My top-10 un-ordinary wildlife encounters

I love animals and nature and through my travels I always try to visit parks and wildlife sanctuaries or to participate in any sort of animal encounter. These are my run down of the best moments with nature in no specific order
 

1. Swimming with the humpback whales in Tonga

Speechless, you are in such awe you forget how scared you might be. Read more about my review here

2. Great White Wall in Fiji 

Diving after this will never be the same. See more details in my write up about the experience here 

3. The Penguin Parade on Philip Island - Australia 

 

Philip Island is off the coast of Melbourne, about 2h drive from downtown. There are a few activities available on the island but the most famous is a visit to the Penguin centre to watch the penguin parade, that is, the hundreds of penguins that every evening night come out of the water and into the beaches to feed their little ones. Penguin nests dot the island as there are more than 30,000 of them so you can imagine the chance of seeing them is 100%. 

Sadly, in order to preserve their safety, you are not allowed to take any photos. The one above is from the Sydney's Aquarium where they have all the different species of penguins. 

Phillip Island penguins are the little penguin species which is only about a foot long and they are the cutest animals.

Apart from the parade which basically involves sitting at a stadium like grade to watch them come out, there are other more personalised options like the one we chose. You can join a smaller group of maximum 10 people on what is called the Explorer eco experience to go on a remote beach sit down on the sand and watch them come out. The difference with the parade is that there are no floodlights illuminating the beach and you are in completely darkness. You get given night goggles and infrared to see them and they may walk quite close to you. On the way back to the main building you see them everywhere and only a meter away. We must have seen thousands on that one evening.

It was very endearing to see them come out the water. All of a sudden you see a wave of penguins in the water which slowly make it to the beach shore. From there, they first assess whether it is safe to get out of the water before they make a move to quickly cross the beach. If they feel that it is not safe they may return to the water to take a second chance at approaching the beach. At times, some were at the shore between water and sand and shaking their heads up and down as if discussing internally whether it was a good idea to come out or not and if threatened they plunge belly first onto the sand to hide. It was pretty hilarious to see them do that James Bond style.

Viewing platforms for the Penguin parade

4. Echidna experience at Healesville, Australia

Australia is just an extremely rich country for wildlife. At every zoo or park there is some new, fascinating animal and endemic animal to take a look at and, in some cases, you can cuddle or feed them. 

In this case, we got to feed and touch the echidnas.

Equidnas are very strange looking animals part ant eaters, part hedgehog, part dinosaur, they look very prehistorical. On our trip to Tasmania we saw them in the wild and went up to pat them. But as soon as you get near them they turn into a ball and are all spikes and no animal. 

In the zoo however they were habituated to humans and allowed us to feed and pat them without getting scared.

Together with the fascinating platypus they are the only mammals who lay eggs. They eat ants with their very long and thin tongue and curl up into a ball when threatened. However, they have very poor eyesight so if you sit down next to them and stay quiet they quickly come out of their hiding and don't even notice you are still there. We found this quite an entertaining game when we met them in the wild. 

Echidnas lay eggs directly into their pouches and the little ones suck milk from the mother's pores, they have no nipples.

Echidna encounters

5. The shark and the turtle - American Samoa

The turtle

 

"The legend says that during a time of famine a grandmother and granddaughter were rejected by their families as too much of a burden, and so they threw themselves into the ocean to cast their fates upon the whimsy of the life giving sea. Transformed through magic into a turtle and shark the grandmother and granddaughter sought out a new home. Long did they travel and many times were they turned away until they arrived on the shores of Vaitogi. Defined by high cliffs and a rough coastline, the inhospitable shores were inhabited by a compassionate and generous people, and the old woman and her granddaughter, transformed back into their human form, were welcomed, fed and offered that they should make this village their new home.

