Apr 12, trip into elephant country.

Daily activities April, 2007

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Below is the route we took, some 2,5 hours slow and bumpy bus ride. Starting at Candolim Beach where we stayed, we went via Ponda before reaching our destination at Tambdi Surla Temple where we lived in a primitive but charming camp with the bare essentials. Great stuff.

	To the left, our tour bus ready to take us into the bush. The the right, the company of Grandma Ragnhild and Kristin in the front and Martin in the back.
	One of the many ornaments houses in Goa. Red bricks that are not made as you would expect, but actually dug out of the ground as is. In Norway we have hard rock in our mountain and soft soil. These are hard sand and put to good use.
	Geoffrey, our friendly tour guide, pleasant and very knowledgeable man with working history from Saudi Arabia. On route to our destination, we have the sea. Have a look at the map above. This is not far from our starting point, Candolim Beach.
	If you see on the map, we are crossing the sea inlet not far from Mirimar Beach. These waters have a hybrid crocodile, living in both sea- and fresh water. After some driving we came to Ponda and then Old Goa.
	In the city of Old Goa, you have a fine collection of churches. These are on the UN World Heritage list. Among them, Asia's biggest Christian cathedral. Some more kms from Ponda, we crossed Mandovi river.
	Then it was time for a leak break. Public facilities are few and far between so you stop when you find one. Goa has a lot of heavy traffic hauling iron ore from the inland to the ports. 60% of the ore is exported to China.
	Another beautiful temple on the road. Brick wall outside one of the mining companies on the way to the camp. These red bricks are taken straight out of the ground and have their natural color. Due to the rust, a chemical compound of oxygen and iron.
	At our camp at last. One of the youngest inhabitants of the camp, a baby elephant.
	Kjell and Marit on their way to their suites. You didn't have much in the suites. Mosquito nets, bed, a bench and a toilet room with the basic facilities.
	There you are, a toilet and a shower with only cold water, but that didn't matter much since the cold water was rather lukewarm. Martin outside his suite, no 20. Marit and Kjell had 21.
	On a little hike in the jungle on the way to the famous temple, Kirsten and Grandma. The main road to the temple.
	The temple itself from the 1200 century. Left standing by muslims and Arabs that destroyed everything in their way because they couldn't find it. More textual details about the temple for those with special interests.
	The temple roof. Then further up the trail to the elephant wash.
	The pond, not very inviting for a bacterial conscious European with stomach problems. Kristin and Grandma readying themselves for the show.
	The main attraction, a 40 year old elephant. Kristin didn't want to have a bash with the elephant and left that to the others.
	You sat on top of the elephant and got a spray from his trunk. Kristin looking up into the trees searching for monkeys that was roaming around.
	Time for an elephant ride. All four, Marit, Kjell Grandma and Kristin. Then it was Martin's tour to take a ride.
	Martin is having fun on top of the elephant with a Danish mother and her two children. After the elephant ride, it was time to visit the local village. Here is a banana fruit demonstrated. The stage before the bananas are created
	The nicest house in town, belonging to the widow of the former chief in the village. She had 7 children, all grew up in this bed. They spend their modern wealth on scoters and parabolic antennas for their TV.
	The widow's grain harvest of rice. This is the healthy, brown variety. It's a standard in all these houses to leave your shoes outside. Martin is getting his shoes back on after the visit to the house.
	After the tourist visit, the schoolchildren gave us a little song. Not long ago, if the first born was a girl, she was killed. And no girls were allowed to go to school. Fortunately, all that has changed now. After they song their song, the tourist had to sing theirs. Not nice. This is one of the indigenous trees in the are, tall and slim with a lot of creepers around it. The evening was filled with a big bonfire, folklore from India and Scandinavia. Great show.