[souravc]

Whoa !! What a travelogue !! The road to Dhanbad and the stop at Durgapur brought back a flood of memories .. have done that journey many a times and I am from Durgapur
5 star mate !

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

Lovely travelogue with real nice pictures. Especially loved your Bandhavgarh, Bhedaghat and Khajuraho pictures.
Let me help you with some of the bird ids. There is a lesser adjutant stork, 2 thicknees or stone plovers, tree owl is a scopps owl and the Indian buzzard is actually a Oriental Honey buzzard.

The little cub with mama drinking water is priceless.

Thanks SPARKled. The guide might have told us the names when we spotted them but I was not sure. I was snapping away on the camera and little cub with mama just happened. There was too much undergrowth and even more jostling around to get a good view or pictures.

Originally Posted by eq24

man!!!, amazing pictures and might I add an adept hand at photography too. Seems like fun all the way. I have never been to those parts although always wanted too, being a civil engineer I have to say the structures at Khajuraho are marvelous. Have to plan a visit to these parts of India soon.

Most of the pictures were taken by my wife who generally is the official photographer. Yes, it was absolute fun going to these places in one's own car. If you plan a trip to Khajuraho, you will not regret it. Over a 1000 years ago, they had so much understanding and skills on architecture without all the technology aids we have will leave you amazed. I am sure a lot of folks doing their research on history or temple architecture spend a lot of time here.

Originally Posted by eq24

One question though, if you dont mind my asking, how much does a trip like this cost?. including travel, lodging, food and entry tickets.

As to your question of budget, it depends on how much luxury you want for yourself. If you are not traveling by your own car, hiring a cab could cost you upwards of Rs 10K or even more easily I guess depending on the cab type and the destinations you want to cover. I am guessing you will first come to a place like Jabalpur or Indore based on where you want to go. Only Khajuraho from Indore might cost less in terms of hiring a cab. There are tolls on the state highways only and they vary from Rs 15 to Rs 30. It is important to retain the receipts as they verify it at different points. No tolls on national highways in MP as they would be pretty ashamed of even mentioning about it due to the state they are in . Food charges are pretty nominal almost everywhere the only thing is while on the road the options are almost non existent unless you are in some decent town so its good to carry some eatables. As for lodging given that these are very tourist friendly places there are all options available from the super budget to the super luxurious. Bhedaghat would have a little less options but Khajuraho has plenty of places to choose from suiting your budget. But on an average somewhere above Rs 2000 and above should be decent in Khajuraho. You can PM me if you need more details.

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Nice travelogue and some good pictures.
Narration was very good and lot of tips on your trip is well taken.
I have a fair idea now about the road conditions in M.P. and planning to hit the road in M.P.
Thanks for updating the road conditions and some good eating places on the highway.

Thanks so much. The idea is to stick to the state highways in MP as much as possible.

Originally Posted by souravc

Whoa !! What a travelogue !! The road to Dhanbad and the stop at Durgapur brought back a flood of memories .. have done that journey many a times and I am from Durgapur
5 star mate !

Good to know that Sourav. Then you are familiarity with the notoriety of the RECD guys back in those days . Do you plan to make a trip around these parts of India in the future?

[Night_Hawk]

Nice narration. Good Pictures
It was an interesting read for me as I am planning a visit to pench next week.
Btw can you share details of the equipment you used for shooting those pictures

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by Night_Hawk

Nice narration. Good Pictures
It was an interesting read for me as I am planning a visit to pench next week.
Btw can you share details of the equipment you used for shooting those pictures

Thanks so much Night_Hawk. Good question on the equipment as I missed listing them in the posts. The pictures were selected taken from multiple cameras. All were point of shoots including my cell phone camera .

Here goes.
Nikon Coolpix P90
Canon Powershot SX120IS
My cell phone Nokia N97 mini

Actually realized time to invest in a good DSLR and lenses as I think I will be doing some nature and wildlife photography now often on my road trips.

[Fauji]

Wow!! Nice and detailed account of your drive in MP. You are so lucky to see the tigers in Bandhavgarh. I am envious.

Full marks and five stars!!!

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by souravc

5 star mate !

Thanks a lot for the 5 stars amigo.

Originally Posted by Fauji

Wow!! Nice and detailed account of your drive in MP. You are so lucky to see the tigers in Bandhavgarh. I am envious.

Full marks and five stars!!!

Thanks so much Fauji sir. A lot of credit for this trip becoming a success goes to road warriors like HVK sir, you, Sutripta da and a lot others who put up such detailed accounts on routes and travelogues and also valuable advice at every point. Hope I can do road trips like this and even bigger ones thanks to you guys and the entire TBHP community .