Moved by the unexpected generosity the old woman agreed, but she still heard the call of the sea as well. Unable to stay on land, she informed her hosts that she and her granddaughter must return to the sea, but that they would make the village waters their permanent home. She gave the villagers a song to sing from the rocks and a promise that when they sang the song she and her granddaughter would come"

When I was there with my new found friend from the tourism office (see here for the incredible act of generosity she had which restored my faith in humanity) she called the locals to come sing for us and, to my incredible surprise, as the song went on and on and more villagers joined in all of a sudden, the turtle and the shark came to the surface, no joke!

Imagine my face of amazement when I saw first the turtle and then the shark appear on the surface. The locals looked at me and smiled. It was quite a moment. And they did it just to show me.

6. Sipadan Jack fish tornado - Malaysia

Jack fish tornado

 

Sipadan is seen by many as one of the best dive spots in the world, yet I was quite disappointed at the experience. 

This was a combination of terrible service at the resort, a feeling of being taken advantage of and also a sense that although diving was good it was by no means better than Fiji. I felt that I had been terribly oversold the place. But perhaps I was unlucky. This is not to discourage anyone from going but to manage expectations.

The fact that the daily number of divers is limited means that even if you go there you may only, if lucky, dive Sipadan once. Mind you to get there you have already taken at least 2/3 flights so once you arrive, you expect something truly life changing and Sipadan just didn't cut it for me.

This is also partially my fault and my very high expectations. I am truly spoilt and I have seen too many white powder beaches to be blown away by yet another beautiful one. I still enjoy it very much and still can't have enough of it but I am also increasingly looking for the unexplored and new and Sipadan felt very much over exploited and too used to squeezing money out of tourists at every occasion. I did not enjoy the poor accommodation (our room did not even have shower curtain and we were paying USD1,500 for 4 days / 3 nights 3 people sharing), terrible & repetitive food consisting of cabbage, carrots and some random meat, the extra charging for everything and the underwhelming dive masters that looked like they were bored of taking tourists and no longer passionate about their job or the incredible waters of Sipadan. 

I had read a lot of bad and mediocre reviews about the accommodation but I chose to ignore them. 

Not to make this a negative review it is in this list because diving also had a couple of magical moments. The dives are more to see big fish and lots of them rather than for beautiful corals, or at least that was the case for us. That being said, there are hundreds of diving sites in the area so there must be something for everyone.

One of our finest moments which made the entire trip, the effort, the long journey (despite we live nearby in Singapore) and putting up with bad service worth it was the jack fish tornado at barracuda point. We did not see the barracuda tornado which made the dive spot famous but we had the jack fish instead and that was also quite incredible. I could have stayed there surrounded by thousands of jack fish forever. They were calm, slowly moving in circles and not scared at all or minding us entering the eye of the tornado or staying inside. It was very humbling to see so many fish allowing us to be a part of their show.

The video below was shot by another diver in our group and although it only shows it from outside we got to get in and stand there until we ran out of air. 

Go to Sipadan if only to experience this moment of peace.

7. Tarsier monkeys in Bohol, Philippines

Sleepy Tarsier monkey

Tarsiers are very cute yet very funny looking animals. They are tiny measuring only 15cm with very large eyes (1.5 cm) as big as their brains. They also have extremely long hind limbs twice as long as their bodies made for clinging onto tree branches and jumping up and down. They need them to hold their disproportionately large heads which host their large eyes, get it?

I had spent a long time in the Philippines for work but it was only at the end of my time there that I finally made it to see the Tarsiers. 

They are mostly found in and around the Bohol area making it a nice weekend trip combining a visit to see them with the Chocolate Hills, an extremely pretty almost surreal mountain range that is perfectly round and looks like someone planted it there. Tarsiers are nocturnal animals and so when you visit the parks to see them you are going to find them attached to a branch and asleep. They have very good hearing so from time to time they might open their eyes to check out what happens around them. 

You are not allowed to touch them and you only get to about 1m from them but this sanctuary in Bohol is apparently the only place that has managed to reproduce them in captivity and may be one of their few chances of survival as the species is endangered.

