Blogs from Bandhavgarh NP, Madhya Pradesh, India, Asia
May 1st 2012
It was our long awaited plan to visit wildlife. What will be the better version to choose a tiger reserve to keep our enthu high. So we have chosen to visit the Tiger reserve park, with the highest density of the great Royal Bengal Tigers in the world, i.e. Bandhavgarh National Park. We have been planning this trip for quite a long time. We have done many background studies also by reading other blogs, reading about the tigers over there, photo blogs etc. In fact the available blogs are so interesting they will double your urge to visit here. From blogs and listening to others experiences we understand that the best time for sighting tigers is the summer, when it is less difficult to spot them because quite often they come to the waterholes for the ... read more
January 13th 2012
Today is the longest drive ever - 12 hours on this god damn truck! I'm certainly learning to be more patient as the days go on. We get lost several times due to diversions, yet when we ask for directions everyone tells you a different thing!...It seems no-one in India is capable of saying "no", as they want to appear helpful so instead they'd rather lie or just make stuff up; "8km then turn left.." says one man...."2km then turn right..." says another, with their funny little head wobble. Everytime we stop we have a swarm of people around us staring at this big dusty truck of white people arriving in their village - everyone is very friendly and we have some fun with them...They want to take photos of us (especially the blonde hair) so ... read more
Aliphur - Khajuraho - Tiger Safari - Varanasi
Published: March 4th 2011Asia » India » Madhya Pradesh » Bandhavgarh NP
March 3rd 2011
Back on the road to aliphur, the smallest village so far. We stayed in a palace which was around 250 years old. Really fancy but think it was the only place to stay in aliphur anyway. We has our village walk where the kids were a lil more upfront. Every kid was saying 'hello pen' to us. Then it was 'hello bottle' for our water bottles, no rum here. Then one little girl in particular was 'hello money hello money'. Fair play to her, girl after my own heart. Really good Market there where you get anything you wanted, chickens live or dead. Watched the sunset on the roof of the hotel and watched little girls dance on the roofs of their houses. They knew we watching. After dinner we sat and listened to two blind ... read more
January 23rd 2011
After leaving Alipura Place we headed to Khajuraho, infamous for it's 1000 year old temples deplicting the Kama Sutra. They say it is Khajuraho's remoteness that saved the temples from foreign invaders over the centuries. Unfortunate for me I was still not well from the previous night and spent most of the day in bed sleeping it off. The following day we ventured deep into Madhya Pradesh's jungle to arrive at Bandhavgarh National Park. Bandhavgarh has an abundance of tigers, more so than any other part in India, so our chances of seeing tigers were very high. On arrival to the park I was allocated a seat in a different vehicle to the other girls and knew straight away it was going to be my luck that they would see a tiger and I wouldn't. At ... read more
May 9th 2010
Summer camp 2010... Seeing a tiger in the wild was a dream I had been nursing for a long time. I made several successful attempts towards this end by visiting Corbett National Park, the Sunderbans, Kanha National Park, Tadoba Reserve and Nagarhole. In 2007 when the rate of extinction of tigers became so alarming we decided to pay a visit to Bandhavgarh (which had been described in glowing terms to me by various wildlife enthusiasts) before tigers went extinct altogether. With work and other commitments looming large over my life this plan did not fructify for another two and a half years after which I resolved that this was one thing holiday I had to take before the sun set on 2009. I embarked on this quest with a friend who had also never seen a ... read more
October 21st 2009
Day 8 - Bandhavgarh When we were awoken by our 4.30am wake up call, our room was still quite warm, as we had left off the air conditioning as it was too nosiy but left on the ceiling fan. When we went outside however, there was quite a nip in the air, and it was still dark, so another layer was in order. We had been wondering why we had been carrying fleeces round in 90deg heat for a week! After a cup of tea and a biscuit, we set off in open topped, open sided jeeps to the entrance which was close to the hotel, as we had passed it on the way the previous day. When we arrrived, it was what can only be described as chaos. There was a long line of jeeps ... read more
October 21st 2009
Day 7 - Panna - Banhavgarh After the slight disappointment of Panna we headed of to Banhavgarh National Park for our first safari in seach of a tiger. This Park was alleged to have had around 70 tigers, so with a sense of anticipation we were picked up after breakfast and set off on our 7 hour journey in our minibus to the Mogli Jungle Resort. The journey was extremly bumpy and we all were very glad of the few stops we had along the way for lunch and toilet breaks where we could stretch our legs. When we arrived at our destination the hotel looked quite promising from the front and we had been told that they had a swimming pool. Unfortunatley that is where the good news ended. We all had a quick look ... read more
Tigers, Erotic Carvings and Romping Around 15th Century Palaces
Published: June 11th 2009Asia » India » Madhya Pradesh » Bandhavgarh NP
June 3rd 2009
From the amazing Varanasi we made our way west to the Madhya Pradesh region. After a 12 hour train journey we arrived at our destination - a small rural station in the middle of nowhere. As our train had been delayed three hours it was 1.30am and there were no rickshaws, so we bunkered up and slept on the floor of a waiting room until 4.30am when we could get a taxi to take us to Tala, an even smaller town, which is surrounded by Bandhavgarh National Tiger Park - our final destination. After breakfast, a nap, lunch and then another nap, it was afternoon and time for our tiger safari! Motoring along the dirt tracks we saw multiple types of deer (tiger food), monkeys, wild boar, vultures, eagles and one tiger, however, he was about ... read more
Chakra, the elusive queen of Bandhavgar.
Published: April 20th 2009Asia » India » Madhya Pradesh » Bandhavgarh NP
February 10th 2009
Leaving Hyderabad proved to be much more difficult than arriving. We had been waitlisted on the Jabalpur train for a month, and promised that within a month, the confirmation would be issued. On the day of departure, nothing happened. No confirmation was forthcoming. The problem was that this train only operated twice a week between Hyderabad and Patna. A sort of cross country intercity express, that stopped at the heartland stations of India, ending in Bihar. None of its stations were linked with Hyderabad by air, and not of the cities were particularly large. This train was the fastest, most convenient link between them all. Most important of all, the train linked the Indian Army Ordinance corps Headquarters with the Indian Army Ordinance corps factories and main base in Jabalpur. Soldiers like trains and so this ... read more
December 12th 2008
It was pretty foggy as the sun rose over the grasslands. I kept thinking to myself how lovely it is to watch the sun rise and hear the birds greeting the morning. It's my last safari in Bandhavgarh. After yesterday's grand tiger show I was wondering if we would see more tigers or if they would lay low this morning. When we met up with our guide he said that there hadn't been any sightings as of yet, but you just never know. We saw quite a few tiger tracks on our way to the central meeting place where the elephants were. But we did not see any tigers along the way. Once we arrived at the central meeting place the guides began exchanging information and Vi told me that no one had seen a tiger ... read more
