After the Vatavaran festival was over, we headed north to Ramnagar, a little town near Jim Corbett National Park. Elliot is very interested in wildlife, and Corbett has one of the healthiest populations of tigers and elephants in India. We'd been told we might not see a tiger - they're notoriously hard to spot this time of year - but we were hoping ride an elephant.
At the Sparrows Nest homestay, with our hosts
We stayed at the Sparrows Nest Jim Corbett, a homestay run by a wildlife guide named Ramesh Suyal. Ramesh and his wife were great hosts - and Elliot had a lot of fun playing games with his kids.
Elliot teaches the boys Rat-a-tat-cat
Ramesh told us he'd been able to reserve an elephant ride for us, but only in the buffer zone of Corbett. Rides are generally scheduled for dawn and dusk, when there is more chance of seeing wildlife. So we got up stupid-early in the morning to go for an elephant ride.
Elliot meets Kalina, a 40-year-old domesticated elephant
Elliot gets ready to climb aboard Kalina the elephant
Our ride started off on the road that cuts through Jim Corbett National Park.
Riding an elephant on pavement is a bumpy affair. The first quarter mile or so of our trip was on the main road, and it was rough going - though I was too delighted to be ON TOP OF AN ELEPHANT to really mind it much. But once we turned off the pavement and into the forest, it became much smoother.
Kalina takes us through the village to the river
Riding an elephant is a really, really great way to travel through the forest. We meandered through some settlements, and eventually made our way down a steep embankment to a wide riverbed.
View of the riverbed near Jim Corbett National Park
Kalina grabs a snack on the way back
We were pretty amazed at the way Kalina could use her trunk to feed herself, and we were confused about her teeth - so the mahout (elephant handler) showed us her mouth.
Kalina's mahout shows off her mouth
We never did see any tigers (though we did see some tiger tracks) - but riding Kalina the elephant was just as wonderful an experience as I'd imagined. Elephants are incredible creatures.
Kalina says goodbye