I had been wanting to visit a Tiger Sanctuary but had not got an opportunity as such. Moreover, I was under the impression that a visit to a Wildlife reserve would be quite boring with nothing much to do, but wait for animals to show themselves. So I had not seriously thought of visiting one.
So one fine day, out of the blue we wanted to go on a long drive and decided to visit Pench Tiger Reserve. Unfortunately, I found out that Pench was closed for the monsoon, even though the monsoons were yet to start off. In a couple of days, I saw an invite by GHAC to visit Tadoba. had never heard of this name before, so did not bother to read the mail. Only when Anirban said lets got to Tadoba that I looked up that mail to see if it was good enough. As I browsed, I saw some pics taken at Tadoba the week before and I was surprised. I quickly said Yes, lets go. So we planned to go there the coming weekend and tried to get company but in vain.
On the D day, 23/Jul/2010, we left office by noon, quickly packed and started on our journey. I was actually very apprehensive about the journey because it was just the 2 of us, in an i10, with no prior driving experience, had to pass through Naxal areas and forest areas before we reach our destination. The first part of our drive was really enjoyable with the rain following us. The Medak highway was really green and fresh just after a heavy downpour. As we headed towards Siddipet we could see so many butterflies flying around right in front of our car as it cruised along at nearly 100kmph. Some of them crashing on our windsheilds as though we were getting a high if they made it through alive.
We soon passed through Mancherial - .I too had my fair share of driving. We passed to many villages and driving through these villages was difficult, with autos filled with people trotting by but right in the middle of the road. Once out of the village we would again go into cruise mode.
It almost became dark when we were close to the outskirts of AP. While passing through a small village, we werejust following a truck on a single lane bridge, when a two wheeler, over took us and started to over take the truck in front of us. When he was to the right of the truck, he lost his balance and ended up under the trucks rear wheels and was crushed to death immediately. We had to witness this horrific accident and both of us were completely shaken. When the truck did not stop and continue to move, we too silently followed was the man was dead anyways. When we passed through a police check post, I told my husband to stop and I frantically told the police that the truck in front of us had just killed the person. The police moved fast and intercepted the trunk. Then on second thought i realized that it was no fault of the truck guy and I had handed him over to the police for no fault of his and that his family was doomed and that he would spend x number for years in prison and that he would have to pay a hefty price to his owner, all these thoughts made me feel like I had blood on my hands. I was even more shaken now and totally confused. But we had no choice but to just go ahead.
We enterd Maharashtra, passed through Rajura, Bellarpur and finally reached Chandrapur. Chandrapur is quite a big place and we took a much needed break and picked up some dinner. It was already 10 pm by now and we had to still find our way to our MTDC hotel which was arounf 15 km from the forest gate. Finding our way to the Forest gate itself was quite diffult and I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw the closed gate in front of me. We had to convince the gaurd to let us as the gate closes by 8:30 pm. Once inside the gate, it was along road through the forest to the Hotel. On our way we could see rabbit hopping by and even soemthing that looked like a mongoose. Finally we reached the hotel and collapsed on our bed, as we had to wake up by 5:00 am the next day.
24/Jul I was up by 4:30 and in very low spirits and the events from the previous night still haunted me. By 5:30 we were ready and waiting for Bandu the driver we had booked. Bandu arrived in his Gypsy and we headed towards the forest. Tadaba has 2 ranges the Moharli Range and the Tadoba Range. You have to choose which range you wnat to visit at the gate and buy an entry ticket accordinly. The entry ticket for 2 along with a guide costed us just 250 Rs. We opted for the Mohar;i range for this trip. The forst looked lush green, with water collected in small ponds. the drive was very refreshing. We first spotted the a couple Sambar Deer. They headed into the jungle once they saw us. As we drove along we could see a few peacocks and the Serpent Eagle. Within a few more minutes we spotted 4 Indian Bison or the Gaur. They looked at us and continued their grazing when they realized we were not a threat. We drove along hoping to spot the ever elusive Tiger. I had no hopes of spotting one, and Jusrt enjoyed the drive through the forest in the open gypsy. In Tadoba you are allowed to take in your own vehicle as well. We were just worried that our i10 would not be able to handle the slushy roads and wnated to give it some rest after the long journey.
We drove along and when we eneterd a small nuddy path we saw that all the otehr gypsys had stopped and everyone looking in one direction. Soon we realized that they had spotted 3 tigers snoozing in the bushes. We too starined ourselves to see and could not see from our gypsy and the bamboo forming tiger mirages and playing games with us. We finally got onto another gypsy that had a better view and Lo behold , 2 majestic tigers dozing away, pawing on flies troubling them. We were super excited. When they swooshed theirs paws to rid the flies, they lloked cute. At times they changed sides and gave us a lazy look. The guide told us that there was a tigress with 4 cubs around 8 months old and ones that we were wathing were 2 of the 4 cubs. Though only 8 moht they looked quiote fully grown. After spending close to an hour there, we headed back. The park is open from 6:00 am to 11:am in the morning and again from 3:00pm to 7:pm in the night.
