Thursday, May 28, 2009
Jungle Me Mangal
Jungle Me Mangal……!!!
We had a wonderful outing this time for almost four days in deep Jungles of England. Yes, England also boasts of preserving jungles and wild-life too. However, the ‘jungles’ have been equipped with all the modern amenities including utmost safety measures.
Indeed, inviting the ‘group’ (the gang) started off about three weeks ago and detailed planning and reservations etc began in right earnest at the residence of Babels and all credit accrues to Rajesh and Anjana in particular, who streamlined the entire itinerary with meticulous perfection.
The venue of the retreat was ‘Center Parcs’, a sprawling jungle ‘habited’ in over four hundred acres of hilly land. It was about hundred miles west of London and necessitated driving through Motorways and A-303 right down the village tracks. Driving pleasure is always great here in London since excellent roads and absolute adherence to traffic rules is mandatory.
In fact, the ‘gang’ had ‘tasted’ the joy of such a retreat last year in another part of England and it was indeed a welcome chance for all to possess Cars of their own, just prior to embark on those adventures! (And within a span of few weeks each family owned a car!)
This time round, some of them purchased bi-cycles along with overhead ‘stands’, so as to carry those overboard! It was indeed an exasperating experience to put and fix those above the cars and dismount those again! Nevertheless, it added fun and adventure to the whole exercise.
As said earlier, the ‘Long leat- center Parcs’ is located in a hilly terrain and the ‘Jungle’ consists of at least fifty thousand trees, each one at least a hundred meters tall! All the trees are clustered close to each other and surprisingly those are in groups (don’t know whether ‘man-made’ or naturally occurring thus!), such as Fern, Maple, Pine, Oak etc and the ‘villas’ located therein are identified by the name of trees predominating! Besides hills there is a lake as well, and an artificial sand beach too; there are about fifty odd boats and canoes in the lake for rowing and boating.
The exquisite ‘villas’ were neatly hidden amongst those groups of trees and although outwardly looking simple wooden structures, those were indeed ‘mansions’, Palatial as far as accommodation is concerned, with a large lounge, dining room and well equipped kitchen with four bed-rooms each. Outside each villa were garden table and chairs with ‘barbeque’ furnaces and so on. The place was studded with rabbits, squirrels and few deer could also be discovered.
The Weather-God was very kind throughout, which is why every moment during those four days could be utilized fully and completely.
A single track serpentine road connected all the villas and the places of fun and adventure with the help of a landline train that kept moving every twenty minutes and the ‘hilly’ terrain could be easily negotiated because of those two trains running dot on time.
The overall milieu of the Jungle was so very fascinating, though not necessarily quiet, since a very large numbers of tourists were moving all around, besides the chirrup of birds (no beasts!)
In fact, the Center Parcs Company provides such a huge amount of in-door and out-door ‘activities’ that it becomes impossible to keep track of the ones one has booked in advance or those which one wishes to book on the spot. Well, there is almost everything. There is Tennis and Table-tennis; Badminton, Hoola-hoops, Lavender- relaxation, high ropes, zip wires, Salsas, Cycling, Swimming, Archery, Adventure Golf (with medieval English relics as ‘spots’), Rowing and Boating and even Fishing!
We were twenty-seven of us, being eight couples and the rest as children and accommodated in three adjacent villas; each one of us enjoyed every bit of the ‘activities’, both planned as well as ex-tempore!
It was indeed thrilling to say the least, albeit physically tiring.
The home-ward journey was delayed because of a severe hold-up on the Motor-way, when three Bulls had gate-crashed on to the Motor-way and said to have gone on rampage! We spent at least three hours amongst thousands of stranded cars and co-passengers! Moreover, Anil and his family had a real hard time reaching home since his car broke down. Luckily all the children except Apoorva in Anil’s Car could reach home in time.
That was yet another enjoyable excursion out there and it will indeed take a few days more, before we could fully assimilate the fun and joy we gathered thereof!
