INDIA TRIP PART 5: Up close with animals!

We’ve seen animals on the streets, in preservation ‘banks’, in the natural wild, in cages, on safari, in our residence, seen the results of spider & mosquito bites first-hand, held some fresh seafood, and we’ve even ridden on an especially big animal…

Cow on the streets of Chennai

Goat mugging in Mahabilipuram

The kids were warned about the cows on the streets, and have now stopped counting (after reaching 67 or so…).  They found an equal number of dogs, goats, chickens wandering the sides of the streets as well. And we warned them that the cats on the street may not be so nice to hold their lap as our upstairs neighbor’s cats.  I also have a feeling that our dog Charlie would not get a pleasant sniff and hello from the dogs we’ve seen… Sofie saw a man taking his cow door-to-door selling its milk.  In Vellore (Chennai area), we saw lots of bullock-carts, but missed the chance to take a photo of the long, painted horns. 

Gharial crocodile

The ‘Crocodile Bank’ featured the narrow-nosed Indian crocodile, the Gharial, and also had turtles, butterflies, snakes, caymens and alligators from all …

Chameleon

Eagle-eye Kiran found a gecko the size of a thumbnail, and also chased after chameleons in a gardens area in Mahabilipuram. 

We took a trip to the Vandulur Zoo near Chennai and had fun watching the people in the safari bus go crazy when spotting a lion.  We saw a “Wild Ass” and saw a whole lot of other fun animals including sloth bears, elephants, white tigers, deer, hippos, parrots and more…

Near a temple in the Fort of Vellore, we saw some really cute monkeys, where one found some Mirinda to drink!!

Cherian, Kiran, Josiah on Kesavan

In Kerala, we drove 30 minutes from Aymanam to a place where they own 13 elephants.  We saw them making porridge for the elephants and we saw one person training an elephant.  

We met a 27 year-old elephant named Kesavan and his keeper, and the kids had a ride of a lifetime.  

Sofie and Frej

Kesavan was highly trained, and kneeled all 4 legs down so that we could climb up, using his front leg as one foothold and a rope around his neck as a handhold.  We all needed help to get up, but Sofie needed a bit more help than others, and Kesavan’s trainer was hesitant to push Sofie’s butt up onto Kesavan’s back…

It was so much fun that Selina really wanted a second ride and couldn’t understand that it was time to go and had a big temper tantrum on the way home....

spider bite

While in Chennai, we experienced mosquitoes inside our rooms, to the point where the kids competed on who got the most mosquito bites (Kiran won with over 200 bites J). 

the bat that loved to visit

In Kerala, we’ve seen lizards, spiders, cockroaches and even bats inside the house!  We’ve even seen the result of a spider bite on a foot!! Check your sandals before you put them on!!

freshwater prawn

On a houseboat trip (we’ll write more about this later!), we saw lots of birds, tried to catch some fish, and bought some freshwater prawns…