Blogs from Bandhavgarh NP, Madhya Pradesh, India, Asia - page 4

From Varanasi we caught yet another overnight train to the city of Umaria and then a bus to the small town of Tala, the gateway into Bandhavgarh Park. The train was two hours late arriving in Varanasi and six and a half hours late getting into Umaria. We were suppose to arrive at 10pm in Umaria but instead got there at 4:30am. With no hostel in sight and the bus to Tala not leaving until 7am we had a few hours to kill. We convinced the station master to unlock the First Class waiting room and bunkered down with our sleeping bags on a reasonably clean wooden table. The table was a bit short for Jarrod and his feet hung over the edge but it was better than lying on the platforms dirty cement floor with ... read more

To combat the chill, I added another T-shirt to my arsenal of warm clothing for this morning's safari. The Swiss couple, Christoph and Elizabeth, proved to be good company and we spent most of the day together. They have done several trips in the past where they simply packed in their jobs, went travelling, then found something different on returning home, which I find quite refreshing. The first tiger of the day was actually spotted by Christoph - he saw the silhouette of a male against the dawn haze in the maidan. It was heading across the meadow, so we zoomed round to the far side and sure enough it eventually came plodding across. We successfully intercepted it where it came out onto the road, but unfortunately another Jeep arrived and spooked it, so it loped ... read more

It was bitterly cold last night - even with the heater on full blast and 2 blankets on my bed, I was by no means comfortable. Added another chapter to the chronicle of my never-ending struggle with hot water - I assumed that there was no hot water, as none would come out of the sink tap, but I later figured out that only the shower has hot water, not the sink. I wore everything I had for the safari - T-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, long-sleeved T-shirt, fleece, and down vest - and was still shivering. The entrance to the park itself is only 5 minutes from the hotel, and we had to fill in some documentation at the gate, and were randomly allocated our guide. The gates opened at 6:30AM, and a line of Jeeps slowly ... read more

We knew that the trip would be long and tedious, the Bandhavgarh National Park is not easy to reach. But we were absolutely determined to go there because we had met several people who had seen tigers there. We could not let this opportunity pass! Leaving Khajuraho at 7:30 a.m. (actually 8 o’clock), we hoped to make it there in one day, though it is only 237 km from Khajuraho. The first part of the trip took us to Satna and was very picturesque because we crossed the Panna National Park set in beautiful wooded landscape on a nice winding road. We could have reached Satna perfectly on time, if we had not hit upon a road blocking caused by a political demonstration. It was ridiculously small and the road merely blocked by a lorry tyre ... read more