INTO THE WILD

We’re prepping you for a safari adventure, post-pandemic

- CHANDREYI BANDYOPADHYAY

We have gazed at stars from many places. But here, it was different. As we sat motionlessly, lights shut in our safari jeep on a dam bund, it felt eerily beautiful to look up. A night safari experience is not for the faint of heart, and we were reminded of that fact when our expert tracker whispered, “Madam, something is sitting in front of us.”

No sooner had we turned the headlights on, a large, adult female tigress stood up from her sitting position, and looked straight at us. After a few moments of intense silence, which seemed like forever, she shyly walked away into the jungle, on the other side of the bund. Relieved, I looked up at the stars again.

A jungle invites you to take in fresh oxygen, look at endless trees, and witness moments in nature that remain etched in your memory. That moment in the jungle, when our driver switched the car engine off, eagerly keeping an ear out for signs of a predator walking, is what makes a safari trip unmissable and unforgettable for the primordial, travel-seeking heart.

Safaris, which translates to ‘journey’ in Swahili, is a unique way to witness wild animals in their natural habitat, unlike the experience that a zoo or a museum provides. The jungles of India have, so far, never been disappointing for us as a one-stop destination for peace and adventure, at the same time.