Asia

Kolkata (Calcutta)

Longest platform in the world 1072.5m - Kharagpur first stop out of Howrah Station. Spent a couple of days wandering around Kolkata, did not really have a plan of action – just went where the local people did, given it was a weekend.

When I arrived at Sunflowers guesthouse from Sealdah station at 6am, it was all locked up. Pigeon photos at sunrise off the roof while I waited, thinking over the last 12 hours on the train, helmeted, soldiers in full combat uniform, flak jackets & AK47s as food is served on TV-dinner-style plates in sleeper class, the hustle & bustle mixed with the normally private sounds of sleep fully orchestrated as 70 people share the same carriage to the same destination.

First I needed to get my flight back to SL changed from 21/01 to 02/02 and a repair carried out on my telephoto lens. Given the next 17hr train journey was to visit the national parks of Pench & Kanha to spot tigers, telephoto lens a must.

Ticket took 4hrs to sort between SL Air head office in Delhi and their agents in Kolkata; the lens took an hour at the Nikon service agents but only because once they saw I was using a D3 they insisted on a clean, firmware upgrade plus a call to Delhi letting them know I was there and was there anything else they could do?! Service par excellence and lens fixed, all for no cost.

Just meandered really, up towards the Hooghly River, lots of food & chai stalls to stop at, clay cups restore the traditional chai memories I have, I sample the array of foods and then move on a bar in Sudder street “backpackers’ alley” for a cold Black Label beer on the way back to my guesthouse.

Sunday wandered over to the Victoria Memorial, across a park area called The Maiden. The cricket is deadly – as you walk through the parks, games are being played on every blade of grass, the ‘boundaries’ even overlap there are so many. From the air it would look like the crushed version of the Olympic circles, you don’t know which batsman the ball comes off as he slogs for a six but the ball whistles past, either from him or off a fielder’s rocket throw towards the wicket. Walkers are forced to either dance about, trying to miss the projectiles, or face the firing squad as ball fly at you from every direction – as bad as being on the street having to thread your way across the Russian roulette of Kolkata’s traffic.

Victoria Memorial’s gates had horse and carriages sitting outside, monkeys with their handlers ready to dance, thousands of people and queues the length of the longest platform in the world! Reminded me of trips to Buckingham Palace as a very young child with my parents. Ah, nostalgia. I walked around the memorial then headed back for another Black Label.

Cities are cities, but over the other cities in India I have seen this trip Kolkata ‘feels’ the best. Busy, hectic, populous – reminded me of the cities I saw on my last trip to India 18 years ago; Delhi, Bombay, they have changed so much, Kolkata still has the India feel about it not so westernised as the others. Even found clay chai cups in use.

Darjeeling 01/09
Himalayas and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

“Do not spit on the platform it is a bad habit and unhygienic, there are spittoons on the platforms, please use them.” That was the announcement as I walked across New Jalpaiguri station/Siliguri (NJP) West Bengal to Platform 1. Trains are cities on the move – families, businessmen, holidaymakers, all thrown together. So far I have seen three people that I had met on the train when I came to Darjeeling, in NJP although we didn’t see each other during our stay here in Darjeeling.

Tea and coffee has replaced the singing call of chai, chai, chai on trains as have the little bio-degradable clay cups it was served in. Even on the street chai now comes in small thin purpose-made cups. Chai not even sold on the train, you get a plastic cup of hot water and a teabag or a spoonful of instant coffee instead. Station platforms still have chai. Chai is tea masala, ginger, cardamom infused with tea, milk and a lot of sugar. Addictive!

Trains have their own community of followers, food sellers come on and off at each station, chai sellers (thank you!) as do women dressed as men, who clap at you – locals would sooner give money to them over the blind beggars etc, that get on?! Does the clap invoke some sort of curse unless you give them money?

Hawkers walk up the corridors with chains, binoculars, electric keyboards, pen drives, torches, and padlocks – all of which I have been asked to inspect for quality before I buy.

The trip to Darjeeling came about so easily, off the train, at NJP to a new type of trishaw, the biggest three-wheeler I have come across so far. Carries eight to ten people plus luggage. 10INR to bus station, then a bus to Darjeeling. Or not. Bus office told me it was too cold for drivers to go? So, share a ’sumo’ and 90INR and 3hrs later I had gone from 120m above sea level to 2,134m. The guy was right, it was damn cold - 0 to minus something!

Guesthouse Khushboo – 250INR a night, and another 80INR for hot water, paid a further 150INR for a heater on the second night. Great views from the roof.

Three T-shirts, shirt, shorts under my trousers, and two pairs of socks, fleece and a thin waterproof did not stop the cold but did prevent hypothermia setting in! Not at all prepared for the weather, so bought a heavy jacket for 190INR. Turned out to be just that – heavy, as were the blankets in the guesthouse – heavy but with no thermal insulation properties whatsoever, hence the required heater!

