maximum sighting of tigers here. This included a tiger cub we saw, at the exact spot where I now stood, only a few months earlier.

We came upon some very fresh pugmarks that had not yet been recorded. It was decided to take a plaster cast of one very clear impression. While waiting for the cast to set, four of us decided to explore further up the dry stream that emerged at this spot for more pugmarks. As we rounded the corner we heard a sudden scurrying in the bushes some fifty yards ahead and then a loud warning call from a monkey. The adrenalin in the bloodstreams, on a scale of one to ten, shot up from 1 to 9 in 0 seconds flat! With hearts pounding we carefully made our way forward. As we cleared a bushy hillock, we were confronted by extremely thick foliage. Deciding it was futile and foolhardy going any further up, we turned around and headed back to the others.

Surprisingly, the plaster cast had already been extracted and we were on our way. After around another half hour of trekking through beautiful scenery, passing deer, gharials and a startled wild boar, we reached a lovely spot adjoining a clear pool of water. We stopped there for lunch, which was terrific and served along with some delicious chutney made on a stone slab before our very eyes by the young local helper accompanying us. We served ourselves on plates made by intertwining the stems of four leaves from a tree above. I don’t know whether it was just the hunger, the surroundings and atmosphere but I’m quite sure that was the most delicious meal I’ll ever taste.

We quenched our thirst at every river crossing

Even though it was a simple combination of rice and daal. After a little rest and a dip in the pool, we headed back on the last leg of our trek that day. It was quite uneventful and the sun sure was warming things up. We ensured we quenched our thirst from the river every time we crossed it. The water was crystal clear and anyway our stomachs were well used to battling germs from the polluted waters of big cities. We also drank once from the spring under the Jamun tree at Jamun Bhoji. Delicious!! The rest of the day went by quite quickly. An elephant ride at 4pm. No tiger this time but a lovely bunch of playful otters at the bases of a gurgling rapid.