Elephants, Tigers, and Birds, Oh my!

Today, the Guptas brought Alaina and me to the region of Kerala. It is here where in a little town called Thekkady, a wildlife reserve is placed. It is like being in Animal Kingdom, only better, because these animals actually belong here. This habitat was preserved for them, not created for them. There are beautiful creatures here. My favorite would have to be the Tiger. This place does not lack for them. I saw three on my tour! The tour guide we had was able to speak very little English, so I was not able to comprehend most of what he was telling me, but from what I understand, the park is a way to save the tigers because their habitat has been almost completely destroyed by the people of India expanding and becoming over-populated.

On the way back to Tamil Nadu, we stopped in Munnar to drink some tea! I have never had tea as fresh as this! It was a really interesting experience. It was here in this region that the British East India Company held their "tea empire.' Britain must have been making a ton of money for how much tea this place produces! On top of harvesting this abundant crop, they also gave Americans an unfair tax on it. Now that I am seeing this operation, I see the entire thing as completely unfair! The people here do not like to mention the British in a popular tone either. The British held India for several centuries before it became independent in 1947



Here are some of my pictures from today:

 Here is one of the beautiful tigers I saw on the tour

This is what our "tour bus" looked like. I tried to get a shot of the one behind us so you could visualize it a bit better!