Thank God I was getting up at 4am to go to Tiger Hill to watch sunrise over Khangchendzonga and the Himalaya range. So cold by then - had not slept a wink, tossed turned, adjusted bedding and clothes all without letting the freezing air circulate inside the bed all to no avail – you could hear the brass monkeys howls as their balls fell off!

All was worth it in the end to see sunrise over Khangchendzonga; the colours as they changed the scenery were all fabulous. Industrious local working their way around the crowd of 100 or so selling chai. Got to love ’em.

It wasn’t exactly Tenzing Norgay’s Everest descent (he came from Darjeeling) but I walked back the 12km from Tiger Hill to Darjeeling, following the ‘Toy Train’ tracks, all downhill. A gentle 4hr walk arriving back around midday. Very picturesque.

En-route booked my ticket on the Darjeeling Himalaya Railway; the ‘Toy Train’ for the next day. Think we boys must be programmed to find steam trains of huge interest. I took more than 400 photos on the way back to NJP station, 380 on the first part of the journey taking the ‘toy train’ from Darjeeling to Kurseong, a thousand metres lower than Darjeeling, followed by a shared jeep & it was a share, 14 of us in it!?

On the way & in Darjeeling interesting signs declaring Gorkhaland, are displayed, an independent state for the mountain communities. Darjeeling has little or no connections of being part of India before colonists and now wants an independent state, aligned with Nepal and Bhutan. A fantastic side trip another one to be added on the “when I return” list. Note to self “warmer clothes!”

Big city next.

Mon 05/01/2009 23:30

You come to Sasan Gir to see the Lions of India & I did!  I saw 4 Lions; target was 5 so I have to throw in a Leopard to make up the numbers.
What a trip,  4 lions, 1 leopard + Jackals, crocodiles, deer & antelope, eagles, vultures, owls, not to mention a myriad of other birds.
Not quite sure what I expected, the debates I had been reading in the UK were about the overflowing numbers of lions in the area causing concern over the direct conflict with the local community and its livestock, therefore in need of relocation to avoid further conflicts with humans. Based on that, I almost imagined I would see one every time I looked for one, in the parks, down by the river, in the fields. They turned out to be far more elusive than I thought.
When I saw the Leopard I was even rather nonchalant, “not a lion” & “I can see those in Sri Lanka”. Only later as the spotting became thin did I realise just how lucky I was to spot the Leopard, especially as it was outside the park, a surreal sighting as there was a family on a motorbike Asian style; husband, wife & 2 kids on the bike, passing us on the road with a toot as we stared at the Leopard 50ft from us all!
It was not long before I spotted my first lion, day after the ‘nature drive’ outside the park area I booked a safari into the Sasan Gir National Park, after about an hour on safari I spotted my first Indian Lion, the first one was a single female crossing our path; we saw it in the bushes ambling towards us, there were 3 of us in the vehicle, me, Steve (luck Maguire) & Aniken, all 3 of us took a deep intake of breath at the  excitement of spotting our first Indian lion.
The lions proved to be extremely relaxed at our presence; the guide even invited us to get down from the vehicle in order that we could photograph it from a closer, better position?! This I had been told about, the getting close, on the ground, in the excitement you follow the guide & forget the guide is a government, forestry department, wildlife employee so he is the boss. Lucky Maguire was a little more excited than anyone else, his excuse being he had a smaller zoom than me or Aniken, so he got ahead of us all, hence a photo of a guy in a camouflaged yellow sweat shirt in some of my photos! We then followed it down the road, it showed no concern or fear of us, and it looked over its shoulder on occasion, as if to say “do you have to follow me?”  Or “you still here?” After the excitement of the first safari the next three trips  were barren of  lions although very  interesting  the diversity of the other animals endemic to the park and local area, was also the first time I had been in a teak tree forest, the natural habitat of the remaining Indian Lions.
I reality it was not long before I saw the next lions, three lions in one day, I had gone out to the managed ‘safari park’ at …….. having not seen a line in any of my last trips the target of 5 was looking overly generous; I may have to bulk up the photos with some not so wild lions. The safari park turned out to be an expensive ‘zoo tour’ even local Indian tourists were telling me not to bother & I could see why, 30 seater buses with darkened windows tour the park every 30 mins at a cost of $30 for foreigners, same cost as 3 of us sharing a jeep into the park for real!?
I decided to skip it along with 3 other foreigners there; instead we grouped together for a spontaneous trip into the National Park. Our luck unfolded in a wonderful way, 3 Lions in the one trip! First was a single female again; this time she roamed deeper in the teak forest, not that deterred us or out guide, out we get again, on this occasion she moved towards us, behind the camera you want to capture that movement no matter how small, its only when you look over the edge of the camera that you realise just how close she is! As the advice goes- question - “what to do if a lion approaches?”  Answer – “You reach behind & throw the pile of sh*t at it, what if there is no sh*t? If a lion is coming towards you there will be!
3rd spot and the last was the most memorable, just taking the slow ride out after seeing the lioness when a pair are just off on our right as we come around a bend, again they are not worried (this may be their down fall at some time in the future, not being scared of humans?!) We were so close we did not need to get down but given the size of the male that stared right at or through me – I had no desire to move from my firmly rooted position in an open ‘gypsy’ (Suzuki jeep) 30ft away! What a beast, ragged looking face, had been in a few scrapes, king of the jungle with no debate! Elated!!
14 days in Sasan
8 Trips into park – 4 Lions over 2 visits in, 3 separate sightings.
2 Nature trips around park - 1 Leopard
1 guided walk in Forest – 0