Our second trip to the forst was for the tadoba range, but since we had the sightings in Moharli, we decied to visit Moharlu again in the evening. This time we were joined my Dr Abhijit Deshpande and cardiologist and Wildlife Photographer. He had his camera gear with a few lenses and was we chatted along we realized that each of his lense where worth lacs. My dream of becoming a Wildlife photograph came crashing down. We again headed to the same spot where we had seen the tigers in the morning. As we were a little late, we could again see a long line of gypsy and realised that again we had missed a good view. We got to know that a tiger was sitting on the path when all these gypsies arrived and drove it back into the jungle. The widlife photographe with us told us that we stay put as the tiger would come back and try to cross the path and that its the same family that has been split. So we stood right there for over 20 minutes, when we suddnely spotted the tiger within the woods again. And this time no crowed, just 2 gypsy. So we waited and watched and tiger slowed moved closer, emerged from the jungle, got onto the path, gave us a look, walked on the path for a while, before disappearing into the jungle again. It was a sight to watch, and we were thrilled. So since 3 of the familay mebers had moved to the other part of the forest everyone was sure that the other 2 too wuold follow. So again this time we stayed put, waiting for the other 2 to emarge. By then most of the other gypsyis had returned. We stood there waiting in a line. We then suddenly noticed a tigers face, at the distance of 15 ft from us. It slowly moved closer, not at all perturned by the fact that there was a line of gype filled with people watching it. It caem closer towards nehind our jeep and at one point was only 5 ft from Anirban. It just sniffed around, maybe cursing us for troubling and stopping him from crossing over, walked further ahead and crossed over. This was the closest we could get. We tried our best to get a decent shot with our camra but our camera failed to do justice. We returned happy and extremely satisfied after ahving a plate of amazing poha at a stall near the tadoba gate.
Sunday was our last trip to the forest. We had decided we would leave after the trip and hit the roads atleast by 12:00 pm. I was woken up to the sound of pouring rain and was disappointed that this tripo to the forest is ruined. We were ready and Dr Abheek Ghosh came knowcking on our door. After a fromal intro we started off into the jungly on his gypsy. As it was raning he had put on the covers and we only had to watch out from the side. We went back to the same spot as yesterday, with the rain pouring over and nothing in sight, we roamed around a little. We stopped at a clearing thinking that we would move ahead based on a pacock or a langurs call. No call, just the sound of rain continued. After waiting for around an hour, we decided to head for a cup of tea. As our jeep drove by at a distance we saw a couple of vehcles stopped right in the middle of the road. It was the same seen again, 3 vubs had crossed over right to the other part fo the forest and the vehicle in front of us had the sight pf his life. So we just hoped that the other 2 are left back and and decided to stay put.
Then suddenly Anirban could spot the face of a tiger, just at the edge of the forest. All of us sat attentive as there were no more jeeps but us now. The tiger just looked at us unable to make up its mind whether to cross the road in our presence or to come back later. It waited there looking at us time to time, eating a few blades of grass and just waiting for us to leave. But we were stubborn too. We waited patiently. The tiger did not budge. Mostly it was one of the cubs and was a little initimidated by our presence. Very soon another jeep joined us and both played the waiting game. The Tiger gave up and went in back to the forest. When we sat there waiting for the tiger to emerge back. Suddenly I spotted something moving on the road way ahead. I thought it was the tiger and shouted out. But it was Sloth bear crossing the road to the other part of the jungle. So we continued waiting. After a few minutes one tiger emerged from the forest on our right at a distnace, paced around a bit maybe trying to signal to his sibling to come and join the rest. This seemed true as in a few minutes, the tiger that had disappeared came back, abd this time crossed the majestically to join its siblings. Once its crossed over, it was joined by the 2 more tigers and they lay in thicket near the road, dozing and licking and wiping themselves dry, though it continued to rain. We waited as watched then snooze, roll over, sneeze, lick each other dry and when we had enough headed to the chai shop, hoping to enjoy some poha, but to our bad luck Poha was finished for the day.
We headed back and had to quickly start on our journey back. We started off by around 12.00 pm as we drove through the forest heading for the gate, the greenery around us made us feel so enriched. The journey back was much more easy because we covered most of the distance in the day and reached Hyd by 9:30pm
