Safari or Roller Coaster?

Late afternoon, good weather, friends, vehicle with full tank, zest to go out, good old memories - I think are enough to drive you outta home and seek adventure. As it is not  good planners, there was little that could hold us back at home. We hardly realized when our initial plans to go out on weekly grocery shopping turned into adventure trip to the Bannerghatta National Park. Flying over the new Electronics City express way and onto the nice road, we joined the Bannerghatta Road somewhere near IIM Bangalore. Headed straight for a while and took a right turn towards the National Park Office. Not sure of the exact route, I think we took the one right earlier than what we should have taken, continued for a while, and a while more, through some two or so small villages, before landing up at the park entrance. We were just on time for the last safari trip, and managed to grab the the tickets and headed straight for the queue.

A few minutes of wait and soon we were on the shabby safari bus. The driver choose to wait till he had enough "passengers" aboard before sprinting into action. Yes you got that right - "sprinting". I think he shared the genes with Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Loeb to a large extent, just happened to be born at the wrong place at the wrong time. The bus itself was almost in ruins - there wasn't any surface which did not sport couple of dents, there was no window glass that did not rattle, there was no seat which was not squeaking and swaying away to glory, and last but not the least - the combination of missing shock absorbers and the rally road inside the park - literally enhanced all the (mis)adventure! Almost all of the time I was protecting my camera from dashing it against the swaying seats or hitting the ceiling with me along flying off my seat, than enjoying the view and the ride. The only exceptions being the few predetermined stops enroute where the so-called-wild animals could be sighted because of the feeding centers in the proximity. Something is better than nothing - took the very opportunity in those exceptions to get a few clicks.

I guess our prayers were soon answered and the ride came to an end. For five minutes after getting off the bus we were still feeling the sway and the wobble. Awesome ride indeed, never to be tried again for sure. To make up for it, ventured in the zoo section, checked out a few cages. Cobras, Pythons, Rat Snakes, Peacocks, Parrots, Deers - Sambar, Chital, Black Bucks, a lone Zebra, Elephants, Jackals and Leopards were definitely a relief from the earlier joyride through the park. Though not anywhere near the quality and standards that one would expect from a national park, lotta people from different walks of life have adopted the various animals by pledging a donation for the upkeep of the facilities and the animals themselves. Thats is something really appreciable, though looking at the overall state of the park, we were not sure if the collections were really put to good use. It was already late in the evening, the twilight was fading away soon and we decided to wrap up the day and return home. Safari or Roller Coaster - it was definitely fun.