Into the wild: Tadoba - Andhari Tiger Reserve Maharashtra & Pench National Park Madhya Pradesh (Dec 2010)
It was a last minute decision to take year end leave & we remembered one of our friend telling us about 2 years back that Tadoba is a good place to sight Tigers, which we both had never seen. We had also never been there earlier and the place had been in news as a number of tiger cubs had been born there in the past 12 months. Since we had around 10 days of leave we decided instead of just visiting Tadoba, we can also combine Pench which is 90 kms from Nagpur. It was year end rush every where so we could not find accommodation in both the place. With the help of some of our friends we got 3 days accommodation in MTDC Moharli - Tadoba , but had to manage on our own for 1 night i.e. christmas night on 25Dec. We also managed to get 2 nights accommodation at Baghira Retreat at Pench MP. We quickly booked our train ticket to Chandrapur which is 45 kms from Moharli Gate - Tadoba. We decided to do 5 safaris in Tadoba, which has to be booked 1 week in advance & 2 safaris in Pench MP.
All set, we boarded the train from Thane station in the afternoon and next day by around 10AM we reached Chandrapur, a small station and we had asked Shalik Jogwe, who had arranged everything for us, to send a pick up vehicle at Chandrapur. Praveen, a safari driver picked us up. A pleasant 45 mins open air jeep ride & we reached the small village of Moharli. Just before the Gate to the Tiger reserve we had to take right turn and a small road led us to MTDC Moharli which is one of the best place to stay here as most of the rooms have balcony facing the lake where one can watch lot of bird life. Tadoba - Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) is Maharashtra's oldest National Park located in the Chandrapur district, about 155 KM from the Nagpur International Airport. TATR is home to about 43 Royal Bengal Tigers. A Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest, it is largely a flatland with 40 per cent of its area covered with bamboo trees, which gives it a unique appearance. Compared to other popular tiger reserves in India, TATR is relatively under-explored and under-photographed. The place has only of late been attracting tourists and is slowly coming up on the Indian wildlife circuit. At the moment, however, people from the Nagpur - Chandrapur belt comprise bulk of the tourists.
Day 1: We reached MTDC at around 12noon & they follow strict check in - check out schedules. Check in time is 1.30PM so we put our backpack in the dinning area and ordered for our lunch as you need to give an hours notice for food.We had to take our 1st safari at 2PM. We checked in at around 1.00 PM, freshened up and had lunch and were ready to kick start our Safari. At Tadoba all private vehicles are allowed with an Entrance Fee of around 150/-, Guide fee of 100/- and camera cost of 5/-. We had opted for the open gypsy safari. We could not find anyone to share the safari with us, so it was just 2 of us in an open air gypsy. We loved the exclusivity. Shravan was to be our guide for all our safaris here. At Tadoba the rules change at a drop of a hat. Just the day we arrived they had allowed vehicles to move from one zone to another. Earlier they used to allow vehicles from one Gate to be in the same zone. So it was good for us as we would have better sightings. Today we just roamed almost entire forest. Saw the usual Sambhar deer, spotted deer and some birds. At the end of our trip when we were returning from Tadoba Gate, Just near the Gate, a Tiger came out of the woods and was about to cross the main road. He stopped and looked at us ferociously. By then we had stopped to give him the right of way. This tiger is known to attack Safari Vehicles and hence he is known as Yeda Anna. Since we had kept our distance he crossed the road and went into the woods. He had a beautiful coat like burning fire. We were so excited seeing our 1st Tiger that we were unable to capture a good picture( camera shake-excitement!) as it all happened so fast. Our guide told us he will come out of the wood and cross the other small road behind so our driver zoomed off & waited at a place we thought he would come out. By then other 2 vehicles came to know we sighted Tiger and so they tagged along. On the other side we saw villagers walking on the road and they seem to be least afraid of the Tigers. Villagers were chattering and so the Tiger did not come out; As soon as they passed he emerged out of the wood and again crossed the road and just melted into the woods. Since it was late evening we had to head back to Gate. Yes we did it! on our very 1st safari we saw a huge male tiger we were thrilled and had to tell some one, so back in the hotel we called few of our relatives/friends and shared our joy.
Day 2: Early morning at 6.45AM Park Gates are open & we are allowed to be inside the forest till 11AM. We had asked for a packed breakfast which was kept ready. Weather was very chill and drive into the wild on an open gypsy was a torture till about 9.00 AM when the sun started warming up. Telia Dam looked mystic and beautiful. Nothing much happened today in both the safari that's worth a mention.
