Our next stop was to the burial place of Tipu Sultan and his family. A large white dome, resembling the architecture of the Taj Mahal, with ornate carvings covered his tomb. A guide latched onto us and told us some facts about the place and Tipu before demanding to be paid for his services repeating, “Madam, I’d like something” and stretching out his hand. Of course we paid him, but laughed at his bluntness.
I think our guide felt a little guilty that we didn’t see anything so we continued to roam around listening for sounds or glimpses of anything in the headlights. At one point he pulled off the road, switching off the engine, and glided along until we heard something in the bushes. It was an elephant just beyond the trees. While we never saw it we heard it crushing branches as its trunk ripped them from their trees and every once and a while we could hear its deep breathing. It was such a peaceful moment, only disrupted by the occasional car and truck passing by. After listening for about twenty minutes, we restarted the engine and five minutes later happened upon a family of elephants, including a baby, in a clearing just off the side of the road. We watched them in silence through the beam of the headlight until we had attracted a crowd and decided to head back. Along the way we also spotted a wild boar. So the safari was a success after all.
We were served a large buffet of Indian food for dinner. A group of us lingered after eating, watching a group from Bangalore badly sing songs around a campfire. We played phase 10, eventually just making up our own rules and phases until one by one people dropped off and headed to bed.