Not about travel!

I got myself a new phone! A sony xperia x10i! Darn excited with it. Hopefully it will increase the number of posts i make!
Cheers

Niladri

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The lazy day 3 at Ranthambore

Given the great sighting which we managed on Day 2, we decided to take it east on Day 3.  my friend wanted to visit dastkar haat, which is a great program for local women at ranthambore. Read more about dastkar here.

The one in the middle of Ranthambore town was shut as it was the middle on the summer months, and the lack of tourists didnt make commercial sense.  So we went to their main outlet at Sherpur. It was a really great place.   Local women were weaving right there and had many small things to pick up.  I bought myself a nicely woven bed sheet and some cushion covers!

The regular lunch feast after our return followed.  We also had a nice swim at the pool.  In my case holding on to the edges of the pool as I cant swim! Need to learn soon though!

We left ranthambore by the evening 9 o clock train bringing an end to our beautiful holiday.  I will be back there for sure.  I need to photograph T2 still! Hopefully in December this year!

Ranthambore Day 2

Day 2 morning we got Zone 1 i.e. low tiger chances and hope of a leopard.  As it turned out no tigers or leopards.  Despite the guide's best efforts we did not see much wildlife. I managed to get a few nice shots of a peacock admiring itself at a pond.

We headed back even before the park timings forced us as to get out as we got no signal of wildlife in zone 1 that morning. 

We again did a repeat of Day 1 i.e. lots of food and sleep! By the way the IRRITANT after fighting with the staff at the booking centre had managed to get Zone 4. But couldn't see a tiger!!

All three of us decided to go for the evening safari on day 2. And after following the magical cure of the hot Indian summer sun, we were more or less in shape.  We had for company this time a family who was on a Rajasthan tour from Pune.  They were clearly very excited especially the kid. This time around we went to we wandered around till five o clock with no hope! Our driver and guide were an enterprising lot and travelled a lot more than the other cars who decided that it wasnt worth the effort and waited at the waterhole.  The driver took us through a rocky road to a place where there was another jeep standing! Seeing another jeep standing and the passesngers peering to one side could only mean that a tiger was in the vicinity.  I managed to catch a glimpse of the tiger also, but it was a bit far away and was very well hidden by the undergrowth.  However, I was really happy that my new binoculars had finally come to good use! 

We came back to where the other cars were waiting by around 5:30 and no-one had heard any alarm calls or seen any sign of any animal movement.  The driver and the guide decided that we would go to another part of the zone which was under the dominion of another tiger.  And as soon as we reversed out and started moving towards the next destination, who should be walking towards us but the KING!  The tiger started moving towards us as we were in between him and his watering hole!  As the tiger started moving towards us we started reversing and reached the place we were waiting earlier.  Now the other jeeps were informed that the tiger was on its way and there was a mad scramble between the jeeps to get into the best position at the watering hole while waiting for the tiger! The photographers (me included) starting checking camera settings, took blank pictures to ensure that when the KING arrived, there would be no screw ups in taking the pictures! However, even after 15 minutes, the tiger did not arrive! Our guide whispered something in our drivers ears and the driver started reversing the car! This was met by vociferous protests from my side that we will loose the nice position we had got ourselves to for photographing the tiger! The guide waived away my protests and the driver started driving the jeep back on the road on which we had met the tiger.  

And guess what there is no beating experience.  The guide was spot on! The tiger had spotted the commotion at the waterring hole and had decided to take a break right on the side of the road.  I got umpteen shots of the tiger before any of the other jeeps came in! 

Finally after ten minutes, the other jeeps must have realised that something was afoot and came to where we were standing! However after the great photo ops on the Day 2 evening, we were back on the way back to the hotel.  

If we thought that was the end of the excitement for Day 2, it was not.  Near the gate there was a huge number of jeeps which had stopped.  These jeeps had spotted a leopard on the side of the road drinking water but by the time we got there it was on the higher side of the cliff.  I still managed to see its silhouette climbing the cliff. 

We made our way back to the hotel to great food and chilled beer at the end of an amazing safari!! 

 

Ranthambore Trip - Day 1 Anex!

In my last post I forgot to mention THE IRRITANT! The unsatisfiable tourist. At dinner, people were exchanging stories of what each of us had seen and there was this couple with a kid who kept grumbling that they had not seen the tiger. Out of courtesy, I asked them which zone they had been to. They said they had been to zone 1 and the only saw sanbars, leopards, spotted dear and peacocks. My head reeled and I asked them they saw a leopard? They said yes, and they had followed the leopard on the road for ten minutes! But to them it does not compare to a tiger! This I could not understand at all!!! I have been searching for a sighting of sloth bear and leopard in multiple parks and never had I caught sight of them. Meeting such people who do not respect what they see is appalling. Especially when leopards are getting extinct in India at a very fast pace. We need to have a system for educating the people to nature at large and not just to the majestic tiger.