8. Koalas and kangaroos in Australia

 

My friend the wallaby

Australia is by all standards, the place for wildlife fanatics. Everywhere you go there is a park or similar where you can get up and close. In this case, I was in Adelaide where you can pat and feed kangaroos and where, more importantly, you can hold and hug a koala. Amazingly furry, soft and nice. So exciting!

Where can this be done? At Cleland park

 

At first, feeding the large kangaroos can be a bit daunting, they are quite big animals after all, but after a while and after seeing the little kids doing it I felt too ashamed to be scared. Apart from the larger kangaroos I enjoyed feeding the wallabies more they are smaller and much cuter.  

You can buy ice cream cones full of food or even simple cookies which almost all the animals in the park eat. It may not seem like the most balanced diet but it surely gets them interested to get close to you, although you may have chase a few of them because with so many visitors they are pretty well fed!

And the star of the park? the koalas which, as opposed to most other parks, you can actually not only pat but also hold and cuddle at Cleland. That was truly the highlight of my visit. The queue was not even long and you didn't have to pay extra. At certain times the koalas come out, they are placed on a small tree branch and then you get a couple of minutes to hold them and take photos. It was so cool!

Cuddling a koala

9. Elephant polo in India

It is indeed a weird sport. As weird as it looks.

Elephant polo is played in Rajasthan, Nepal and Sri Lanka and two people ride the elephant, the "driver" and the player, who tells the driver sitting on the elephant's neck, where to go. 

Because elephants are slow animals the field is smaller than that of regular polo. 

Elephants are important in Rajasthan and Jaipur in particular so it was only natural that the sport of the kings incorporated the animals. No festival or celebration in Jaipur happens without elephants nicely and colourfully decorated with all sorts of paraphernalia.

The referee

Being able to partake in a game of elephant polo is rare. The games are played throughout the year in Jaipur yet usually guests can only be spectators. I was very lucky to visit India on the Maharajah's Express train journey which included an afternoon of lunch and playing elephant polo. We could take as many turns as we wanted riding them and playing and it all carried on until we all had had our dose of regal sporting. 

I must say it is quite hard to hit the ball because the bamboo stick is very long so having control of it requires strength and then the animal doesn't always move the way you wanted him to and you are already focusing all your energy on not falling down but it was an incredibly fun experience.

10. Gorillas in Uganda

It is a pity that I have lost all the original high res photos of that experience and I am now only left with facebook's update but that doesn't change the fact that it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. 

If you want to read all about it get on the post here. 

 What are your un-ordianry wildlife encounters?

 

Incredible India - A review of luxurious Maharaja's Express

 

For New Year last year I embarked on a journey through the Rajasthan with the Maharaja's Express train. 

The trip we chose was described as follows:

Heritage of India Journey

7 Nights / 8 Days

Mumbai - Ajanta - Udaipur - Jodhpur - Bikaner - Jaipur - Ranthambore - Agra - Delhi 

Maharajas' Express Heritage of India itinerary offer insights into the rich heritage and culture of India.

Starting from Mumbai, the train crisscrosses through the medieval caves of Ajanta, forts and Palaces of Rajasthan and the majestic Taj Mahal during the Heritage of India Tour.
The highlight of the tour includes cultural immersion during local sightseeing tours, insider experiences such as sundowner cocktails amidst sand dunes and Exhibition Elephant Polo Match and some shopping experiences among others


And it did live up to expectations. 

Although the experience will be the focus of another blog post I wanted to write a review of the trip for those considering joining it.

India has a few high-end luxury trains connecting some of the most beautiful parts of the country. The Maharaja's Express is a well known one because of the area it tours, the Rajasthan, and because it is a very historical journey covering most of the Imperial and culturally rich sights. It is truly a blissful trip too ideal for those wishing to visit India without having to "deal" with the poverty and misery of India, with the extremes and the begging. It is a selfish wish but nonetheless a human one linked to our internal fears of being confronted with the cast system, with the less priviledged, with loss, with amputated limps, with human beings treated like animals.