Dr.P.S.Rahalkar
London
28 May 2009.
We had a wonderful outing this time for almost four days in deep Jungles of England. Yes, England also boasts of preserving jungles and wild-life too. However, the ‘jungles’ have been equipped with all the modern amenities including utmost safety measures.
Indeed, inviting the ‘group’ (the gang) started off about three weeks ago and detailed planning and reservations etc began in right earnest at the residence of Babels and all credit accrues to Rajesh and Anjana in particular, who streamlined the entire itinerary with meticulous perfection.
The venue of the retreat was ‘Center Parcs’, a sprawling jungle ‘habited’ in over four hundred acres of hilly land. It was about hundred miles west of London and necessitated driving through Motorways and A-303 right down the village tracks. Driving pleasure is always great here in London since excellent roads and absolute adherence to traffic rules is mandatory.
In fact, the ‘gang’ had ‘tasted’ the joy of such a retreat last year in another part of England and it was indeed a welcome chance for all to possess Cars of their own, just prior to embark on those adventures! (And within a span of few weeks each family owned a car!)
This time round, some of them purchased bi-cycles along with overhead ‘stands’, so as to carry those overboard! It was indeed an exasperating experience to put and fix those above the cars and dismount those again! Nevertheless, it added fun and adventure to the whole exercise.
As said earlier, the ‘Long leat- center Parcs’ is located in a hilly terrain and the ‘Jungle’ consists of at least fifty thousand trees, each one at least a hundred meters tall! All the trees are clustered close to each other and surprisingly those are in groups (don’t know whether ‘man-made’ or naturally occurring thus!), such as Fern, Maple, Pine, Oak etc and the ‘villas’ located therein are identified by the name of trees predominating! Besides hills there is a lake as well, and an artificial sand beach too; there are about fifty odd boats and canoes in the lake for rowing and boating.
The exquisite ‘villas’ were neatly hidden amongst those groups of trees and although outwardly looking simple wooden structures, those were indeed ‘mansions’, Palatial as far as accommodation is concerned, with a large lounge, dining room and well equipped kitchen with four bed-rooms each. Outside each villa were garden table and chairs with ‘barbeque’ furnaces and so on. The place was studded with rabbits, squirrels and few deer could also be discovered.
The Weather-God was very kind throughout, which is why every moment during those four days could be utilized fully and completely.
A single track serpentine road connected all the villas and the places of fun and adventure with the help of a landline train that kept moving every twenty minutes and the ‘hilly’ terrain could be easily negotiated because of those two trains running dot on time.
The overall milieu of the Jungle was so very fascinating, though not necessarily quiet, since a very large numbers of tourists were moving all around, besides the chirrup of birds (no beasts!)
In fact, the Center Parcs Company provides such a huge amount of in-door and out-door ‘activities’ that it becomes impossible to keep track of the ones one has booked in advance or those which one wishes to book on the spot. Well, there is almost everything. There is Tennis and Table-tennis; Badminton, Hoola-hoops, Lavender- relaxation, high ropes, zip wires, Salsas, Cycling, Swimming, Archery, Adventure Golf (with medieval English relics as ‘spots’), Rowing and Boating and even Fishing!
We were twenty-seven of us, being eight couples and the rest as children and accommodated in three adjacent villas; each one of us enjoyed every bit of the ‘activities’, both planned as well as ex-tempore!
It was indeed thrilling to say the least, albeit physically tiring.
The home-ward journey was delayed because of a severe hold-up on the Motor-way, when three Bulls had gate-crashed on to the Motor-way and said to have gone on rampage! We spent at least three hours amongst thousands of stranded cars and co-passengers! Moreover, Anil and his family had a real hard time reaching home since his car broke down. Luckily all the children except Apoorva in Anil’s Car could reach home in time.
That was yet another enjoyable excursion out there and it will indeed take a few days more, before we could fully assimilate the fun and joy we gathered thereof!
Dr.P.S.Rahalkar
London
28 May 2009.