Day 3: Our 4th Safari as soon as we entered the Park early in the morning we saw 2 wild dogs hopping and jumping towards us. They were quite bold and walked past our jeep. Later saw Brown Fish owl and a Crested Serpent Eagle. Then saw a Crocodile basking in the sun at Telia Dam. On our way back saw Indian Cobra on the main road. It lifted its hood to make itself look big and soon after that it vanished into the woods, missed getting a click! Our 5th and last Safari at Tadoba for the year. Our guide Shravan and Driver Santosh had weighed the possibility of sighting a Tiger near Telia Dam; so we decided to wait near the Dam, which we did and far away we saw jeeps zooming with lot of dust which only means one thing. So Santosh zoomed in and we reached the spot where already 5 jeeps had arrived. They said a Tigress was basking in the shallow water which we could not see as rocks and tall grass covered her. We waited patiently for her to emerge, and emerge she did, we were all awestruck by its beauty. She decided to sit and again we lost her in the tall grass. After about 10-15 mins she seemed disturbed by flies and walked into the bush. We were exhilarated and excited to see this magnificent creature on our last safari at Tadoba.
Day 4: We had no reservation at the hotel or safari booked for this day. Shalik Jogwe offered us to stay at his place in Moharli Village, which was just walking distance from Moharli Gate. Post lunch we shifted to his "Camp House" and since shalik had to meet his friends in Nagpur, he pushed off with his family. Shalik Jogwe is a wildlife photographer & conservationist from Chandrapur. We got an opportunity to see village life. Moharli is a typical Indian village with around 10-15 houses. Kids were happy and playing with there domesticated goats, hens & cows. In the evening we could see so many stars that we never get to see in Cities. We had told the tea shop fellow to arrange dinner for us. By around 8PM we got hot yummy home made food at his shop. We relished it as from past 3 days we were sick of eating MTDC food which was no good. Tomorrow we were to leave for Pench MP. We had found out Khawasa is the nearest village and from there we had arranged a pick up. But to reach there we had done no arrangement. We thought we will hop buses as we had no safari arranged for next day and we just had to reach the hotel before dark.
Day 5: We had to take the first morning bus from Moharli village to Chandrapur at around 7 AM. Got up early and waited at the bus stop and the bus came at around 7.30AM and since it was Sunday it was full of villagers who had come to set up shop at Moharli Sunday Market. Anyway some how we managed to get in and got a seat. Reached Chandrapur by around 8.30AM. Outside the bus stop we saw a Poha stall & we gorged ourselves on it. We then hopped into a bus at 9AM to Nagpur(155kms). This driver was very slow and regulars in the bus had started complaining. On our way we saw the real travelers; the Indian lambadis with there camels , carts and colorful dress. When we travel with the general public we get to see so many colors of our great country that we never see if we go in our private vehicle. We got down before Nagpur Bus Stop as we had to take next bus from MP Tourism Bus Stop which is near Nagpur Railway Station. It was Lunch time and we inquired at the Bus Stop and found one bus which was ready to leave, so we quickly bought some vada pav and hopped into a bus to Khawasa(90Kms). For 1 hour we were roaming in Nagpur so it was a nice Nagpur Darshan for me as I had never seen this place. After that we entered forest area. We reached around 4PM at Khawasa, a small little village on the Nagpur Jabalpur National Highway 7 and here we had got a contact by name Jaiswal who had done all our arrangements. He sent us a pick up vehicle and about 12kms from Khawasa is Pench. We checked into Baghira Retreat, Since this is a Private Resort we got good service and food. We enjoyed bonfire in the night. At Pench, we had booked just 2 safaris on 27th Dec Afternoon & 28th Dec Morning.
