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Published: October 29th 2007
Tiger in Corbett National Park!
Too bad it's just a postcard hiding in the landscaping outside my hotel!I am now in the famous Corbett National Park! This park was India’s first national park and was established in 1936. Measuring 1,318 km2, it was a hunter’s paradise during the British Raj. It is now one of India’s finest wildlife sanctuaries and was renamed after Jim Corbett in 1957, after Corbett’s death. Jim Corbett was an avid hunter in his earlier years and was famed for his skills, including the ability to track and kill man-eating leopards and tigers. He became a leading conversationalist well before it was fashionable and the park was fittingly named in his honor.
It’s 200km to the park from Haridwar and we made it in four hours which is impressive! I checked into my hotel and found it to be quite nice. It’s one of the few actually inside the park boundaries. The landscaping is beautiful and it fronts the Kosi River and the foothills of the Himalayas. There are lots of monkeys playing in the trees which is a bonus. There’s a nice pool and an excellent restaurant. All meals are included here and I think I ate more for lunch today than I have in the last three days! They just kept
feeding me and feeding me and then standing there to watch me eat! I was the only person at lunch so I had lots of attention! Monish who is in charge of food and beverages, is very nice and lived in Gurgaon for a while. His English is excellent so we talked all through lunch.
After lunch, I rested by the river for an hour and then took an elephant safari to look for tigers, wild elephants, and other wildlife. You have to get pretty lucky to see a tiger, but it happens. The wildlife guides had received a package today from some guests from the Netherlands who were here in March. They saw a tiger while on elephant safari and had sent copies of their photos. It was a big female and about 9 feet tall - there’s photos of her scratching a tee on her hind legs.
I didn’t get so lucky, but we did see lots of monkeys, two sambar deer (a females and her mostly grown baby), two spotted deer, and some really big spiders. The forest here is very dense and there’s a lot of undergrowth so the animals can hide quite easily.
I Hope Snakes Can Read!
Allegedly, all of the many snakes are now hibernating. I’m sure there were several tigers just watching us as the mahout and I plodded along on Laxmi! At one point, the mahout said there were tiger prints in the mud, but I didn’t see them.
I came back and only had a short break before going to the main lodge to watch a movie. Everyone kept telling me about it and they were all very excited so I really didn’t have a choice. It turned out to be a BBC documentary about a man called Bobby Ollin (or something like that) and his visit to Corbett. Bobby’s friend was here 20 years ago and was killed by a tiger. He was taking photos and there are apparently photos of the tiger pacing back and forth and then charging. The last photo is a very close shot of the tiger’s face with its mouth open. They did not show any of these photos in the movie. It was well done and enjoyable. After the movie, I had dinner, although I was not even a little hungry after my monster lunch. I was the only one at dinner so I got fed again and ate as little as I could
which was more than I wanted, but I had no choice. Monish said “just try this” and “I made this just for you” so I had to eat.
Tomorrow morning, I’m taking a jeep safari through the park which starts at 5:45am! Morning time is a good time to see wildlife so finger’s crossed! I’ve already out in my breakfast order and told Monish that I don’t want lunch! I won’t eat breakfast until about 10:00am and there are other places in the park I want to explore in the afternoon. He didn’t like it, but he can’t make me eat if I’m not here!
I had my jeep safari this morning and again, no tigers and no elephants! We saw lots of spotted deer, several sambar deer, a few barking deer (although I didn’t hear any barking), some lenguer monkeys, and lots of birds. We left the resort at 5:45am and reached the park entrance gate by 6:00am along with about 30 other jeeps. The park doesn’t open until 6:15am so we had to wait. The guide went inside to get my permit which was required for entrance. Once the gate opened, all of the jeeps edged
Laxmi on the Trail
It was just me, Laxmi, and the mahout in the forest. in. We ended up about eighth in line, but then got held up since I had to show my passport while Indian citizens did not. There were maybe 15 jeeps ahead of us once we got going. It was another five kilometers to reach the actual park boundary and there we had to stop for more paperwork. There was a tea stall and lots of people had stopped there. We didn’t so we were back near the front of the pack of jeeps. I wondered how we’d see anything with a bunch of jeeps rumbling along, but surprisingly (or maybe sadly), the deer are used to the jeeps so they don’t always run off. The jeeps spread out and there are different routes so we only trailed or passed a few jeeps along the way. The forest is pretty and we drove and stopped and drove and stopped. There are a few places with large stretches of rock where rivers run after the monsoon rains. These are supposed to be good placed to see tigers crossing so we stopped several places for 10 minutes or so. One of these places had a rather rickety watch tower that I climbed up.
Sambar Deer
The tiger's favorite prey! From there, I had a good view of a group of lengeur monkeys and it was fun to watch them play in the trees. We drove around for about two and a half hours before heading back. I mentioned that I was disappointed that we hadn’t seen any elephants and the ranger said that to see elephants, you have to go where there’s water and there was no water where we were. He said we were mainly on the look out for tigers.
I ate breakfast and then went back to sleep for two hours. After a hot shower, I went to see the Gardi Temple and the park’s Visitor’s Center. Ahbimanyu could drive me most of the way to the temple and then I had to walk. He said it was 1.5km, but it only took me about 10 minutes so I don’t think it was quite that far. I crossed the suspension bridge that was featured in the BBC film I watched last night so that was cool. I walked along a dirt trail and then came to the grounds around the temple. It’s a popular spot and there were lots of people there, both in the
Tiger Pawprint
The mahout said there was a toger paw print in the mud, but I was too high up to see it. temple and on the grounds. There were picnics and lots of people swimming in the river. Most people just stared at me and a few kids asked for schoolpens (it’s always one word), but I’ve given all of mine out already.
