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Old 26th November 2012, 16:45   #16
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

Congratulations on having the courage and drive to follow your dreams.
Now that you have introduced a new serene destination for wildlife enthusiasts I am sure you will be having many people visiting the Satpura National park.
You have rightly said about the tiger sightings we generally have in the other larger national parks dont really display thier elusive behaviour, they are at complete comfort sitting among dozens of gypsys loaded with over enthusiastic tourists like us :-)
The Leapord is just great.
Will keep coming back to this thread for further updates.
Thank you.
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Old 26th November 2012, 17:54   #17
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

A pristine sanctuary where the wild is not sensitised to human prescence. This is some place that needs to be explored. I should start making plans for April

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Originally Posted by sarmarishi View Post

Tiger sightings are rarer as they are not habituated to human presence like in other parks. This is one park where you can actually see proper Tiger behaviour in terms of shying away, hiding a few feet away from you, basically how tigers actually should be.

A walk in the pristine. I am already getting a tingling sensation reading about the growling Tiger.

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Originally Posted by sarmarishi View Post

Walking in Tiger country is just brilliant. We have had some fantastic leopard, bear (most common), wild dogs sightings on walks and have also come across a tiger once on a walk. We could hear it growl but couldnt see it.
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Old 10th December 2012, 21:57   #18
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

Rishi, first of all congratulations for your decision to move from B'lore to MP in pursuit of your dream. A bold move, and I hope you get the fulfillment you sought.

This maybe a little bit off topic, but could you throw some light as to how did you come about this opportunity and what guided your decision? Was there any resistance?

Could you also throw some light on the walk in the park? This is probably the first (at least the first time I have heard of), and it would be good to know more about how these walks are conducted, what safety measures are available and what precautions one should take.
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Old 25th September 2013, 19:18   #19
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

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Originally Posted by sarmarishi View Post
Thanks for your comments.
I am driving down to Tadoba and Satpura National Park mid of Oct. Will give you a buzz if you are around that time.
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Old 1st October 2013, 09:54   #20
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

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Originally Posted by nilanjanray View Post
I am driving down to Tadoba and Satpura National Park mid of Oct. Will give you a buzz if you are around that time.
Hi Nilanjan,

Yes I am very much here. Trying to get the lodge ready after the huge monsoons that this region had this year. IT will be lovely to have you at the lodge. Do let me know if you would like to come stay here at Forsyth's Lodge. I will be happy to offer you a very special rate as a Team-BHPian and a fellow wildlifer/ photographer. Please do write to me on rishi@forsythlodge.com with the no. of people you will be travelling with and what are your dates so I can let you know on availability and rate. The benefit of staying with us is that you will have a naturalist along with you on your jeep or whatever safari you do.

Will look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,
Rishi
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Old 1st October 2013, 10:05   #21
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

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Originally Posted by honeybee View Post
Rishi, first of all congratulations for your decision to move from B'lore to MP in pursuit of your dream. A bold move, and I hope you get the fulfillment you sought.

This maybe a little bit off topic, but could you throw some light as to how did you come about this opportunity and what guided your decision? Was there any resistance?

Could you also throw some light on the walk in the park? This is probably the first (at least the first time I have heard of), and it would be good to know more about how these walks are conducted, what safety measures are available and what precautions one should take.
Hi Honeybee,

Thank you for the wishes. My decision to move was purely due to my love of wildlife and monotony of sitting for hours in an office with a computer screen staring at you. Life here is excellent. I have now finished 2 years and my 3rd year starts now and I don't feel like I am working at all. It is also great to meet with people with similar interests from all around the world.

The walk as I have mentioned is in the National Park. The guests are given a proper briefing before the walk by our naturalist and we only take a maximum of 4 guests. The guests will have a naturalist in front and a park guide at the back and we carry bear sprays, Bear horn and long walking sticks. The only thing in our jungle which you will need precaution on is the Sloth Bear. and our guides and naturalists have been trained on that so that it is completely safe for our guests. The walks are especially good for looking at things that you would ideally miss on the jeeps. Also, we get fabulous sightings of sloth bears and wild dogs on our walking safaris.

I hope I have been able to shed some light on the walks and will look forward to seeing you here soon.
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Old 1st October 2013, 13:57   #22
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

Quote:
Originally Posted by sarmarishi View Post
Hi Nilanjan,

I will be happy to offer you a very special rate as a Team-BHPian and a fellow wildlifer/ photographer.

The benefit of staying with us is that you will have a naturalist along with you on your jeep or whatever safari you do.

Will look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,
Rishi
Rishi - very nice of you to extend this offer to Nilanjan. I am taking liberty of accepting it on his and other tBHP and wildlifers' behalf

Jokes apart - this is really nice of you and thank you for the courtsey extended.

