Bandhavgarh
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2007
1
203
220
Trip End
Jun 17, 2009
Bandhavgarh National Park,
Madhya Pradesh,
India
Monday, November 24, 2008
During the early evening we saw most of the Indian passengers take out chains and padlock their luggage to the seat brackets. I had read about this and fastened two of our cases to Norah's bed with a cable lock we had carried all round the world for this instance. Our other (biggest) case I jammed under my bunk, smashing my watch against a low support bracket and writing it off in the process. As I sat back I saw a mouse scurrying to and fro between the bags under the seats.
We were now struggling for lack of sleep and although Norah managed to get to bed early, I was unable to, as the bottom bunks were being used to sit on. The middle bunk only gets lifted up at bedtime, as there is no room to sit up once it's in place. After chatting with the members of our group for ages, the Indians then ate a meal that they had brought with them and finally went to bed sometime after 10pm. I was tired out by this time and did manage some broken sleep. I slept leaning against my rucsac, not the most comfortable position but at least it kept it safe. I also slept with my boots on rather than leave them at the side of the bed.
Monday November 24th.
The wake up call was at 5pm in order to be ready to leave the train when it reached 'Umaria', in 'Madhya Pradesh', which was eventually at 5.45am, just as dawn broke. We bundled onto the platform in the cold morning air and were collected by two people carriers (no - the four wheeled type) and driven to the village of 'Tala'.
Here the group split, as some of us had opted to use our 'free day' in going for a safari in the 'Bandhavgarh National Park', which has the largest concentration of tigers in all of India's reserves. That said there are still only around 65 tigers in the park.
We managed to grab our fleeces and our bags went with the others on to the hotel. The jeep pickup had two bench seats, fitted crossways, on the back and we bounced into the already open park. A rough earth track took us into the centre of the park, through a deeply forested area with occasional wide open spaces of elephant grass and we reached 'centre point', a marshalling area for the many other jeeps. Here 'chai wallahs' were doing a roaring trade selling hot tea and coffee and other guys were cooking hot, spicy snacks, just the thing to kick start your system on a cold morning!
As the sun rose and burnt off the early morning mists, we started to warm up, it was either that or the spicies that did it. After fifteen minutes we set off round the park looking for the elusive tigers, would we be more successful than at Ranthambore? Round and round we drove seeing peacocks, spotted deer and many other wild birds in the big park, one side of which was bordered by great cliffs. We scrambled up steep rocky tracks and down sandy, pot holed slopes with no signs of our quarry.
Then there was a report of a sighting in another part of the park, so we headed over through more forests and over dry, rocky river beds. As we topped a slope we could see a dozen other jeeps parked together and we drove in and jostled for a spot.
The area was a small valley with trees and thick bushes, which gave no clear view for any distance. The tigers were a group of a mother and three grown up cubs (they stay with the mother until they are nearly two years old and almost fully grown). We peered through the bushes in the direction of the 'kill', a sambur deer but could see nothing from our position. Then one of the tigers moved and we got our first, fleeting glimpse of the colourfull big cat. One or two more brief sightings followed but we were unable to get a better viewpoint with all the other jeeps around us.
Our guide decided to cut his losses and as he had heard of another sighting, we set off through the forest to that site. The sun had warmed up the morning and it was now very pleasant, bouncing along the tracks, through the trees with the occasional herd of spotted deer grazing near the road.
The tiger was in the bush, so we transferred to an elephant by climbing onto the jeep seats, side and then roof support, before scrambling up onto the elephant riding seat for four people. Norah and I were on the left side and Tess and John on the right, sitting side by side with our feet dangling onto a narrow board. We slowly rolled and pitched a short way into the bush and Norah asked "Where's the tiger?" As she spoke I spotted him and replied "Look down at your feet". He was lying right next to the elephant under a bush and before we could grab a camera, he decided he'd had enough of this attention and wandered away into the trees. The elephant turned to follow him, giving the others a perfect view (and photos), while we enjoyed the view of the forest as it passed by us. The tiger kept on going and the mahout (driver) let him go back into the forest and we returned to the jeep. Still we (just about) saw two tigers.
