Deciding on a trip to India was not an easy one with long haul flights and ‘all those injections’. However reading up about the country was exhilarating, the culture was nothing which I had ever experienced, the food was going to be different and no doubt take some getting used to and the wildlife, which was what I was most excited about, was vast. After landing and a bumpy but not too long drive to Tiger Camp at Corbett National Park, I was met by the most amazingly smiley faces, welcoming me at the reception with warmth and friendliness. As previously mentioned the wildlife I knew was going...

Jilling Our trip to Jilling, near Nainital, was a welcome respite from the August heat. After a short hour’s walk assisted by a guide with a horse carrying our bags, we arrived at the main house, situated just below a long ridge, from which the view of the himalayas- when free from cloud cover- is said to be fantastic. There are other houses on the mountainside, but not many, and the overall feeling is one of a peaceful haven. After the hustle and bustle of the previous days, we were suddenly filled with the desire to just relax- to sit back and read, watch the birds, and take short walks through...

We left Dhikuli village with Sumantha Ghosh, Paramveer Singh Hayer, Oli Gray-Read, Pascale, Eric and Sarah-Eve Longsworth and myself and headed to the mountain areas to reach the village of Devidhura. The village is situated at the trijunction of Almora, Pithoragarh & Nainital districts. A unique feature of the fair is the image of the goddess, kept in a locked brass casket. This casket is taken in a procession to a nearby mountain spring where a blindfolded priest ritually bathes the image and replaces it in the casket.The “goal” of our journey was to go to see the festival of Bagwaal....