Kind of a continuation from the previous post on Nature. This time I want to talk about a few of my personal experiences.
- Around March this year I visited Tadoba and Pench National Park. If you want to increase your odds of seeing a tiger, Tadoba is the place to go. During one of my safaris, I saw something I had never seen before. A male tiger with his kids playing around was a sight to behold. I count myself very lucky to have seen something like that.
- I also got to see a tiger hunting its prey. We feel sad for the prey but that’s how nature works. We humans on the other hand especially during the 1800s-1900s used to hunt animals for sport and hang their skins on walls for display. It took India forever to get the Tiger population back up. I’m so glad it’s thriving now.
- Over the two National Parks seeing so many animals in their natural habitat was just amazing. A few other standouts were the sighting of a sloth bear and cub, leopards, wild dogs, and a great night safari experience under the clear starry sky.
- Jumping to my childhood I want to share something so beautiful to have experienced over the years. My dad is a big-time gardener and loves flowers. We were in Dehradun at the time and the weather there is quite conducive for growing a great variety of flowers. So many varieties of flowers all around in the garden and a lawn in the center. During spring bloom, I kid you not walking into that garden lying down on the grass within our tent (made by my mother), it felt like “heaven on earth”.
- I visited Himachal Pradesh for a couple of weeks in June. A few of the standouts for me apart from the usual great views these places offer were the small treks we did, the drive from Kaza to Chandratal Lake - amazing naturally formed structures all around and a lovely homestay in Sangla.
- I visited Iceland last year. We drove around the country, have to say the best drive of my life till now. Snow is something that has always fascinated me and driving through roads with snow on both sides with great music playing, is something I will never forget. That means I got to see my first snowfall and see that snowflakes look like what they show in images!
- I got to see the Northern Lights on the first day of the trip and something I don’t think can be described in words. Before going on the trip me and my brother saw lots of images but nothing came close to experiencing it. We were very lucky to see it with great activity and were there till morning before the sun came up. I’m writing this in my terminal and the background is one of those images with the Northern Lights and frozen lake just outside our Airbnb.
I feel grateful to have experienced all these. I hope we can all do our bit to preserve nature and live in harmony with it.
A few of the books(thanks to my good friend for recommending these) that I have enjoyed reading on nature are-