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Published: March 8th 2014
Sambar (Rusa unicolor)
Sambar (Rusa unicolor)It’s a well-known fact that, people tend to ignore the beauty around them in search of something far away.
And yes that’s exactly what happened in my case. My native place is a small town known as “katni”, in the state of Madhya Pradesh (MP). Just 85 kms away from katni, Bandhavgarh national park is situated, where the density of Bengal tigers is highest known in the world. This place was declared as a national park in the year 1968 and spreads over an area of 440/sqkm (including the buffer zone). Royal Bengal tigers were first introduced in the forest by the Maharaja of Rewa and the forest was a hunting ground for him, until it was declared a national park.
And guess what; in all those years when I was in Katni, I had never visited this wonderful place. That’s the reason when I was planning a visit to my home town in the month of September last year (2013); I was also instilled by an idea to visit Bandhavgrh during my stay. But going to Bandhavgarh requires a lot of preplanning since you will have to book your entry to the park well in advance. And
as this is one of the world’s most sought place for tiger and wildlife enthusiast, most of the time its very difficult to get the reservations for safaris (as per the SC verdict, all tiger parks have restricted number of entry per day with only limited area access for tourists). The park remains closed during the rainy season (from mid-June until mid-September).Two safaris takes place every day one in the morning at around 5.30am (in summers) and 3.00pm in the evening . Booking of the safaris has to be done in advance through the website of MP forest department, by paying an amount of 600 to 800 depending upon which zone you want to visit. (www.mponline.gov.in)
There are four zones in Bandhavgarh for which the safaris can be booked online. These zones are Tala, Magadhi, Khitauli and Panpatha. Tala is the most sought after zone because of its diverse flora and fauna reserves.
So few days after the booking opened for the winter safaris, I tried my luck to get reservations for entry in the park. But I could not get any bookings for Tala zone, since it got completely booked for the dates I was looking for.
Any ways, I came to know through some online research and while interacting with few guys who have visited this place many times, that the Magadhi zone these days has become popular as tigers are being spotted here on regular basis.
I booked two safaris for magadhi zone on the 3
rd of January 2013. It is advisable to book at least 3 to 4 safaris in order to increase your chances to spot the tiger. But in my case there were no safaris available for the next day and hence I settled just for two.
Journey from Katni to Bandhavgarh:-
The nearest railway station to Bandhavgarh is Umaria and nearest airport is Jabalpur. Both these places have good connectivity to major cities of India. Having stayed for few days and after celebration new year with my parents, I started my journey to Bandhavgarh. I booked a taxi (Indica vista) through a local travel agency and started our 85kms journey to Bandhavgarh. It was a cold day (about 10*c) and we knew that it will get even colder once we get inside the forest.
As we went ahead 10kms from katni we got stuck in
a heavy traffic jam on the state way. It was rather surprising that being a remote place there should not be much of traffic here (though a lot of mining has started in this area). I along with my driver came out of the car and went ahead on foot in order to gauge the situation out there. As we reached the beginning point of the jam, we saw that a big group of villagers have blocked the road and were not allowing any traffic to flow.
After enquiring we came to know that there was an unfortunate incident that happened last night, wherein a local villager was killed by a speeding vehicle on the road. In order to protest against the inaction of police, villagers have blocked the road. For a moment it seemed that this may be the end our journey and we will have to return, as this was the only route which would have taken us to our destination.
But almost after an hour luck favored us and conciliation took place between the villagers and local administrators. Finally they agreed to stop their agitation and the road got cleared. Once again our journey started
and after travelling few kilometers the main road got diverged into two, one was via Barhi and other was via Umaria. Our driver wanted to go via Umaria since the condition of road was much better compared in comparison to the road via Barhi. So we took the road via Umaria. (My suggestion- please take road via Barhi, it is also a nice stretch plus an extra treat of the nature, we took that on our return journey)
After a drive of about 2 hrs we reached a point from where the Tala zone was about 10 kms (almost all hotel and resorts are located in this region). But these final 10 kms were the toughest part of the journey as literally there was no road. We were driving through bumps and pits. Our driver said that this part of the road is not maintained in good condition in order to avoid any wild animals being hit by a speeding vehicle. I was not going to believe him on this, until I saw herds of barking dears, sambars and wild pigs crossing the roads intermittently.
