16th January 2018, 16:52
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| Distinguished - BHPian   | Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve : Just another quick travelogue As of today, there are 28 travelogues in the Team-BHP Travelogues forum when one searches with the keyword Tadoba (not incuding the Route / Travel Queries sub-forum). Compared to that, Corbett has less than 20, Ranthambhore (variously spelt Ranthambore) and Pench have 18, and Bandhavgarh has 11. Seems that Tadoba is the place to go to, for spotting tigers!  It also appears that the most prolific poster of Tadoba threads is BHPian nilanjanray, and I just had to call him directly, seeking specific information about Tadoba at the end of 2016. We had planned to visit Tadoba in the beginning of 2017, but an unfortunate event in the family caused us to abandon all plans, tickets & bookings, and rush to Kolkata. However, all the gleaned information was stored away, to be utilized a year later. BHPian and good friend Samba had also visited Tadoba in October in October 2017, and was a great help with tips. I'd sometimes jokingly ask him to call / email the tigers he befriended there, and let them know that we would be visiting in January, and that they should make sure we were entertained well.  Towards the end of November 2017, I started making tentative plans about a short 4-day trip to Tadoba, taking some time out from a very busy schedule. Our daughter was visiting us, and we had a small window to do this. Such a short trip to a distant destination did not make driving a good option, especially since there would have been no option to catch up on sleep and enjoy the safaris. This sign has made its appearance in innumerable Tadoba travelogues, but just needs repeating again and again  The plan was to take the overnight Delhi-Secunderabad Duronto Express on Friday 5 January, get off at Balharshah at 8 AM on 6 January, take a car to Moharli, and start with 4 back-to-back safaris on 6 Jan afternoon, 7 Jan morning and afternoon, and 8 Jan morning - then catch an evening flight from Nagpur back to Delhi. Fingers crossed, we hoped not to be delayed by the notorious north Indian fog on our journeys. Unfortunately (though, I consider this fortunate), the departure was delayed by almost 7 hours - which meant we would not reach in time for the 6 Jan afternoon safari. A quick check of flight tickets was a surprise - DEL-RPR-NAG by Air India for the next morning was at 3k INR! This was such a windfall, we changed travel plans immediately, not the least because Indian Railways offers 100% refund for trains delayed beyond 4 hours. Pre-dawn flight at 5:35 AM ensured we did not get stuck in the Delhi fog that rolled in an hour later   Who needs business class when economy seats are going empty!  Give anyone a chance to lie down and rest, and they will!  Met at the airport by a very well-maintained Manza diesel taxi with this number on the odo...  Uneventful journey to Moharli, except for a flat tyre at Chandrapur (yes, the driver decided to take the longer route via Chandrapur, because the road is better, he said). An excellent brunch stop at the Hotel Ashoka Jam  Chandrapur covered in dense smog from the thermal power plant in the background   The road sign reminded me of the Facebook logo for a second  We checked in at the MTDC Tadoba, and tried to call up our contact who was to take care of our safaris. That's when the magnanimity of the one problem that would dog us for the next two days, came to the fore. There was no mobile network on any of our phones - Airtel, BSNL and Vodafone. And thre was no landline anywhere either.   The Reception guy kindly loaned us his phone running on Idea network, told us to stand at a specific spot on the property, and to dial and talk on speakerphone (putting the phone to the ear made the signal disappear). Connection made, we found that our safari bookings were already confirmed.   So off we went to the Moharli gate, paid the requisite fees (Rs.1000 entry fee, Rs.200 as camera fee, Rs.350 as guide fee, and Rs.2500 for the Gypsy, which includes pick-up and drop from one's hotel).  All aboard and ready to roll  And the anticipation of seeing a tiger was whetted by the drive over the red murram roads, never mind the dust kicked up by the wheels of the Gypsy ahead  Last edited by SS-Traveller : 20th January 2018 at 22:15. |
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17th January 2018, 21:54
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| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve : Just another quick travelogue Safari #1 | Tadoba Core Area - Entry through Moharli Gate | 6 January afternoon The weather was warm - unbearably so, since we had arrived from Delhi, and were still wearing winter clothing, while it was 28 degrees C. The chill would set in towards the latter part of the afternoon, but for now, the jackets had to come off. Our driver and guide appeared to be experienced, with both having over 15 years of experience in doing this work. The guide had been part of the Naional Geographic team that made a documentary on Tadoba some years ago. One's chances of getting close enough to the wildlife, especially the big cats, depends a lot on the experience and understanding between the guide and the driver. We would soon discover that...  The usual spotted deer, sambar and langur are always on the menu when exploring the jungles. A few photos let one get the camera settings just right - and I discovered that my lens was not auto-focussing accurately all the time, requiring a bit of fiddling occasionally.  