Panna

The next day, after a late rise and much faffing, we were set to go to the Panna Tiger Reserve! Sounds exciting doesn't it? A quick check on the web revealed that a tiger sighting here was pretty unlikely, unlike some of the bigger tiger reserves. It was 330pm with dusk approaching by the time we got there, but we all got piled into our seven seater car with our driver, and the "guide" who we had to hire from the park.

It turned out to be pretty disappointing, 20 minutes in and the first sign of life: a monkey. You may know from earlier postings that they are quite common in some urban locations as well. We did see quite a few of the rather large Sambar deer eventually though. Our "guide"'s main contribution was to say "Sambar" a few times and point at the deer we'd already seen. It was quite nice to see the countryside properly and there was a scenic river through the park, but we were beginning to come to the conclusion that there were no Tigers around at all. We stopped at a viewpoint (see photo) where someone else's guide told us that they'd seen tigers the last few mornings. As we continued through the park, the lack of safety precautions seemed to point to a lack of tigers: in the big tiger parks I hear guides always have a gun or tranquiliser in case tigers attack. We were allowed to go in in out own car here and we saw three guides scoot past us on a moped. The guide also managed to switch the radio on full blast with his knee when we were stalking some deer! No tigers here, best stick to Gwalior zoo, next to the pigeons.

Early the next morning I had to set off back to Allahabad on my own, and had to get the infamous bus along "the worst road in India". In fact the bus was fine despite having around fifty people on a 30 seater for long stretches. It took just over four hours for what took 2 and a half in the car the other way. The added advantage of the bus is that you get to see bollywood hits blasted out on a dvd player. Beginning with a women chained up on a boat finding it necessary to do much writhing in her ripped outfit in the rain, it degenerated after that. It seems quite a few Indian leading men have the look of a young Swiss Tony about them, I wouldn't buy a used car from them. One of the next leading men was wearing a green dungarees and bright yellow polo neck combo. Wow.

On arrival in Satna I had 4 hours till my train was supposed to leave. I had a waiting list ticket and wasn't guaranteed a seat, though people had assured me I would get one. I had lunch and then walked to the station as I had the time. There I was told the charts were not made up so it wasn't known if I'd get a seat yet, come back later. I went to an Internet cafe and came back an hour before the train was due and the charts were still not ready. Eventually I was told I was not on the chart but I could speak to the conductor when the train got in to see about getting a ticket. Of course the train was an hour late and when it arrived the conductor was quite unhelpful but checked and said there was no space and I couldn't travel, but he didn't have much English.

I hadn't been able to book a seat on any trains that day so I decided to go back to the bus station as someone had told me I could get a bus if my ticket didn't come up. I got an autorickshaw there only to be told that there were no buses and to go to the station! Back to the station it was. Here I asked at the Ticket Counter who told me to go to the enquiry counter who told me to go to the chief ticket inspector. He was quite helpful and told be to get my old ticket refunded and use the money to get an unreserved ticket which I could then upgrade by asking the conductors on later trains: the 1155 would definitely have space as a last resort. He signed a form for me to have countersigned by the deputy station commander to take to the ticket desk for a new ticket and a refund. however, the ticket desk sent me to the reservation desk for the refund, then back to the ticket desk for a new ticket which I took back to the Chief ticket inspector. He gave me the numbers of some trains I could try for an spare seat, the next 1.5 hours later. Being alone at this point it was different experience to usual and I ended up talking to quite a few people: A group of Indian teenagers at the station (they first managed to stop me going into the ladies toilets) - they also liked my beard and thought my overgrown greying haircut was expensively styled and tinted to look like a bollywood star. There was also a nice older Indian man on the platform, and a group of Spanish tourists (one with a boyfriend from Glasgow). The next possible train came (over an hour late of course) and there was actually plenty of available sleeper spaces! I had the top bunk and managed to sleep a bit on before getting back to Allahabad after 1am. The institute bus finishes at 11pm so I had to get a taxi for the 15kms to Jhunsi which is very isolate. After my primitive attempts at haggling I ended paying 500Rs (5 pounds!) for a taxi which seemed a lot but was well worth it to get home quickly to bed! I ended up getting to bed around 230am after having to direct the taxi down the right street. A very long day but an experience. I won't take peoples advice on waiting list tickets again!