We’ve been home for a week now and yet I still keep stopping
myself from running tap water on my toothbrush. I look around, notice
that there is no water bottle next to the sink, and smile at the convenience
of having safe water at the turn of a knob! Resuming our lives, we've
been to work, school, the grocer's and the pet shop... jet lag is no longer a
viable excuse for procrastination.
Our next stop in Tamil Nadu was the Madras Crocodile Bank
Trust. Our dear friend Bruce Schwedick
was kind enough to put us in contact with the Trust’s current director, Colin
Stevenson. Colin was extremely generous
with his time and we spent the morning following him around the facility and
learning more about crocodile conservation in India.
A little history: In
the 1970s, after nearly 100 years of hunting crocodilians for fashion
accessories, India’s
three indigenous crocs were on the brink of extinction. The three species of Indian crocodilians are
the mugger (Crocodylus palustris), the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
and the gharial (Gavialis gangeticas), with current wild population estimates
at less than 250. The Trust was
established in 1976 by Romulus
and Zai Whittaker. One of their adult
sons (Nikhil) currently acts as curator of the Trust. For those of you interested in more
information, please go to: http://www.madrascrocodilebank.org/cms/.
The facility has an impressive and
interesting history.
Upon arriving at the facility, we were escorted through the
keeper area to a small office building and introduced to Colin. He is a native of Australia, and part of me was
expecting the caricature likes of Steve Irwin/Crocodile Dundee, but instead we
saw a quiet, studious-looking man who, if he ever uses the word “Crikey!”, I am
sure he saves it for very special occasions.
The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust currently houses 18 of the world's 23 crocodile species. It is a research and breeding facility, but also acts as a working zoo and hosts about half a million visitors each year. The layout of the zoo is charming. Sandy paths weave through green pools with walls built of local stone and brick. Mature trees offer natural shade throughout the facility. Enjoy!
Mugger on the move
The signage was adorable!
Tomistoma
Enclosure example. Colin said the iron fences were just added a few years ago.
Tail scales
Surprisingly few missing limbs for such a high density mugger exhibit!
Morelet's Crocodile
Camera Two, kids! Camera Two!!
Gharial
Jaws III
Colin giving us a tour.
As kids, my siblings and I used to pile onto my parents' bed on Saturday mornings. We would always say we were like the alligators at the zoo. This pile of muggers reminded me of those cold Midwestern Saturdays.
Dangerous animals!
Why do Tomistoma remind me of dolphins??
The "dangerous animals" in our group were picked off by a strange new species... one by one.
Milan, the oldest, went first.
Isabelle wasn't going down without a fight (or a scream).
Kieran... keeping it cool.
This kingfisher was visiting the Trust the same day as us!
The underwater viewing area for the Gharial exhibit.
Our first trip out of Delhi was to Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu is in the south east, and closest to Sri Lanka. We flew into Chennai (Madras), which is the capital and the largest city in the state.
Due to fog, our flight was delayed by several hours. The kids were good sports though, and spent most of the time reading.
Isabelle, Kieran and Milan
We flew IndiGo, an airline that capitalizes on the nostalgic notion of being part of the jetset, complete with flight attendants that look identical to each other with matching outfits and black bob wigs. Their most recent commercial is fun and captures the image they are going for.
.
We had good visibility coming into Chennai, so I experimented with the "airplane" setting on my new camera.
Colorful buildings in Chennai
After locating our driver at the airport, we drove south to Mamallapuram, where we spent a night at the Mamalla Beach Resort. The term "resort" in India seems to mean a hotel that has a restaurant and a pool.
An exhausted Isabelle waiting for us to check in
Flower petals floating in water are a common welcome
We headed straight to the beach before the sun sank, and enjoyed some spicy chick peas and beer.
Isabelle, Kieran, Lakhdeep, Henrietta & Alexis
Henrietta and Annie
Spicy chickpeas... delicious in moderation.
We drove in to Mamallapuram in search of the Bob Marley Cafe, but couldn't find it, so we ate at Santana instead. (I know! Who chose these names??) We picked a fish and some giant prawns from a table and were served a family-style meal. Mamallapuram proper is not very different in feel to many Central American beach towns. The place was crawling with traveling trustafarians! Souvenir shops were sprinkled in between restaurants with rooftop views of the Bay of Bengal, and you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a yoga studio. The one thing that anchored this town as its own place was the numerous stone carving studios.
We chose the big one in the foreground, along with prawns.
Still jet-lagged, we went to bed early and woke up in time to watch the sunrise. We had a traditional southern Indian breakfast of dosas, fruit, ada (cabbage pancakes) and masala omelets.
I can't close this post without sharing a photo of the sight of Isabelle's inaugural "ladle shower". She thought I was joking when I instructed her on how to bathe in this bathroom, and she did her best at trying to convince me a shower wasn't necessary after all.
