We got up early next morning, around 5 am, to the sound of what we thought at that time were footsteps. We later learned a herd of elephants had passed by not too far from our cottage! We were very disappointed to have missed the sight.
We left the cottage soon after. At one point, we heard a lot of noise -- a peacock yelling, birds calling in unison. Our driver told us this signals the presence of tiger nearby.
We stopped. Two more Gypsies were waiting. We could see a couple of sambhars grazing in the grasslands. There was pin drop silence -- all waiting for the big moment. Sadly, it didn't come.
We moved ahead, saw more deer -- by then we were not too excited, they were more like goats to us now -- and monkeys but we were thirsty for big game: tiger, leopard, a herd of elephants.
We did see elephants, three of them, the female and the baby elephant busy eating. The male looked at us and did not seem too happy. We quickly moved ahead.
Also read: You will love Varkala beach!