Delhi to Corbett

Google Maps said Distance 250 kms, and Time 7 hours. We were to land at Delhi at noon, and per plan I estimated we would be at Corbett by 8 pm.

An experienced wild life traveler might have planned better. I didn't. Which is pretty dumb actually , because even when Diksha and I were driving to Coorg, they'd said reach before dark due to risk from elephants. And this was not just elephant territory but wild life reserve. Realized I hadn't thought through while booking.

Plus the risk of planning too fine, leaving no leeway for the unexpected. And sure enough we had more than our fair share of unexpected. 

Our flight landed an hour late. Got stuck in a crazy jam at Ghaziabad for an hour. Sterling Resorts was a further hour from Corbett. That's three added hours to a seven hour drive.

While first few hours of drive was nice and relaxed, it's only as it got dark that we realized we were yet over a hundred kilometers from Corbett. 

Consequently, we had one of our most harrowing drives ever. We entered the thick reserve forest well after dark, the last couple of hours was steep ghats (which we didn't know), not one car anywhere in sight, a young and inexperienced driver, no signs or landmarks to our place of stay, sporadic connectivity........bloody scary.

An exception to all that was a beautiful distraction....one of the prettiest night skies we've seen. If only we could have paid it more attention, though I think dhruva and diksha did a better job than me, enough to want to go back the next day.

I was a wreck because I had a singular thought stuck in my head 'what if the car breaks down'. All the awareness...'no point worrying' 'think positive'...all well acquired theory flew out the window. I was feeling a hundred percent irresponsible mom.

And scarier was when we finally got through to the Sterling guy at around 9, and he says 'they might not let you into the reserve, as checkpost closes at 8 pm, but talk to the guard and convince him'. And I'm like 'but they must have a reason for that rule?" And he so cooly says "haan madam, haathi ka tho khatra hotha hai na". (elephants risk is there no madam).

Ghats, wild life reserve, late night, elephant stories......horrible combination, the nerves didn't hold out. I remember this moment....I had my hand on Diksha's leg and when I moved it to call, she slowly pulled it back and put it on her leg. Times when even those who are normally gutsy feel raw fear.

We saw more deer and sambar and boar on this drive than we did the safari the next day. Anyways, we lucked out, reached safe and sound at 11 pm.

Here's pictures from the drive, the pleasant and bright part of it.

A travelator moment in Delhi airport, when I was so engrossed getting the picture that I tripped the other end. Guess my guardian angels have it pretty busy. Lucked out there as well.

I love this wall panel of the mudras at the Delhi airport.

And we were off. This moment was when I realized how close to Lucknow and Nainital we were going. Not as much Nainital, but Lucknow is on my want to see list of places. (likely Umrao Jaan asar).

Uttarkhand has an extensive sugarcane belt, and it was lorries, trucks, tractors and bullock carts, all loaded with sugarcane

A sugarcane field

The inevitable pit stop..chai

They have these e rickshaws there. I asked and took this picture so the full on pose :)

Dusk approaching

We finally breathed easy as we settled into our room close to midnight. The view from our balcony at that time was curious. We could see a black looming shadow pretty close, but couldn't imagine the landscape......not until we saw it the next morning. This was the view we got up to.