“So, what are your planning to do in Kota?” asked Mahijit ji, my host in Jhalawar, over dinner on the eve of our departure for Kota.
Nothing,” I replied. “We (my friend and fellow traveller Niti & I) and reach Kota in the evening and leave for Bundi the next morning.”
“Oh, but you can’t leave Kota without going for a Chambal River Safari. It’s a morning safari, and I know just the person who can take you on it. Surely you can leave for Bundi after that?”
We said that we didn’t even know that there was something like a river safari being conducted from Kota. That’s when we heard about Ravinder Singh Tomar, nature and wildlife photographer, and the man behind the Chambal River Safari. A phone call to him later, we were booked on a 2-hour Chambal River Safari with instructions to meet him at the boating pier of Chambal Gardens in Kota from where the safari commenced.
When we reached the pier, the first thing I saw noticed was not the broad expanse of the river, but this industrial unit belching out smoke — not a very encouraging introduction to the Chambal River Safari! Our motor boat was waiting and after boarding and settling down, which hardly took a few minutes, we set off with our guide, Ravinder Singh Tomar, telling us all about the river, its history and its ecosystem.
Continue reading “A safari on the Chambal River”
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