I had set the alarm for 4:00 am since we had to leave at 5:00 am for the Tiger Safari. We drove off on time. The moon was shining brightly in the dark sky. Suddenly we came to a river which we had to cross. No bridge. Luckily the water was low enough for the car to cross. We reached the Madhai Resort in the jungle. After waiting for half an hour for paperwork we took a five minutes boat ride across the backwater of Tawa Dam.
Seven Rivers come into this Dam and eventually join Narmada River. Surrounding farms get 90% of they water from this Dam. Sun was rising and sky was getting brighter but it was very cold. We were bundled up and still shivering. We got into open Jeep with the guide Vinod Rajput and driver Shiv Nath. They took us through winding paths in the jungle trying to look for the Tiger. We found foot prints on some of the tracks but did not see The Tiger. There were several other Jeeps as well. But this morning no one had a sighting. We did see a Bisons, Wild Boar, Peacocks, Spotted Deer, Sambar Deer, An Eagle who almost caught a fish. Apparently the fish was too big for the Eagle to fly with it.
Vinod would listen for sounds made by the animals to see where the Tiger was roaming. We saw many birds as well. By 10:00 am we had driven in the jungle for three hour. At the end of the trip It felt the time went by too fast. The drive itself was amazing. Tiger sighting would have been a bonus. Alas!!! Maybe some other time some other place.
We got back to the hotel checked out. I started walking and Sunilji drove off. I walked until about 3:30 pm and got in the car to find a place it stay for the night. We looked for any ashram on the way. But finally we reached Narmadapuram. Winding through city streets we came near the Ghat and found Agarwal Dharmashala. We got two adequate rooms for the night. After settling in we stepped out for dinner.
Today is Poornima and there is Maha aarti at the Ghat. We finished dinner, Puri Bhaji Rabdi and freshly made Kalakand(small amount of each). Narmada Maha Aarti was a two hour program at the Ghat with Pooja, Bhajans and concluding with Narmada Maiya’s Aarti. Enjoyed it thoroughly. There were at least 250-300 people all bundled up. After the Aarti we went to rooms called it a day.
Today I walked 21.1 kms.
