In the Land of Killer Elephants

We were supposed to go to Bandipur National Park with Lukas and Wiebke, but since they only accepted online booking in advance we decided to go to Mudumalai. The Safaris and accommodations were way too expensive anyway (for us foreigners). Next time would be cool to bring the registration copies. After all, we are almost Indian citizens...

About Killer Elephants. Last time I was in Mudumalai we went for trekking in the early morning. I remember how we thought that the trekking guides were so over dramatic when we had to be so silent and watch elephants from very long distances. I mean, elephants can't be dangerous right? They are slow and peaceful animals and would never harm anyone. That's what I thought. Last weekend we heard that an Englishman (apparently a fanatical bird watcher) had separated from the group and got killed by an elephant during trekking. Our guide told us that when you are in big groups the wild elephants just escape, but if you are alone they can attack if they feel threatened. So no more trekking in Mudumalai after that episode.

Our private guide picked some cactus fruits for us

cactus

magical views

Safari in the night.

So after we'd heard the creepy killer elephant story we went on a night-safari. The elephants were hiding in the bushes and crossing the road in the darkness as we were sitting in our jeep. It was a little bit frightening when some of the elephants tried to chase us and did some hostile movements with their heads and ears. Even our driver seemed a bit scared. But we didn't get killed as the English bird watcher. Fortunately.