On Sunday, March 11 of 1990, we got up early at 5:30 for our trip from Ooty to Mysore in the state of Karnataka. Back than it was still called Mysore and not Mysuru.
We left by 6:30.
The road Ooty-Mysore passes through Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and we had a wonderful day with our host and staff member from Pond's: D. Sarath Chandra Divvela, together with his lovely wife Sudha. Found him on LinkedIn and he responded yesterday to my message for him and Sudha!
Feeling oh so happy for reconnecting!
Sudha's Mother lived in Hyderabad.
Feeling oh so happy for reconnecting!
Sudha's Mother lived in Hyderabad.
Here we are at a spot where we observed elephants.
From left to right: D. Sarath Chandra Divvela with his wife Sudha, husband Pieter and me...
Such an incredible variety on trees and plants in these beautiful mountains!
You can click here to see our route for that day, from our Savoy hotel in Ooty to Mysore Palace.
This was actually our first stop, still cool and therefore I'm wearing my wool georgette jacket from Italy.
A huge rock from where we could view into the valley, deep below and where we could see elephants and bisons graze.
Left from center, there are elephants!
The previous day it was Spring Festival there but after the final frost from past winter, all the young green got frozen and damaged. On top of that, there also were wild fires due to the extreme drought.
Now there is a lack of food and water and that makes the elephants show curmudgeon behavior and even attack people. Yes, poachers that fell sandalwood and rosewood in the middle of the night with trucks, even thought these wood varieties are protected within this wildlife sanctuary!
But this causes some 20 death by elephants annually.
Here we stop on a bridge, for having some Indian breakfast.
Enjoying our 7:30 Indian breakfast in the sunshine.
Overview of the bridge that crosses a river...
The river below this bridge is completely dry now due to this extreme drought.
We could spot elephant droppings!
Our driver could tell by the 'freshness' of those droppings that the elephants had been there about 4 hours earlier, for coming to drink - in vain... That was 3:30.
Two weeks earlier our driver had spotted here 13 elephants together.
If an elephant gets emitted by the flock for whatever reason, than such a mammal is also aggressive and attacks people.
Once fierce, they don't leave a man alone but kill him!
There are also tigers, panthers and pythons.
Our very dedicated and also knowledgeable Tamil driver!
We did spot wild peacock - look how DRY the area looks!
We were able to spot the Muntjac deer or barking deer.
What a struggle for life in this drought!
A little further down the road, our alert driver did spot this little lake with still some water in it, where little elephants got bathed.
All 4 baby elephants got in the water, Pieter standing here in awe, as we all were.
Those baby elephants are so cute and SMART!
Look how the little trunk comes up from under Sarath's hands to pick up something!
Pieter is laughing here with those fuzzy and mischievous baby elephants that pick up coins with their trunk!
Super cute fuzzy baby elephants!
This roguish fuzzy baby elephant befuddled my hand with its muddy trunk and you could see the twinkle in its eyes!
Closer to the capital city of Mysore in the state of Karnataka, we stop for a refreshing young coconut.
Pieter took photographs of what is around our car...
Animals and very dusty!
You notice all sorts of vehicles...
Just in front of our car.
Stay tuned as we will visit Chamundeshwari Temple next and Mysore's two biggest Palaces and special Garden.
Thanks for your visit and comment!
You can click here to see our route for that day, from our Savoy hotel in Ooty to Mysore Palace.
A huge rock from where we could view into the valley, deep below and where we could see elephants and bisons graze.
The previous day it was Spring Festival there but after the final frost from past winter, all the young green got frozen and damaged. On top of that, there also were wild fires due to the extreme drought.
Now there is a lack of food and water and that makes the elephants show curmudgeon behavior and even attack people. Yes, poachers that fell sandalwood and rosewood in the middle of the night with trucks, even thought these wood varieties are protected within this wildlife sanctuary!
But this causes some 20 death by elephants annually.
We could spot elephant droppings!
Our driver could tell by the 'freshness' of those droppings that the elephants had been there about 4 hours earlier, for coming to drink - in vain... That was 3:30.
Two weeks earlier our driver had spotted here 13 elephants together.
If an elephant gets emitted by the flock for whatever reason, than such a mammal is also aggressive and attacks people.
Once fierce, they don't leave a man alone but kill him!
There are also tigers, panthers and pythons.
What a struggle for life in this drought!
Look how the little trunk comes up from under Sarath's hands to pick up something!
Animals and very dusty!
Stay tuned as we will visit Chamundeshwari Temple next and Mysore's two biggest Palaces and special Garden.
