Travel log to Middle East & India

[Justin]

FYI, this is a travel log that happens to have pictures of palms, as opposed to the other way around - just want to manage expectations. But along our travels, we ran across a bunch of nice flora, including Hyphaene, various Phoenixes, Roystoneas, and lots of cool flowering trees as well. Turns out lots of plants can take the (intense) heat so long as they get plenty of water.

http://justinandcrystal.com/MiddleEast2014/

Enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions about anything; I'll be happy to answer as best I can.

[Kumar]

What a wonderful guide this is Justin, thank you. It was really fun to read and the photos were of high quality; the best were the panorama shots. I'm planning a trip to Bandhavgarh myself so this was particularly helpful.

[Justin]

Thanks Kumar. In Bandhavgarh, most all of the hotels are right by the entry to Zone 1, so if you want an extra 15 minutes of sleep (and 15 minutes less of dust), try to book an all Zone 1 trip and stay in "town." I don't have a ton of experience, but from what I saw, I really wouldn't book Zone 3 unless it is all that is available. In Zone 2, we at least heard and/or were alerted to tigers - i.e., we knew there were some there, we just didn't see them. In Zone 3, I never got that impression at all. And I don't know how long you are thinking of staying, but I would definitely stay at least 4 nights. You wouldn't be traveling as far as most people, but if you're going to come all the way to Bandhavgarh and want to see a tiger, maximize your chances by staying 4-5 nights. 2 nights seems almost pointless in my opinion, with 3 being the absolute minimum, and 4-5 being necessary to have more than a 50% chance of a decent sighting.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Justin, these are some nice hyphane. Why are there so many dying date palms? Is it the weevil?

[Justin]

Axel, I didn't see very many sick date palms - most all of them looked great, actually. They certainly aren't cleaned in the same way as in landscapes in the US, but I don't recall seeing any/many dead or dying.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Did you take a closer look at the photos you took? The one I posted above shows quite a few dying date palms.

[Justin]

That's probably fire, for the tallest ones that aren't easy to reach the seeds any more. I didn't see any evidence of weevil anywhere, even in the cities.

[Kumar]

Thanks Kumar. In Bandhavgarh, most all of the hotels are right by the entry to Zone 1, so if you want an extra 15 minutes of sleep (and 15 minutes less of dust), try to book an all Zone 1 trip and stay in "town." I don't have a ton of experience, but from what I saw, I really wouldn't book Zone 3 unless it is all that is available. In Zone 2, we at least heard and/or were alerted to tigers - i.e., we knew there were some there, we just didn't see them. In Zone 3, I never got that impression at all. And I don't know how long you are thinking of staying, but I would definitely stay at least 4 nights. You wouldn't be traveling as far as most people, but if you're going to come all the way to Bandhavgarh and want to see a tiger, maximize your chances by staying 4-5 nights. 2 nights seems almost pointless in my opinion, with 3 being the absolute minimum, and 4-5 being necessary to have more than a 50% chance of a decent sighting.

Your assessment of 4 days min for a tiger sighting is good Justin, tigers are notoriously reticent and unlike lions which have a streak of showmanship, tigers almost never expose themselves to people or vehicles less then 150 yards away (this is from my little experience in the south indian forests of Nagarhole and Bandipur). The forest officers used to warn tourists not to expect sightings unless they were prepared to camp in a machan for 3-4 hours for 2-3 days.

[Justin]

We were a helluva lot closer than 150 yards for our first sighting. When we first saw the tiger, it was probably less than 15 yards away.

[Brian Bruning]

If anyone goes to the Middle East please collect some sees of the native arborescent Dracaenas such as Ombet and Cinnabarina (Socotra Island). I have D. Serrulata but that is the least attractive of all. These are to be given to The Living Desert of Palm Desert CA.

[Sabal Steve]

FYI, this is a travel log that happens to have pictures of palms, as opposed to the other way around - just want to manage expectations. But along our travels, we ran across a bunch of nice flora, including Hyphaene, various Phoenixes, Roystoneas, and lots of cool flowering trees as well. Turns out lots of plants can take the (intense) heat so long as they get plenty of water.

http://justinandcrystal.com/MiddleEast2014/

Enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions about anything; I'll be happy to answer as best I can.

Your photos are very nice.

[sur4z]

Justin- I really enjoyed your travelogue but it wore me out!! I can't imagine what it did to you both. Questions: Who helped you plan the whole thing? How were all the guides coordinated? Did you tip them? Did you always drink bottled water? Did you put ice in your drinks? It seemed everything worked like clock work...were there any snafus? Thanks again for posting. -Peter

[Justin]

Usually what happens is that I plan the whole trip (flights, hotels, transfers, excursions) myself, then send the proposed itinerary to travel agents who either A) book it as is, tell me it's good as is but would be better if we included abc instead of xyz, or C) tell me some part isn't feasible. The travel agents thereafter book all the local guides, drivers, etc. It costs more, but it saves my peace of mind and gives me only a single person I need to contact if there's a problem. Here, the Jordan and Egypt part was easier because it was a pre-planned group tour - we just ended up being the only 2 people who booked it, so we got a private tour for the cost of a group tour.

This trip was pretty tiring, yes. By the time we had the day driving to Bandhavgarh, we'd had a complete day (and sometimes night) every day on the trip, and had just had a red-eye the night before. Thankfully Bandhavgarh was very laid back, so it was a nice break in the middle. We did have to drink bottled water most everywhere, and avoided ice except for the nicest hotels and resorts, where the ice was made from bottled water. That still didn't stop me from getting sick on the very last day, and I'm still not sure where I got the stomach bug from. Thankfully, that was a rest day anyway, so I didn't miss anything.