Tigers, Elephants, and Crocodiles, oh my!

Nagarahole National Park is located in the India state of Karnataka near the city of Mysuru. We stayed at a lovely resort called The Serai. Although there were a lot of memorable sightings on land and water, I'll start with the unexpected wonder of seeing a tiger waiting for lunch at the water hole.

Such a pretty kitty!

Our safari naturalist/guide got word that a tiger had been spotted and we took off like a "bat outta hell" to get to it. She was about 25 feet away from us down a little incline.

About three years old, she lay quietly watching, twitching her ears occasionally and turning her head. She moved a few feet a couple of times, but apparently could care less about all of the vehicles and observers.

There are always lots of spotted deer about, as well as wild boar, the occasional monkey, peacocks, and happily, an elephant!

It was very cool to see an elephant in the wild chomping down some foliage.

India's national bird, the peacock.

Warthogs.

This safari vehicle was more comfortable than some we would later experience.

Back to the resort we went for breakfast/lunch, a rest, and later, a cruise on Lake Kabini (in front of the resort) with our naturalist to spot more critters.

It was such a treat to see the moms and young'uns getting some refreshments. At different times of the year, there are reportedly more than 100 that line the hills.

There were several osprey having their dinner. 

Northwest football fans call them Seahawks. Magnificent birds.

Two monster croccodiles. Not a lake that I would swim in!

One can usually spot a beautiful Kingfisher or two. The blue feathers are distinctive. The most popular beer in India is called "Kingfisher." We also saw black snakebirds, white egrets, and other species.

The spotted deer, that we also saw a lot of on the morning safari, were plentiful on the shores of the lake, as were monkeys, otter, and warthogs.

Indian Giant Squirrel.

There were villages and farms along with their healthy sacred cows.

This was the local and loaded ferry boat. Such beautiful, friendly people.

You can't really see them, but the tree was was alive with noisy and flapping egrets.

Our boat was like this. The sunset was amazing.

It had been an eventful day for critter spotting. The evening entertainment features a neck-breaking show that is performed at local festivals and events. Unless someone else remembers differently, I believe the display topper weighed 150 pounds. After that, dinner and bed were on tap and packing up for the next day's travels.

This man performed all sorts of balance demonstrations that were amazing!

I can't imagine how difficult it was to do these things. (The drumming was a bit over the top.)

No doubt about it, the food was spectacular and the presentations were stunning.

I'm not sure what we did to earn this, but it was such a lovely touch!

Looking toward the front of our unit.

The veranda outside our room, but it was too hot to enjoy.

Our lovely, air conditioned, room.

Beautiful bathroom.

Resort pools that we didn't have time to try.

Approach to the resort after entering the security gate.

Agenda for the day.