Our first catch of the day was a herd of spotted deer, known as Cheetal in Hindi. These deer are small, but plentiful! We probably saw a total of 100 Cheetal throughout the course of our two hour tour! (We know, Dad Francis...you've told us a million times not to exaggerate...but it's true!)
One of the strangest animals that we saw was a wild cow, known as Blue Bull or Nilgai. It's technically an antelope...so really you can call it whatever you want to and you'll probably be right.
Speaking of cows, we saw another species of deer that are close to the size of cows! Sambar are India's largest deer and we were privileged to see an entire family - 2 bucks, a doe, and a fawn. These are definitely not the kind of deer you want to run into driving down I-94 at night...we're lucky they haven't made it to the Midwest US.
This next creature may look familiar...it's not just any old rooster, though...it's Jungle Fowl!
Twice along the journey we spotted these beauties along the path - Wild Boar!
We even had a little taste of the garden of Eden. Here's another Cheetal grazing with the wild Peacocks. Fact of the day...Peacocks are the national bird of India!
Toward the end of our journey, we were trying to be content with all of our findings, but we still hadn't found the jewel of the park...the Asian Elephants. You'd think they'd be the easiest thing to see, being at least ten times as big as anything else in the park! As our jeep drove back toward the park's entrance, we found the elusive elephants! There was a family group of about 7 or 8. The big mama in the background seems to have all those pesky little males with the tusks under control.
After we finished our safari, we headed down to our hotel for the night. While planning out this trip, we signed up for our accommodations in Chilla online. When we clicked on "G.H." we thought we were signing up for the Guest House...but when we arrived at the hotel, we found out that we were staying out back in a Garhwal Hut!!! Luckily, each hut came loaded with a bathroom, electricity, and even a TV. Forrest Gump could have been talking about India when he said, "You never know what you're gonna get!"
Our day in Chilla was the day after President Obama's inauguration and it made all the front page headlines in Indian newspapers- both Hindi and English. We celebrated the big event in our own way...in a hut...in the jungle...in India!
Dave and Beth
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