Dudhwa Tiger Reserve & National Park

[gd1418]

Along with 3 more families, I am planning to go to Dudhwa in December end. Will drive from Gurgaon all the way. I was informed that there are 2 approaches - one via Lucknow and the other via Bareilly, Pilibhit etc. The latter is shorter I believe.

Anyone here visited Dudhwa, then would like to know the best route and petrol pumps (remember it is 'Uttam' Pradesh) and place to stay at Dudhwa. How comfortable are the Tharu huts? Has anyone stayed at Satiyana. And any logistics that I need to know.

Thanks in advance..

[gd1418]

What's the matter? None responded. Is it that none have heard of Dudhwa or in the entire TBHP family no one has, forget visitng, even gone near that place?

[tsk1979]

Its the first time in my life I have heard of this place.

[gd1418]

Tanveer, visit this link - Dudhwa National Park,Dudhwa Wildlife Sanctuary Tour,Dudhwa Wildlife National Park in India

I'm very surprised that here none have heard of Dudhwa.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Its the first time in my life I have heard of this place.

[Pakua4581]

Heard of Billy Arjan Singh and his efforts at setting up the Tiger reserve,I remember seeing pictures of him when he was 70 something,he was built like a Tank very very muscular,I wonder if he is still alive.Hats off to him!!

[gd1418]

Yes, he is still alive..

Originally Posted by Pakua4581

Heard of Billy Arjan Singh and his efforts at setting up the Tiger reserve,I remember seeing pictures of him when he was 70 something,he was built like a Tank very very muscular,I wonder if he is still alive.Hats off to him!!

[phamilyman]

maalik, december end aaya aur chala gaya

[iraghava]

GD Bhai bhi Dudhwa aaya aur chala gaya!!

Saath-saath unko apni pyaari behanji ke darshan bhi ho gaye Rampur mein!

[gd1418]

Sorry guys for the delay. Went headlong into work after return. Posting full details in a short while

[ntomer]

I never noticed this thread otherwise would have been able to give some suggessions. I have been to Dudhwa twice during my Pantnagar days; and know the area pretty well :-)

\N

[gd1418]

Still nothing is lost. You can write your experiences of that time. Will be a good comparing point with that of mine - as and when it comes...

Originally Posted by ntomer

I never noticed this thread otherwise would have been able to give some suggessions. I have been to Dudhwa twice during my Pantnagar days; and know the area pretty well :-)

\N

[pjay_in]

By the way, how long was your journey, gd? While we wait for your full report, you can still provide snippets.

[gd1418]

This thread started by me on 17th November had a simple query - route to Dudhwa National Park. I got gasps of disbelief and blank faces. My dear friend and Mod Tanveer even said that he heard this name for the first time.

What surprised me more was that our legendary mile cruncher Kumar had nothing to say a word about this place or even nearby..! Meaning this was one virgin route that was not explored by him.

So where do I begin. To start with, I'm a member of the M&M Scorpio forum on the Yahoo group and a few members of this group from Delhi/NCR (5 of them including me - Ashish Gupta (AG), Roshun Povaiah (RP), Subhashish Sarkar (SS) & Anil Sharma (Anil) - all owners of CRDe SLX except Roshun having a 4x4 Dx version & I owning a '04 GLx), do periodic drives and outings, the last one being a day drive to Sariska a few months ago. Here we decided that we would celebrate the New Year with an expedition.

Around 30th of Oct, it was decided that we all shall go off to Jaisalmer which turned out to be another name for Ranthambore. During this time AG and I spotted an ad in the HT papers and came to know that Ranthambore is an alias for Dudhwa!! So we shot of emails to the group almost simultaneously, inviting bids from the Northeners on the trip. Some where there was consensus amongst the four of us Beastly beings on this trip.

Anyways, the days rolled and then we started with some conspiracy theories…

The roads are bad …. well..

The bad lands are full of el-mafioso … eh!!

Benazir has been shot, shall we go to Dudhwa? … HUH!