Day 6: First half we relaxed in the hotel campus where they had badminton court we played for a while; then relaxed under a tree enjoyed birds chirping as the hotel was empty. Its a new property so not many know about this resort. Kitchen in-charge showed us 2 tortoises that he had kept as pet. After a sumptuous lunch, we left for the afternoon safari in an open Gypsy. We were ready and waiting at the Turia Gate of Pench National Park. Here it is much more organized as its a popular tourist destination for people in Nagpur and also famous as a documentary was shot here about Tigers called "Spy in the Jungle". They check each and every person in the jeep with their ID cards .At Tadoba only 20-30 vehicle are allowed at Moharli Gate and around 7 from Tadoba Gate. Here since the forest is vast they allow 50 vehicles and before entering the gate we have to tell them which route we will be taking and we cannot change our route. It is good in a way. Retired army officers are kept to Guard the forest and manage the tourist .I guess that's why safari rates are so high here. We entered the forest along with a forest guide Vinod. Pench is a beautiful forest. According to our guide this park has around 33 tigers, 30 leopards, 20,000 deers, 100+ species of birds among other animals. We observed Sambhar and other deer looked much more bigger and well built than what we saw in Tadoba and hence the Tigers are also much bigger here. Just as we were speaking to our Guide we felt some jeeps were huddled together and so we rushed there to see a Tiger walking inside the woods, but we could not get the full profile view; People ahead saw that Tiger crossing the road so we missed it by few mins. I know why people are obsessed to see Tigers, its just majestic to watch it walk. Now that I have seen a Tiger at Tadoba, I still want to see more, I am addicted to it, but I also just enjoy being in the forest. Its been almost 15 years now that I have been reading, watching and talking about Tigers and how important it is to save it for our own good. Its not only a top predator of our forest, it safeguards our forest with its trees the rivers and looks beautiful too so there is no reason why we should not protect this animal. From my childhood I have been visiting forests around my home town Bangalore, had seen the usual, Sambar Deer, Spotted deer, Barking Deer, porcupines, my favorite Elephants and many more birds and animals but never had gone in search of Tiger. Now that I have seen it in this trip I am happy to have seen them in the wild.
Day 7: We got our packed breakfast for our early morning Safari. Enjoyed our last Safari for the year. Came back to room had our lunch and had to check out and catch 8PM train to Mumbai. This time we hired a car & reached Nagpur at around 4PM. Took Duronto non-stop express back to Mumbai.
I just love the colors or verity that we have in our great county, where else will you find so many languages, food, Culture, Religion & Races. This is the county where two top predators of the forest call home, The Lions & Tigers. We have deserts, beaches, mountains and verity of forests. What more can I ask for.
I would like to thank Adwait Keole who told us about Tadoba when we met him at ARRS. Kaustub Upadhye of Jungle lore (www.junglelore.net) who helped us get crucial contacts at both Tadoba and Pench. Shalik Jogwe was very helpful at Tadoba, he even offered us to stay at his place when we had no accommodation. You can check out Shalik's blog at http://tadoba-tiger.blogspot.com/. We loved Shravan & Santosh, our Guide and Driver at Tadoba. Naresh Jaswal helped us get accommodation & arranged our safari at Pench.
Loved Tadoba for its rustic beauty will definitely visit again.
All set, we boarded the train from Thane station in the afternoon and next day by around 10AM we reached Chandrapur, a small station and we had asked Shalik Jogwe, who had arranged everything for us, to send a pick up vehicle at Chandrapur. Praveen, a safari driver picked us up. A pleasant 45 mins open air jeep ride & we reached the small village of Moharli. Just before the Gate to the Tiger reserve we had to take right turn and a small road led us to MTDC Moharli which is one of the best place to stay here as most of the rooms have balcony facing the lake where one can watch lot of bird life. Tadoba - Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) is Maharashtra's oldest National Park located in the Chandrapur district, about 155 KM from the Nagpur International Airport. TATR is home to about 43 Royal Bengal Tigers. A Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest, it is largely a flatland with 40 per cent of its area covered with bamboo trees, which gives it a unique appearance. Compared to other popular tiger reserves in India, TATR is relatively under-explored and under-photographed. The place has only of late been attracting tourists and is slowly coming up on the Indian wildlife circuit. At the moment, however, people from the Nagpur - Chandrapur belt comprise bulk of the tourists.
