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There is something about us and wild life sanctuaries ..We chase and then we always get chased . We had gone to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh and on return, decided to pay a visit to the single horned Indian Rhino at Kaziranga Wild life Sanctuary. And the highlight of the trip is the early morning safari on an elephant back.

Now that , I call is an experience . Its dark and misty . If you are sleepy, you can easily mistake a tree for an elephant or a rhino . We are a motley crowd of wild life enthusiasts across the country who dont know each other and make polite conversation in the early hours , waiting for the elephants . A herd soon gathers including a couple of calves who totter beside their mothers and insist on meeting the rhinos.

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This post is in continuation with my last post Delhi-Vadodara-Delhi Road Trip (Part -1). Starting from Delhi, with a stop-over at Udaipur, we arrived Vadodara on 1st of October. Stayed there for the next 2 days and started the return journey on 4th of October. We took off at 5 in the morning as around 450 Kms had to be covered that day to reach Chittaurgarh.

Vadodara to Ratanpur (Rajasthan Border) : We were already aware of road conditions and decided to have breakfast at A1 Plaza which was located around 25 Kms before Ahmedabad on Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway. Let me tell you that in the past, we had great experiences with A1 Plaza on our trips to Jaipur and Agra. But this one was no good, we couldn’t understand why, but only South Indian snacks were available at the two A1 Plaza’s we visited in Gujrat. If not anything else, one would at least expect some good Dhokla, Khandawi or Theple, but all we could find there were Idli, Vada and Dosa! There was no printed menu and the only one displayed on wall was in Gujrati!. We left quickly without wasting any time and decided to take a break later.

Roads were clear in the morning and I was trying to cover maximum distance because we had only half a day in hand to explore Chittaurgarh. Wifey was getting hungry and angry as I was avoiding some stops for breakfast. But I was clear that the more time we saved during the drive, the more we’d get to spend at Chittaurgarh. Finally, looking for a decent place for breakfast, we reached Rajasthan border (Ratanpur).

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It is the classical Indian story . A tale told by Gods and demons, filled with kings and queens, replete with curses and boons. There is a little bit of history here, blended with some geology and topped with legends and myths. Set on the banks of the river Cauvery, this saga dates back to the 4th century and has certain intriguing elements, defying the very laws of nature . This is the tale of Talakadu, the erstwhile capital of the Ganga Dynasty ( 350-999 AD), which is now partially buried under sand dunes . Many rulers have reigned over this once flourishing city , but today it is a lost forgotten town, blown over by the sands of time .

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27th Jan 2007 - In the morning we saw the captivating frescoes in the open art gallery of Nawalgarh. After that we decided to spend our evening having a camel cart ride to the countryside around Nawalgarh. At 4:00 clock, camel cart was at DS bungalow. Babli, the owner of DS Bungalow, put “Gadde” on it to make ride comfortable. We had taken camel ride in Jaisalmer and were thinking that camel-cart ride would not be that interesting. We discovered that there was no comparison. After beautiful Havelis the ride was icing on the cake.

We were all set to start the journey. First we went to a nearby quaint sleepy village.

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