We are at Bandhavgarh White Tiger preserve and are staying at the White Tiger Lodge inside the park. This is run by the state tourism and is basic but clean ( with the exception of big ants and other life forms running around on the floor) . The lodge makes the food to order. It is on a river bank with a tree platform to watch the animals from. It is late and dark so we have to wait till the morning to see what is really there.
Drive here was through the country roads and was full of adventure. We stopped by the home of the friend who arranged all this and had a wonderful home made food for lunch and then drove on. It took us all day to drive 250 km. We passed the villages with kids going to school and then in the afternoon other villages with kids coming back from school. All public schools have the same color of uniform ( blue and white for girls) and it is mandatory to send your kids to schools till high school graduation. A huge crowd was gathered in a village, we stopped to see what was happening and it is local cricket match in this tiny village. We also passed by a very colorful and crowded village faire where lot of merchants and farmers had gathered for trading and shopping. Families were having a great time eating and shopping…we had to keep going so we did.
Just by chance we came across this wonderful gem of a museum ( quite neglected and not advertised at all) . It is the Fossil Museum of the area and has fossils from 6.5 million years ago when India was part of Australian continent. It has fossils of Eucalyptus trees as well as fossils with sea shells embedded in them. It also has the fossils of dinosaur eggs. All this stuff is found nearby and it is a shame that it is in such a bad condition when the forest department has the money to lavishly entertain guests like us and others but does not have the money to maintain the important piece of history. I try very hard to not think about that and just observe and enjoy my stay. The guide ( a young girl) was very knowledgeable.
I have to say that real India as seen from these little one lane roads is really pretty and colorful. People are friendly and very willing to get a picture taken J
Today was mostly the travel day , so not much excitement to report. SO, good night and Namaste…saroj
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