One of many beautiful castles

This was, I will admit, one of the reasons why India was only my 70th country. I ahd purposely delayed visiting it for this very reason. Travelling is an exercise of discovery and a passion to experience different cultures, peoples, places but I tended to avoid being put into extremely sad situations where I would return home feeling frustrated at the impossibility of changing something so unfair and saddening. 

Luxury at its best - feeling like a Maharaja

I am not a demanding traveller. Long ago I forfeited the complaints and high demands in favour of enjoying any trip, no matter how negatively affected it is by bad service, bad weather, unpleasant travel companions or harassment from locals. In my mind, I won't let anything spoil a trip. This is something that I learned in Africa where life passes at a different speed. But that will be the focus of another post.

So, I do know what a high-end luxury experience should look like after years of beng lucky enough to travel with a consultant's budget (company paid weekends getaways and generous salaries). And the Maharaja's Express is one of them, hands down.


From the moment we stepped into the check-in room at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai until we disembarked in Delhi the entire trip was exquisite. The staff was attentive without being overwhelming, the food was traditional and local without too much spices, the chef was accommodating even to a temporarily delicate stomach (nothing to do with India by the way) and the itinerary, the stops, the sightseeing and every single element of the trip, unforgettable.


Personally, what truly makes a trip memorable, aprticularlly the very seldom times I choose to go on an organized tour, is the feeling of seeing something out of the ordinary. In this journey, we enjoyed several unqiue experiences not available to most travellers to India. This included an elephant polo game, not watching, playing! 

Another favorite was the opportunity we ahd to chat to one of the Maharaja's who is still alive, royalty at its best.

It was perfect so where is the trick?

It is sadly not a trip for every wallet. At around USD6-7,000 per person for the 8 days/7 night for the lowest category cabin it is not an affordable trip. We did get a complimentary night stay at a Taj Hotel in either Mumbai or Delhi making the trip 9 days/8 nights and the overall nightly rate at USD750-850 per person per night but this still did not make any significant change in the rate. 

On the positive sie, this price includes everything and there are hardly any additional costs unless you choose some of the out of itinerary excursions, go shopping or indulge in international wines or liquors. Local wines and liquors are included and you have your own butler who makes sure that all your needs are met and even goes the length of checking that the room has the right temperature. I am sure he would tuck you into bed if you asked him!

Perhaps the only criticism is the size of the rooms, although expected given the llimitations of train travel. 

The dinning carriage

For the simplest room, the one we chose, space is an issue so you should travel light. There is at most half a meter around the bed, just enough to walk around and your luggage goes under the bed. The butler will help you unpack and repack your suitcases so that everything is neatly placed inside the wardroves but aside from a tiny desk and two small bedside tables there isn't anything else to keep you in your room. Instead, there are a few lounges and bars to relax in, read a magazine, enjoy a drink and snacks or simply watch the world go by through the window. 

For more space, you can upgrade your cabin to a suite. The largest and most expensive cabin, the Presidential suite, can go for as much as USD23,000, per person!

During the day, you are out and about discovering the area  and we never felt that we were either bored or dragged too much up and down to see places - the mix of excursion time vs. relaxation time was perfectly balanced. 

Every adventure off train was met with a team of local dancers performing the skills or dances typical of the area with colourful dresses, artifacts and instruments. The girls with elaborate saris or traditional outfits, the men on camels or horses. And we were greeted with scarfs, silk pashminas, flower necklaces or other typical decorations. 



Excursions involved a group bus ride with the remaining 35 passengers on board the train. I calculated that the train must have been around 2/3 full which made for a good amount of people if you wanted to meet others and socialise over dinner or in the buses without being too much that you just feel like a sheep in a herd, treatment was very much personalised. 

What type of people were on board?

As expected this is a trip for those with an interest in culture and history and who do not wish to compromise on comfort and luxury even when travelling to remote, inaccessible or very poor areas. 

Lake Pichula Taj Hotel

The Rajasthan has some of the most beautiful hotels in the world. The floating palace in Lake Pichula, a Taj Hotel is one of the most romantic settings in the world, not to mention the Taj Mahal's declaration of love or some of the most incredible palaces which are reminiscent of the British Imperial times and exude glamour and elegance in old world surroundings.

