Bannerghatta National Park in Bangalore

I feel that I need to explain what I am actually doing in India, so that no one thinks that this is just an awesome, all-expenses-paid (by my parents) vacation. I came on this trip as part of a Northeastern University program to study Marketing in Asia. We are a group of 24 students with one professor who came with us from the US, and a TA (teachers assistant) that is Indian. If we are not traveling, we have lectures about four times a week or more. In these lectures we discuss cases of either Asian companies and why they are failing, or American companies, and how they should enter the Asian markets. On top of those lectures, which usually run for about 3 to 4 hours each, we do a lot of visits to different companies such as Ogilvy (the largest advertising agency in India), Rickshaw Design (another popular advertising agency) and Infosys (one of the largest tech/software companies). The professor tries to include site visits every day or second day, but sometimes it just doesn't work. Lastly though, we have projects, papers, and presentations that are never ending. That is why some of my posts are a little bit rushed or contain minor errors (please bear with me). 

Seeing as our schedule is just so hectic, we are meant to get Sunday's off to ourselves to submit our weekly reflections, work on our multiple presentations, as well as relax a little bit. Unfortunately though, this Sunday (Jul/27) we did not get off. It was the only day that the professor could fit in our visit to the Bannerghatta National Park of Bangalore, and after seeing all the lions and tigers, I wasn't too fussed about not having my Sunday off (until I got home and realized I had 4 hours to write a 1500 word case analysis paper). 

The Bannerghatta National Park is a huge park in Bangalore that contains a safari, a zoo, a butterfly enclosure, a national park, an aquarium and an animal rescue center. We visited the zoo and did the safari tour. During the safari we were able to see lions, bears, tigers and elephants that are natural to India. Many of these animals were in the park as part of their rehabilitation. I think that is why they were all kept together, and were all so mellow. The safari only lasted about an hour, but it was a fun experience. The zoo was horribly depressing though. All of the animals are kept in terrible conditions, but I honestly did not expect any better. The care and compassion for animals like that of in the US cannot be found in many places around the world, which is very sad. Overall though, it was definitely a culturally enriching experience!

Emalisa xo

I was trying to get a shot of the students on my side of the car, but my friend was obviously not pleased to be in the picture (or not pleased at my facial expression? not too sure) hahahahahha.  

First sighting: blackbucks. 

Three elephants casually hanging out in the cooling waters of this lake (pond?). So peaceful.

Next stop: bear safari! All animals were contained in different parts of the park. There were gates between each section such as this one.

These bears weren't very large, but they were very cute. 

There were at least 20 of them sleeping along the road. The car noises did not fuss them at all.

In another enclosure, we saw some lions.

What bothered me was the fact that they had about 20 male lions together in this enclosure. That is not natural at all. 

I got to see a white tiger for the first time in my life! 

I believe it was a male tiger, and he was absolutely gorgeous!

Such an elegant creature.

A regular tiger. He was very restless because it was approaching their lunch time. Most of the animals in this park were going through rehabilitation, so come a certain time, they begin getting restless for their medication. 

The national park was quite large. After being in Mumbai and Bangalore, it is a privilege to see vast amount of green land. 

Outside the park there were many stalls selling snacks and fruit. This is a young boy make sugar cane juice. I am still amazed at how hardworking this culture is.

Seeing as we were close by, we decided to take a stroll through the zoo of the national park, and it completely broke my heart. All the animals were kept in such small cages, and were barely given any water in this heat. This is an example of the amount of space these hippo's had to live in. You could almost feel how depressed these animals were. 

The signs in the zoo definitely had me wondering. Literally have no idea what this could possibly mean...? 

Seems like in India you can adopt exotic animals from a zoo. That's another first... Keep in mind that this zoo had crocodiles, snakes, indigenous birds, monkeys, among other animals.

When I saw this, I assumed that I was looking at a leopard, but then I saw the sign that was next to the enclosure (see image below).

So it was either a leopard or a panther? This country never fails to keep me wondering!