A Once in a Lifetime Experience

We decided to venture out into the forest, bravely and with excitement. We had been warned about the possibility of coming across wild animals especially elephants, who could easily topple over cars. Ours was a small sedan, which made it so much more risky and dangerous.

As we drove on, the forest grew denser and our visibility was low. The drive was treacherous as the path had huge pot holes, stones and winding turns which took the wind out of us for a few moments.

At one such turn, the car came to a grinding halt. I muttered out a few words on having been thrown against the windshield with the jerk.. I was asked to shut up and be still. What I saw sent a shiver down my spine.

Two huge glowing green eyes right in front of us. It was a wild Bison and a huge one at that, staring down right at us and that too hardly at a distance of 10 feet. We could not move the car in the reverse direction as it was pitch dark and the fear of falling into the ravines below. We quickly switched off the lights and sat still. Time too appeared to have come to standstill. We sat there motionless, waiting for it to move. It did not seem to want to, as if it had us in its sights waiting for us to make one false move. There was a sound of ruffling leaves followed by a loud noise of animals rushing through the forest. It was a herd of these Bosons who were quickly moving past the clearing in front of us. We could make out from the number of the green glowing eyes. Our mighty bison, distracted by the sounds of the others in the herd, decided to leave us alone and get going with them.

The silence was broken with the huge sigh of relief's. We got out of the car sweating to take a few breaths of fresh air. We decided to quickly get back as this was too much of an experience for one night.

But more was to follow. On our way back it started raining heavily. The sound of the thunder amplified and echoed through the hills. This was followed by the sound of trees falling at regular intervals and in close proximity. The visibility was poor and we could hardly see a few feet in front of us. We literally moved at a crawl. The drive seemed to go on and on till we reached a tarred road in a lesser dense part of the forest. The rain was unabetting, and we quickly realised that any further endeavours by us to get through the rest of the forest in the rain could be dangerous. We spent the next few hours in the car trying to get some sleep.

The rain finally stopped and daylight appeared. It was misty and the wondrous smells sounds of nature were such a delight. We looked around and were quite taken back to seen the number of fallen trees. Our decision to stay in that spot was a wise one.

We walked into the forest admiring the beauty of nature. The lush green magnified by the white mist and the a few bright rays of the sun. I was trudging behind the others while taking time to admire each of these beautiful moments. I looked ahead to see what the others were up to. I saw something amazing. The effect of the mist and the sunbeams created had a created a vertical shadow of the person in front on the mist. This shadow on the mist was surrounded by a small rainbow. It was a wonderful experience, like seeing a vision. The hues of the rainbow were startling. I looked around quickly wanting to share this sight with someone. One of the others too had seen it and had a pleasant yet bewildered look at his face. This mirage like effect magnified in intensity as the sun light brightened and ultimately fading away over the next couple of minutes. I was left standing filled with a joyous feeling and excitement. We looked around to see it again, but could not do so.

This was the most beautiful and pleasantly unforgettable experience of the entire trip.It was a once in a lifetime experience. I have never come across something so amazing and enriching in all my trysts with nature.