Camera Critters 3

Check in here for Camera Critters.

Since I don't want you guys to come to the conclusion that I am a real squirrelly sort, as I said in a comment somewhere I do have something bigger. And here it is.

Huh? You are asking. She's not squirrelly! She's totally nuts!

~

No.

~

Look very very carefully.

~

These pictures were taken in 2000 and I wish they were better resolution so they could be blown up so you could see better and believe me. I was taking a lot of video, and my still pictures were a bit of a sideline.

~

I was in India for a month on an immersion experience. We worked at an orphanage through the week and weekends we were taken on excursions. This particular weekend we went to the Periyar National Park, high in the mountains between the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

~

We were cruising on Lake Periyar, and saw a lot of cormorants and some wild boar. No tigers--they don't hang out in this part of the park. Oh, did I not mention that the other name of the park is the Periyar Tiger Preserve? So what, you may ask, are those people all looking at? Why, the elephants on the ridge of the hill, of course.

This version will help you to find them.

Before I tell you my other elephant experience from this trip, which I may someday figure out how to transfer from my videotapes to something I can share on the computer, let me tell you about the funny and unique signs in our hotel rooms at the Periyar National Park. (PhotoHunt this week is funny and unique signs and believe me, I would have used this one if I had a still of it.) The signs said, "Do not leave windows open when you are out or you will have visitors." The visitors would be monkeys--curious little buggers they are!

~

Now, for my up close and personal elephant experience: I was "blessed" by a temple elephant. Really!

~

We were visiting a temple during our sightseeing at the end of our time in India and someone persuaded the attendants to bring the elephant out into the courtyard for us. This elephant was adorned with a headdress and well decorated because it was a temple elephant. We were supposed to each have our turn, and I was first. They brought the elephant over to me and it touched my head with its trunk. I have video--of the elephant coming and its runny nose hovering above me. I have always wanted to transfer that frame to a still shot.

~

Apparently we had not made a large enough offering, because after the elephant blessed me, the grumbling keepers took it back inside the temple. The others in the group had to settle for watching.

~

Now, so that you can actually see an elephant in this post, here is another elephant which we saw in a park at Kodiacanal, a resort area in the hills of Tamil Nadu.