A Trip to Jim Corbett

[Bala_R]

This is my first travelogue, so please excuse me with my narrative style & content.

We had planned to visit Delhi to our relatives house during Diwali vacation & from there we had planned to visit Jim Corbett & Nanital. This travelogue is about our visit & experience at Jim Corbett national park. I did not click much photos of the roads & their condition.

We had left from Delhi to Jim Corbett on two Innova's, which our relative had booked through some travel services. Our plan was to leave Delhi at 05:30am on 20th October, but Since there were three families, it took us some time to complete the morning activities, finish our bath & hence our departure got delayed by almost 20mins. We left Delhi at 05:50am.

I am not much familiar with the route, but the route was Delhi - Noida - Ghaziabad - Moradabad - Rampur. Approximately 20-25kms near Ghaziabad is in very bad condition as the road widening work is in progress.

We reached Rampur at around 12:30pm. We had already booked our accommodation at The Camp River Wild (Camp Riverwild,Jim Corbett National Park India) & we had informed them about the name & age details of each & every one who will be there for the safari. As we reached the Forest Office, one
person from the agency, through whom, we booked the accommodation & safari greeted us & we had to wait in a queue to fill up the forms detailing, who all will be traveling together in each jeep (we were 9 people including my 4 year old daughter). Only 4 persons are allowed per jeep, so we booked two jeeps for safari on 21st morning. Our entry was to be from Bijrani gate.

After completing the Forest office formalities, we left for our resort, which was about 25kms from the forest office. When we reached somewhere near the resort, we saw a board showing us the direction. Looking at the direction, we were worried, since the road (kutcha road) seemed to be narrow & as we proceeded further, we came across a rivulet (joining the Kosi river) which was covered with small boulders & there was almost no water. We had to cross this rivulet & then reach the resort.

The resort was very good with the kosi river flowing next to the resort. The view was excellent & immediately we all were recharged after the tiresome journey.

Some pictures of the river (excuse me for the poor quality).

A scene from the river just outside the resort gate


Kosi flowing in its glory


We were informed that we have to be ready by 5:00am in the morning & the two safari jeeps will be reaching our resort to pick us up at sharp 5:00am. We all were ready by 5:00am & found that both the jeeps are fully open type. It was very cold & all of us were covered with sweater & caps. We reached Bijrani gate by 6:00am & were waiting in queue as other jeeps had also reached for the safari. The gates opened only by 6:20am & we entered the forest. Each jeep was provided with a guide & our guide's name was Dharmendra Negi. I personally was not having any hopes of spotting a tiger as the population is dwindling & you should be extremely lucky to spot one.

All of us were very excited & we all were ready with our cameras & camcorders to shoot any wildlife that we could spot. After some time, we started spotting some pug marks & at one place, our guide spotted a pug mark, which seemed to be fresh & was over a jeep track. As soon as we went a little ahead, there was an open area towards our left, he asked the driver to stop the jeep & the jeep following us also stopped. Our guide asked the driver to switch off the engine & all of us were talking in whispers & even my daughter who is normally loud also started talking in whispers. The guide climbed on top of the jeep & was looking out with his binoculars & hearing to the sounds. We were there at the same spot for around 10 minutes & our guide was having a gut feeling that the tiger was somewhere nearby.

And finally he said look there tiger is walking, we all were looking in the direction he pointed & it took us some time to spot the great & elusive tiger among the bushes. I cannot explain the excitement & the feeling I had on seeing the strong beast walking majestically. As the tiger was walking towards the roadside, which we had traveled, our guide asked the driver to reverse the jeep & go backwards. We traveled around 50m in reverse & again stopped our jeeps. The driver switched off the engine & the guide asked him to remain seated in his seat. After waiting for about 2 minutes, we could see the tiger crossing the road in front of us. It was a sight to behold. I started clicking the pictures, he crossed the road & as soon as he reached the other side, he urinated & marked his territory indicating that this is his home & we should be careful. After that he gave one fierce look at us & went inside the bushes. This is one seen that I will never forget in my life. We all couldn't imagine, how lucky we were to spot a tiger & that too at such a close distance on our first safari.

I came back impressed with the mighty cat from the safari.

Now some photos (I am not that good a photographer, so please excuse me with the picture quality)

The safari jeep


The pug mark


First spotting


Can you spot the tiger?


All ears


Out on the road





Marking territory


The scary look


That's all from me. Hope you guys enjoyed the pictures.

[pjay_in]

Wow. It must be some feeling, watching a tiger up this close. A very good report and wonderful pics too.

Are tiger sightings a guaranteed deal in Corbett? I hope it's still a greatly unpredictable event, thus preserving the sudden thrill of a sighting.