Day 1: We reached MTDC at around 12noon & they follow strict check in - check out schedules. Check in time is 1.30PM so we put our backpack in the dinning area and ordered for our lunch as you need to give an hours notice for food.We had to take our 1st safari at 2PM. We checked in at around 1.00 PM, freshened up and had lunch and were ready to kick start our Safari. At Tadoba all private vehicles are allowed with an Entrance Fee of around 150/-, Guide fee of 100/- and camera cost of 5/-. We had opted for the open gypsy safari. We could not find anyone to share the safari with us, so it was just 2 of us in an open air gypsy. We loved the exclusivity. Shravan was to be our guide for all our safaris here. At Tadoba the rules change at a drop of a hat. Just the day we arrived they had allowed vehicles to move from one zone to another. Earlier they used to allow vehicles from one Gate to be in the same zone. So it was good for us as we would have better sightings. Today we just roamed almost entire forest. Saw the usual Sambhar deer, spotted deer and some birds. At the end of our trip when we were returning from Tadoba Gate, Just near the Gate, a Tiger came out of the woods and was about to cross the main road. He stopped and looked at us ferociously. By then we had stopped to give him the right of way. This tiger is known to attack Safari Vehicles and hence he is known as Yeda Anna. Since we had kept our distance he crossed the road and went into the woods. He had a beautiful coat like burning fire. We were so excited seeing our 1st Tiger that we were unable to capture a good picture( camera shake-excitement!) as it all happened so fast. Our guide told us he will come out of the wood and cross the other small road behind so our driver zoomed off & waited at a place we thought he would come out. By then other 2 vehicles came to know we sighted Tiger and so they tagged along. On the other side we saw villagers walking on the road and they seem to be least afraid of the Tigers. Villagers were chattering and so the Tiger did not come out; As soon as they passed he emerged out of the wood and again crossed the road and just melted into the woods. Since it was late evening we had to head back to Gate. Yes we did it! on our very 1st safari we saw a huge male tiger we were thrilled and had to tell some one, so back in the hotel we called few of our relatives/friends and shared our joy.
Day 2: Early morning at 6.45AM Park Gates are open & we are allowed to be inside the forest till 11AM. We had asked for a packed breakfast which was kept ready. Weather was very chill and drive into the wild on an open gypsy was a torture till about 9.00 AM when the sun started warming up. Telia Dam looked mystic and beautiful. Nothing much happened today in both the safari that's worth a mention.
Day 3: Our 4th Safari as soon as we entered the Park early in the morning we saw 2 wild dogs hopping and jumping towards us. They were quite bold and walked past our jeep. Later saw Brown Fish owl and a Crested Serpent Eagle. Then saw a Crocodile basking in the sun at Telia Dam. On our way back saw Indian Cobra on the main road. It lifted its hood to make itself look big and soon after that it vanished into the woods, missed getting a click! Our 5th and last Safari at Tadoba for the year. Our guide Shravan and Driver Santosh had weighed the possibility of sighting a Tiger near Telia Dam; so we decided to wait near the Dam, which we did and far away we saw jeeps zooming with lot of dust which only means one thing. So Santosh zoomed in and we reached the spot where already 5 jeeps had arrived. They said a Tigress was basking in the shallow water which we could not see as rocks and tall grass covered her. We waited patiently for her to emerge, and emerge she did, we were all awestruck by its beauty. She decided to sit and again we lost her in the tall grass. After about 10-15 mins she seemed disturbed by flies and walked into the bush. We were exhilarated and excited to see this magnificent creature on our last safari at Tadoba.
Day 4: We had no reservation at the hotel or safari booked for this day. Shalik Jogwe offered us to stay at his place in Moharli Village, which was just walking distance from Moharli Gate. Post lunch we shifted to his "Camp House" and since shalik had to meet his friends in Nagpur, he pushed off with his family. Shalik Jogwe is a wildlife photographer & conservationist from Chandrapur. We got an opportunity to see village life. Moharli is a typical Indian village with around 10-15 houses. Kids were happy and playing with there domesticated goats, hens & cows. In the evening we could see so many stars that we never get to see in Cities. We had told the tea shop fellow to arrange dinner for us. By around 8PM we got hot yummy home made food at his shop. We relished it as from past 3 days we were sick of eating MTDC food which was no good. Tomorrow we were to leave for Pench MP. We had found out Khawasa is the nearest village and from there we had arranged a pick up. But to reach there we had done no arrangement. We thought we will hop buses as we had no safari arranged for next day and we just had to reach the hotel before dark.