Heres to me seeing leopard (hopefully) soon!

Ranthambore Trip - Day 1 Report

I went to Ranthambore during the fourth weekend of May.  With a two day weekend and a permission for a monday holiday, Ranthambore makes for a perfect getaway even in the HOT summer months.

Me and two of my friends were booked on the Dehradun Expess to Sawai Madhopur (SWM) which leaves from Hazrat Nizamuddin at arnd 9:30 pm on the Friday. The scheduled time of arrival in SWM is 5 am and with this in mind I booked my safaris for saturday morning.

I am one of those unfortunate souls who cant sleep on a train (even when there is no wailing kid or a snoring uncleji next to your berth).  After giving a couple of hours of company, both my friends drifted of to their slumber wonderland. Leaving me to  my dog earred copy of Feluda stories (by Satyajit Ray).  Which by way is absolutely great train read I realized.

The train also decided to call it a night and stalled just before Mathura.  They also stopped the air conditioning as apparently the units were not charged enough!!   So imagine now a cramped room full of people with no outlets - at least the second class sleeper had windows which opened. I have a lot of pent up rant and angst against the Indian railways! I think the next post is going to be on the great Indian railways.


Anyways the train finally gathered speed around two thirty in the morning by which time it was clear that there was no way we were going to make it to Ranthambore in time for the morning safari.  Another point for my next anti railway post!

We reached SWM at around 6:15 am.  We were booked at the Taj Sawai Madhopur Lodge.  I had stayed last year also.  It is a very nice place - open and green with low bunglow type accomodation and absolutely fantastic staff.  The staff here are really helpful and courteous (a big thank you to both the Gajendras there!!).

We had a car waiting for us at the station and with the morning safari plan shot (thank you Indian railways), we decided to go to the fort and the famous ganesh mandir.  After a quick chai, we were on our way to the fort.  The fort is actually inside the park itself - further down from the gates 1,2 and 3 and opposite 4 and 5.

The Fort looks on to the vast expanse of the Ranthambore National Park and though the ledges and windows of the fort ones gets outstanding photo ops.   It takes amost 45 mins to get to the top of the fort and the Ganesh Mandir.  On route to the ganesh mandir you have langurs lined up on the sides of the roads for ay food which you may have.  Langur unlike macaque monkeys are very well behaved and genetlemanly creatures! They will not get after you or trouble you unless you steadfast refuse to give them food or   pull their tails!!

Anyways we came back from the safari and went straight in for breakfast! Breakfast at the lodge is a nice buffet - with both Indian and continental options.  The walk to the fort and built up a nice appetite. After devouring the food, all of us went to sleep!!

I barely managed to wake up for lunch! We had a very heavy lunch and came back and snooze off once more! One of my friends 'retired hut' and refused to go for the after noon safari.  But the remaining of of us, armed with a ice cooler, wet towels and bottles of water braved the heat for the after noon safari.

Let me make no bones about it - It is VERY HOT.  It is imperative if you want to go for afternoon safaris in summer, the following are essentials:

(a) very high spf sunscreen (40 + at least)
(b) wet towels to tie at the back of you neck and wipe face;
(c) hats (not caps) - you'll need all round protection;
(d) ice bucket (your hotel should provide you). This serves two purposes - keeps drinks cold and also you can wet your towels during a break in the safari in the ice cold water!

The benefit of an afternoon safari during summer is that you most probably WILL see a tiger.  As you feel hot, so do the tigers.  They  come down to the water among 5 in the evening when the sun's energy sapping heat reduces a bit.

For the pains taken by me and my friend, we had a great sighting! It was his first boy wasnt he happy!

We went and waited at a man made water reservoir for the tigers and the king made his presence felt! It was a nice big male numbered T-7 offspring of the famous T-2.

 T-7 is a truly regal animal.  It just sat there and lapped up the water in peace fully ignoring the jeeps around and the continuous camera clicks.

As the park gates were about to shut, we rushed back out back to the comforts of the hotels! A long refreshing shower to take out all the dust which got thrown onto me during the safari! A bathrooms in the Lodge were massive!! they are twice the size of my room in Delhi!!

After the bath and a long dinner, my friends and me got together for some UNO!  We played till we were too tired to carry on and went to sleep with the promise of the morning safari when we woke up!

Oh! I also got a lovey pic of a neelgai!

Leonardo DiCaprio joins tiger protection!!

Tigers protection now has celebrity power! Leonardo DiCaprio has joined WWF's program in protecting the tigers! Read more about it here http://www.worldwildlife.org/savetigersnow/.

The site in still unclear on how the Fund is going to work towards tiger protection.  Hopefully we will get some more updates in this regard soon.

