Our trip to Kabini was just terrific. I must admit, I was not overly excited about a 6 hour drive to a remote location in southern India. I mean, really, we live in a remote location in India... truth is, nearly all of India is pretty remote! Kabini is renowned for it's wildlife sanctuary, Nagarhole. It is surprisingly, actually a World Heritage site! The Kabini River flows into the Kabini Reservoir, upon the shores of which the fabulous Orange County Resort was built. 
The resort is perfect. It is designed and detailed as a Kadukuruba Village, each hut built right on waterfront with it's own swimming pool in a private open-air courtyard. Lauren was loving our bed!
We settled in and then it was off to our evening jeep safari. First, a boat ride across to the opposite shoreline where our jeep was waiting. Here is Andrew, showing his serious side...
And the Andrew we all know and love...
Taylor buddied right up with our naturalist guide...
Once we were on the jeep, it was about a 6 kilometer drive to the entrance of the reserve. The local villagers ran to the roadside to greet us as we passed by...
People just going about their day... much of which revolved around collecting clean water for drinking and cooking...
The main road was being paved. Of course nearly all done by manual labor...
Once inside the reserve, it was all business. We were asked to keep completely quiet, whispers only, in respect for the wildlife, whose "home" we were visiting. Somehow, the Patnode kids did a superb job of maintaining safari silence (probably most difficult for Taylor!!!!!!!!!!) We spent the next 2 hours exploring the wild...
We saw loads of spotted deer, elephants and monkeys. Also a very good sighting of a changeable Indian falcon...
Blah, blah, blah... let's face it... we did not come all this way to see a spotted deer, right? Here it's all about the tigers and leopards!! Both nights we were lucky enough to spot a leopard!! The first night, we watched a leopard up in a tree branch, about 25 meters away. It was lounging up there for about 5 minutes before it got spooked and climbed down and into the brush. This is the best picture I could get of it, sorry for the poor quality. I will post better photos as soon as I have them!!
The second night was even better, as we THOUGHT we had spotted a leopard, but were unsure exactly where it was... as we sat perfectly still and quiet in the jeep, waiting to hear a rustling in the brush... he appeared!! And I captured it miraculously on video!!
And the Andrew we all know and love...
Taylor buddied right up with our naturalist guide...Once we were on the jeep, it was about a 6 kilometer drive to the entrance of the reserve. The local villagers ran to the roadside to greet us as we passed by...People just going about their day... much of which revolved around collecting clean water for drinking and cooking...
The main road was being paved. Of course nearly all done by manual labor...
Once inside the reserve, it was all business. We were asked to keep completely quiet, whispers only, in respect for the wildlife, whose "home" we were visiting. Somehow, the Patnode kids did a superb job of maintaining safari silence (probably most difficult for Taylor!!!!!!!!!!) We spent the next 2 hours exploring the wild...We saw loads of spotted deer, elephants and monkeys. Also a very good sighting of a changeable Indian falcon...Blah, blah, blah... let's face it... we did not come all this way to see a spotted deer, right? Here it's all about the tigers and leopards!! Both nights we were lucky enough to spot a leopard!! The first night, we watched a leopard up in a tree branch, about 25 meters away. It was lounging up there for about 5 minutes before it got spooked and climbed down and into the brush. This is the best picture I could get of it, sorry for the poor quality. I will post better photos as soon as I have them!!The second night was even better, as we THOUGHT we had spotted a leopard, but were unsure exactly where it was... as we sat perfectly still and quiet in the jeep, waiting to hear a rustling in the brush... he appeared!! And I captured it miraculously on video!!In addition to the safaris, we had so much fun just hanging around the resort. The infinity pool was great fun for the kids (of all ages!)...
The kids joined in with the native dance demonstration...
And the elephant interactions were priceless...
Anyone up for washing an elephant in the river?? Of course our kids stepped right up! Taylor was the first to hop on her... just a girl in a bathing suit and a giant elephant in a river in India, perfectly reasonable...
Who was giving who a bath anyway??
Time for a rest under the biggest shade tree I have ever seen...
We were so sad to say goodbye. Lauren waved from our window until the last villager was out of sight!
The kids joined in with the native dance demonstration...And the elephant interactions were priceless... 
Anyone up for washing an elephant in the river?? Of course our kids stepped right up! Taylor was the first to hop on her... just a girl in a bathing suit and a giant elephant in a river in India, perfectly reasonable... Who was giving who a bath anyway??
Time for a rest under the biggest shade tree I have ever seen... We were so sad to say goodbye. Lauren waved from our window until the last villager was out of sight!
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