Jaipur

After Puskkar, we traveled about 3 1/2 hours by bus to Jaipur.  The next morning we got up early to get in line at the entrance to the Amber Fort---more correctly called the Amer Fort.  You have to arrive early if you want to ride up to the Fort in style...by elephant.  Now, I ask you, who wouldn't?

It was readily apparent that everyone wanted to travel up the hill to the Amber Fort by elephant, judging by the line of people ahead of us.  The line moved pretty quickly and we all were patient.  It was worth the wait, too, to be assisted onto your elephant (okay, you elephant for the ride up the hill, anyway).  Nonie and I got a speedy one.  Our "driver" seemed in a great hurry to get us up the hill and off his elephant.  Maybe it was his tea break time.  Maybe he had to make a phone call.  Maybe he just didn't like our faces?  For whatever reason, we flew up the hill.  It was like being in a elephant race, where only one elephant is racing.  The others just walked along, leisurely, up the hill, giving their passengers ample time to snap photos.  Ah, well, at least we won the race!

Some of the elephants were beautifully decorated with colored chalk designs.  Ours was not.  He was in too much of a hurry to just stand around, waiting while he was decorated.  Our elephant was a speed demon.

Maota Lake in the background

 The view from the top was beautiful.

The Fort was built by Raja Man Singh I and was the headquarters for the Rajput Maharajahs for the next 150 years until the capital was moved to Jaipur.

The palace within the fort is a beautiful amalgam of both Hindu and Rajput design.

Everywhere you look are embellishments, carvings, marble inlaid into the red sandstone that was the main building material.  Floors, walls, ceilings....everywhere there are marvelous little details.

There are four levels to the palace and each of the levels has it's own courtyard.  The garden is spectacular, with a pool in the center.

As we were leaving (we sped down the hill in a Jeep, rather than an elephant), we came upon these gentlemen and their cobras.  I can not begin to tell you how much I did not want to see them and their snakes.    I abhor snake charmers.  I abhor cobras.  I could have happily have missed this detail at the Amber Fort!

Elephants and a Tale of Billy the Bully

Everywhere we went in the Kenya and Tanzania reserves and parks we were lucky enough to see elephants.  We saw single males off by themselves and we saw big groups of females with their offspring.

An elephant in the wild is truly magnificent.  They are graceful, surprisingly so, and quiet.  They can be very expressive.  By watching an elephant's ears you can judge their mood.  (Reminded me of how I could always tell my cat's mood by his ears....same thing with elephants, especially if you are an experienced elephant observer.)

Many elephant herds move back and forth long distances each day.  In the Ngorongoro the herds of females and young would spend the day down in the crater, near the watering holes and the long, tasty grass and then return to the hillsides in the evenings.  Back and forth, each day.

The female elephants will often put themselves between a safari vehicle and their young, protecting them from the interlopers.  This is the same behavior they use with any threat, real or perceived, to their babies.

And this brings us to the tale of Billy the Bully, a young male elephant who adores playing, bullying and beating up his long-suffering older sister......

Billy was first spotted as he chased this older juvenile female into and out of a stand of shrubs.  Crashing and running, they "galloped" around and around, in and out of the shrubs.  Billy was always the aggressor.

When he caught up to his sister, he'd poke her in the back end with his tusks and head butt her bottom.

Then he would smack her repeatedly with is truck.  He'd smack her side and then smack her ears.    She would be making an effort to avoid him, but she never turned on him or used her larger size to put an end to this bullying behavior.

Billy finally ended up just pulling her tail.  Our driver was trying to tell us that he was just holding onto her tail to "follow" along, but he was truly pulling on it.  It was just another way to be a bully!

He was really good at being the obnoxious little brother.