 

Bandhavgarh tigress death

The last week came the news that a tigress had died at Bandhavgarh due to internal injuries which were probably caused due to being hit by a vehicle.  There are stories abound that it was caused by either a tourist vehicle or a vehicle taking VIPs for a safari.

In my various safaris I have seen the jeep drivers at safaris drive at very high speeds across the terrain in their zeal to ensure that their guests see a tiger.  Nothing wrong in the driver and the guide taking all steps to ensure that their guests see the king of the jungle.  However, it should not be at the cost of safety of the guests and the animals.  In my trip at ranthambore over the last weekend (yes I know trip report is due!) I had jeep driver who almost drove into sambar deers, peacocks and langurs.  The older sambar deers generally were able to make it past, but on a couple of occasions, we passed right between the herd separating the junior members of the herd from the older ones at high speed.  In the hot weather, the sambars were anyway seemed tired due to lack of water in the forest, the last thing they need is to have their stress levels increased by on rushing jeeps.  On multiple occasions, we almost treaded on the beautiful tail of the peacock.  The problem is that the drivers of the jeeps assume that the animal will move out of the way.  This should never be the case.  The animals should have the right to way in their own jungle.

Speeding is just one of the problems in our safaris.  In their hurry to ensure that their guests see tigers, I have often seen that moment a jeep figures out that a tiger is in the vicinity, signals are sent to all the other jeeps in the zone.  The tiger is then completely encircled and not permitted to move.  I experienced this first hand at Bandhavgarh in April beginning.  A tiger (named Kalua) emerged from the cliffs and instantly it was surrounded by at least 14 jeeps and 2 canters.  It was clear it was looking to cross the road across to the other side of the forest.  However as it got no space at all, it was forced sit and stare at the jeeps.

Above is the picture at Ranthambore taken sometime last year, where the tiger was expected on the bushes on the right hand side.  Again there were some twenty jeeps, canters which had surrounded the area.  This time around, the tiger was nervous enough not to make an appearance.

I am in no way suggesting that tiger tourism be banned.  However, it needs to be regulated.  The zone system implemented at Ranthambore and Bandhavgarh are a great idea.  However, it is not exactly serve the purpose as the no. of jeeps are too high and also there are no ways to monitor the movement of jeeps to ensure that they are following the allotted routes.  In Ranthambore, the jeeps had originally been affixed with GPS trackers, but now I understand that the GPS tracking systems have been taken off.  This problem is very acute in the "peak" winter season, when the parks are full with tourists.

A way out of this could be to add more time zones between the morning and evening time zones for the safari and reduce the number of jeeps permitted for each safari.  However, this is a layman's observation, not sure whether it will actually work.

While it may be easy for me right now to blame lack of regulation of jeep safaris in the park, the thing is it is the guests like me and you who push the safaris guides and drivers to cut corners, rush from one place to another in search for the tiger.  In this often people miss out on the other attractions of the.  I met a gentlemen at a national park recently.  He had followed a leopard for ten minutes of the road had great pictures but was cursing the driver for failing to show him a tiger!

We desperately need to educate people that while tiger being the national animal is of couse the more prominent resident of our forests, the Indian wildlife is very diverse and there is a beauty even in a 'common' neelgai.  It is true that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder! To be continued!

Corbett Safaris

One of the advantages of staying in Delhi is the proximity to Corbett and Ranthambore.


Corbett, situated at the foothills of the himalayas, is the most picturesque of the national parks I have visited. I have been to Corbett thrice and never have I felt "why again".  With my legendary luck at sighting tigers, I had tiger sightings on each of my trips! 

I have stayed at the FRH Dhikala and also at the resorts just outside the park. Without a shade of a doubt, to experience forest one has to stay at the FRH in Dhikala. However, if eating vegetarian food and sleeping on a questionable bread spread with frequent electricity outages thrown in is not your thing, you may consider putting up at the resorts by the side of Kosi River which will provide you with all luxuries. However, with all its discomforts I will still recommend Dhikala as your place to stay. For one it is deep inside the forest, whereas the resorts are outside the gate. Just staying there and listening to the sounds of the forest at night is an experience to treasure even if you do not meet the king of the jungle.

You can book FRH dhikala here. Generally one is given only with 2 nite stay at best. Be warned to book Dhikala FRH at least a month in advance if you are targeting a weekend or any of the cluster holidays. 


Though the most famous, Dhikala is not the only FRH in Corbett in fact far from it.  Corbett is divided into zones and each zone has a gate: 


Tourism zone Entry Gate



Dhikala    Dhangari



Jhirna            Khara,Kalagarh



Bijrani    Amadanda



Sonanadi        Vatanvasa



Domunda      Durgadevi

The Dhikala Zone itself has many FRHs such as Kinnanauli, Gairal, Sarapdhuli etc.  If you do not get bookings, you could check with Field Director, Corbet Tiger Reserve Uttaranchal, Ramnagar (Nainital) - 244715.Tel. : 05947-251489, 251376, 251012 for any of the other FRH in Dhikala zone (or about the FRHs at any of the other zones). 