As mentioned earlier, the weather was warm. Warm enough for the deer to need a bath. And here we were, cooking our own skins in winter apparel!  A squabbling troop of langurs on the ground, scampered up into the trees as soon as our Gypsy approached.   These two majestic male sambar deer were spotted on the safari, but that loving gaze towards us happened due to a sound made by our guide - the mating call of the sambar. Experienced guides can distinguish between a sambar's mating call, and an alarm call when a tiger is on the move. That alarm call soon came from another part of the jungle, and got our Gypsy speeding towards its source...   ...and we come face-to-face (https://goo.gl/maps/oEGnz4K2GKP2) with one of the two sub-adult male cubs of the tigress known as Chhoti Tara, aged roughly 1 year and 8 months, as he came strolling alongside the road.  There was already a column of Gypsies and Canters watching the tiger, as much as he stared back in disdain...  ..and came right on to the road...  ...to lie down right in the middle of the road in utter disregard of the crowd of vehicles on both sides.  The show had begun. We were in the middle of a pack of cars and buses, everyone shushing each other while each ooh-ing and aah-ing about the beauty of the beast.  The tiger of course proceeded to take a 15-minute nap right there...  ...until a muted roar from the jungle to the left of us woke him from his slumber. That's his brother and mother calling out to him, explained our guide.  The tiger reluctantly got up and proceeded to stroll back down the road away from us for a few yards...    ...and sat down again.  He seemed to be enjoying all the attention he was getting! The vehicles ahead of the tiger had gone away by this time, as had the Gypsies behind us who did not have a good view of the tiger. We were there along with another couple of Gypsies, one with a group of photographers with bazooka-sized lenses and apparently unlimited camera memory space!  Nah, this isn't comfortable, the tiger seemed to say, and got up a minute later...  ...to proceed towards the jungle towards our right.  The Gypsies started following the tiger, and our driver parked the vehicle 20 feet from where the tiger decided to sit down in the grass again. The following photograph was taken by our daughter on her cellphone, and gives a really good idea of how close the animal was. I have never been this close to a wild tiger!  The tiger proceeded to relax in the grass and stare at us, while shutters rattled from all the vehicles around us.    As the sun dipped lower in the sky, the tiger finally got bored of us. With a massive yawn it got to its feet...  ...stretched as only a cat can...  ...and walked off into the deeper parts of the jungle without so much as a glance backwards!  The meeting with the tiger lasted all of 35 minutes, and our first safari into Tadoba was thrilling beyond our wildest dreams. Quote:
Little did we imagine that there would be more interesting stuff waiting for us over the next two days, as we headed back to the MTDC Resort.  Last edited by SS-Traveller : 20th January 2018 at 22:25. | |
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19th January 2018, 10:48
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| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve : Just another quick travelogue Safari #2 | Agarjhari Buffer Zone, Tadoba | 7 January morning Confirmation of which zone we would be allotted, only came at 11 pm the previous night - that too, via a messenger who knocked on the door of our room! Sunday is a rush day for tourists at Tadoba, and our contact could not manage to allot us a core area safari. However, Agarjhari was said to have had sightings of two tigresses, Sharmili and Madhuri, over the previous week, and we had our fingers crossed and hoped for the best.  So at the crack of dawn, we were on our way to the Agarjhari entry gate in a Gypsy that the Reception person called to the MTDC.  It was a misty morning, quite cold, and the Gypsy was soon parked in the grassland adjoining the Erai Dam Reservoir (https://goo.gl/maps/Eqho81MSme52) to watch a bullfight! A herd of Indian Bison (Gaur) was grazing there, and we drove up right in time to watch a fight for dominance, as one of the older males was forced out of the herd.    The fallen tree in the background actually broke with a loud crack and fell when the two gigantic warring bulls collided with it during the fight.  The drivers and guides in the buffer zones are not as skilled, trained or experienced as their counterparts working in the core areas. The driver kept stalling the vehicle, and the guide did not have much clue about the flora and fauna of the area - for example, the guide could not tell the name of this bird...  ...or this flower.  I thought there would have been many more migratory birds in the water body during peak winter, but there were hardly any.  Luckily though, we managed to see a sloth bear grazing in the undergrowth. Not a great view, but this is the best picture I got. There are about 50-60 of these animals in Tadoba, and they are not that easy to spot.  We returned to the gate for a while.  The driver and guide received information that the tigress Sharmili had killed a sambar in the morning, and dragged it into the undergrowth, and was now feeding on it along with her cubs. They proceeded to run back to the Gypsy. The excitement of spotting a tiger was back again, as we sped to the area...  Now, where's the tigress? That's why she is called Sharmili - she hides from human eyes and does not come out in the open, explained our guide.  The tiger's yellow-and-black stripes are one of the best patterns of camouflage in the jungle - and not without good reason. However much we tried to spot the tigress supposedly hiding in the dense grove of bamboo, our eyes seemed to play tricks and we were never sure whether we saw the real thing, or just a play of light and shade among the leaves. Shot frame after frame, and on closer analysis, I found the following frame may have captured a part of the tiger. You decide!  Anyway, we had two more safaris to go on, and we crossed our fingers and hoped our luck would be better in the next 24 hours. Last edited by SS-Traveller : 19th January 2018 at 19:55. |
