solo camping in forest (foot notes)

solo travel...
generally human beings like to be in a group.  'social animal' is one of the archaic definition of human beings, but it still does carry some truth.  solitary punishment is considered most severe among prisoners / in jails.  its considered, if a person / human remains alone for a long time, he/she might go insane.

but many people prefer to do things alone, or be solo.  solo travelers/backpackers are one such breed.  of course, they are not forced to remain alone, but prefer to be so, for particular activity or time period.  even though, company is often a preference for many people to travel, do something, especially exploration of unknown.

but, there is something in doing exploration on your own as well.  one reason could be, lack of availability of free time and similar interests and style.  its 2017 and everyone is exceedingly busy with their life and very individualistic preferences, and if you want to do something totally as you want to do, its most humane to go solo.  of course, its just one reason.

anyway, there i was, going to an unknown reserved forest area, alone, with a backpack and a tent. my first solo trip to a forest.  it started a morning, by taking various public transports away from city towards the forest area.

(public transport takes time, but i prefer to travel with lots of time, so that reaching the destination doesnt distract me from enjoying the process / travel). public transport is also the cheapest and least carbon footprint consuming, in most cases. it exposes you to new experiences and close to many human beings you were not aware of. ok, enough plugging / advertisement for public transport.

about 3 buses and shared vehicle travels (with lots of questions to strangers, some guide you well, some rude)... reached a road, or mud path, which takes me to the forest.  the distance to one part of the forest, a tribal village was about 6 kilometers.  but walking through wooded areas, away from noise of civilization, without any vehicle or human sightings was pleasurable and calming.  very calming, and like the way dirt get washed away from your body when you pour water on it, the civilized stresses and unhappiness began to be left behind with each step.  it was happening automatically as i moved each step into the forest.

after about few kilometers into the forest, which would have taken me about an hour or 2 hours (time / clock lost its significance in the jungle), i cut across to a flowing stream.  the water was clean enough to drink, and wash off the sweat, as it was mid noon and pretty hot. i spotted elephant dung and foot marks of elephant.  its big round foot had slipped on the stream valley and left deep footprints.  the elephant or elephants as wild elephants generally travel in group, must have been there few days ago, as the ground was firm now.  the ground must have been wet and soft few days ago, as it had rained.
i was not sure, whether the forest had any animals, but, now i was sure, there are wild elephants.

wild elephants are not friendly, they are scary. i had seen some in another forest in the south, and those were aggressive and often broke up human habitats, and i had even seen them breaking small trees etc, which looked like their play activity.  wild elephants often are scarred by humans, who try to chase them away with fire crackers and loud noise etc. they are also fast runners, even though they are huge in size.  "run downhill, if elephants chase you", i told myself, as a reminder - they can run uphill much more faster than humans, thus, running downhill is the best option for humans, i had heard forest people tell me, and it seems like most logical thing to escape.

but, strangely the elephant dung and their presence didnt make me more excited or fearful as such.  i was feeling too calm and peaceful at that moment, to imagine too much into future.

(more to follow).