Enchanting Dream

“Hey guys hurry up! I want to reach the lodge soon!” I yelled at everyone. Climbing the jeep at last, next to the driver my father turned and said “Joanna, we are going to be there for 10 days and you have enough time to do your hearts content. So shut up and sit down!”

I turned with impatience, stowed my hat on my head and stood on the jeep floor to look out longingly at the gates of the wildlife park. It was a beautiful scene, green trees and colorful flowers bordering the gates. Finally we moved.

I took the camera I my hands and kept clicking away. The climate was cool; with a smell of rain in the air after all we were in the midst of a rain forest. The driver took us in the jungle following a well used path that later took a turn and branched next to a flowing canal. The scene before my eyes took my breath away. I saw a baby rhino 3 feet tall grazing. Huge colorful birds chirping on the trees, No one was disturbed by our presence and also by the rumbling of the jeep. Monkeys on the trees watching us pass by; the group of deer’s and sambhar’s feeding on the grass spread and leaves of the shrubs. The canal 40 feet wide was dazzling with the golden-pinkish hue of the sun consisting of a variety of colorful fishes; the variety in growing numbers. We moved further beside the canal following the road towards our destination – the forest lodge. After an hour we reached the lodge. All the way I was in awe looking at nature’s beauty.

We unloaded the luggage and checked in to our rooms. After dumping my luggage I ran upstairs to the balcony facing the canal with my camera. At that moment, it started raining and what happened next was something not to be seen even on television documentaries. There was a flurry of activity amongst the animals. On both the sides of the canal they were running in different directions in packs. Deer’s, zebras, sambhar’s, bison’s, wild buffalo’s, giraffes, elephants and rhino’s and on the other side of the canal monkeys and deer’s moving upstream. All of a sudden out of the blue there came a wild boar charging upstream with a monkey on its back; all running towards shelter. There was movement in the canal as well; fishes were seen moving downstream as fast as lightening. Schools of fishes of all colors and sizes, big a small weaving their way in the water, one in particular had me stunned; it was a 2 feet long fish in black and red diagonal stripes. Unbelievable!

The trees swaying in the breeze, wind howling and animals kicking the earth to move fast, the whole scene had me so enthralled that I forgot that I was soaking in the rain. The canal was filling with water at a fast pace. Then a hand caught me and shook me out of the trance and I saw my mother asking me to walk in.

I turned around and entered the room, and could hear a voice asking me to wake up. Everything went black for a moment or two and then I opened my eyes and could see the sunlight streaming in my room through the open window and my mum shaking me awake. It was time to get up and get ready for a new day. But it had me thinking for days on end about the enchanting scene……………..

- Garima Bubna 3rd Feb, 2009