Leaving the park we went to the resort, aptly named the 'Mogli' resort - ring any bells? This was about four miles away through the small village of Tala, the last part being a very bumpy, sandy track. The accomodation was newly built, basic but comfortable bungalows, with en-suite bathroom and shower, sited along a circular path around a central park area. Next to a small earth platform women, as always in their colourfull saris, were trampling mud and spreading it out smoothly to make a dance area. There was also a swimming pool, although the inside was covered in thick green algae.
With the bags put into our room we were walking along the path towards the dining area for brunch when I heard a loud 'popping' sound. I looked over bushes towards some trees, a hundred metres away and saw fireworks. Strange - but this is India. More popping and fireworks and as I looked again I saw an electric line transformer, mounted on a set of poles, exploding, sending sparks (my fireworks) into the surrounding sky and bush. Soon thick black smoke started coming out of the transformer box, as the wiring and insulation varnish caught fire. Soon the whole unit was ablaze, with flames coming out of the, now thick black, smoke. The people near it started shouting as the varnish dripped and the ground around the pole and the wiring above it caught fire. Yes - someone did the classic 'throw water' on it, which just spread the flames, until they managed somehow to contain it.
By the time I reached the dining room the power to the resort had gone off. Luckily they were cooking on gas and our brunch was served.
I had put a camera battery on to charge, as there was no chance overnight on the train and with all power off we were using the spare.
Mid afternoon and we went out on the jeeps again and back to the park for more (?) tigers. As we waited at the park gates to enter, Bhupendra pointed out a large, dusky eagle owl sat high in a tree. The gates opened and the race was on to find tigers, as over twenty jeeps scattered along the park tracks. The afternoon was hot and the sky clear and it was a pleasant, as well as interesting, ride round the park enjoying the scenery.
There were plenty of deer and small birds, although we didn't see any kites or other birds of prey. Round and round we drove, exploring this track and that but no sign of any tigers. After over an hour our guide decided to return to the site of the kill and as we came over the rise into the small valley we were the first jeep there and had the choice of parking spots. The guide explained that tigers wake in a morning, feed and then rest for most of the day until the late afternoon. Then they go for a drink and feed again, becoming more active later in the day. Let's hope so.
From our spot we could just see the dead sambur deer behind a bush (and also smell him as well). No tigers about and we just enjoyed the sunshine. Hooded crows were coming in to feed on the kill and 'Jungle babblers', the size of a thrush, were noisily bouncing through the trees.
The peace was disturbed as, one by one, other jeeps started to arrive, obviously with the same idea as us. Our guide then excitedly pointed towards the trees down the valley to our right and we caught glimpses of a large, male tiger slowly making his way up the slope. As he passed the bushes in front of us we got good views of his fabulous markings. He reached the sambur and started to eat, the sound of crunching bones coming from behind the bush. We could only see part of him as he pulled and tugged at the kill.
Then a shout as another tiger was making (her) way up the slope, it was the mother tigress, who sat down some ten metres from her cub. We managed to take a few camera shots before our uncharged batteries gave out. Aardvarks! Still there were tigers to watch, even if we didn't take photos. By now more jeeps had arrived and it was like Bury market on a Saturday morning, as jeeps jostled for the best viewing position, which this time was ours. The tigers, with just an occasional glance, ignored all this human mayhem.
The cub finished eating and walked over to his mother and settled down with her. Suddenly there was another cub at the kill, now we had three tigers in view. He ate a little and then wandered off away from us and sat down, when a fourth tiger came rushing in from somewhere on our left and the two big cubs started to wrestle together and then chase each other round the trees and through the bushes, causing them to vigorously shake as they bounced into them. This was fabulous and the morning's disappointment was forgotten as we delighted in this tiger parade.
The time for park closing was nearing as the dusk started to fall and we reluctantly drove back out of the park, having had an emotional mix of a day - but we had seen tigers!!!!!!
As the sun set it went quite cold, especially sitting in the back of the moving jeep and we were glad to get back to the resort, where they had switched on their generator to provide power. In our room we took a reasonably warm shower and then ate a tasty, spicy dinner in the dining room. We'd learnt that there were snakes in the area and carefully used our torch when moving from our room to the dining room in the dark.
We were ready for a good night's sleep but guess where the diesel engine generator was? Yep - right behind our room! Thankfully we didn't hear much of it once our heads hit the pillow but we awoke slightly cold in the night, as there was only a thin blanket on our (single) beds. I did hear it restart at 4am in the morning though!
Tuesday November 25th.
Alarm clock at 5.15am, a quick drink and then drive to the park so that we were waiting near the front of the queue at the park gates, for their opening at 6.15. We wore fleece jackets, woolly hats and gloves and had a blanket over us, even so it was quite cold and our breath condensed in the morning air.
To avoid a convoy situation there were four routes through the park to get to the centre point. Ours was a long one that followed a very twisted road up and down the track, which at times climbed over bedrock slopes in a higher area of the park.
As we drove along in the quite cold and misty morning, we gradually realized that there were no animals visible. We were earlier than yesterday but even so, the many herds of deer and the smaller birds were just not around, which made for a somewhat eerie atmosphere.
At centre point we drank chai and got our early morning 'fix' of spicy samosas. Setting off on our tiger search, the sun had started to burn off the mist and it was becoming a very bright and sunny morning but still with no animals in sight, after the very cold start they must have stayed in bed and it didn't make us hopeful for seeing tigers.
Round we drove, meeting other jeeps and a searching elephant but no one had seen anything. In the open grass land we spotted two vultures high in a tree, surely they couldn't have cleaned the park out?
Our guide returned to the kill site in the valley and we were one of the first jeeps there. Through the gaps in the trees we spotted a young male tiger lying down after his early morning feed. He was quite a distance off but we managed to get a few photos (using our generator charged batteries.
After a few minutes he started to move down the slope and our guide moved the jeep in anticipation but the tiger stopped and lay down after a few metres. More jeeps had arrived and parking spaces were limited, so we lost sight of him. Still it was pleasant sitting in the morning sunshine and watching a ten cm (four inch) spider in his web on a branch above our heads. After twenty minutes our tiger moved a little and we caught a glimpse of him before he lay down and settled for the day.
As we drove out of the park before it closed at 10am, to give the tigers some uninterrupted time to themselves, there were signs of deer starting to feed.
Back to the hotel and brunch, our choice of breakfast was usually toast and tea and our current diet seemed to be either toast or curry.
Looking round the hotel area there was a lily pool near the dining room, where many small frogs were swimming and an unfortunate five cm (2 inch) rhino beetle had fallen in and drowned. The gorgeous, purple lily flowers had opened up in the now hot sun and large brown and smaller yellow butterflies flitted around the shrubs.
The women were still working on the dance platform area and Norah spotted them carrying bricks on their heads. Women seem to do most of the manual labouring here, an ideal society? (oops - that should have seen off my female readers!)
The park opened at 2.45pm and we passed a waterhole where there was a bright green kingfisher darting over the water and a plover patrolling the water's edge. The deer were now out and we came across a herd of wild boar foraging in the undergrowth. At another spot we saw a spotted deer buck with magnificent antlers and in the grassland a warbler posed for us.
Driving back through the town I noticed that all the lights were on and reaching the resort we also had power. An impressively quick repair to the burnt out transformer was something that I had not expected in this rural area.
A spicy dinner and then bed, where we put our fleece jackets over the single blanket to try to be warmer.