Thanks for your visit and comment!
Previous posts:
Wearing a Saree for ONE Day and Lending my Jeans | previous post by me
Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me
Wearing a Saree for ONE Day and Lending my Jeans | previous post by me
Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me
Hello Mariette, I just finished a book of Kipling's short stories set in India, and it is impressive to think that you and Pieter were able to visit all those exotic and beautiful places, and now we can too, at second remove!
ReplyDelete--Jim
Dearest Jim,
DeleteA nice coincidence for reading just now Kipling's short stories about his life in India.
We were not born in India, neither was or is any of us a journalist but nevertheless both of us kept up our journal writing. That, together with love for photography and very much so for people, creates our story.
We were fortunate for being there and for being immersed into daily life through our work and the sharing precious time with the locals. That is quite a different impact than being under the umbrella of a touring group!
Wish we had had our iPhones back than for capturing things even better!
Thanks for your meaningful comments always and glad you enjoyed it.
Hugs,
Mariette
Dearest Mariette,
ReplyDeleteso lovely memories! I love the photos, where you met the little elphants :O) they are so sweet! Thank you for sharing!
Have a wonderful rest of the week!
Love and hugs, Claudia xo
Dearest Claudia,
DeleteGuess for all of us that day, the baby elephants were the highlight!
Thanks for your visit.
Hugs,
Mariette
Hi Mariette! How interesting! I look forward to the continuation. Have a nice day;-)
ReplyDeleteDearest Anne,
DeleteThank you for enjoying our most interesting work travels!
Hugs,
Mariette
Isn't it wonderful that you have these pictures to look back at. You have had the most interesting life....and your hair looked darling in that braid...Janey
ReplyDeleteDearest Janey,
DeleteThank you very much and yes, we both have lived a very interesting life.
I've always said that I know how to write the word 'boring' in seven languages but I don't know its feeling in even one language!
My hair at that time was so thick and heavy, can't believe when I see those photos how it thinned out over the decades...
Hugs,
Mariette
Viagens que ficam na memória para sempre.
ReplyDeleteUm abraço.
Andarilhar
Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
Livros-Autografados
Dearest Francisco Manuel,
DeleteYes, you are so right about those travels and we were fortunate for being able to work all over the world.
Wonderful memories forever!
Hugs,
Mariette
How wonderful you got to reconnect with D. Sarath Chandra Divvela! He must have gotten very excited to get your message :-)
ReplyDeleteThose baby elephants are super cute. They are so fuzzy! It's sad animals there suffer from drought. Baby elephants sure look very happy at the lake.
I enjoyed seeing photos of beautiful animals. Thank you for sharing, Mariette :-)
Dearest Tamago,
DeleteOh yes, I was oh so thrilled for that to happen just the day before publishing this post! That made 4 people very happy.
Animals always suffer when there is such a drought or even worse when there are wild fires or volcanic eruptions. We were fortunate for seeing these baby elephants having a great time at the little lake where still was water.
We did not have time for making great photos as we only traveled through the area, on our way elsewhere but at least we captured a glimpse of its beauty!
Hugs,
Mariette
Baby elephants are so adorable, you just have to look at these photos to see that they have put a smile on the face of every single person.
ReplyDeleteDearest Rosemary,
DeleteYes, you are so right about noticing that smile on everyones face and who would not love to pet and see a baby elephant up close?!
Hugs,
Mariette
How amazing to be able to see those baby elephants, they are so cute :)
ReplyDeleteThat was good that you managed to reconnect with Mr Divvela, isn't technology so great?
Dearest Sami,
DeleteThanks to the very keen eye of our wonderful driver who spotted this scene at the little lake so down we went and lived to see this. Like a dream to touch baby elephants!
Oh, we owe at times so much to technology and sure am grateful to LinkedIn for this.
Hugs,
Mariette
It was really a rare chance to have a contact with baby elephants.
ReplyDeleteDearest RTC.,
DeleteYou are so right about that and we owe it to our very observing and keen driver!
Hugs,
Mariette
I did not have that wonderful experience in my travels. I so enjoyed yours. XX
ReplyDeleteDearest Katie Isabella,
DeleteThank you so much and glad you enjoyed it with us!
Hugs,
Mariette
It's fantastic to see elephant in wildlife nous ? ;-))
ReplyDeleteGood night Mariette.
Hugs
Dearest Nathalie,
DeleteOh, it sure is and even if we did not have the time, nor the camera for zooming in on the ones below in a distance, the baby elephant encounter more than made up for that!
Hugs,
Mariette