Jungle Retreat – Xmas Day

Christmas Day started early with a hangover; well it is Christmas Day! We were on the road again at 8:30 to drive up to another Temple high on the Hill overlooking Mysore. When we got there it was packed, looks like everyone one else in Mysore had the same idea as us. A short walk around the outside of the temple then back into the Mini-bus back halfway down to find the largest stone carved Bull I've ever seen, It's a Hindu shrine and was fairly busy but nat as bad as the Temple at the top. Whilst here we had a glass of the Sugar Cane juice laced with Ginger and Lime, and an excellent hangover cure it is. The Sugar Cane stalls are every where in India and they make the Juice by passing the Cane repeatedly through mangles to extract the juice. A long Drive through then took us back out of Karnataka and back into Tamil Nadu to the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary where we stayed at the Jungle Retreat. This is a fantastic place in the middle of nowhere at the end of dirt track and surrounded by an electrified fence to keep the wild elephants and tigers out! We chilled out with a buffet lunch and Gin & Tonic's and rested for the afternoon until just before dusk when we took Jeeps out in to the park to see the wildlife. This is a place you do not get out of the vehicle, we were sternly told - despite passing many people who were, much to the worry of the Guide who regularly stopped the jeep to have words. We did actually see some Elephants and Langur Monkeys and then we drove down to an Elephant Rescue Centre where they look after retired working elephants. It was interesting to watch the elephants being washed in the river however then we were taken up to the 'feeding station' which most of us found rather uncomfortable with, as the elephants were all chained and it felt more like a zoo. It was starting to get dark we returned to the Jeeps and were taken on a long tour through the bush area to try and find more wildlife as usual our tally of 'wildlife'; 1 local bus, 2 Maruti Suzuki cars, 5 jeeps (doing the same as us), and 2 slightly tipsy guys walking around a minivan down near the river smoking something, The Guide went really balistic at these guys as he said later the waters edge is where many animals go to drink and therefore a lot of tigers go looking for tea!
Back to the Retreat we returned for the evening meal which was a fantastic spread including Turkey and all the trimmings! We sat around in the bar are chatting and putting the world to rights until around Midnight and staggering back through the bushes (remembering to stay on the lit paths to avoid and of the snakes that are allegedly around the area).
The following morning I opted to forgo the dawn village walk (5am) and slept in until 10am, bliss!
The breakfast was available until 11am so I wandered down and had a great breakfast of, Bacon, Fried Eggs, Beef Sausages and fried Tom's...mmmmm. We relaxed and chilled out and stayed for Lunch and then set off to Ooty at around 2:30pm.
Certainly a different way to spend Christmas, and not a snow flake to be seen.