I had some queries on the safari part of things - from your writings, i feel that Satpura does not have a "official" Safari timings, etc and it is pretty much on the tourists? Can you pls give us the details of -

1. How to book a Safari?
2. Can we take our vehicles in the jungle?
3. Are there any regimented timings for the safaris?
4. Are there "independent" Gypsys available for Safari - or it is required to align with some resort as only they will have the Gypsys?
5. If someone books a Safari from the forest deptt, will there be an official guide allocated? or?
6. Charges?


I know these are a lot of questions, sorry for that, it is only to better understand for planning purposes. Pls try to respond with as much details as you can.

Thanks.

P.S:- It would be nice to have more pics from your stay in Satpura, we are still waiting for more pics and blogs. They are a nice read

Last edited by sach.sri : 1st October 2013 at 13:58.
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Old 1st October 2013, 15:30   #23
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

Wow, that is one bold decision you took. Kudos , you're a role model for poor fellows like me.

Do you mind throwing more light on how your trip got converted into a full time job opportunity, as you state that you were there from September,2011 (or you meant that you started on this job from September,2011).

My maternal family is from Madhya Pradesh, so i keep visiting the places around quite often. I have been to Bandhavgarh couple of times, on my mandatory visits to Rewa to meet my inlaws.

Will plan to drop down to Satpura side next time around. Also what's the speciality of the Satpura National Park (like Bandhavgarh is for the tiger especially if you get a booking in Tala Zone 1).

Last edited by somitra1981 : 1st October 2013 at 15:32. Reason: Text added
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Old 2nd October 2013, 10:25   #24
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

Quote:
Originally Posted by sach.sri View Post
Rishi - very nice of you to extend this offer to Nilanjan. I am taking liberty of accepting it on his and other tBHP and wildlifers' behalf
Not a problem at all. Glad to. Answers to your questions below.

1. How to book a Safari?
Safaris are booked at the small office at the entance before you cross the river to enter the park. No pre-booking allowed. Only lodge guests get priority booking as we have donated vehicles which are kept on the other side. There are only 12 vehicles and of these 9 are lodge vehicles so if we are not using them then they give them out to people coming directly.

2. Can we take our vehicles in the jungle?
No you cannot at you have to enter the park by a motor launch and you cannot drive into it.

3. Are there any regimented timings for the safaris?
Yes, it is sunrise to 11 am and then from 3 pm to sunset until and unless you are doing a full day drive to Churna.

4. Are there "independent" Gypsys available for Safari - or it is required to align with some resort as only they will have the Gypsys?
All are forest department Gypsys and again because of the river.

5. If someone books a Safari from the forest deptt, will there be an official guide allocated? or?
Yes a guide is given with every jeep.

6. Charges?
These charges vary for different activities. Jeep is different to Canoeing safaris, walking safaris, elephant safaris, Motor boat safaris, etc. A jeep round will cost about Rs. 3500 for a jeep hire+guide fees+entry fee.

Quote:
P.S:- It would be nice to have more pics from your stay in Satpura, we are still waiting for more pics and blogs. They are a nice read
I have been so busy with uploading pics into our facebook page and website that I havent had the time to write here in Team-BHP. I will do it soon. Hopefully Nilanjan will help me with it soon once he visits


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Originally Posted by somitra1981 View Post
Will plan to drop down to Satpura side next time around. Also what's the speciality of the Satpura National Park (like Bandhavgarh is for the tiger especially if you get a booking in Tala Zone 1).
To put it simply, Satpura is a place which offers a complete wildlife experience. We do have Tigers but we don't highlight it as sightings are rare and we hope it will remain like that so that the park remains peeaceful and quite and not overcrowded with Tiger tourism. What the park offers is fabulous Sloth bear, wild dogs and Leopard sightings apart from all the other wildlife like the cream coloured gaur, Indian Giant Squirrels, etc.
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Old 14th December 2021, 17:02   #25
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

Bumping up a very old thread.

@Rishi - are you still with Forsyth lodge? I am planning a MP jungle trip again and wanted to visit Satpura also this time around. Please ping me - i want to pick your brains on the planning.

Thanks.
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Old 19th December 2021, 10:43   #26
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

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Originally Posted by sach.sri View Post
Bumping up a very old thread.

@Rishi - are you still with Forsyth lodge? I am planning a MP jungle trip again and wanted to visit Satpura also this time around. Please ping me - i want to pick your brains on the planning.

Thanks.
I am not in Satpura anymore but a close friend of mine is managing Forsyth Lodge now. I can connect you to him. I am based in Bhutan now.
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Old 21st December 2021, 16:20   #27
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Re: Satpura National Park - The little jewel of MP

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Originally Posted by sarmarishi View Post
I am not in Satpura anymore but a close friend of mine is managing Forsyth Lodge now. I can connect you to him. I am based in Bhutan now.
Thanks for the response Rishi. I changed my plans to goto Satpura as i was not getting any credible information plus the tickets were getting sold out everywhere

I will reach out to you - with more time in hand and at a less crazy time.

Stay Safe

P.S:- you are staying in one awesome place after another
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