No, but seriously at a point in time except me the rest had doubts well. But finally, when enough was enough, I said that come what may I will head out to Dudhwa and stay there for the entire period convinced (read coerced) others to say … Chalo Bhai…Chalo… dekhi jayegee….

Will try to keep this as concise as possible, so bear with the overtly curt language. Also the fun starts later!

Now as SS has mentioned we laid out our plans with one cavalcade going on the 28th and the rest will follow suite on the 29th. So it was RP & his sis and I with wife & daughter to leave on 28th and the rest to leave on 29th due to their extended professional commitments. After a lot of research on the route and talking to Ishaan also for road conditions till Moradabad it was decided that the 1st party would reach Dudhwa via Shahjahanpur and the 2nd party would take the route Pilibhit, so that we had inputs for both routes.

The Journey - 28th December '07

Got up at 3:30 in the morning, woke my co-passengers and gave a wake-up SMS to RP. SInce I stay in Gurgaon and RP in Vasant Kunj in Delhi, we decided to meet at 5 at the Adchini crossing just a kilometer & half before the IIT crossing. I reached there at 5:10 and RP was waiting having arrived 5 mins back. We proceeded with me in the lead and our target was to cross Ghaziabad by 5:30. We were right on schedule and then we hit our first road block. Just after Ghaziabad on the Hapur bypass road is the commercial tax collection centre that had huge trailers and trucks choking the road for miles. We thought that here goes our shcedule as it appeared that it would take hours to clear the jam. Then I spotted that some call centre Sumos were driving on the wrong side of the road and racing away. I gestured to RP and took off after them. Boy, was that a right move to make? You bet it was and I would advise every other driver to do so coz I was later told that it was a daily affair at that time and all do the same.

We pulled into Gajraula at 7:45 for breakfast


http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/6961/gajraulaid3.jpg

A few hot paranthas later we were on our way. A bit about the roads. Good so far and work on flyovers are being carried out at frenetic pace. If this continues then kudos to Mayawati though I'm not a great admirer of her. There were some bad patches enroute but nothing that the Scorpio would not take in its stride. We pulled at Shahjahanpur at 12:30 pm. Called our 2nd party and they were ecstatic about the road conditons and the speed that we made.

We decided to fill fuel in Shahjahanpur and pulled into an IOC pump at 12.30pm. I promptly grabbed a hose from a guy who was watering plants & hosed down the Bull. I also completely foxed the IOC pump attendant by pulling out my chemistry set & feeding Bull with its daily fix of acetone + 2T.

Mileage: RP = 11.6 kmpl (with 60% AC use). GD = 13.9 kmpl (no AC use)

We then stopped at a nearby restaurant for lunch – kadai chicken, dal & rotis – just about so-so. That stop was a bit too long, as we left only at 2.15pm from there.

Now the tale starts. That will come in the 2nd post....Intezaar kijiye thodi der tak..

[ntomer]

Originally Posted by gd1418

Around 30th of Oct, it was decided that we all shall go off to Jaisalmer which turned out to be another name for Ranthambore.

During this time AG and I spotted an ad in the HT papers and came to know that Ranthambore is an alias for Dudhwa!!

I am confused sir. Jaisalmer another name for Ranthambore; and Ranthambore alias for Dudhwa !!!

We were right on schedule and then we hit our first road block. Just after Ghaziabad on the Hapur bypass road is the commercial tax collection centre that had huge trailers and trucks choking the road for miles. We thought that here goes our shcedule as it appeared that it would take hours to clear the jam. Then I spotted that some call centre Sumos were driving on the wrong side of the road and racing away. I gestured to RP and took off after them. Boy, was that a right move to make? You bet it was and I would advise every other driver to do so coz I was later told that it was a daily affair at that time and all do the same.

This is Vijainagar toll post, and yes a big pain i a**.

\N

[SumitB]

GD its always a pleasure reading your post and now that I have seen your photos on T-BHP, I can only imagine your face when you must be speaking. I really long for a T-BHP meet. I hope to meet you people someday :P

Eagerly waiting for the rest of the travelogue.