Steve ‘spotter’ Jones
Sasan Gir
Gujarat
India

Sasan Gir 21/12/08 – 04/01/09
I wrote a poem once, not a very good one I am sure, can’t remember how it went, can’t remember where it might be but I can remember where & why I was inspired to such literary endeavours - tigers, Ranthambore National Park, India 1990, title, “Theatre of the Jungle”. Such a cliché. I can even remember how it began: “The curtain raises on the theatre of the jungle, sunrise & the jungle slowly awakes.” This morning as I wait to explore and see what the jungle has to offer, the same words run through my mind. The anticipation of it all, the sounds, like an orchestra tuning up before a performance, instruments join into the cacophony of sound…. I’m writing it again!!
Lions, king of the jungle, king of beasts, are the attraction on this trip with the ‘theatre’ being Sasan Gir, India. When the subject of  lions is talked about my mind automatically pictures Africa, Kruger Park, The Serengeti but no, Gujarat in the north west of India is home of the last wild Indian Lion  or Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica).
These are the last vestments of the lions that roamed all of Asia, Turkey, Europe; Lions that the Romans would have been throwing the Christians to, lions that gladiators would have pitted their strength & skills against did not come from deepest, darkest Africa, they were ‘home grown’ so to speak and now after the population explosion from the Indus valley civilisation on through the Roman Empire to today’s modern world, here in the one horse gateway of Sasan Gir,
Sasan Gir is home to the last remaining 349 or so wild Asiatic lions (as per the last census in 2005). These once would have outnumbered their African cousins many fold, but are now restricted to a very small corner of India.
I arrived 10 days ago from Mumbai, flew to Rajkot & then a shared car to Sasan for Christmas & New Year (Today is 01/01/09, Happy New Year) in the company of lions. After a week-and-a-half here, I have realised that the question “Why come to Sasan Gir?” is answered by only one word - safari. Lions, leopards, antelope, deer and birds, nothing else here to do.
Sasan reminds me of Pottuvil, my nearest town from home in Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka. In the same way as Pottuvil a one street, one horse, dust filled town it nether the less is the gateway to the beaches of Arugam Bay and the wildlife park Yala East, Sasan is a smaller version without having a beach resort right on its doorstep. Dusty high street lined with eateries, chai shops & ‘hotels’.
First hotel I stayed in, I walked out in disgust 2 days later, after being constantly badgered by the owners to part with exorbitant amounts of cash to ‘arrange’ safari’s & see lions out of the park. Avoid Hotel Umang at all costs, it is an expensive dump. Rajeshiri down the road offers same low quality rooms at quarter of the price without the hassle, £4 v £15!! Or better still ’homestay’ family rooms at Nitin Ratangayra, +919979024670 big help in getting shared vehicles into the park & all round good guy, spent 10days there.

Christmas period not the best time to choose to be here, park charges go up to £50 a vehicle, up from £30 (6 passengers max). They also charge an extortionate £8 to take in a camera but only for foreigners! Government promotes discrimination here as do many Asia countries, Sri Lanka included. However, when you see the well-heeled Delhi/Mumbai middle class show up in their 4×4 speaking well-educated English you do have to wonder. One of the main differences I have noticed since my last visit is how India tourism is promoted to the country’s middle class these days and how many take the opportunity to explore their own country. This does make the ‘tiered’ price discrimination a lot harder to justify. Sasan is no different, place is full of local tourists who will not share a vehicle with a foreigner as their cost will go from £8 to the £50. Those foreigners that may be in the area are likely to be in Diu 60km away, a non-dry area; Sasan is ‘dry’ as Gujarat is a ‘dry’ state by law, as well as a  strong moral/religious vegetarian culture, with only vegetarian fare?!
Couple of us, me and another Steve (lucky Maguire) did find cans of Kingfisher at £6 a can; we bought 8 - what the hell, it was Christmas after all!
To add to its back-country feel, all tea (chai) is drunk out of saucers in preference to cup &… a practice I remember being frowned upon by my mother as I joined in with Tidey (Welsh grandfather) in slurping away at a saucer of tea. I got away with it until the dipping of bread into the tea caused her to strike the back of my head (in the days when parents could admonish their children?!) Another idiosyncracy here is the male fashion of dying the hair ginger - now that has to be weird!
Lions,
Leopard
Mongoose
Jackels
Nilgai (Bluebull)
Chital
Chinkara
Spotted deer
Sambur
Wild Boar
(photo’s in the gallery)