Nonetheless to get to some of these places one still needs to endure terrible Indian driving and road hazards not fit for the faint of heart. Travelling by train allows to swap the roads for the more comfortable, quieter and safer rails.

Down to the details, expect guests to be middle aged and mostly Eastern European/Russian. They were also wealthy in a very obvious way (read ostentatious luxury brands, large diamonds, perfect hair and make-up). 

The ones who were not Eastern European or Russian were couples in their late 30s to 60s from a range of nationalities in the Western World: English, American, Canadian, European. There were also a few families with grown up kids


Everybody was well travelled, well "behaved", educated, respectful and mindful of other guests. There was no waiting time for other passengers, no late arrivals, no loud, obnoxious or stubborn guests.

What if I want a more personalised experience?

If you don't want to sit in a bus with many other or be in a group with a shared guide you can upgrade yourself to personal drivers, private guides and exclusive excursions. It is unclear how much this feature would cost but judging by the overall pricing of the trip this could be a relevant amount of money. The other guests in this category were two Russian couples who also spoke barely any English so it could also be a matter of practicality or an offer the train operator makes to attract Russian/Eastern European or imply non-English speaking clients.

Shopping opportunities

Pardon my sarcasm and cynicism here but I have been taken to enough "cousin's carpet shops" to know what a "shopping opportunity" really means. 

A shopping opportunity at a carpet store

You get taken to a friend or relative shop which grants the driver or guide a commission on your purchases and then you are almost coerced into buying something. It is not that they force you to but after the host takes out and displays almost his entire inventory and invites you to several rounds of tea sugared with lots of explanations about the beauty and uniqueness of the fabric and the amount of craftsmanship that went into making it no human being is then able to walk away without buying anything. And if you try, you will not only be offered discounts and special offers but eventually, if you insist in not buying anything, you will be emotionally blackmailed. I dare you to try and see if you can walk away empty handed.

Given the price tag and expectations on luxury and exclusivity of the Maharaja's express these opportunities are truly voluntary and up to the guests to chose. You can be taken to shops selling your choice of souvenir or even to high-end jewelry stores. Rajasthan is known for its gold and precious stones so you are sure to find your pick in the many luxury jewelries around.

I will admit though that, although I was expecting at one point to be taken to someone's back yard for a speech on how great the carpets are, that only happened in one occasion and as soon as the seller realised we were not interested at all we quickly left the place. I am sure this was not meant to be part of the itinerary nor did the organisation team know but it is India after all and these sort of things happen constantly. We were glad we were not harassed and left shortly after arriving.

The service level  - what is all this butler thing about?

I will have to praise the organisers and the staff on board for the many details they had throughout the trip. From trying to find me conditioner when I ran out (not easy in remote India) to sorting out our pick up upon arrival in Delhi to making sure I had a diet of banana and rice for 2 days when I was sick (nothing to do with the trip, I came with it) it all went smoothly and no trouble was too much. 


Because we were travelling during NYE we also got an out of trip dinner at a special location and access to the hotel's dinner and dance celebration so we welcomed the New Year with the largest buffet I will ever see, it sprawled several tables and it had everything you could think of including a large 2013 ice sculpture.

We decided to stay at the hotel party with the DJ and all the rest of the high-end Indian society until past midnight with a gay couple who was travelling with us but the rest of the guests went back to the train after dinner. Not that the night ended there. Back at the train the staff had organised an after party with Indian music to go with it and lots of Indian Bollywood moves for all of us to learn and practise. It was really fun to dance with everyone, laugh at the staff's great dancing skills and learn some moves which were sure to make anyone loosen up. The mood was up as we retired to our cabin at around 2am and I am sure many of the guests danced until the wee hours. Some of the passengers looked like they had not danced in such a free and "I don't care what others think" way in years, loosening up shirts, ties and bending over and backwards as the crew showed us how to do it.