[suman]

Great pictures, you were very lucky! The thrill of seeing a Tiger out there in the open is just something else, isn't it

[KRRaj]

Wow!!! This trip was worth it just for the tiger sighting.

The tiger knew all along you people were watching it and just before disappearing it just let you know. What a majestic creature.

[Prithvi]

you sure are one lucky guy to have seen a tiger.

[DKG]

Absolutely fabulous and you took great shots !!

Originally Posted by pjay_in

Wow. It must be some feeling, watching a tiger up this close.

One wonders who was the "watcher" and the "watched"

[Bala_R]

Originally Posted by pjay_in

Wow. It must be some feeling, watching a tiger up this close. A very good report and wonderful pics too.

Are tiger sightings a guaranteed deal in Corbett? I hope it's still a greatly unpredictable event, thus preserving the sudden thrill of a sighting.

I still can't believe, we were lucky to spot a tiger. Many others who went for the morning safari came back unlucky.

Tiger sightings are not guaranteed. It depends on your luck & your guide's experience. Our guide informed us that many people are not ready to wait at once place, where the guide thinks the tiger could be around. People are normally impatient & they hardly wait for a minute & blame the guide saying that he is trying to fool them. Since the guides are paid by government & hence they don't gain anything by trying to fool the visitors.

Originally Posted by suman

Great pictures, you were very lucky! The thrill of seeing a Tiger out there in the open is just something else, isn't it

You are right. I have seen tigers in zoo, but the excitement of sighting a tiger in its own habitat is a totally different feeling.

Originally Posted by KRRaj

Wow!!! This trip was worth it just for the tiger sighting.

The tiger knew all along you people were watching it and just before disappearing it just let you know. What a majestic creature.

The tiger reminded us that we are trespassing its territory by peeing & marking its territory before disappearing in the jungle.

Originally Posted by Prithvi

you sure are one lucky guy to have seen a tiger.

Yes indeed, we consider ourselves to very lucky & that too in our only safari at Jim corbett.

Originally Posted by DKG

Absolutely fabulous and you took great shots !!

One wonders who was the "watcher" and the "watched"

Yes it is indeed true. Had we not waited there, we wouldn't have even known that we passed so close to a tiger.

Here is the picture of the tiger marking its territory.

[PearlJam]

Wow, you're really lucky to spot the tiger. We had done a total of 6 safaris in Bijrani and Dhikala, but still failed to spot the tiger :-(

[gops]

Wow! You are really lucky. Well written & nice pics.

~Gops

[ambivalent_98]

Hey you are extremely lucky to see the tiger. Thanks for sharing those amazing pictures of that noble animal

[Dev D]

Bala, i envy you, you guys are so lucky. I have passed the Corbett park
twice but unfortunately both the times it was not in the open season.
I want to know what camera did you use. All the luck for future travels.
DevD.

[Country Road]

Hey you lucky guy. I have been there 5 times and never sighted anything more then the local dogs, deers, peacock, elephant etc. A TIGER was only in my dreams. I promised myself that I shall never waste my money on JC. Sigh. Some guys have all the luck. Cheers. More snaps please.

[Bala_R]

Originally Posted by PearlJam

Wow, you're really lucky to spot the tiger. We had done a total of 6 safaris in Bijrani and Dhikala, but still failed to spot the tiger :-(

Thanks. I indeed consider lucky, since I was able spot the tiger in my only safari at Jim Corbett.

Originally Posted by gops

Wow! You are really lucky. Well written & nice pics.

~Gops

Thanks

Originally Posted by Dev D

Bala, i envy you, you guys are so lucky. I have passed the Corbett park
twice but unfortunately both the times it was not in the open season.
I want to know what camera did you use. All the luck for future travels.
DevD.

I have Nikon D50. The lens used here is Tamron 55-200mm.

Originally Posted by Country Road

Hey you lucky guy. I have been there 5 times and never sighted anything more then the local dogs, deers, peacock, elephant etc. A TIGER was only in my dreams. I promised myself that I shall never waste my money on JC. Sigh. Some guys have all the luck. Cheers. More snaps please.

Country Road, This is all the pictures I got. I did not just go on clicking. Other wildlife I spotted was some deer, peacock, Storks, Kingfisher & monkeys. All the birds were far out of reach of the lens I had. We did not stop to click snaps of the deer.

[csentil]

I am so jealous man....

[harjeev]

Great pictures dude!!And yes as all have said you are very lucky to spot a tiger on your 1st visit!!! I have been there 4 time in the past 2 years and never spotted a tiger.
Sometimes it plain luck!!! You can now imagine the excitement that comes with experiencing something like this in the wild. This is exactly what make me go there again and again!!!