Corbett National Park

This week the kids and I took off for Corbett National Park, the first national park established in mainland Asia. It is, quite simply, paradise (particularly after breathing in Delhi air this time of year -- well, anytime of year, I guess).

Located in Uttaranchal in northern India (foothills of the Himalayas), Corbett and neighbouring Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary and Reserve Forest areas, form the Corbett Tiger Reserve (1288 sq. km). The park was established in 1936.

(More on park later)

Day 1 of our journey to Corbett:

After flying out of bed when the phone rang at 6 to let Mr. Brenda know his driver awaited we scrambled to get ourselves out the door.

Corbett is a 6 hour drive (it's really not all that far from Delhi but w/ roads that are a free for all for any kind of activity at all times, the statement that one does not make time is life's biggest understatement).

En route I didn't think we'd ever leave Delhi -- the urban area goes on forever (and at some point we entered different cities/villages). The air, filthy in Delhi, managed to get filthier as we went through an area of factories.

When we did eventually get away from Delhi we found patches of farmland, much of it bordered with rocks. Stalks and stalks of sugarcane were being harvested by hand and carted into the village by water buffalo. Carts were heavily laden with the green woody plants -- they must be 3 to 4 feet tall. It's hard to imagine they contain sugar. I later learned sugarcane is fed to elephants. Wonder how that is on the teeth?

We also saw lots of wheat and yellow mustard. Toward Corbett we saw groves of mango trees with some guava here and there. Very pituresque, flat, green land. BTW I tried a guava the other day -- maybe it's an acquired taste?

People lined the road as we traveled. In Delhi it was commuters getting on/off buses, trucks, cars, etc., dozens of children walking or being delivered to school.

Outside the city we saw the typical Indian myriad of transport: trucks, cars, water buffaloes, goats, pony carts, cows, bikes, motorbikes(no camels though). Our driver, Naresh, told us one of the areas we were traveling through was predominantly Muslim. We saw many men with small white caps and many women in black (though it must be ok to wear bright colors beneath the black -- we saw plenty of turquoise pants and brightly colored sandals). Naresh said Muslim girls wear white.

We saw a young boy making what Naresh called Muslim food from rolls of dough -- he flattened each ball out, laid it over what looked like an upside-down wok set over hot coals, and peeled it off a few seconds later.

In one particularly busy village street we saw a bunch of goats and owners. Naresh said the goats would be sold at market the following day. Later we drove by a smilar meeting of water buffalo and owners.

The air cleared beautifully at some point on our drive and eventually we started to see the foothills of the Himalayas, where the park's east entrance (and our destination) is located.

We rolled in early in the afternoon. Our one rest stop on this trip was at a hotel/restaurant complex with the best playground we've seen since our arrival -- complete with 5 rabbits scurrying around a cage w/ 2 big (loud) roosters.

Obviously the rabbits are used to being fed; they didn't pay any attention to me until I came out of the restaurant w/ a bag of food, then they followed me around until the kids were done playing.

Our hotel for this excursion was the Corbett Hideaway, which I highly recommend. It's set on the river with little cottages that all sport front porches. We had lunch in the Hideway's restaurant overlooking the river -- spectacular view.

At 4:00 we headed out with a naturalist for a nature walk down by the river. Ava nearly slid in, otherwise uneventful but beautiful. We saw many different birds -- Corbett has more then 600 bird varieties.

Our walk was through the buffer zone, one of the park's 3 zones (buffer, tourist and the deeper zone that can only be accessed by foresters). In the buffer zone a few villagers still live (grandfathered in before the park officially became a park, I think), and some use of the park is allowed (fishing, herb and firewood gathering, etc.).

Wildlife abounds in the area too; we were told tigers come into this zone regularly, cross roads, etc. In fact, one was hit and injured in January on the paved road. The forestry dept. looked for it to provide medical attention but it had disappeared.

In the deepest part of the park the two varieties of bears found in Corbett hang out: sloth bear and Himalayan brown bear.

On our walk we saw a bunch of black-faced monkeys and learned some Corbett animal trival -- in addition to 600+ types of birds, the park supports 4 kinds of cats, lots of snakes (including King cobra and python).

BTW venomous and non-venomous are correct terms to apply to snakes (rather than poisonous). That's because you can digest venom if swallowed (it's a protein). It becomes problematic if it enters the blood stream.

The king cobra is so venomous it can kill a bull elephant. It's also the only snake that nests; it hangs out w/ its young and cares for them for about 30 days.

Tigers typically have 2-3 cubs, sometimes 4-5. They are solitary dwellers, mark their territory and males will fight to the death over territory. (Lions are the only wild cats that live in groups.) Male tigers sometimes kill their cubs.

Wild elephants live in groups of 25-40, females and young, the oldest female being the leader. Males live by themselves. Apparently wild elephants can be very aggressive. The park has Asian elephants, which differ from African elephants in ear shape and whether males/females have tusks.

At least 2 types of monkeys live at Corbett -- we saw both brown and black faced. They send out signals (calls) when cats are near by. These calls warn the spotted deer and other animals. The monkeys also drop food down from trees to the deer sometimes.

Spotted deer are one of the four types found in the park; they're small, with spots and live in herds. Barking deer -- the smallest deer of all -- are solitary dwellers and actually sound like a dog when they warn other deer of predators.

Back to our walk...we saw fish named for their big heads; they are silver underneath and we could see the flash of their markings when they turned over.

The river which Ava nearly entered was shallow and very wide. During monsoon time, when the park is closed (July/August timeframe) this and the other rivers in the park fill and can be 8-10 feet deep.

Around a bend in said river we came upon a Hindu temple set at the top of a very narrow hill. At one time it was a regular hill but most of the soil has eroded over time. The temple remained intect and is supported by a man-made structure.

We salked down to the water, passing another temple on stone steps, where we spotted many of the afore-mentioned fish.

After our two-hour walk we caught a slide show about the park's animals, which was set up by a roaring (quite literally -- I had plenty of ash all over me by the end) fire.

After dinner we fell into bed at 9:30 I think -- is there anything more tiring than sitting in a car or on an airplane for hours?!?