Yes………I am here on my own

In search of T27 – The Dhawajandi Female – Part 1

India 2017

I was in the middle of an early morning dream when someone called out to me “Hello”. I was about to respond when the voice called out again, a bit louder this time. “Hello”. At the third time of calling, my bedside alarm also went off and, suddenly, I was wide awake.

“Hello. Can I bring your coffee?”, the voice continued. “Yes, please”, I managed to reply. I heard the zip go around the tent door and a member of the Shergarh team stepped through it carrying a tray of coffee and biscuits. When he had put the tray down and left, I forced myself to get out of my warm bed into the chilly March morning. Over the last few days, I had learned just how cold it could be getting up in the dark at 5am and, as a precaution, (and I have never told anyone this before), I had gone to bed wearing some undergarments and a pair of socks so that I could dress as quickly as possible, without too many shocks. I put on the layers of clothes that I had laid out the night before – T-shirt, cardigan, (these were blooming cold. “Is there a way I could have warmed these up too”, I wondered), then long trousers, a fleece and a waterproof, while at the same time eating the biscuits and drinking the welcome, hot coffee. Luckily, there was also hot water available for a perfunctory wash.

As I was dressing, I remembered fragments of my dream, as you often do when you are woken suddenly and I wondered why, whenever I do remember dreams, I am always busy organising things for other people who seem to be relying on me. How great it is that, for once, someone else is doing all the organising and I just have to relax and appreciate where I am!

This was my last day at this Shergarh Tented Camp and tomorrow I would be setting off to travel to Satpura for the second part of my holiday. I was sad to be leaving this place where I had had my first taste of India but excited to be visiting somewhere else new, especially as I would be travelling part of the way by train. This was a special holiday, to celebrating reaching yet another year with a 0 on the end and I had left the planning in the hands of a travel company. I had given them just two words as the basis of my requirements and these were “India” and “tigers” and here I was, thinking what a wonderful choice they had made for the first few days.

My rucksack was packed ready for the day and on the spare bed. The camera battery had been charged during the evening, I had my flask of water (no plastic bottles here), I had picked up my phone in case I wanted to video something, I had my passport (or did I? Better check again, as they won’t let you in the park without it). Yes, my passport is here, with some money for tips for the park ranger, then finally my thermal gloves and even a woolly hat.

I began to hear voices passing by my tent, as my companions for the morning made their way down towards where our naturalist would be waiting by the jeep. I stepped out of my tent into the dark and someone from was immediately there with a torch to light my way over the bridge and down the path. A fellow guest rang the bell for luck and we climbed into the jeep, wrapped our knees in the welcome blankets, tucked the hotties in among them and headed for Kanha National Park. The jeep was full today as there were two new guests who must have arrived last night after I had gone to bed.

This was my last day at this small, tented camp and tomorrow I would be setting off to travel to Satpura for the second part of my holiday. I was sad to be leaving this place where I had had my first taste of India but excited to be visiting somewhere else new, especially as I would be travelling part of the way by train. For this special holiday, I had left the planning in the hands of a travel company. I had given them just two words as the basis of my requirements and these were “India” and “tigers” and here I was, thinking what a good choice they had made so far.

We bumped along the path to the main road and headed for the park. I was grateful for all my layers of clothes as we sped along. It was still dark and the cold air whipped our faces. There was always a queue at the park gate and every jeep wanted to be at the front. When we arrived, the naturalists jumped down and collected our passports to be checked against the booking list and there was always a buzz amongst them and amongst the waiting passengers. At last he returned and we were joined by a park ranger who settled himself at the back of the jeep in the highest row of seats. Between them, our naturalist and the ranger would listen for sounds and look for signs that there could be a tiger nearby and they would point out the deer, antelopes, lemurs, drongos, peacocks, eagles and all the other animals and birds that we would meet on our drive.

At last, it was 6am, the gates opened and, as the first red morning light began to appear on the horizon, we set off on our search.