When a Leopard crossed our path in Kumbhalgarh!

It was a long day! We drove from Udaipur to the beautiful Jain Temples of Ranakpur situated in dense forest. The grand temple is built out of marble and supported by 1444 pillars, no two of them alike. The carvings on the marble were exquisite. But what interested me more was the forest surrounding the temple. I never imagined Rajasthan to have anything apart from desert, let alone a forest! But as one travels from north to south of the state, the difference is visible, the dusty surroundings slowly give way to greenery. There wasn't a settlement nearby. It was perfect - mysterious, beautiful and historic!

The afternoon was spent without realizing the day was coming to an end. Winters in Rajasthan meant sun would set much before 6pm. We still had a very long journey through surprisingly green and wonderful plains to the Mewar fortress at Kumbhalgarh. Situated on a hill top, this fort too is surrounded by thick forest. We arrived just in time to see the last rays touch the fort walls. Kumbhalgarh has a 36km long perimeter wall, broken but standing still. A walk along the wall could be interesting but that is for another day. Today we barely had time to see the fort, in fact we didn't, we just got to hang around the fort wall which looked splendid by the way!

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Night fell by the time we started back to Udaipur. It was pitch dark, sitting in the front seat next to the driver my eyes were fixed on the night sky. Rarely, if at all, we would pass by small villages. About an hour later, we were passing by a group of 2-3 houses by the roadside. The streetlights were very dim and far apart. Between two such street lights and darkness, something suddenly sprung into the middle of the road. The driver applied the brake and the vehicle came to a screeching halt. It certainly looked like a cat, but in the darkness it was hard to tell. The cat lunged forward to briefly look straight into our eyes and the light from the vehicle reflected in its jewel green eyes! One more jump and it disappeared into the darkness on the other side of the road. Only when it jumped, we saw its huge tail and that confirmed it wasn't any ordinary cat, it was a leopard!

Well, this is not the leopard we saw on the road. This was a cute leopard cub from the previous day's safari at Bera with a flamboyant Thakur, but that story is for another day. Because I am talking of a leopard, I thought you might want to see one!

What was more shocking than an encounter with a leopard on the road was the fact that this was a road by a village. There were houses by the road side right next to us and few men were walking just meters in front of our vehicle. The Leopard went into the village in front of our eyes! I imagined all the man - animal conflicts to be happening somewhere deep in the wild but this was shocking and very real. I wonder if the leopard managed to prey on cattle that night or if it was caught and killed like many other animals venturing too far into human territory or maybe it is the other way round. I'll never know but the glint in the green eyes will stay with me.

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