Hampi Day 2

Today started very quietly as we relaxed and enjoyed the hotel, reenergizing after the intensity of yesterday.

The first jaunt was a Sloth Bear Safari. These bears are called Bindu due to the white ‘bindi’ on their foreheads. The bears live in a reserve started up by local people but is now a state park. While they feed the bears some sugary treats to get them to come -much to the offense of my friend Bhargavi (honey is part of their normal diet but honey is too expensive), the bears look healthy and clearly eat on their own, as we saw one bear looking for bugs in a nearby tree. Because we paid for taking photographs, we got to sit in the cage near the bears (as opposed to a lookout on the hill).

Many of the female bears have babies, another sign of a healthy life. The mother will stay with the babies for 2 ½ to 3 years. We saw one older set of twins and a very new (one month old) set. It was fascinating to see the mom eating and the kids playing (riding on her back as well). At one point the twins went off and after a few seconds the mom realized they were gone and rushed after them. I could feel her worry. They returned after 10 minutes safe and sound.

At one point, the naturalist jumped into the cage and locked the door – he heard growling (leopards were spotted yesterday). After listening a little longer, he concluded it was a bear, not a leopard and went back out. Yep, this is a real reserve!

Check out the claws! Great for scraping bark for insects.

A lady after my own heart, shade is her go-to place.

Unfortunately the camera did not pick up the sucking sound of the bears, which can be heard over 500 feet away!

Note the quiet bird song surrounding us!

Hanging out among the bears was a mongoose. I finally was able to get a decent photo as he wasn’t running across a road!

The visit also included spotting lots of other wildlife, photos of which I share with you below.

This splash of moving blue is the elusive Kingfisher.

These are Neem tree flowers which are used to prevent summer illnesses. As the leaves and flowers are incredibly bitter (the fruit is sweet), you add the leaves to your rice as well as hang the leaves in your doorways so that it cleans the air coming in.

A funny side note: you know you are in the wilderness when you wait for someone to come and unlock the gate, only to see the key is hidden behind a rock!

Our naturalist, who was amazing at spotting well camouflaged birds!

This is the stick naturalists carry in case an animal needs to be kept away. Taken and returned to this location as needed.

Last but not least, the ride in and out afforded us some beautiful views.

Lunch was at a restaurant called Mango Tree where we had the best hummus and falafel along with lemon mint juice. It was so good we ate there again the next day!

These photos were taken while driving around Hampi.

We ended the day visiting the Malyavanta Raghunatha Temple where we could see one of the famous Hampi sunsets without climbing! This 16^th century temple was built around a huge boulder, where Rama and Lakshmana spent the rainy season during their quest for Sita. This is an active temple where the priests live. We sat and enjoyed the view as the red orb floated down to the horizon. Not the best Hampi sunset, but a joy to watch and soak in the beauty around us.

This second temple, housed beyond the temple wall, is clearly older. We didn’t have any money with us so we didn’t enter this temple, nor take a photo with the boy dressed as the monkey king.