Day Twentyfive
Submitted: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 | Views: 9 | 0 comments
November 26/2009 Log entry
"Walk on the wild side"
Up early and gone in the dark at 6:15 am for a jeep safari to the 20,000 lake area. Our guide a driver and the 4 of us pile into the jeep, driving a fair way to a narrow dirt road with a checkpoint. It is all part of the park corridor and just inside the gate we spotted tiger prints which our guide showed us were very fresh, they were on top of all the other tracks, both animal and tire. We would see them allot and take paths to hopefully catch up and see him. No such luck but it made for a very alert and excited trip. We would see 3 types of deer, barking, spotted and a huge Simbar buck the size of a large elk. We also saw crocs and so many birds including some rare eagles and a huge white owl. It was a great trip and I enjoyed the whole experience. It really felt like we were alone in the jungle stalking wildlife.
Back at the hotel we did breakfast of awesome banana and honey pancakes. I was able to blast off an email and then went to watch the elephants come down to the river in front of the hotel for their bath. You can get on their backs and get sprayed, jump into the river and assist with the bath, we all choose just to watch. We had to get all of our gear packed and cleared out of the rooms, packing just an overnight bag for our trip to stay in the jungle tower. We grabbed a small bottle of rum and some snacks and the hotel packed us a full dinner of chicken curry, vegetable curry, rice and salad. The jungle was awesome, once inside we got out of the jeep to walk with our guide. It was a really exciting experience, quietly creeping up to a mother and baby rhino, we heard a noise to the side of us that turned out to be another huge male just in the bush beside us and the clearing. We slowly snuck around to an opening to get an even closer look, my heart was pounding. So cool! After getting to the tower we went for a long hike and soon saw a huge crock on the riverbank, the biggest one yet. We scared up a large group of peacocks that flew up in front of us, some crossing back over the river. We also saw all 3 types of deer. After our dinner on the tower deck we actually got to go hiking in the dark. Wow what a feeling walking through a dark jungle with only the moonlight filtered through the trees. We came across deer and heard lots of noises, the tiger was ever present in my mind. The night fog came in a made seeing anything from the tower almost impossible so we headed to bed around 9 pm and I slept like a rock!