The Visitor’s Center has one building with photos of the wildlife in the park and a museum with a few stuffed species in it. They have a few grown tigers and two cubs. They also had a baby elephant that was trampled to death in an elephant stampede as well as a few elephant skulls, one of which had two tusks each weighting 20kg. It was interesting, but only took about 15 minutes to see everything and that was stretching it a bit.
After that, I came back to the hotel and relaxed down by the river and read my book for two hours. There are lots of mahaseer trout in the water and some are quite big, maybe two feet long. As I was sitting there, a man came up and said he was a “mahaseer security guard”. He had some bread and let me feed the fish which was fun. They really go after the
bread and some of the come out of the water in the turmoil. I called my Mom, but we could only talk for a little while since 6:30pm was movie time. I was the only one here, but they still called my room a 6:25pm to make sure I was on time! The movie tonight was called “India: The Land of the Tiger” and it was about the different types of wildlife found in India. I enjoyed all of it except for the part about the snakes - I couldn’t watch that bit.
There were two park rangers waiting for me after the movie and they wanted to know which safaris I wanted to do tomorrow. I said that I wasn’t sure I wanted to do any since they were expensive and I hadn’t seen any elephants. I know you have to get lucky to see a tiger, but they had told me there are lots
Sunrise in Corbett National Park
On the prowl for tigers at 6:15am... of places to see elephants. They wanted me to do the elephant safari in the morning, but it was going to be the same route as yesterday and there was no real water along the way so I declined. They said the best time for the jeep (or any safari) was in the afternoon (the opposite of what they said yesterday) since it’s cold in the morning and not much sun and the tigers stay in the bushes when it’s cold. They certainly didn’t mention that before we headed out at 5:45am this morning! They said we could go to another part of the park tomorrow where there was water and therefore maybe elephants. I wasn’t too sure, but agreed to go again in the afternoon. We’re leaving here at 2:30pm to reach the gate by 3:00pm. We have to leave the park by 5:30pm so we’ll have another 2.5 hours to look for wildlife. I hope I don’t spend another $50 to just look at deer - no offense to the deer! There are as many monkeys on the grounds here as I saw in the park so I can look at them for free.
Dinner was very
Spotted Deer
The tigers prefer sambar deer, but will also hunt spotted deer if they are hungry. good again, but it’s hard to eat when you are the only person actually eating and six guys stand around and watch you. After each and every bite, Monish asked how it was. I wanted to say that it was the same as the previous bite, but I didn’t. Each time I ate something, a waiter appeared to ask if I wanted more of it. I had a bottle of water and each time I took a sip from my glass, they poured more in. Yikes! There was kheer (rice pudding) for dessert and it was warm and delicious! I could have eaten another helping of that, but it’s the only thing I wasn’t offered seconds or thirds or fourths of! I’m really tired, but too full to sleep so I’ll read for a while. It will be nice not to have a 5:30am wake up call in the morning!
This morning, I slept in a little bit and then went to see Corbett Falls and Jim Corbett's winter house near Halidwar. The falls were very pretty and reached after just a short walk through a nice park. The winter house was small and was set up as a
Beautiful Banyan Tree
There are banyan trees almost everywhere in India. This was a nice one in the forest. museum with lots of photos of Jim and his kills as well as the story of how he became a conservationist. They had some of his hunting and campling gear on display.
I went back to the resort for lunch and then had a short rest before setting off on my last jeep safari. I had a diffent ranger this time and he was more friendly than the first one. We went to a different part of the park where there was more water and a better chance of seeing elephants.
Not long after we entered the actual park, we started to see tiger pawprints. The first set we saw was in mud and they were semi-dry. Shortly after that, we saw two sets in the sand, one going one way and a slightly smaller set going the other way. It was very quiet - no birds, no bugs, nothing moving so we stopped and waited quietly. About five minutes later, there was movement in the bushes to our right. It was something of size and just one thing. My heart was pounding and I was partly scared and partly excited. Whatever it was moved slowly, a step
at a time and as it got closer and closer, it stopped. We waited for another 10 minutes, but there was no more movement and we couldn't see anything so we left. I really think it might have been a tiger!
As we moved through the park, we saw more pawprints as well as elephant footprints. We also saw broken branches and lots of poop where elephants had moved through. We followed there tracks, but didn't see anything. There were lots of spotted deer grazing peacefully which means the tigers aren't close by. At one point while we were watching the deer, they gave a few distress calls, stopped eating, and stood still watching. We watched too, but didn't see anything. We stayed out as long as we could and then headed back. We came across a flock of peacocks and watched them cross the rocks. Nearby, we saw about a hundred monkeys in one area and it was fun to watch them play and fight. Not too far away was a lone jackal, also watching the monkeys. Jackals won't take on a pack of monleys, but they will pick off a stray small one. He walked near them,
Tiger Crossing Area
Tigers can sometimes be spotted crossing the rocky areas where there is water during the monsoon season. but didn't attack.
I went back to the resort for the second half of "India: Land of the Tiger" which was mostly about birds and the animals in the bird sanctuaries around India. There were more snakes, this time stealing bird eggs. I had another awesome dinner and ate too much again. I've eaten more here than in the last three days than in the two weeks!
I drive back to Delhi tomorrow which should take anywhere from five to eight hours, depending on traffic.
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