On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
On The Road and In Your Backyard is a weekday feature spotlighting reader submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, please share your part of the world, whether you’re traveling or just in your locality. Share some photos and a narrative, let us see through your pictures and words. We’re so lucky each and every day to see and appreciate the world around us!
Submissions from commenters are welcome at tools.balloon-juice.com
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, somewhere new – India! How glorious! I still fantasize about the India my parents saw in the early 1980’s; they went for a similar 3.5 week adventure, also including three days in Nepal. I hope to travel there sometime, but for now, pictures and wonderful cinema will suffice!
And on a completely political note, Nancy Smash! Elections have consequences, indeed!
Today, pictures from valued commenter evap.
The spousal unit and I recently returned from a 3.5 week trip to India. We have wanted to visit India for many years. We both turned 60 in 2018, the trip was a birthday present to ourselves. It was a fantastic trip and we saw so much, including incredible ruins and temples in Hassan, Hampi, and Badami in the south and then the “golden triangle” of Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra in the north. I took hundreds of pictures and could write dozens of posts about the trip. Since I know BJ readers are animal lovers, I will focus on our visit to Ranthanbhore tiger preserve where we went on two safaris in one day, a morning and an afternoon. Tiger sightings are not all that common in January, but we saw one!! It was the highlight of the trip.
Taken on 2019-01-07 00:00:00
Ranthanbhore National Park
This photo was taken at the beginning of our morning safari. It was cold and foggy.
Taken on 2019-01-07 00:00:00
Ranthanbhore National Park
There are hordes of tree pies (something like a magpie) in the park and they are very tame due to being fed by tourists. This one landed on the front of our jeep.
Taken on 2019-01-07 00:00:00
Ranthanbhore National Park
We saw several groups of white-spotted deer in the park.
Taken on 2019-01-07 00:00:00
Ranthanbhore National Park
A tiger was spotted during our afternoon safari. The park is divided into zones and each zone can have a maximum of 8 vehicles. Once the tiger was spotted, the driver of that vehicle called all the others and we all descended on the spot. It was utter chaos, with people shouting, pointing, taking pictures,… The vehicles behind us could not get close to the tiger and the drivers were shouting at the front vehicles to move so that their passengers could get a look. The tiger ignored us all and just hung out in a hole by the side of the road. I pushed my way to the front of our vehicle and managed to get a look and snap some pictures. You can see someone’s knee in my picture.
Taken on 2019-01-07 00:00:00
Ranthanbhore National Park
Finally the tiger got tired of the chaos, climbed out of the hole, and sauntered off into the bush. He walked past the vehicles behind us so that passengers got a look. Very thoughtful of him! It was an incredible experience, even if we did share it with dozens of other tourists, all taking pictures and selfies.
Thank you so much evap, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Nice!
JPL
What an incredible journey. One thing that I enjoy doing is using google to find out more about the locations jackals travel.
Today I learned a little more about Ranthanbhore National Park.
evap
@JPL: You should google Hampi, Hassan, and Badami. I didn’t know about these places before the trip and they are stunning. Not so well known to foreign tourists and I enjoyed these visits more than the visits to the more famous places like the Taj Mahal.
Sab
Adult tigers weigh from 200 to 700 pounds. Big cats with big attitude.
I have a BIL from China who adolesced during the Cultural Revolution. He was sent to the countryside on the North Korean border.
One time he was reminiscing about that time in his life. He remembered going off to the village to see movies at night
with his friends and banging pots on the way to scare off tigers.
Me, I just worry about coyotes in the neighborhood. They weigh ( if large and plump) about 30 pounds.
JPL
@evap: Thank you and hopefully soon we’ll see more pictures of your amazing journey.
The temples look amazing and they are so different from each other.
Baud
Like.
Sab
Evapm
Lovely pictures. I especialy liked the sorta magpie.
On the other hand, tigers
scare the crap out of me.
No amount of PETA or Huumane Society or whatever charity will change my mind. I wouldn’t want them lurking around my village.
Mary G
That first photo is spectacular; it reminds me of a Turner painting. The tiger was quite the diva. It’s lovely to see one that’s still free to roam free at large at least in a park and not confined to even the nicest zoo enclosure. Love the spotted deer, too. Thanks for sharing your photos with us.
arrieve
Wow. Wow. Wow. Beautiful pictures.
raven
@Sab: They apparently love the DMZ since it has been untouched for 60+ years.
raven
Tracking tigers in Korea’s DMZ
“Many environmentalists are skeptical tigers still exist here. Decades of development and war have destroyed the population. But Lim is convinced that about ten tigers prowl the South Korean side of the border.”
rikyrah
The pictures are beautiful
satby
Love India! Thanks evap!