DAY EIGHTEEN… 29.91 miles (48.10 km)
Tim’s famous words ‘don’t worry the tigers won’t come anywhere near the road’, have been definitively proved wrong. Today our ‘comfort break’ became a little less relaxed when we spotted a giant tiger paw print in the sand.
Our ride up to the Tiger sanctuary was in fact right through tiger country, passing lots of yummy tiger treats like chital, barking deer, even a couple of jackals and lots of hornbills merrily eating fruit in the trees.
We arrived at MPT White Tiger Lodge and almost immediately began the Kafkaesque ordeal of booking onto a tiger safari. The process involved a number of steps, as we moved clockwise round a room. First the park permit, then the guide, then the vehicle, and finally , in a different office altogether, the payment. I guess we can only blame this brainless bureaucracy on the British.
Tigers are a huge commodity and money spinner for India. When I did actually spot one, rather far off, I felt real sadness that this beautiful beast had become the object of our greed.
