11 December 2013, 04:57 PM IST
It was early morning, my wife and I decided to go for a walk before breakfast to the outskirts of the Ranthambore Wild life Sanctuary, in Rajasthan. The previous day we were lucky enough to sight two tigers and with the sightings behind us we decided to explore the outer periphery of the sanctuary. The sanctuary was bordered by hills on one side. It was there that we decided to head. One of the hills had a medieval canopy at its crest which had served as a look-out post for the soldiers.
It was a good 3 km walk from the lodge across overgrown shrubs and fields. Half-way across the stretch, we came upon a small deserted temple. The walls were crumbling and the decrepit structure looked as if the pilgrims had given the place a miss for quite a while. It struck us as unusual that a temple could be abandoned by the inhabitants of the village. We wandered around the temple exploring the structure and then we spotted it - a giant black monitor lizard about one and a half feet in length, basking in the sun. It was so effectively camouflaged against the black temple walls that we were less than 2 meters from it, when we spotted it. It was looking at us with a mild surprise and with its head held high it had a distinctly supercilious air.
We stood there for a moment or two sizing each other up. We are quite used to lizards scurrying away at our approach, but not if the reptilian horror with bulbous eyes and bristling scales on his head and running down its body, decides to laboriously clamber down the wall, where he was having a quiet nap, and takes deliberate steps towards you! You don't pause to check if he merely intends to pass you by, but collect all your belongings and head for the nearest possible exit, post haste.
Back in the safety of the open fields, we headed towards the hill. We left the fields behind and through the dense undergrowth made our way to the hill. On the way up we found several skeletons of animals scattered all over. They appeared to be that of a cow or deer. At the top we had a panoramic view of the surrounding area. We were on one of the higher hills-an ideal place to have 'an advance warning system'. One side stretched towards the game park and the other towards the village. We spent a good half hour examining the ancient canopy however it was devoid of any inscriptions and we came away disappointed. On our way down we found more skeletons of animals scattered across the hillside.
Back in the lodge we were just in time for breakfast. The waiter causally asked us where we had been. From the window we pointed to the canopy on the hill. The waiter was serving us Sambar curry when he stopped midstream and pointed the ladle in the direction of the hill and asked us as if reconfirming what he thought he had understood. "There?" he asked incredulously. We nodded, proud of our good day's work. The waiter put the ladle down and then in a slow deliberate tone informed us: "That place is out of bounds. That is the place where leopards and sometimes tigerscome for the kill. Just last week a leopard was sighted there!" There was silence in the room. Well that explained the abandoned temple and the animal skeletons scattered across the hillside.
We ate our breakfast in silence, glad to have made it back, to live for another day!
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Adventures in Ranthambore
Dengan url
http://osteoporosista.blogspot.com/2013/12/adventures-in-ranthambore.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Adventures in Ranthambore
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar