Easter in Spain

I'm back! 

The summer was very busy, but I just finished uploading photos from our recent trips. I'll catch up on posts in the next days, while Olaf is out of town on a business trip. 

In the spring, Olaf and I visited the Spanish island of Majorca. Olaf has been telling me about this place since we met. He had many vacations there with his family, when he was growing up. 

There are lots of Germans in Majorca! Olaf says the Germans think it should be ceded to Germany ;)

We spent time visiting different parts of the island. We drove our rental car- a cute, red little Fiat- all around the island to little beaches and charming towns, over big mountains and down tiny steep roads. 

Our ride

Olaf waking up on the balcony

Bundled up but enjoying the fresh air

A very remote beach that we reached by a very steep road. I've got a nice scar from one of the sharp corners, when I was turning the wheel as hard as possible while pulling the emergency break so we wouldn't slide back off the cliff.

Here are some photos from the towns we visited. Some were very busy and others were like ghost towns, while in some we heard mostly German being spoken. 

Quiet little beach town.

Easter morning. Church just got our and a youth band is playing in the square.

We spent one day driving up the southwestern coast of the island. It was very mountainous and reminded me of Big Sur or maybe Cape Town.

It was so windy we couldn't open our eyes.

 
Our last day we took it easy and walked to a nice beach an hour from our hotel. 

And a few more photos:

Not Hazel.

Happy Easter to you too!

If I lived on some Mediterranean island, I would be that cat lady who feeds all the strays, as here.

Olaf giving love to Not Hazel.

Cheers to Spain for a great trip!

Finally, The Tiger

On our last day in India, we finally found a tiger. And what a sighting! We tracked the female tiger pictured above for about and hour and a half and saw her at four different sites. 

The jungle seemed especially wild that morning. After driving about for a while, we settled on our chosen sweet spot. From there, we listened to the cries of the spotted deer and langur monkeys. After an hour the calls failed to subside, merely moving around us. As we stood tall in our still vehicle, we closed our eyes and listened intently for the movement of the alarm calls through the dense jungle. We sat tense, careful to quell the sound of our breathing. Suddenly Sarath motioned for Akash to pull forward. The alarm calls had stopped and the jungle was silent, save for a faint rustling coming from the dried reeds at the bend in the road. Suddenly Akash started up the motor and we were on the chase. 

Olaf and I were looking frantically in the bushes, but Sarath pointed ahead and we heard Akash whisper loudly "Tiger! Tiger on the road!"

 

The tiger emerged onto the path as I tried to steady the camera against the jumping of our vehicle.  It was awesome. After 50 hours, we finally had our tiger. The biggest cat, rare in the wild, a solo hunter who could easily kill with one clamp down on the jugular. Absolutely beautiful to watch. 

Olaf and I hope that India continues to protect the wild Bengal tiger. Preservation efforts are fairly recent, as the parks used to be sites for tiger hunting. If India continues with this great conservation effort, more tourists, like Olaf and I, will come to India to "see the tiger." It was absolutely incredible to see this great creature in her natural habitat, where she is queen, where she can hunt, care for her cubs and roam wild and free.

India- More Pictures from Pench

I just found some photos that I forgot to upload onto my computer. Here are a few more from the first part of our trip, in Pench. 

Mama and baby gaur

Wild boar

Cutie pie pie langur monkeys perched on a log, grooming each other

A jackal scavenging for a tiger kill.

Olaf loved Disney's The Jungle Book movie when he was little. He remembers all the songs, and sings them in German.

Domesticated elephants with their handler

Sambar deer

Enjoying lunch by the pool on our last day at Baghvan Lodge

Lunch

Olaf tried everything. Then he would push the lentils and other veggies onto my plate and I'd give him my meat.