[souravc]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Good to know that Sourav. Then you are familiarity with the notoriety of the RECD guys back in those days . Do you plan to make a trip around these parts of India in the future?

Well I have been born and brought up in Durgapur, RECD was one of my favourite haunts during my engineering days - had a bunch of my school mates who were doing their engineering there and we used to have endless adda, cards and party sessions at the hostels during our holidays when I used to come from Kharagpur.
My parents are still there and have a whole lot of relatives around Asansol , Burdwan area so that belt is well travelled and I visit there at least once a year

[sach.sri]

nice detailed travelouge with loads of information for fellow travellers planning to take this trip!

Nice pictures - specially liked the pictures of temples from Khajuraho - and the ones of Khandariya Mahadeo temple. Very nice!

[W.A.G.7]

Super travelogue from start to end. So many myriad places & people and so many things you saw in those 7-8 days. It will be an experience of a lifetime. Sometimes I feel that we have much more to see in our country itself; before venturing out to see the world.

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

What is this bird?Attachment 901979

This bird is a lesser adjutant stork. When you enter Bandhavgarh forest from the Tala gate, there is always one present in the Charanganga river on the right. You can't miss him, he's always been there for ages now. Similarly when you turn left, there are a couple of owles sitting on the trees.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by sach.sri

nice detailed travelouge with loads of information for fellow travellers planning to take this trip!

Nice pictures - specially liked the pictures of temples from Khajuraho - and the ones of Khandariya Mahadeo temple. Very nice!

Thank you. I was too focused on this trip on the logistics and keeping track of roads, facilities, time, etc. so perhaps went too heavy on those details . Since parents were traveling with me, wanted to ensure I didn't push any limits anywhere.

Yes the Khandariya Mahadeva temple is best appreciated in the morning actually.

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Super travelogue from start to end. So many myriad places & people and so many things you saw in those 7-8 days. It will be an experience of a lifetime. Sometimes I feel that we have much more to see in our country itself; before venturing out to see the world.

Thanks so much. I agree, perhaps stretched a bit than should have in 7/8 days but then MP is like that. I realize I have only covered hardly 10-20% of things to see and do in MP. A look at the TBHP travelogues section is enough to tell one that even a lifetime is not enough to spend discovering our motherland.

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

This bird is a lesser adjutant stork. When you enter Bandhavgarh forest from the Tala gate, there is always one present in the Charanganga river on the right. You can't miss him, he's always been there for ages now. Similarly when you turn left, there are a couple of owles sitting on the trees.

So these are the permanent tenants now in Bandhavgarh since I have at least seen pictures of the owls in every Bandhavgarh travelogue here.

[gd1418]

The first one is a Black Drongo and the second one is the Eurasian Thick-knee

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

We spotted some lovely birds like this spotted fork tail

Attachment 901975

I don't even know what this one is called

Attachment 901976

Sorry. Forgot to write - "an amazing travelogue that brought back memories of my own visit to MP sanctuaries and Bhedaghat in April 2011".

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by gd1418

The first one is a Black Drongo and the second one is the Eurasian Thick-knee

Ah, my bad. I wonder how I got the name as spotted forktail for the first one.

Originally Posted by gd1418

Sorry. Forgot to write - "an amazing travelogue that brought back memories of my own visit to MP sanctuaries and Bhedaghat in April 2011".

Thanks a lot. I do plan to go back to a different one in MP. Most probably Pench.

[BlackPearl]

Very nice travelogue with lovely pics and narration. You have taken great pain in giving all the minute details and it will help us a lot in future. We plan to go to Bandhavgarh and will take this route. Thanks once again for sharing.

[samarjitdhar]

All, thanks for the ratings. My first 5* thread on TBHP. Yea .

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

Very nice travelogue with lovely pics and narration. You have taken great pain in giving all the minute details and it will help us a lot in future. We plan to go to Bandhavgarh and will take this route. Thanks once again for sharing.

BlackPearl, thanks so much. Are you planning to take your white elephant or your Baleno (if you still have it). PM me if you need any other details about route/stay options/any other info.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Are you planning to take your white elephant or your Baleno (if you still have it). PM me if you need any other details about route/stay options/any other info.

Unfortunately I don't have the Baleno anymore. Sold it off when I went to USA :-( Now I have got a pre-owned Esteem and the Bolero. Will take the Bolero due to the diesel advantage and go-anywhere capability. I will PM you when I plan to go there. How many days should I need if I visit only Bandhavgarh?