We’re on a bit of a journey in this blog, visiting a few places on our way to Udaipur.
First stop Kumbhalgarh.
Our hotel is a couple miles outside the small town. The rooms are a good size with lovely views. We seem to be the only guests for some reason, but we have a full complement of staff to tend to our every need!
We visit Kumbhlagarh Fort which boasts an immensely long defensive wall - at 38 km it is second only to China’s Great Wall.
The exterior of the fort with its impenetrable, bulging buttresses is really impressive. In some places it’s wide enough for eight horses to ride abreast.
The interior palace complex is not so memorable as it’s been left to go into gentle decline and isn’t curated at all.
The defensive wall encloses some 360 temples, some still intact.
After a quick stop for refreshments we wander away from the crowds to a cluster of 5 beautifully carved temples set out on their own and we are the only people there.
We can hear the noise of the school and coach parties in the distance but it’s peaceful here and we feel privileged to have the place to ourselves.
We discover the hotel next to ours has a spa, so we decide to treat ourselves and book in for some treatments - we’re feeling the pace a bit and an afternoon of pampering is just what we need - we have an energetic day tomorrow.
Our next stop is Ranakpur and we are given two choices, be driven there or make the four hour trek through the forest, we choose the latter.
You have to obtain a permit to make this trek in the Kumbhlagarh Wildlife Sanctuary and it is compulsory to have a guide.
We have high hopes of seeing a leopard today and we set off full of enthusiasm.
Spoiler alert…..we see a troupe of monkeys, but no leopards, nor do we see any wolves or bears which also call the sanctuary home. In fact we see hardly any wildlife at all but we do see a lot of poo and leopard foot prints!
We’re reliably informed that the poo has been produced by the aforementioned animals!
The walk is tougher than we had anticipated but not in a bad way; it’s more undulating than we expected and much more uneven underfoot.
Towards the end of the trek we go off piste in search of leopard and this means that the final leg of the walk is on a very steep downhill, narrow path right on the edge of a very long drop - it’s nerve-racking for Janette who really doesn’t like heights.
Although the lack of wildlife was a disappointment, we loved being out in the fresh air and in the peace of the countryside, away from the sounds of people and cars, with birdsong our only accompaniment.
Today we are visiting the renowned Jain temple at Ranakpur.
It took 2,500 people 5 years to build. The foundations are 10 meters deep to support the huge marble domes.
We discover that the complex has LOTS of rules and regs… and of course whistle-blowing guards to make sure the rules are adhered to!
Janette has a bit of a falling out with the security guards at the entrance because she has her phone with her which she shouldn’t have without a permit. This and the countless rules about what you can and can’t photograph does detract a lot from the experience as far as we are concerned but we have to admit the building itself is spectacular.
…..and on the other hand, this is a holy place of religious worship and should be respected as such by those visiting it as tourists…
….you can’t blame the temple community for wanting to preserve the atmosphere of spirituality.
We are now heading off into the unknown! The plan was to stay in the hotel which fearured as the location for the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films but Ravi has suggested something else. We’re not sure of our destination but we do know it’s in the hills and we’ll be going on safari where it’s extremely likely that we’ll see leopard!
We arrive at Jawai Pug Mark, a safari lodge in Jawai Bandh, an area we know nothing about.
Not to worry, we have a luxury safari ‘tent’ for the night… everything we need - including numerous bars of soap, we can’t understand why we’ve got so many, perhaps it’s a hint!
We are surrounded by pretty countryside and Ravi has enthused about this place.
We have our first game drive in the late afternoon. We head off over the rocks and it’s a roller coaster ride, we have to hold on tight, it’s great fun.
As we crest the hill a sight made all the more spectacular because it is unexpected is laid out before us, an immense lake with numerous islets as well as many trees actually growing out of the water!
We learn that although this looks like a natural lake it is actually a reservoir created by the Jawai Dam, built across the Jawai River in the1950s to prevent the monsoon floods which ravaged the area each year.
The reservoir covers an area of 13 square km and has a capacity of 7,887.5 million cubic feet of water.
Almost as soon as we draw up on the banks of the reservoir, our guide
Muksjani points out an enormous crocodile sunning itself on the beach of one of the islets. The croc is perfectly content until Nick sends his drone over, with a look of utter disgust this remnant of prehistoric times, slips into the water and away.
We are now on the hunt for leopard and Muksjani is unshakeable in his certainty that we will see one.
He’s not wrong! As we enter a clearing, we’re greeted by some very serious ‘snappers’!
Very quickly we’ve found the local resident family of a mother and three cubs of about 10 weeks old. They are lying on bare rock and although we have to view them through binoculars as we can’t get any nearer it is a wonderful sight.
The nearest Janette has ever got to seeing a wild leopard before is a tail hanging out of a tree (which she doesn’t feel counts) so this is wonderful. We watch the family for about an hour, as the sun gets lower and the evening cooler, the cubs start to play and it’s a joy to see.
There is even a half- hearted attempt by the mother to hunt, but the prey spots her (and us) and makes its escape.
We need to be up and ready at 5.30 for an early morning game drive and we anticipate a really peaceful night in this tranquil place - how wrong were we? Firstly… the soap… where’s it gone? Vanished, so we request more supplies.
The only other guests (who happen to be in the tent next to us) embark on a VERY loud row, with lots of shouting and crying, and keep on going till gone midnight, our protestations go unheeded.
So after a pitifully few hours sleep we’re feeling a bit grumpy and moaning to each other about the futility of driving about in the dark trying to spot wild animals.
We of course know nothing and within the first five minutes we are up pretty close to a leopard!
Muksjani tells us this is a young male of about eighteen months, a cub from an earlier litter of the mother we saw yesterday. Apparently he and his sister are still in the vicinity and often go to visit their mum - how sweet!
We are very lucky to be the first jeep out this morning and so we have time on our own to savour this experience.
We continue to watch the young male until dawn, we hope he will get up and come our way but he heads in the opposite direction.
We drive on only to spot the mother and one of her cubs and then a few feet away the Big Daddy!
Things get even more exciting when we hear the dominant male very close by, there is great excitement as all the jeeps whizz around trying to find him - sadly without success.
What a superb experience this has been on many counts. Seeing the leopards of course has been wonderful and something we’ll never forget but to have visited this beautiful part of India has been an unexpected delight and one we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to others.
We have also enjoyed the peace and tranquility and feel ready to throw ourselves back into city life…. but before we go, what about the mystery of the disappearing soap?
We discovered that a little furry friend had been sneaking into our tent while we were out and not only stealing the soap, but also toilet roll - and Janette’s toothbrush!
Our next stop is Udaipur about which we’ve heard and read great things, we’ve got great expectations!
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