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20th January 2018, 09:40
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| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve : Just another quick travelogue Safari #3 | Junona Buffer Zone, Tadoba | 7 January afternoon We received news at 1 pm that our afternoon safari had been booked at the Junona Buffer Zone. The entry gate to the Junona zone is hardly 200m away from the main gate of MTDC Tadoba, and we strolled over, to pay our fees and climb into the allotted Gypsy.   Our guide is a resident of Junona village, which is inside the Junona Buffer Zone, and he had many stories to tell - which was as well, since there were not many interesting animals or birds to spot or photograph in this zone. There were stories of the times when tigers and leopards attacked the village's livestock, and about how the Forest Department is trying to relocate the villagers to another area outside the Reserve Forest. Of how the Forest Department picks the youth of the local villages and gives them a few days of rudimentary training, puts them into a uniform and makes them guides, so that they earn a little and also act as the department's eyes and ears. Of there being small-scale agarbatti-making units in these villages, funded by the Forest Department, to induce the women not to go into the forest and cut down trees. Of how, earlier, bamboo groves were cut down by the villagers to make products that they would go and sell in the Chandrapur market.   Junona is not quite a good zone for spotting wildlife, since it includes 3 populated villages, Junona, Dewada and Adegao. In fact, the same area can be approached from the main road between Moharli & Chandrapur, the gate being located bang opposite the Agarjhari zone which we travelled to in the morning. After an hour of rambling around in a forest devoid of anything more interesting than a few domestic cows, and the village temple at Dewada, we pulled up to the inside of the Dewada-Adegaon gate for a cup of tea. The photograph of the signboard was taken earlier in the morning as a memory aid - little did we know then, that we would wind up on the other side of it later in the afternoon!    After the tea break, our driver (a young chap who surprisingly wore Coke-bottle glasses) decided to take us along a narrow forest road to the other side of the highway into parts of the Agarjhari zone, and into Gaur territory. Certainly exciting to see these huge animals at close quarters, especially when they run.       This Indian Roller sat so stock-still alongside the road where Gypsies were passing by, that I had for a moment wondered whether it was even real!  Eagle's nest overflown...  Not adept at photographing birds!  On the way back, we stopped at this artificial water body since the guide wanted to show us crocodiles. Nothing that we could see...  Entry for private diesel vehicles has been banned in the Tadoba Core and Buffer zones, but not if you are a big guy in the Maharashtra government - in which case you can take a couple of Sumos into the forest for a safari. I suppose they didn't see any tigers...  ...but shall we see any tomorrow morning, on our last safari at Tadoba for this trip? And where would we get our zone allotment? Fingers crossed and hoping for the best... Last edited by SS-Traveller : 20th January 2018 at 12:21. |
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20th January 2018, 16:43
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| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve : Just another quick travelogue Safari #4 | Tadoba Core Area - Entry through Moharli Gate | 8 January morning We are resigned to the possibility of getting another allotment in one of the Buffer Zones on Monday morning, and had quite made up our minds that if that be so, we would skip the trip and laze around in our rooms. Only at 5 am the next morning did we get confirmation that our final safari of this trip would be in the Core Area - our contact had called the Reception guy after midnight, and he had in turn called for a Gypsy to pick us up at 6 am. As we were about to leave for Moharli Gate, these folks approached us at the Reception to request if they could join us for the safari. They were visiting the town of Warora nearby, and had come to Moharli on the off-chance that they might be able to visit the forest. We agreed to take them along. Maybe their getting lucky would give us some luck in spotting tigers again!  The weather was chilly, with a lot of mist, and visibility was low. But what about getting lucky this morning? Well, we would soon find out if taking 2 extra passengers in our Gypsy helped... We also had a young but experienced guide who has been working at Tadoba for close to 14 years, and our driver seemed to handle the Gypsy in a very competent manner - far better than the ones who had driven us around yesterday. When you see another Gypsy stopped on the road with a big lens sticking out, you wonder what they've spotted...  ...and then it turns out to be a spotted deer and not a tiger, and you feel a little disappointed.  