Spice up your life?

Up and out early for a wonderful, three-hour trek through a nature reserve before breakfast. We saw fresh evidence of tigers and elephants but we didn’t actually see any - probably a good thing, as we don’t run very fast! We saw lots of other animals, though, and learnt a lot about the plants, too. We had to wear knee-high wader-type boots to protect against leeches but there were still loads in our shoes when we finished!

Later on we visited a spice farm and it was amazing to see what we normally just get in a jar actually growing. We had lunch in the farmer’s beautiful home, which was lovely, but we wished they’d have joined us at the table, instead they stood and watched while we ate. We did have a great conversation with them but we’re just not used to being treated so reverently!

In the evening, we saw a traditional Kalari martial arts show. It was a really interesting mix of sword fighting, floor gymnastics, contortions, acrobatics and leaping through hoops of fire - very exciting!