India 2012

Saturday10November

Waking up at the Ranakpur hotel where a palm squirrel (funambulus pennantii) comes to tease my camera...

On the small country roads to reach Kumbhalgarh Fort, farmers are at work.

Hanging in the nearby tree, giant Indian fruit bats (Pteropus giganteus).

In another field, zebus are busy turning the noria, the wheel that will dip its containers into the well and thus gently bring up the water needed for land irrigation.

We are in the Aravalli mountains, and on one of its peaks, a setting immediately plunges us into the images from our old history books about the Middle Ages!

Kumbhalgarh Fort and its 36-kilometer long wall were built in the 15th century at the command of Maharaja Khumbha.

The wall is the third longest on the planet after the Great Wall of China (6700 km...) and the Wall of Gorgan in Iran (155 km).

At the start of the wall, the enormous curved towers give a superb aesthetic to the whole.

The large wooden gate allows us free entry to the fort (for a few rupees, though).

The castle walls are undergoing restoration. Bamboo scaffolding allows workers access to all the stones.

The fort itself seems to have been abandoned, making the visit less solemn, as if we were the first to discover the place.

An enormous wasp nest high up on the walls.

Frescoes in their original state, depicting elephant fights

At the top, the enormous battlements reveal nothing of the hidden landscape behind.

Fortunately, open terraces allow you to enjoy the superb relief of Mewar (the name of this region).

Other smaller walls protect access to the fort.

A small path allows you to enjoy the castle at its foot.

An opportunity for me to meet the unsettling gaze of a flower mantis (creoboter meleagris) recognizable by its white spots on its back.  

This place contrasts with the bustling cities, teeming with rickshaws and scooters. Here, the few local inhabitants move at nature's pace.

Along the wall, a few temples. Here too, time has had no hold on these stone sanctuaries.

The interior of one of the temples

Christophe and I decide to continue walking on the ramparts up to the highest point. The vegetation takes over and we have to cross some thorny bushes.

And so begin the 36 kilometers of ramparts. As for us, we will only cover a few hundred meters because it's high time to rejoin Christelle and Pritam. Indeed, we still have some road left to reach the great city of Udaipur.

We stop in the small village of Kelwara for lunch.

And again the pan masala that cools our inflamed palates...  

On one side the aniseed, on the other the sweet.