See images from my most recent trip around the North East side of India here, with safaris for tigers and rhinos, and being amoung tens of millions of pilgrims in one crowded location… (Kumb Mela 2019), plus interesting stops along…
Tired of Tracking Tigers? Try Rambling for Rhinos in Kaziranga!
Perhaps a silly premise, who could ever possibly get tired of tigers? Ha ha, but it is worthwhile to note that India has more than just tigers in terms of exotic animals. While my winter safaris in India were most…
On The Tiger Trail – Part 3
This is Part 3 of “On The Tiger Trail” “How I Spent My Winter on Photo-Safaris in Northern India” “Pussycat, Pussycat, Where are You” To paraphrase part of the 1960’s song called What’s New Pussycat, the challenge of actually finding…
On The Tiger Trail – Part 2
This is Part 2 of “On The Tiger Trail – How I Spent My Winter on Photo-Safaris in Northern India” Where to Go India has the largest population of tigers (two thirds of the global total), and the most accessible…
On The Tiger Trail – Part 1
This is Part 1 of “On The Tiger Trail – How I Spent My Winter on Photo-Safaris in Northern India” It wasn’t my first time on a tiger safari, nor my first trip to India, but this time it was…
Stranger in a Strange Land – Witnessing A Pilgrimage for 130 Million People
It’s called “Kumbh Mela“, and it happens over the course of 2 1/2 months in one of the four different holy locations in India that periodically host this festival on a rotational basis. During that time, more than 130 million…
The Wandering Honeybadger’s Indian Mojito Recipe
I was in Santiago, Chile, in the middle of an extended tour of parts southern, and I was hankering for something a bit different that was available with the local “Peruvian” Cuisine.. yes I know what I said, I was…
Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Paying to Ride Elephants
Which do “you” think is the more natural environment to see an elephant? Decorated Elephant in Chains being used in Temple Ceremony, Varkala, Kerala, India Herd (extended family) of Elephants Grazing Freely, Minneriya National Park, Sri Lanka Do…
Into the Deep End of India – Reflections
If you are looking for the start of this series of posts about India, go to the beginning here. Otherwise, just continue on to the conclusion of this journey, described below.. and then work your way backwards in time going…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Twenty One, Last Stop – New Delhi
New Delhi is not really my favorite city (not by a long shot), but it does grow on you a bit after you spend some time there, and get used to getting around. My first experiences there were pretty awful,…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Twenty, Meandering in Mumbai
Mumbai (Bombay) is India’s most populated city at 18.5 million people. While I much prefer smaller cities in India compared to the huge ones, Mumbai is one of my favorite cities overall in India, and most certainly the one I…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Nineteen, Going Postal in Hyderabad
I was getting fat, luggage wise that is, particularly from all the spice packages I had purchased – my suitcase was almost bursting. As I have done in many other countries, my plan was to go down to the post…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Eighteen, Goa
For someone thinking about visiting India, but not quite sure if they can handle the culture shock, in my mind at least, Goa is the perfect destination. It resembles popular beach-centric holiday locations found elsewhere around the world, yet offers…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Seventeen, Hobnobbing with the High Class on the Way to Hampi
I actually had little or no choice in my method of getting to Hampi. There was only an overnight train. I actually wanted to do another train trip, in order to explore what first class would be like –…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Sixteen, Mysuru
Mysuru (also known as Mysore), is also called the City of Palaces, with the highlight being Amba Villas (AKA Mysore Palace). I found Mysuru town a bit frustrating photography wise, as there was not much to see that would allow…
Into the Deep End of India, Part fifteen, Lies Damn Lies in Bengalaru
The name Bengalaru means “City of Boiled Beans”, supposedly named by a Maharaja who was wandering through here and was offered that for dinner by one of the inhabitants. Bangalore as it is also called it is now the third…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Fourteen – Chennai, Malipuriram, Pondicherry
At last report I had been in Kolkatta, and after making way eastward across the top of India. It was now time to re-engage back down to the south, specifically the mid-section which I had aborted back in early December. …
Into the Deep End of India, Part Thirteen – Kolkata
My next stop was Kolkata (formerly called Calcutta). I had sat with an amazon sized Aussie gal on the plane from Lucknow, and we decided to share a cab into town to reduce the costs. I had found it interesting…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Twelve, My Veneration of Varanasi
I didn’t quite understand why all my Indian friends laughed like hell and smiled a lot when I said I was going to Varanasi, that is until I had actually spent some time. In, truth, its a bit over the…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Eleven, Unlucky in Lucknow
Having just completed my tiger safari in Ranthambore, I was looking forward for something a bit different at my next stop, Lucknow, because it has quite a reputation as being a “foody” destination. The Nawabs of olden days had enjoyed…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Ten, Tiger Safari at Ranthambore National Park
With apologies to William Blake’s The Tiger e.g. “Tiger Tiger Burning Bright, In the Forests of the Night..”, my version is: “Tiger, Shmiger hiding right, in Ranthambore only to be seen at night, I paid a fortune for this sight,…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Nine, Udaipur and Kumbhalgarh
My next major objective was a Tiger Safari that had been pre-booked with fixed dates, for Ranthambhore National park.. but that was still a few days away, and I needed to get closer, so my next stop was to be…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Eight, The Rann of Kutch
I had signed up for another photo tour with my pals from Indian Photo Tours, this time the trip was to the Rann of Kutch (in the State of Gujarat) which consists of a white desert of salt flats and…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Seven, Mount Abu
I was coming from Jodhpur, and was on my way to Ahmedabad for another excursion on a set date. The distance between those two points was only about 300 miles, or about 6 hours on the road by bus,…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Six, Rajasthan
Rajasthan State and the Bus Ride from Hell My next step was to venture into Rajasthan State in order to see some of the desert, and the historic forts and palaces that had been used to hold and control the…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Five, Amritsar – A Truly Holy City
Santa Claus is Coming to Town One of the more amusing sights on my bus trip from Dharamshala to Amritsar was the Santa Claus Parade that I came across in one of the small towns that the local bus transited…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Four, Delhi and on to Buddhist Dharamshala
Dabbling in Delhi Returning from the excursion to Agra and nearby areas, back to New Delhi, I did have a couple of days to start to explore the Capital. I was staying in the Pahar Ganj or Main Bazaar area…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Three – Abort on the South, Back to Delhi
My initial plan for touring the south by gradually moving northward, came to an abrupt halt when the city of Chenni experienced extremely heavy flooding. I had planned to cross over from the southern west coast to the east coast…
Into the Deep End of India – Part Two – South, Kerala Province
After a two week side trip to Sri Lanka, that also included a few days of R&R in the Maldives (mostly scuba diving), I was back into India for more adventures, but this time I was entering in the far…
Into the Deep End of India – Part One, A Rough Crowd at Pushkar
Pushkar What was supposed to be a CALM three day visit to New Delhi, i.e. take it easy, get my bearings, figure out the main systems in place for India, get sorted out with an Indian SIM card for voice…