The horizon is a flaming, burnished orange. The air is crisp and fresh, with a hint of chill. The trees, mostly teak and rosewood, seem to be reaching out to the sky. It had drizzled a short while ago, and the wet earth emits a lovely fragrance. At the cusp of day and night, the forest is perfectly still, that rare moment when all of nature is in harmony, a reminder of what the earth was meant to be.
We come to a halt too. How I wish we could lose the jeep and stroll around instead. But never mind a stroll, even alighting from the vehicle isn’t permitted.
An empty track leads into the depths of the forest
We are in the Nagarhole Wildlife Sanctuary
(See: location), which is spread over 640 sq. km. The rich, tropical forest is home to tigers—Nagarhole and the adjoining Bandipur sanctuaries account for a large chunk of Karnataka’s tiger population (350 at last count)—leopards, gaurs, sambars, elephants and wild dogs.
But the risk of getting down from the jeep during the safari, I gather, would have been minimal. A tiger hasn’t been seen here for months, and the last leopard sighting was weeks ago. We are stopped by a jungle patrol, and what we think will be an interrogation turns out to be a plea to report sightings. But then, we had been warned: This was not the season, we would be lucky if we caught sight of an elephant or two.
If animals are the principal attraction, it is best to make the trip in summer. The predators roam alone, but there is a good chance of encountering elephants in large herds. In winter, you gamble on their whims. Chandru, our stocky and cheerful guide who describes himself as a naturalist, tells us that more than 30 elephants were sighted the previous week. Today, the count has been one, but even that has eluded us.
At Water Woods, you can dip your toes in the backwaters while enjoying your meals
Deer, there have been plenty. But as Mukul Kesavan, the novelist and essayist, wrote recently, deer are to jungles what weeds are to gardens. Still, our first sighting is exhilarating. Our driver, wise to the pattern, stops the vehicle. Our cameras don’t stop. But after the fourth herd, we don’t bother looking. The deer, normally fretful creatures, are even more indifferent. A few young ones take to their heels on hearing the jeep, but most of them graze on, unmindful of our intrusion. They see more humans in their day-to-day lives than we see deer.