October 23rd - Corbett to Agra

Today brings us to Agra and one of the highlights of the tour, The Taj Mahal. Before we left Corbett we had a very early start to take a Jeep safari into the Corbett Tiger Reserve, to hopefully see the Indian tiger. The Corbett Reserve was set up by an Anglo Irishman who lived in India until Independence when he moved to South Africa and died in 1955. Initially he was a hunter but then he turned to conservation of wildlife and he set the park up, which is now named after him. We were with Wolbrand and Robert, both from Holland. Whilst everyone else had decided to take an hour's elephant ride, we four had decided it would be better to see the park in a Jeep. We entered the park at about 6.15 am and while we were waiting for the park to open I saw this notice in typical Indian English.

We took a two hour drive through a mixture of dense tropical vegetation and open deep grassland. We crossed several rivers and at one point the Jeep became stuck in deep mud. We all got out and waited while the driver managed to get the vehicle free.

Sadly, we didn't see any tigers but we had one exciting moment when we came upon the paw marks of of a big cat (panther/tiger?) and an area of flattened grass where the animal had laid down in the night. We stopped and listened for any warning sounds from birds or monkeys that could indicate the animal was still in the area. When we heard nothing we moved on through the park. We saw several different varieties of deer, here is a spotted deer.

The Sambhal the largest deer in India:

and the Barking, which is the smallest in India. Several groups of monkeys high up in the trees and a beautifully coloured kingfisher, that flew away before I could take a photo! The whole trip was very good fun and we all enjoyed ourselves. We returned to the hotel, had a late breakfast and we were the last to leave for the 360 kms drive, more or less due south to Agra, at 9.20 am.

We have now left the mountains behind and the driving was along quite fast flat and open roads. Not a huge number of trucks but lots of local traffic as we went through one small town and village after another. We are now in Uttar Pradesh, one of the most densely populated regions of India. This is rural India at its best. Very green and fertile farming land with large numbers working in the fields. At one point we went through a small village where they were having a cattle market. Livestock of all sorts was being herded along the road to and from the market. When we were at the market there were hundreds, possibly thousands of farmers with their animals - goats, bullocks, cows, and water buffalo. It was a fascinating sight to see. Shortly we after we passed this young girl herding her flock of goats.

And then we came upon a sight that is pure India. A group of workers operating an antiquated steam driven machine that was crushing the sugar cane.

In one of the many villages a sight you see time and again, woman carrying piles of grass on their heads.


We then came to a new bridge across the Ganges and as we crossed we saw hundreds of Hindu pilgrims bathing in the waters. It was a wonderful sight as we stopped on the bridge and took photos and video.


Our drive to Agra took us just over seven hours and as we approached the city we were held up in a massive traffic jam on the expressway. We were lucky as we were only held up for about 30 minutes, others in the group took 2 hours to get through it! We arrived at our hotel at 4.30 pm and took the decision that we would go immediately to the Taj Mahal, rather than seeing it at dawn tomorrow. We took a tuk-tuk for the 10 minute ride to the Taj. We paid our 1500 Rupee entry fee and went through the gates to, what is undoubtedly one of the great wonders of the world. Nothing can prepare you for the stunning beauty and magnitude of the Taj Mahal. I hope the photos below do some justice to this incredible place.

The sun setting at the Taj.

We just had time, as it was getting dark, to enter the tomb where Mumtaz, the favourite wife of Shah Jehan who died when giving birth to his fourteenth child, is buried. When we exited the tomb it was really quite dark but there was nearly a full moon and the whole place took on a ghostly glow as the white marble reflected the moonlight. What a wonderful way to end the day.