Tiger Trails - Part 1 - Bandavagarh
Target destinations
Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh
Jim Corbett National Park, Uttaranchal
Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan
Bharatpur National Bird Park, Rajasthan
Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh
Mode of travel – by road – Honda City Vtec [old version]
Total kms covered – approximately 8000 kms
Days of Travel – March 1st to March 17th - 18 days
Target destinations
Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh
Jim Corbett National Park, Uttaranchal
Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan
Bharatpur National Bird Park, Rajasthan
Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh
Mode of travel – by road – Honda City Vtec [old version]
Total kms covered – approximately 8000 kms
Days of Travel – March 1st to March 17th - 18 days
The world in the eyes of an entrepreneur never comes to a stand still. The limits to his search for orderliness are directly accentuated by the eccentricity of chaos he experiences on a day-to-day basis. Until the day, He only wished – that life could come to a complete standstill – and the world at large be oblivious of his presence.
And if you wished this happened to every entrepreneur ONLY once in a lifetime – Think Again!!!
To break free of such a clutch is never easy. Luckily – this trip happened in March, the financial year-end for most organisations and everybody was on a cost cutting spree. NO business meant extra fun for a team that only wished to forget for once - the logic of why the earth revolves on its own axis and not in the hands of the great Gods. Our ONLY wish to be lost in the jungle was finally taking shape …
Arun [my business partner & creative head] and me were to drive down to Bangalore from Chennai earlier that weekend to make the final preparations for our tour de Tiger. Our chariot - the Honda City - went through its final tweak to take us on a humdinger of a drive. This was our first cross country special and we were to cover 4 tiger reserves and a Bird Park, thanx to Arun n Divya [our classmate from BIM, Trichy] ornithologists to the core. As for Dinesh [Divya’s hubby] and me, the enchanting and awesome Tigers were our mainstay – any other cats were always welcome to the Party.
The plan was to first head to Bandhavgarh for a little rendezvous with his highness and then head to the highest & largest of the Tiger reserves in the country – Jim Corbett National Park; from there on head to Bharatpur National Park – The grandest of all bird parks in India as it also houses the highest number of migratory birds known to visit India. From thereon head to the jungles that resemble the savannas of Africa – Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and return home via Kanha National Park.
Our journey would eventually start from Banglore to Umaria via Hyderabad for food and refreshment and then drive nonstop into the night through Adilabad and reach Nagpur early morning. From there on – drive via the picturesque Vindhya Range of Madhya Pradesh through Jabalpur to a cosy little town called Umaria – the last known railway station before you head into the wilderness.
A marathon 24-hour non-stop drive ensured that we reached the park just in time for an evening tete’ a tete’ with the Royal Highness. Resorts are aplenty within the park and they conveniently organise jeep & elephant rides at a cost.
From Rudyard Kipling to Anderson – stories are aplenty on sher khan and his treatise with the human folklore. Reading can never make a complete man until you have experienced it all - And our circle of experience was finally heading towards its grand climax - a one to one with the royal highness.
The jungles of Bandhavgarh form part of the Vindhya Hills and it consists of a core area of 105 sq km and a buffer area of approximately 400 sq km of topography varies between steep ridges, undulating, forest and open meadows. At the center of the park is the Bandhavgarh hill, rising 811 meters above sea level and surrounding the hills are valleys that end in small sloping meadows called ‘boheras’.
IF only you could trek into the jungles of Bandhavgarh, the difference could be so obvious; You are offered no such luxury and the 4 wheel driven Maruti gypsies hum along reminding you of the concrete civilisation amidst the hosts of the welcome group in the jungle - the rose ringed parakeets, the mynas and koyals; not to forget the babblers – who I believe are just there to wake you up from a dream you would have just entered into. So much so, you wanna shoot them dead right there!!!
Morning or evening, the park basks in the glory of the sun and the forests are replete with Sal trees. Dense thickets adjoin the little streams of water that flows through the valley; grasslands, hilly terrains & rugged pathways seamlessly entwine within themselves; you could almost sense the synergy within the elements of the forests. Red wattled lapwings receive you joyfully when you enter the park; these guys are much like road runners and prefer to nest on the grounds and I bet you cant stop smiling at the way they walk n run around trying to protect their eggs. The red wattled lapwing soon became my favourite bird.
Bandhavgarh is famous for its tiger population; the density per sq. km is the highest known in India. Those of you following the National Geographic and the BBC would have definitely seen the episode on Sita, the empress of the hills of Bandhavgarh. Such was the reputation of this reserve and we were highly charged to catch up with them in our first safari. Prepared or an unprepared mind – fortune never favoured us and we were on an unscrupulous search for two days and every time we returned from the park- we had foreigners gleefully counting the number of sightings they had that day.. Our patience was running out and Bandhavgarh’s reputation came under scrutiny, until the last day; when our ranger drove us closer to a small canal nearby. An elephant ride was under way; the mahout from kerala is a famous guy here and he had finally spotted the elusive cat.
Elephant rides are slower than normal but they take you to the best spots for a one on one with the cat. Elephants given their size are astonishingly agile through the forests. They can reach the most impossible terrains where 4 wheelers can’t and it’s this mobility that helped us get closer to our first sighting in three days – A pregnant female
Believe me when I say this – Nothing; Just nothing can prepare you for the sight that beholds you in his presence- Her Royal Highness. It’s that moment when you are in the zone – when nothing surpasses between you and her highness; a moment that stretches beyond the realms of history and time, so much so that you actually want to be there for the rest of your life.
