Kanker – Ian Louis Harris

India and Sri Lanka, 29 January to 26 February 2011, placeholder and links

We needed a long and complete break after the loss of Phillie, Janie’s twin, in December. But this holiday was a long and ambitious one by any measure.

We were planning it at very short notice, by our standards, of course, but fortune smiled upon us in that planning. The Central Plains of India; Chhattisgarh and Orissa (Odisha) can be quite politically volatile, Foreign Office advice yo-yos between “no problem” and “only go if need be”, due to Naxalite/Maoist activity. But what a fascinating tribal part of India it is.

Anyway, it was a safe time to go at that time and the plan, through Steppes East who were excellent on this one, was to use the family of the Maharajah of Kanker as our guides in that region. This was a great idea; Jolly Deo, the Maharajkumar, was the perfect host and guide. We learnt lots and had fun along the way.

I long ago posted the weirdest story from that trip; the day I was press-ganged into being a live cricket commentator, which was published on King Cricket a few months after the event.

We were also fortunate in the Sri Lanka leg of the trip; an opportunity to have a large villa in Galle Old Town all to ourselves for the price of a hotel room came up, by virtue of the villa only recently coming back onto the holiday market following a long-term family stay. I suppose our experience there was a bit like a cross between AirBnB (except without making life hell for the neighbours) and Lastminute.com.

In short, there were loads of adventures to write up from this holiday – pages and pages and pages of the stuff….

…and they are all up there now – pretty much one posting per day. The posting for the first day of the holiday can be seen by clicking here or below:

Journey From London To Hyderabad, 29 & 30 January 2011

Here are links to the photo albums, which I divided up into six short albums, one for each “leg” of the trip:

If you are really keen to explore my hand-written notes, just to make sure I have written them up properly, here they are in pdf form and good luck to you:

Here is the Steppes East itinerary, also available for download – at least you’ll be able to read this one: Itinerary-Wormleighton.

Finally, there are photo albums on flickr of the pictures that didn’t make the cut for the main albums – there are some gems in there nonetheless for picture lovers:

A Day In The Bastar Region; Kurandi, Chitrakote, Jagdalpur & Some Garden Cricket, 5 February 2011

Our album of pictures from Bastar, more than 100 of them, can be seen through the following link:

001 4 Feb 2011 On The Road To Jagdalpur P2040015

Slept much better indeed felt good this morning. Got up in the sunshine, then took breakfast in garden.

Went to local village first, Kurandi village. Ged forgot to leave the key and Daisy forgot her proper walking shoes, but Shyamlal went back and forth to sort those things out.

We visited the junior school and then the middle school – lots of photos and pens.

The small children’s teacher organised a drawing competition and presented Daisy with the best pictures. Senior girls sang us “We Shall Overcome” in English.

Umesh helped Jolly to guide us .

Then through Jagdalpur (museum unexpectedly closed). And then on to the Chitrakote waterfall. Also saw flying foxes in a tree.

Struggled to find a picnic spot but eventually found one about 10 to 15 km shy of Jagdalpur.

Then into Jagdalpur where we bought some kutar and pyjama (shalwar and camise) plus some balls for the cricket and skipping rope and a multi point.

Then back to base for cricket in the garden, using tree stumps as stumps.

Three matches of five-a-side, five overs per innings. Lots of fun. Shyamlal screaming like a banshee. Daisy taking lots of pictures.

Ged Ladd batting and bowling well. Personal highlights included getting Jolly out caught and bowled and a classical drive through extra cover for four.

I tried to tighten or even lose the third match by promoting Abhishek in the batting and bowling but he turned out to be a star player as did Gowardhan.

Jungle Formula only helped a little bit at that hour.

A more comprehensive report on the cricket has appeared separately, not least as a link to the MTWD match report of the fixtures – click here or below:

Middlesex Ged Ladds v Bastar Jolly Rogers, Garden Cricket At the Bastar Jungle Resort, 5 February 2011

Got ready for dinner and enjoy their meal in the open air restaurant – the centrepiece being duck, but perhaps the starturn was Raj (Sohit’s) Chinese style chicken soup.

A lovely day.

In addition to the Bastar album, linked above, there is a collection of over 200 photos from that part of the adventure that didn’t make the album, which can be seen at the link below:

Onwards To Bastar And Maria People, Chhattisgarh, 4 February 2011

Our album of pictures from Bastar, more than 100 of them, can be seen through the following link:

Sleep badly. Early rise and pack.

Breakfast with Tommy and Mona. Then latterly (after Daisy has retired) Michael and John.

Another interesting chat with Joe, settle bill, lengthy goodbyes (we are taking Jolly away from them all) and away.

First stop – arts and crafts factory/school/showroom at Kumhar Para, Kondagoan village (about half way to Jagdalpur)…

…the place Jolly and Joe originally had in mind for the Bastar property, but the cousin had his own ideas…

…we had a quick picnic lunch there. Daisy and Jolly tried rickshaw riding there.

