India | Sri Lanka | Bangladesh | Queen
Out Of India
by
Kevin RaubAfter a one-hour flight south from New Delhi, it's time to take a
white-knuckle, six-hour car ride fr
om Khajuraho,
the nearest village with an airport and
home to one of India's most stunning sets of preserved temples (and
not much else), across Madhya Pradesh. As my sarcastic cosafarist
and I enter through the gates at Mahua Kothi, we are relieved by
the 180-degree turn in the landscape. The
madness that is India's streets and highways gives way to 12
tranquil clay bungalows, called kutiyas,
swathed in a forest of bamboo.
Inside, katni stone floors and
sol-wood-beamed ceilings bookend a cozy retreat full of indigenous
arts and crafts from Fabindia, one of India's most tasteful
home-furnishings stores - and there's an inviting king-size bed
that begs for anything but safaris. It's the kind of place where
you could sleep forever.
Before you go on safari in
India, you'll need to get a handy primer. DK
publishes a definitive one, A Field Guide to Indian
Mammals, but here's our take on some of the
stranger action we saw.
Chital This spotted deer
commonly inhabits wooded regions of Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, and India - way too commonly.
Indian Roller The prettiest of 18 species of
birds we saw, this cerulean-winged beauty queen
looks like she received some touch-ups from
Picasso's brush.
Sambar It's the Indian
version of the Asian deer, and if it weren't for
the tigers, sambars would probably eat chital for
breakfast. Good riddance.
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