Image Credit: Subharnab

A typical safari would read like this. It starts off as a smooth ride with a song in your heart. Add a dash of excitement and plenty of hope to the experience.

Then, before you know it, the jeep will suddenly swerve into a narrow path, cutting amidst trees and tearing through the grass. Your adrenalin levels increase. The smooth roads turn into sharp curves as the jeep cuts through the vegetation. You spot an animal hide here and there, a shadow darting through the leaves, a rustle in the woods. You squint through the natural mosaic of greens and browns and imagine like Macbeth, that the woods are moving.

Image Credit: Subharnab

In the beginning were the deer, the spotted and the S?mbhar variety. In great hordes, skipping, frolicking, playing .The birds and the butterflies flitted around as the peacock obliged us before darting behind bushes. Next in line were the wild buffaloes, majestic and proud; looking at us askance? Rustling amidst the trees are the wild boars, but there were no mammals for us. We chased and were chased. Eyes, though invisible to us were tracking us. We saw pugmarks of tigers, dung of elephants and heard stories of leopards. But they eluded us.

The roads are bumpy, you get covered with slush, your legs ache as you trek, but hope does not let you down. We continued with same hope in our hearts as we were driving down and this time, we got more than what we had bargained for. We pursued invisible shadows, but didn’t realize that it was our turn to be chased.

It must have been around quarter to seven, and darkness was slowly setting in. Shadows merged with trees and we were returning from another fruitless safari tour. We were on the Bangalore – Bandipur Highway, very close to our resort when suddenly we saw three elephants hardly 10 feet from us, on the edge of the road. We paused in an attempt to take photographs. We got out of the car. My friend was adjusting his camera, my husband standing outside the car beside us. Suddenly one of the elephants took a warning step forward. We backed a bit. A moment paused and we resumed our photography, when suddenly the elephant broke into a run…a very fast one at that. It was a race between man and beast… a thin line between adventure and death, the car was at least 5 feet from where we were. We made a quick scramble to get in… We yelled, shouted, screamed and panted. We were unprepared for this;. My friend rummaged for the keys. I flung the camera and looked back. The elephant stopped just a foot away from our bonnet… A look which said, Get out of my territory.

Image Credit: get2anbu

The entire thing lasted for around 30 secs, may be a minute at the most. We raved, ranted and told the same story many times over, each from his and her perspective. We thought of the many possibilities of an IF added to the situation. I remember the last look, all it had to do was to stretch out its trunk and reach out to us.

But it preferred not to do that.