Then on to a tribal village market, Nagarnar Market – Maria tribes this time – perhaps a little more primitive.

Took good pictures, although I wasn’t feeling great.

Then on to Bastar Jungle Resort – settled in. Tried to have a good nap. Drinks with Jolly and his business partner Bunty Jai.

Long wait in the increasing cold for a modest supper of chicken, rice, daal and cauliflower.

A party of 50+ were rather quietly dining in the main area which was a bit surreal. Their food was much hotter, we were told. Jolly ate a little, stating that he wasn’t too hungry this evening.

Early night, after chilling and trying to fall over in the mud!

In addition to the Bastar album, linked above, there is a collection of over 200 photos from that part of the adventure that didn’t make the album, which can be seen at the link below:

Visiting Deer Horn Muria People And Other Adventures Around Kanker, Chhattisgarh, 3 February 2011

Our album of pictures from Kanker, more than 80 of them, can be seen through the following link:

001 1 Feb 2011 Evening Drinks On Arrival At Kanker Palace P1010030

Slept pretty well and Rose at circa 6 o’clock.

Light breakfast and away just after 830.

Hit a big traffic jam on the road through Keshkal Ghat.

Jolly was a bit worried we might miss the tribe, being market day. But we probably only lost less than one hour in the process.

Picked up Munna And headed off to a Bhigawn para village – A deer horn Muria tribe. We visited the ghotul…

…then the school (penless, not forewarned) but played games with the children…

…and supervised their lunch.

Then we went to see the ghotul folk doing their dance – which they do at lunchtime on market day. Amazing stuff – superb drumming and skilful dancing – especially the stilts dance.

Before the dancing, a short welcome ceremony.

After the dancing, we had a boozy farewell ceremony, drinking the local spirit Mahua Drink made from Mahua seed.

Two home visits before departure, one scheduled…

…and one to the home of the village and joker who was very insistent.

Went on to take a picnic by side of road and then on to market…

…pretty photogenic – 22 local villages congregate each Thursday at the Bhigawn market.

After the market we returned to the Kanker Palace for the evening.

Reviewed photos on terrace after being shown many of Roberts photos. By a surprisingly friendly Robert. Mosquitoville, that terrace at that hour. Then washed and dressed the evening.

First up was an early evening entertainment on the erstwhile badminton court. The gathering included Michael and John, Swiss one nighter-bikers Tommy and Mona. Robert the German photographer and our cast of hosts and staff.

Robert tells us the tale of Panit Patel and sounds off generally about fake tribal dancing, which to be fair, this certainly was.

Jolly explained that he was trying to give some work to a troop of down on their luck dancers and that Westerners who hadn’t seen real tribal dances enjoy these entertainments. Perhaps only the Swiss pair fell into that category and even they might have seen the real thing, but they were perhaps more polite than others.

Robert then stated that the thing is to stay seated looking interested. He really hates it if the dancers ask the audience to join in and next up, Daisy is dancing wildly with the dancers and I also join in. Robert refuses. The dancers asked Daisy to teach them her dance!

Next up an audience with HRH – Joe and I have a very interesting chat about his studies, Gresham College, Z/Yen stuff and all.

Then dinner – Robert, Jolly, me and Daisy. More interesting chat. Then bed.

In addition to the Kanker album, linked above, there is a collection of over 200 photos from that part of the adventure that didn’t make the album, which can be seen at the link below:

On Tour Around Kanker, 2 February 2011

Our album of pictures from Kanker, more than 80 of them, can be seen through the following link:

We both slept well and rose quite early, but still only more or less made our appointed breakfast time and even then the dining room was locked!

We ended up setting off a little late but no matter.

First stop was a walk to the rock paintings at Udkuda, where we saw the painted stones. Then on to a friends bidi factory.

Then we drove to Girhola (HRH’s hunting lodge village) where we saw a nursery school/medical nutritional advice centre, houses, schools And acquired a large pack of kids.

Took lunch of rice bread, daal, beans/peas and aubergine.

Rested a while, then set off for boat trip with Ravind (who had been our village guide) in tow. One hour boat trip through the Mahanandi river rushes (felt like three hours to Ged).

Then Ged spotted a cricket match on the river bank…

…so we docked early and took over the youngsters game for a while…

Ged’s batting was a bit better than his bowling – although he did get Jolly out with a top edged moon ball.

First slip was holding a fish for some time, but sadly Daisy failed to capture that slippery aspect.

– then we walked back to the vehicle (no distance).

We return home for a craft shop (bamboo) opening at which we were the photo opportunity.

Then spent some time chatting with Jai and the new arrival John – followed by review of photos and then ready for dinner and then pre-dinner drinks around the fire with John, his partner Michael and the elusive German misanthropic “we’re all doomed” photographer Robert Huber, who chose to eat “later”.

In addition to the Kanker album, linked above, there is a collection of over 200 photos from that part of the adventure that didn’t make the album, which can be seen at the link below:

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