Let's hope lives up to it's huge poster.
We only have one day here so just AM and PM drives and as before we were up before the crack of dawn, full of enthusiasm and anticipation.
We've seen quite a few male pea fowl, but very few pea hens and what boring birds they are!
Spotted deer are rather like Impala, after a while you become blasé about them but they really are quite lovely creatures.
Unfortunately the same can't be said about the Indian Vulture.
Hurrah, we have a tiger sighting - allegedly it is a female with 3 cubs running around her, but I'll have to take Right Time Right Place Rich's word for it as from our truck this is all I could see - and I'm supposed to be impressed?
At least in contrast to many locals we've seen (or heard to be more accurate) to date, the occupants of this truck behaved impeccably.
Which is more than can be said of this rabble.
The NP Police here are very hot; trucks are supposed to only stop on the side of the track nearest the sighting, but often if there is no other room some will just "double park". We witnessed a couple of occasions where the police got out of their trucks and noted down registration numbers - the drivers will then be banned from the park for a few days (and consequently not earn).
This was our most picturesque breakfast stop by far.
There were supposedly crocodiles on the far bank, but despite scanning for ages I couldn't see any.
I wish I'd been in this truck - what a superb spread!
Nilgai antelope (not sure if we've seen one before or not).
And a Sambar, which we most definitely have already seen, taking a mud bath.
And a rather Tolkienesque looking tree with its open mouth and leaf eye - actually it's known as a crocodile bark tree for obvious reasons.
Crossing back over the Ken River to our lodge for lunch.
Back in the park for the afternoon session we once again had to drive through controlled burning of the trackside vegetation.
A nice dead tree reflection.
We went straight to see if the tigress was still there and to my amazement she was and sitting in a more open place, although still quite a distance away - this is uncropped.
There was no sign of the cubs, presumably they were fast asleep somewhere avoiding the heat of the day. We stayed watching for quite a while and she put on a good display for us but the photos are pretty rubbish with high noise and also unfortunately she's collared.
We then got word of a leopard and so headed off in search and I guess this is the nearest I'll ever get to my dream shot of a leopard languishing in a tree.
Wow - that's what I call a sighting!
And then she was off.
Our driver tried to anticipate where she was heading to, but this was the only other glimpse we had of her.
This chap was in the jeep in front when we were with the tiger.
I got him to turn around but just as I took the shot he did a lovely Indian head wobble and so it's slightly out of focus.
A school outing.
And that was our last drive, which has ended the trip on a high with two good sightings. As usual we had to be out of the park before sunset,
The next morning we had the opportunity of a quick trip on the River Ken before breakfast. The sunrise was just as beautiful as sunset had been last night.
We were 6 to a boat with a man to paddle for us.
Not a great deal to see but the light and reflections were lovely.
A large flock of swallows had made their nests on the underside of the bridge.
Hopefully we're not on the a tributary of the Holy Ganges - I don't want to see a body float past too!
I think this is a species of Erythina but not sure which one.
White-throated Kingfisher.
Our paddle man heading home, job done.
Time for breakfast. A quick mention about the food we've had at all 4 lodges, it has been exceptional - plenty of variety and always full of flavour and by sticking to non-meat options we've both avoided the dreaded upset stomachs. The waiting staff have all been fabulous too, but sometimes we wish they'd listen before trying to second guess what we mean and rushing off. Getting just fried yolk for me for breakfast has proved nigh on impossible (unlike Mexico where I could speak the language) and today was the icing on the cake. Scrambled eggs seem to be the default way of serving eggs, so Ian asked for "fried eggs, but whole" meaning not scrambled - 5 minutes later I was presented with two hard boiled eggs which had then been fried!
We've seen some nice bits of wildlife and thoroughly enjoyed the daily company of B&L in the truck so overall we're glad we came but it doesn't come close to our experiences in Africa. With no off roading allowed we were always too far away from everything and sadly the quantity and behaviour of trucks rather spoilt things for us. On the positive side though, it was comparatively cheap!