Easiest way to get from Delhi to Cobett is by a cab.  It is approximately at 5 hour drive (depending at what time you leave and whether you hit any jams).  It takes considerably longer in the winter months.  Driving to corbett at nite during winter is a dangerous proposition.  You should ensure that the taxi has very strong fog lamps.  Last winter's travel to corbett from Delhi took me around 10 hours.  For three hours we just could not drive as the fog was so heavy, even with three heads outside the window (feeling the cold winter air), we could not see anything ahead of us.  The best advice while driving through for is to follow a truck or a bus.  On the road you often find huge trucks turned turtle, which remind you how severely a mistake on the road can be punished. An approximate route map is provided here. 

When you are in corbett, you realise how tough it is to spot a tiger.  The forest here is a thick forest full of sal trees and thick undergrowth.  So if you spot a tiger, you are really lucky! 


A great thing about corbett is the elephant ride through the jungle.  You come closer to the wildlife than any jeep or canter you may have been on.  Being higher than everything other than the trees gives you a panoramic view.  As the elephant does not have to stick to the road and instead moves in and out of the thick forest undergrowth with consummate ease, you experience the forest in a completely new way.  Also the tigers are used to elephants and are permit you to come closer than most jeeps.  Most photographs of tigers from elephant enable you to capture them in their natural beauty as opposed to the road (if you were on a jeep).  However, as far as I know, elephant rides are available only if you are staying at any of the FRH only. If you are staying at the Dhikala bookings for jeep and elephant safaris are right at the FRH itself.  

If however, you are staying at any of the resorts outside the gates, the bookings are done at the Forest offices at Ramnagar.  Your resort will help you do the bookings for the same and you do not need to pre-book these safaris.  These safaris are mainly for the bijrani zone and not the dhikala zone.  There is a canter which takes you on a tour of dhikala (which is a tour not a safari). 


Climate wise Corbett is cold in the winter months.  U need lots of woolens as if you are staying at the FRH you should not be expecting heaters to warm your rooms! The cold continues even to end march at least for the morning safaris. 

Tiger Time - Bandhavgarh

Having already visited Corbett and Ranthambore (being near Delhi) many times over, we decided to move to Bandhavgarh situated in central India in the state of Madhya Pradesh. For the uninitiated, a brief summary of the place and how to get there. Bandhavgarh is divided into 4 zones: - (1) Tala; (2) Magadhi; (3) Khitauli; and (4) Kallawah. Of the zones, Tala has the highest density of tigers and should be your first choice for booking safaris. The safaris can be booked online here. If you intend to book tala zone, you will need to book in advance.

For people travelling from Delhi a train to umaria is the best way. We took the 8478 Kalingautkal Express which leaves from H. Nizamuddin at noon and reaches Umaria at 5 in the morning. Bandhavgarh (and the nearby resorts) are an hour away from Umaria. The alternative is a flight to Jabalpur and a three to four hour drive.

Staying options there are plenty. However, given the weather anytime other than in December end, an air conditioned room is a must. You could check out white tiger lodge (the MP tourism resort) or the FRH both of which are reasonably priced with acceptable food. However if you have money to spare (a lot of it) the Taj Mahua Koti will surely welcome you!

We reached Umaria station in the early hours of the morning when the sky was still dark. We were to stay at the Forest Rest House at Bandhavgarh and they had kindly sent a cab to pick us up. The journey to the FRH itself was a great indicator of the times to come. We had a jackal crossing the road and could distinctly smell a rotting carrion. A brief photo op and then we were back on the road towards the FRH. We actually made to the FRH in such good time that we decided to do a safari. As we had no bookings for Tala zone that morning, it had to be the magadhi zone. Saw nothing. (By nothing actually nothing! - some four birds and 2 deers). But a safari through the jungle is always better than sitting in your room!

The next few safaris were all booked in the tala zone. The Tala zone is divided into various zones within itself (numbered from A to D). In the next seven safaris I never by some quirk in fate made it to the A zone. But the rest were absolutely worth it. Never have I seen 11 different tigers in seven safaris and over 25 sightings! I even saw a tiger coming towards our jeep moving in less than three feet away and I still getting the worst pictures on the planet (yeah I can admit it I WAS scared)!

However over the seven safaris I got some of the best shorts I have ever taken (not just of tigers, but beautiful birds as well).The snaps are here!

Bandhavgarh is similar to Ranthamore as both have a fort. However, the forests are very different. Ranthambore is a much drier forest. However, as far as beauty of the forest go, I am still partial to Corbett. However, if you NEED to see a tiger, then pack you bags for bandhavgarh and bandhavgarh alone!

Oh as a parting shot, try the mahua wine and eat the mahua flower!