Time waits for none and so was the mahout; our trip to Bandhavgarh finally was a success. A pregnant female is a happy sighting indeed. To think of what remains to be seen whilst our return a year later brought to our minds a lot to cheer about. Tigers indeed are the king of the food chain in the jungles. Without them, there would be no forest cover left to cherish.
A shower, a good meal & a refreshing nap through the night later – we were finally ready to game for the next long drive to the highest and the biggest reserves of all – The Jim Corbett National Park
To break free of such a clutch is never easy. Luckily – this trip happened in March, the financial year-end for most organisations and everybody was on a cost cutting spree. NO business meant extra fun for a team that only wished to forget for once - the logic of why the earth revolves on its own axis and not in the hands of the great Gods. Our ONLY wish to be lost in the jungle was finally taking shape …
Arun [my business partner & creative head] and me were to drive down to Bangalore from Chennai earlier that weekend to make the final preparations for our tour de Tiger. Our chariot - the Honda City - went through its final tweak to take us on a humdinger of a drive. This was our first cross country special and we were to cover 4 tiger reserves and a Bird Park, thanx to Arun n Divya [our classmate from BIM, Trichy] ornithologists to the core. As for Dinesh [Divya’s hubby] and me, the enchanting and awesome Tigers were our mainstay – any other cats were always welcome to the Party.
The plan was to first head to Bandhavgarh for a little rendezvous with his highness and then head to the highest & largest of the Tiger reserves in the country – Jim Corbett National Park; from there on head to Bharatpur National Park – The grandest of all bird parks in India as it also houses the highest number of migratory birds known to visit India. From thereon head to the jungles that resemble the savannas of Africa – Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and return home via Kanha National Park.
Our journey would eventually start from Banglore to Umaria via Hyderabad for food and refreshment and then drive nonstop into the night through Adilabad and reach Nagpur early morning. From there on – drive via the picturesque Vindhya Range of Madhya Pradesh through Jabalpur to a cosy little town called Umaria – the last known railway station before you head into the wilderness.
A marathon 24-hour non-stop drive ensured that we reached the park just in time for an evening tete’ a tete’ with the Royal Highness. Resorts are aplenty within the park and they conveniently organise jeep & elephant rides at a cost.
From Rudyard Kipling to Anderson – stories are aplenty on sher khan and his treatise with the human folklore. Reading can never make a complete man until you have experienced it all - And our circle of experience was finally heading towards its grand climax - a one to one with the royal highness.
The jungles of Bandhavgarh form part of the Vindhya Hills and it consists of a core area of 105 sq km and a buffer area of approximately 400 sq km of topography varies between steep ridges, undulating, forest and open meadows. At the center of the park is the Bandhavgarh hill, rising 811 meters above sea level and surrounding the hills are valleys that end in small sloping meadows called ‘boheras’.
IF only you could trek into the jungles of Bandhavgarh, the difference could be so obvious; You are offered no such luxury and the 4 wheel driven Maruti gypsies hum along reminding you of the concrete civilisation amidst the hosts of the welcome group in the jungle - the rose ringed parakeets, the mynas and koyals; not to forget the babblers – who I believe are just there to wake you up from a dream you would have just entered into. So much so, you wanna shoot them dead right there!!!
Morning or evening, the park basks in the glory of the sun and the forests are replete with Sal trees. Dense thickets adjoin the little streams of water that flows through the valley; grasslands, hilly terrains & rugged pathways seamlessly entwine within themselves; you could almost sense the synergy within the elements of the forests. Red wattled lapwings receive you joyfully when you enter the park; these guys are much like road runners and prefer to nest on the grounds and I bet you cant stop smiling at the way they walk n run around trying to protect their eggs. The red wattled lapwing soon became my favourite bird.
Bandhavgarh is famous for its tiger population; the density per sq. km is the highest known in India. Those of you following the National Geographic and the BBC would have definitely seen the episode on Sita, the empress of the hills of Bandhavgarh. Such was the reputation of this reserve and we were highly charged to catch up with them in our first safari. Prepared or an unprepared mind – fortune never favoured us and we were on an unscrupulous search for two days and every time we returned from the park- we had foreigners gleefully counting the number of sightings they had that day.. Our patience was running out and Bandhavgarh’s reputation came under scrutiny, until the last day; when our ranger drove us closer to a small canal nearby. An elephant ride was under way; the mahout from kerala is a famous guy here and he had finally spotted the elusive cat.
Elephant rides are slower than normal but they take you to the best spots for a one on one with the cat. Elephants given their size are astonishingly agile through the forests. They can reach the most impossible terrains where 4 wheelers can’t and it’s this mobility that helped us get closer to our first sighting in three days – A pregnant female
Believe me when I say this – Nothing; Just nothing can prepare you for the sight that beholds you in his presence- Her Royal Highness. It’s that moment when you are in the zone – when nothing surpasses between you and her highness; a moment that stretches beyond the realms of history and time, so much so that you actually want to be there for the rest of your life.
Time waits for none and so was the mahout; our trip to Bandhavgarh finally was a success. A pregnant female is a happy sighting indeed. To think of what remains to be seen whilst our return a year later brought to our minds a lot to cheer about. Tigers indeed are the king of the food chain in the jungles. Without them, there would be no forest cover left to cherish.
A shower, a good meal & a refreshing nap through the night later – we were finally ready to game for the next long drive to the highest and the biggest reserves of all – The Jim Corbett National Park
To be continued…
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