At risk of spoiling the surprise, on the last evening in the train there is a farewell dinner with traditional outfits. We came back from the Taj Mahal to find pretty saris and men wear on our beds ready for the evening. The staff came to help us dress up for the occasion and I was very happy to wear a nice sari for the first time

The nicest part of this was that we all got an appropriate dress. The children all got special outfits adequate for their age, the girls got different lengths and arrangements all suitable to each's physical appearance. So the older ladies got saris without too short a top, the younger with sexier looks and the men all go different colours, patterns and turbans so we did not look like lemmings all cut the same which made for a very colourful postcard when putting us all together. 

The verdict

Would I go back? Yes, absolutely

Would I recommend it to someone? Yes, absolutely

Is it good value for money? Yes, expensive, but you get what you pay for

What it is not: an adventure trip, you do get to go out and walk around but the amount of physical exercise is limited. 


Lastly, if you expect to romantically travel the Indian plains and deserts and watch the day go by through your window you may be disappointed. The travel time usually takes place in the evening and on some mornings and it is much less than I expected. The Indian railway system is, as you may have seen in many a photo, quite in dire state. No matter how high end the train in itself is, the railway system is the same as for the low end trains that make travelling in India so affordable but so extreme. We were delayed and stopped continuously and there was always an expected delay which the staff were all too used to seeing. They had been Incorporated into the schedule as part of the journey.

As a once in a lifetime experience the Maharaja's Express is sure to please everyone. Come with an open heart and enjoy the epace of mind of luxury India but don't expect to see the real country.

Endangered Bengal tiger

Spotted! Bengal tiger

The Bengal tiger is India's and Bangladesh's national animal and it can also be found in Nepal and Bhutan but, at 2,500 species, it is considered an endangered animal.

I was quite excited to see them in the wild but my hopes were completely killed by out Ranthambhor National Park guide: "we have not seen any in a month" he whispered as we left the entrance in a sub-zero temperature open air jeep.

I suddenly wondered what I was doing there. It was 6am, we were in an open air jeep in a freezing weather, the wind chill made things even worse and no matter how many layers of clothes or wool blankets I had over my shoulders and legs I could barely feel my feet and face. Sharply came the memory of my warm train bed - could I ask to be dropped back at the train station?

The answer would have probably been "No".

Strolling tiger

I am not one for cold weather. My mum always reminds me of my teenage years when I used to get out of the house in the middle of the winter with a tiny top and a coat and be fine with it. "Sarna con gusto no pica" (roughly translated as willing/voluntary pain/suffering does not hurt) she used to say. 

Nowadays, I have realised I am about 5 degrees colder than my boyfriend and probably around 2-3 degrees colder than my friends. It could be because I have lived in tropical climate for so long that my body has accustomed to the heat. On the flip side, when most people sweat and suffer from unbearable heat I can usually cope. I like walking and do I so for at least an hour every day in the heat of the day in Singapore and, although I can't deny the heat eventually gets to me and I can certainly cope better than the rest. Not to mention the poor European friends who visit and simply have to retire to the comfort of the mall during daylight.

So sitting there in the open air jeep after hearing the guide tell us that our chances of seeing a tiger were slim to say the least all the suffering from the cold seemed unnecessary.

Ranthambhor National park is mostly known for the tiger and there isn't much more to see other than that. In the 3-4h we were there we only saw a couple of monkeys and birds although the authorities claim that there are several other species. 

So after a couple of hours I was frantically counting the time back to the train until, suddenly, as if as payment for the suffering and perseverance, we spotted a wounded mother and two cups not too far away from the car. In a second, I completely forgot about the cold and even ventured my hands out of the blanket to take as many shots as I could.

They gave us enough time to observe them and see the two younger ones playing around.

Tigers are a rare sight in the wild. They are shy and tend to hide during the day. Their numbers are low because of poaching for illegal trade of skin and body parts partially for use in Chinese medicine as a bone strengthener.

Have you seen tiger in Nepal, India, Bangladesh or Bhutan?