Day 5: We had to take the first morning bus from Moharli village to Chandrapur at around 7 AM. Got up early and waited at the bus stop and the bus came at around 7.30AM and since it was Sunday it was full of villagers who had come to set up shop at Moharli Sunday Market. Anyway some how we managed to get in and got a seat. Reached Chandrapur by around 8.30AM. Outside the bus stop we saw a Poha stall & we gorged ourselves on it. We then hopped into a bus at 9AM to Nagpur(155kms). This driver was very slow and regulars in the bus had started complaining. On our way we saw the real travelers; the Indian lambadis with there camels , carts and colorful dress. When we travel with the general public we get to see so many colors of our great country that we never see if we go in our private vehicle. We got down before Nagpur Bus Stop as we had to take next bus from MP Tourism Bus Stop which is near Nagpur Railway Station. It was Lunch time and we inquired at the Bus Stop and found one bus which was ready to leave, so we quickly bought some vada pav and hopped into a bus to Khawasa(90Kms). For 1 hour we were roaming in Nagpur so it was a nice Nagpur Darshan for me as I had never seen this place. After that we entered forest area. We reached around 4PM at Khawasa, a small little village on the Nagpur Jabalpur National Highway 7 and here we had got a contact by name Jaiswal who had done all our arrangements. He sent us a pick up vehicle and about 12kms from Khawasa is Pench. We checked into Baghira Retreat, Since this is a Private Resort we got good service and food. We enjoyed bonfire in the night. At Pench, we had booked just 2 safaris on 27th Dec Afternoon & 28th Dec Morning.
Day 6: First half we relaxed in the hotel campus where they had badminton court we played for a while; then relaxed under a tree enjoyed birds chirping as the hotel was empty. Its a new property so not many know about this resort. Kitchen in-charge showed us 2 tortoises that he had kept as pet. After a sumptuous lunch, we left for the afternoon safari in an open Gypsy. We were ready and waiting at the Turia Gate of Pench National Park. Here it is much more organized as its a popular tourist destination for people in Nagpur and also famous as a documentary was shot here about Tigers called "Spy in the Jungle". They check each and every person in the jeep with their ID cards .At Tadoba only 20-30 vehicle are allowed at Moharli Gate and around 7 from Tadoba Gate. Here since the forest is vast they allow 50 vehicles and before entering the gate we have to tell them which route we will be taking and we cannot change our route. It is good in a way. Retired army officers are kept to Guard the forest and manage the tourist .I guess that's why safari rates are so high here. We entered the forest along with a forest guide Vinod. Pench is a beautiful forest. According to our guide this park has around 33 tigers, 30 leopards, 20,000 deers, 100+ species of birds among other animals. We observed Sambhar and other deer looked much more bigger and well built than what we saw in Tadoba and hence the Tigers are also much bigger here. Just as we were speaking to our Guide we felt some jeeps were huddled together and so we rushed there to see a Tiger walking inside the woods, but we could not get the full profile view; People ahead saw that Tiger crossing the road so we missed it by few mins. I know why people are obsessed to see Tigers, its just majestic to watch it walk. Now that I have seen a Tiger at Tadoba, I still want to see more, I am addicted to it, but I also just enjoy being in the forest. Its been almost 15 years now that I have been reading, watching and talking about Tigers and how important it is to save it for our own good. Its not only a top predator of our forest, it safeguards our forest with its trees the rivers and looks beautiful too so there is no reason why we should not protect this animal. From my childhood I have been visiting forests around my home town Bangalore, had seen the usual, Sambar Deer, Spotted deer, Barking Deer, porcupines, my favorite Elephants and many more birds and animals but never had gone in search of Tiger. Now that I have seen it in this trip I am happy to have seen them in the wild.
Day 7: We got our packed breakfast for our early morning Safari. Enjoyed our last Safari for the year. Came back to room had our lunch and had to check out and catch 8PM train to Mumbai. This time we hired a car & reached Nagpur at around 4PM. Took Duronto non-stop express back to Mumbai.
I just love the colors or verity that we have in our great county, where else will you find so many languages, food, Culture, Religion & Races. This is the county where two top predators of the forest call home, The Lions & Tigers. We have deserts, beaches, mountains and verity of forests. What more can I ask for.
I would like to thank Adwait Keole who told us about Tadoba when we met him at ARRS. Kaustub Upadhye of Jungle lore (www.junglelore.net) who helped us get crucial contacts at both Tadoba and Pench. Shalik Jogwe was very helpful at Tadoba, he even offered us to stay at his place when we had no accommodation. You can check out Shalik's blog at http://tadoba-tiger.blogspot.com/. We loved Shravan & Santosh, our Guide and Driver at Tadoba. Naresh Jaswal helped us get accommodation & arranged our safari at Pench.
Loved Tadoba for its rustic beauty will definitely visit again.
