The hunting party rose at 5am to spot tigers in the Panna Tiger Reserve, about a 25 minute bone-crunching, swerving, bouncing, juddering endurance jeep ride from Khajuraho. I spent the rest of the day trying to re-adjust my internal organs and re-align my vertebrate in the correct sequence. A safari holiday has now overtaken a cruise ship holiday at the top of my "Avoid at all costs" list.
Garry hypnotises a tiger
Garry hypnotises a tiger
We knew before we went that we weren't going to see any tigers - the locals had all given us pitying, knowing looks when we told them where we were going today - but when I saw that the guide wasn't carrying tranquilliser darts for emergencies, and we actually picked up hitch-hikers out walking in the park then I really realised we weren't going to see any. Actually I blame Pollie, as organiser, for blatantly forgetting to reserve us any. However there were creatures in abundance - deer, antelope, one mongoose, a skeleton of something dragged suspiciously close to the roadside so we could spot it, one domestic elephant brought in to devour industrial quantities of bananas for the photo opportunity, and some of our party, who had probably paid Pollie a back-hander, saw 2 jackals.
Beasts feeding at the watering hole
Beasts feeding at the watering hole
By 10am we were all safaried out, and bruised and battered we returned for a late breakfast in town.
On the way back to town we passed by a village pottery and were treated to a throwing demo Indian style.
Some of us had recovered sufficiently from the rigours of tiger hunting by late afternoon to partake of a shopping safari, and we bagged some stuff. Evening meal was at a Swiss-Indian restaurant - curries and rosti - a marriage made in heaven!
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