And then we drove up to this open grassland when another 4 or 5 Gypsies were already lined up, and it was a glorious sight in the mist! One of the two sub-adult male cubs of Chhoti Tara made a majestic appearance and sat down behind a rock.   Soon his brother joined him, both looking intently into the distance. Our guide explained to us that in the grassland behind the abandoned village to our right (off-limits for safari vehicles), grazed a herd of spotted deer - and the two tigers, informally named Karan and Arjun by the drivers and guides, were getting ready to grab their breakfast!  One of the tigers moved closer, and took up position...     ...and the other soon followed.   The stalking was on     The other tiger continued to hold position...  ...as the one in the lead moved forward stealthily.   Soon we lost sight of the tiger in the lead, while the second one made its leisurely way towards the abandoned temple.  Offering prayers for a better hunt the next time?  What a great beginning to the safari! The weather was clearing up as the mist lifted, and the sun shone brightly. Karan-Arjun had gone out of sight, but we still had a couple of hours to explore further.  Last edited by SS-Traveller : 20th January 2018 at 20:41. |
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20th January 2018, 19:24
| #6 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve : Just another quick travelogue Safari #4 | Tadoba Core Area - Entry through Moharli Gate | 8 January morning | continued... Ten minutes after meeting Karan-Arjun, we came face-to-face with the tigress known as Maya, as she strolled along the road, approaching a few Gypsies ahead of us.  With the vehicles bunched up and unable to reverse quickly, she went off the road for a bit...  ...before climbing back on the road once again between two vehicles.   With a disapproving look, she went off the road again...    ...this time to mark her scent against a tree.  Territory marked, Maya wanted to come back on the road again, and she came up almost alongside of our Gypsy. Watch the video to notice how our guide and driver waited till the tigress turned towards the road, then he reversed very quickly to open up a large gap between our Gypsy and the one ahead. We were so lucky as to have no other vehicle behind us, as our driver continued to reverse expertly maintaining a constant gap between the tigress and the car. The guide explained that tigers are identified by their facial markings, and allotted numbers by the Forest Department - but the guides and drivers sometimes name them according to those markings which look similar to letters of the alphabet. Maya, for example, has a prominent marking on the side of her face that looks like the letter M.    She posed for a while and then majestically walked off into the jungle to our left, marking her scent against another tree.       For 22 minutes, we had a grandstand view of an animal that people spend days and weeks to get a glimpse of, and take just a few photographs. Of course, anyone would envy the job of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) scientists in this Bolero, who are engaged full-time tracking and monitoring the behaviour and habitat of the Royal Bengal tigers.  Back at the MTDC Tadoba, it was time to go home, and our taxi was waiting to take us to Nagpur.  Enough of wildlife. We are back to the world of domesticated animals.  : : : T H E _ E N D : : : Last edited by SS-Traveller : 20th January 2018 at 22:37. |
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20th January 2018, 22:56
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| Team-BHP Support   Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Mumbai
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20th January 2018, 23:40
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21st January 2018, 00:19
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| Distinguished - BHPian  | Re: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve : Just another quick travelogue That's some tremendous tiger sightings! This is what i call a 'Paisa Vasool' trip! (A trip worth every penny). Your sole criteria was tiger sighting and you got enough of it.  Great pics and detailed narration. Rated 5*Quote:
  Last edited by Samba : 21st January 2018 at 00:23. | |
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21st January 2018, 00:37
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21st January 2018, 12:11
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| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: KOLKATA INDIA
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21st January 2018, 12:33
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| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve : Just another quick travelogue Quote:
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). Stepping out of the vehicle would expose humans to tiger attacks, therefore the strict advisory not to get out of the vehicle at any time during the safari. However, I guess we've got over that fear partially, after being up close with tigers in Thailand a few times - though purists will say those are domesticated tigers while the Indian ones are wild.Quote:
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22nd January 2018, 14:57
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23rd January 2018, 08:23
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| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve : Just another quick travelogue Quote:
 Last edited by SS-Traveller : 23rd January 2018 at 08:26. | |
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23rd January 2018, 10:53
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