Finally we reached Tala zone and then to the resort we had booked
(Infinity resort). The resort was about 5 kms away from the Tala zone and in the center of nowhere.
We were treated were warmly on arrival and were escorted to one the beautiful huts. The property was very big but I was amazed to see that only few tourists were staying there. We did few checks, booked a gypsy for tomorrow’s safari and went to sleep thinking about the exiting day ahead.
The Safari Day:-
Our safari starts from Magadhi gate at 6.30 am in the morning and to reach there we had to leave at around 5.30am and on the way the permit had to be collected by the gypsy driver. So I woke up at 5.00 am in the morning and got ready by 5.30 am. The gypsy was waiting for us at the front gate of the resort. We were provided with a bottle of water and a blanket. It was very cold (about 3*c) in the morning and the wind was making it even more chiller. After a drive of about 15 minutes we have reached the check point from where the permits was collected and few minutes alter
we arrived at the starting point of the Safari. There were many other tourist gypsies waiting in queue to get into the park.
And then came the moment for which we were so excited. The gates opened at 6.30am (still dark) and the safari started. The gypsy is accompanied by a travel guide, who helps us to spot the animals and tracks the big cat. As soon as we entered the park we knew that we are in the territory of the Big Guy.
The safari route is a stretch of about of 5-6 kms where the vehicles move on the inputs given by guide and by the forest officials who patrol these forests We were amazed to see that the forest guards were patrolling on bicycles inside the forest with radio sets.
When we were just 300 meters inside the park, the guide found a fresh track of a tiger that has just crossed the road carrying a kill. And we along with many other vehicles waited in the hope of seeing the tiger once he finishes his breakfast and comes out in search of water. After waiting for about30 minutes and seeing no sign of
tiger coming out in open, we decided to move ahead. On the way we were greeted many times by the herd of deer, Boars, peacocks and sambars.
Then came the first big moment when a herd of the great Indian bison (wild buffaloes ) were crossing the road in front of us. They are very big in size and a herd has a male leader that is very aggressive. About 50 Bisons have been transferred from Kanha national park (situated around 150 kms away) to Bandhavgarh. I clicked few shots and went ahead in search of the master of this land.
The sun was still not out and we observed that there was a heavy covering of cloud in the sky. This made the spotting even more difficult and moreover many animals were not coming in open as the sun was not out.
We found many fresh trails of the tiger on the road, but the big guy was still keeping distance from us. Later we thought of taking a tour to other areas inside the permitted zone. And while we were driving though the trenches, we made our first big discover “a big sloth bear” which
even the guide said was a rare view. The sloth bear stood about 100 meters ways from us, as if he was waiting to be photographed. I was carrying a basic 18/55 lens during my trip which gave me some good wide view photos, but was not suited for long distance wild life photography. (I clicked few photos of the bear though)
While returning back to the tiger trail we came to know that one tigress along with two cubs had just crossed the roads and were speckled by two gypsies. We along with many other vehicles waited there in a hope that the mother will bring out her kids for a stroll, but she decided to keep her kids in bedroom this morning.
Many a times there were nervous moments, wherein we heard some noise coming from the bush only to find some herbivorous. We also waited at many water points and open areas but were not able spot the tiger. While going through all these we realized that the 4 hours safari is now coming to an end. And within moments every vehicle started their journey toward the exit gate.
And that was it.. the
safari came to an end. We had a feeling of the joy and adventure, but also anguish of not able to see the majestic tigers of Bandhavgrah.
We returned to resort and after taking bath decided to stroll around. We met a local villager who works in the resort, and we conversed long about many folk stories of the tigers, and why the tigers are worshipped as god here. We also came to know that he was a flute player and he invited us in the evening for a bonfire inside the property.
In the cold evening, in middle of nowhere, under the clear sky, around the bonfire with beautiful tunes of flute echoing our ears….it was a magnificent experience.
“What a time we had at Bandhavgarh, and though we were not able the spot the tiger .…we knew that from somewhere behind the thick forest the big guy was definitely watching us”
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Sarbjit Ghuman
non-member comment
Good Experience
It seems you had enjoyed a lot the surprises you came across. I beleive every travell lover should visit this kind of places where the Govt. has tried to preserve the Mother nature's awesome creations. We get aware how these things means to the environment and how the humans are causing threats to them. Any how alone cant do anything to prevent it but Hope may be a day when the Govt. can satisfy the land mafias and Poachers so that they find their livng by other means.