ELEPHANTS!!!!!!!!!!!

wild elephants!!!!!

Babar Lives!!!!!!!  Who doesn't love elephants?
I am so out  of sequence now.... I will just continue my own stream of thoughts....and hopefully form will eventually emerge.
We're back in India again (on the blog).  It's in the Nelgiri Hills, the Western Ghats (where many of the British Hill Stations were built, ie: the places where the British womenfolk  lived as their husbands worked in the lowlands, in intense heat , and playing tennis and drinking gin and tonics)  Yes, colonial India is Always very evident.... the detritus of an empire (hmmmmm....... what will America's legacy be??????? a lot of bad bad music and fast food restaurants.EEEEK!) 
There is the most beautiful spine of mountains (7K ft height) in southern India- The Western Ghats.  Filled with wildlife and fauna........and incredible mists on  the slopes.....for tea and coffee plantations.  During my trip with Intrepid (more later) we would ascend the Ghats stay a day or two and then plunge down into the lowlands of the coast or a city.  I was actually FREEZING up in the mountains.
Back to ELEPHANTS!  In India, the god Ganesh is a most worshipped  deity.  He is the remover of obstacles, therefore there is often an elephant present in the temples.  Unfortunately, the elephants are often MISTREATED , and therefore they go beserk and maim and kill.  Can you blame them? (I hate when animals are made to conform to human's wants/desires for entertainment sake)  They are kept in very very small spaces and must perform puja (offerings) all day long, perhaps not fed enough and prodded with a hook.
Well, on our way to a tiger sanctuary  (Madumalai Park- and we were seeing trucks and trucks of elephants being transported to the park and for a 48 day "holiday" .)  They were headed for the same place as we were. O Joy! 

Mahout taking his elephant for a nice bath!

this is another wild elephant we saw in the reserve..... notice the shape of his ear: a map of India!

Langur in the tree O! the monkeys are a treat!

elephants are bathed twice a day and they love it!

this boy is about 25 (notice beige speckling on trunk and face)

black faced Langur

this 3 year old elephant is orphaned. (wild) the boy's mother takes care of the elephant.  I got to stroke and play with this elephant; their skin is so rough and coarse hair in on top of their head.  So playful..... what STRONG trunks.....he would wrap it around my hair and PULL!!!!!

Yes, my next life will be as a Mahout (read "The Glass Palace" by Amitav Ghosh)

another young one, see the tusks forming (small for female)

friend, Riyaz with a young friend

aaaaah, the sweet aggressions of a young elephant

with Mahout

in the wild

another  malabar langur

Happy trails.....with tails........the Elephant is a Sacred and beautiful creature...... and I loved being up close.....it's just the beginning
and by the way we stayed in the most extraordinary jungle retreat in Masinagudi.............. built in a most sustainable way........we were met by small herd of deer.....even the goats drank from the swimming pool.....nature and people intertwined in the most natural way.

had a great swim here

after roaming the huge property, I ended up in this tree house; birding.... this area is filled with exotic birds that i'd never heard of.....a colourful hunt for the eyes!

travelin' woman