Wednesday 12th February - "What are you doing in Nagpur?"

Earplugs ensure that we get a decent night's sleep and we wake to a cloudless blue sky. D decides to go for a pre breakfast walk around a nearby tank known as the Gandhi Sagar Lake . R decides to stay in the room in order to fight a rearguard action against last night's masala papad. Outside the weather is pleasantly cool, or as the locals describe it, very cold. A regular correspondent has informed us that everybody in Nagpur wears haph pants all of the time, so D dons shorts in order to fit in. The traffic is light and the pavements mainly clear, so walking at a brisk pace is quite possible. There are a couple of colourful temples on the road up to the lake and lots of guys pushing handcarts laden with green foliage.

Most of the lake shore has a walkway, separated from the roadway. People wish "Good morning" in passing and some ask "Which country?". A few follow up with "What are you doing in Nagpur?" When D tells them tourism they give the sort of look that suggests that they take the same view as 'Lonely Planet'. A group of boys are fishing using handlines and having quite a lot of success. They seem a bit shy of having their photos taken so perhaps they are playing hookey or infringing a no fishing zone. English text is in short supply. There is an artificial island linked by a causeway full of people doing yoga and power walking. On the last leg one of the pushers of carts full of green foliage stops and tries to persuade D to buy a bunch. The foliage is chickpea plants with pods containing a single chickpea. Who buys this and why?

A full circuit takes about half an hour and on the way back to the hotel D finds an ATM and a shopkeeper with change so we are all ready to roll. During the half hour a wedding arch has appeared outside the hotel. It made a very brief appearance yesterday afternoon then vanished again. R has recovered enough for breakfast which is a buffet, although the staff are so pleased to see us that they insist on bringing things to our table. We have vadas and aloo paratha with coconut sauce and curd. The buffet is set up for DIY dip tea but the waiters insist on bringing us steaming hot, black masala tea from the kitchen. It has ginger and cardoman amongst other spices and is delicious. Nobody else is getting this personal attention. 

We are being collected at 11.00 by taxi so have a relaxed morning. The complimentary newspaper is the Hitavada, not one we have seen before. The big news is that Mr Modi's BJP have been comprehensively gunned in the Delhi elections. That will teach him to let trains run late. A lesser story that caught our eye told of a mob setting fire to a truck. Apparently police 'resorted to mild cane charge to disperse the mob'. The paper is running a campaign to persuade Nagpur drivers to observe traffic lights. Best of luck with that.

Our driver, Ganesh, arrives promptly and we set out through the streets of Nagpur. There is the inevitable Metro under construction. There is not a single individual wearing haph pants. We leave the city and have to negotiate through villages and over level crossings to reach a highway heading out to the north east of the city. Progress is quite rapid once we get onto this recently built dual carriageway. The highway is one the best roads that we have been on in India until  we get to the Maharashtra / 

Madhya Pradesh state line, where it abruptly ends and becomes one of the worst. Construction is underway but there looks to be suboptimal effort going in to completion. The good news is that we turn off after about two miles, the bad news is that we have to do this stretch five more times. 

The Riverside Retreat is run by Waxpol Ltd, and we have stayed with them before in the Sundarbans. Our room is one half of a"cottage" block and very pleasant indeed, containing everything that we need including an outdoor shower. We are the only guests today. Lunch is waiting and is good, although we have to rush a little in order to depart for our afternoon safari. We recross the stretch of rubble, drive on a couple of miles, then do 500 yards of wrong carriageway driving to the turn for the Khursapar gate.

Here we team up with our gypsy, driver and guide. Both have utterly unpronounceable names and the guide apologises for his lack of English, but it seems pretty good to us. Our IDs are checked and off we go into the restricted zone of the park. Much less fuss and palaver than some National Parks we have been to. This section of the forest is quite densely wooded and hilly. Our guide seems more comfortable with trees than birds and points out species of interest. To start with birds are thin on the ground ( and in the trees for that matter) but we start to get sightings. A Shikra poses beautifully just 15 metres away.

There are mammals to see - spotted deer, black faced langurs, wild boar and Indian bison, also known as gaur. We also see a common mongoose, rather uncommon in these parts according to the guide. We have seen quite a few of these creatures over the years but never managed to get a decent picture. This time is no different.

A White Eyed Buzzard flits across the track just ahead of us. Each time we get into position for a photo he moves along a couple of trees before flying away, leaving D photoless. We move on to a small lake and watch for a while. There are parakeets in the long grass at the edge of the lake, mainly the usual Ring Neck variety, but also the less common Plumheaded type. These also prove difficult to photograph. We have to make do with a rather nice picture of a Green Bee-eater.

Our guide tells us that we will try one last place for a tiger but all we see are peacocks and spotted deer. Then it is time to get back to the park gate before closing time. We thank the guide and driver in the customary fashion. The guide seems particularly surprised to get a tip but we have enjoyed our afternoon, even without the big cat. We drive back across Hell's Highway as it is getting dark. The dust cloud is like fog and there are maniacs with no lights on, overtaking through the roadworks.

We have ordered dinner for 7 pm and head for the Dining Hall a few minutes early. Officially there is no bar but we were offered beer at lunchtime so we ask now. No problem, cash payment required. We relax with a couple of cold ones and after a while wonder where supper is. It is chilly enough for us to be glad of long sleeves. Another beer to share and still no food. Eventually we work out that the staff are waiting for us to finish the beer before serving up. There does seem to be a clear differentiation between eating and drinking in the minds of many Indians.

The food is very good. Sliced vegetables with papads, chicken curry, paneer in coriander sauce, mixed veg, Dal and rice. Gulab Jamuns for pud. All is going swimmingly until our driver arrives to announce that we must vacate our room at 5 am, with our luggage packed and proceed direct to Nagpur at the end of the safari. We knew it would be an early start but 5am seems ridiculous when it doesn't get light until 06.30 and it is not the program agreed. We decide to message the agent but there is no signal. Eventually somebody at Vodafone puts a rupee in the meter and the message sends. After several messages back and forth we agree on 5.30 start, do safari, back to the hotel to clean up and then return to Nagpur. The Riverside's duty manager appears to have appointed himself referee and he confirms that the driver will go with this plan and that a packed breakfast will be ready to go with us. D is still a bit grumpy but as R says "Who is going to spot the difference?".