29th April 2020, 18:39
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| Christmas Holiday in Madhya Pradesh Hello all! This is my first travelogue on this august forum. So please bear with me if there are any mistakes. Also, let me state that all the photos and videos you will see in this were taken by an almost 5 year old iPhone6S, so the picture quality will be a far cry from what is usually seen here. I must admit that I was dilly dallying about whether to post my travelogue here because of this reason, however the ongoing lock down gave me some free time, and finally I mustered up enough courage to give it a shot. As everybody know, Delhi is a city with very easy access to the most famous places of India, be it mountains, desert or the timeless Taj Mahal. And that does make for very easy vacation planning. With 2019 about to come to an end and our Swift not getting a chance to leave the city limits for the whole year, I was determined to make amends for that during Christmas or New Year. Since both fell on Wednesdays, taking 4 day leaves would give me and my wife 9 continuous days. I had some work on the 1st January weekend, so it was decided that we will take the previous week(i.e Christmas week) off. Now came the task of finalizing a place. I have never driven in the mountains before, and since we particularly wanted to give our car a chance to stretch her tires, mountains was ruled out. We have been to Rajastan multiple times, so that was ruled out as well. Punjab,UP and MP remained, with Lucknow emerging as a strong contender since I have never been there. But ultimately, we zeroed in on Madhya Pradesh(Khajuraho, Panna, Jabalpur and Gwalior). So, in preparation, I got the car serviced from Maruti Narayana in November. All was well and the SA assured me that I could go ahead. Little did I know that I would get a big scare on the very first day of the trip. More on that later!! Day 1 21st December 2019: Target Khajuraho December 2019 was particularly cold, even colder than January 2020. And as is the norm nowadays, it was accompanied by thick smog which as per reports, covered the whole of north India. We had plans to start by 4, but eventually, could manage to start only at 6AM.  Odometer at the start of the trip. However, the actual distance traveled is 25XX KM more than what is shown. This is because the entire assembly was replaced during the second year of ownership, because of a faulty oil gauge. Traffic was less in Delhi and we managed to reach Yamuna Expressway within 45 minutes. But the horror started soon after. SMOG. As daylight started to appear, the smog appeared to intensify. The funny thing is, till the time it was dark, the smog was pretty manageable. End Result: we managed to reach Agra after 10AM. Not good for us at all since we lost the only window where we could have made good time.  Condition of Yamuna Expressway. Plenty of people were gunning their engines with their blinkers on even in this condition. After reaching Agra, we faced another issue. Mobile internet was blocked in UP because of anti CAA protests, and since we were not going to Ladakh, I didn't even think of downloading offline maps, even after reading in the papers that mobile internet was blocked in parts of Delhi in the previous week. So in UP (Agra and Jhansi), we had to do it the old fashioned way: rolling down the window and asking for directions.  This is the condition of the Agra Gwalior stretch. It was past 11 AM when this picture was taken. Because of heavy traffic(we spent almost 30 minutes in Morena, because of an under construction flyover) and numerous diversions resulting from road widening, we managed to reach Jhansi around 4PM (including 30 minutes breaks for breakfast and lunch). But since I am not comfortable driving in the night, Khajuraho seemed elusive. We agreed to push on till evening, after which we will halt at the first available hotel. But fate had other plans. 22KM before Mauranipur, the battery died. We were stuck in a place with no settlements around and with only around 15 minutes of daylight left. You can read all about our experience here (Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road). And again, a big thank you to Vikram Singh and his brother Gaurav Singh, the guys who actually helped us restart the car. Since it was almost 7PM by the time they managed to restart the car, it was obvious that Khajuraho will have to wait till the next day. There was only 1 hotel in Mauranipur and we had no choice but to spend the night there. The below picture is taken from GoIbibo since I forgot to take a picture of the facade.   Our room  Dinner after a very long day The tariff was 1200/- including taxes. The rooms were clean and the food was good for the price. However, I must mention an incident which I found very creepy. We had just checked in and were calling our families to tell them of our experience, when without warning, a man entered. We had left the door unlocked since they said our dinner will come within 15 minutes. Although he immediately apologized and closed the door, the same thing happened after 5 minutes. After that, till the time we checked out next morning, we never kept the door unlocked. If you are unfortunately forced to spend the night at this hotel, keep this in mind and be on your guard. Day 2 22 December 2019: Khajuraho at last The first thing we did was to change the battery. Since the stock battery was Exide, I opted for Exide again. Total price was around 3.5 K, after trading in the old battery. The car didn't throw any more tantrums for the remainder of the trip and, also has been running perfectly ever since. Hats off to Suzuki's reliability (this was actually the first time the car broke down, and since it was because of the battery, can't fault the car for this), although they should do much much more on the safety front.  The mechanic checking the condition of the old battery, prior to inserting the new one. It was past 10:30 when the battery was finally replaced.  Started for Khajuraho after this. Some portions of the road were excellent.  But for the most part, it was like this.  We went through villages  Past historic structures.  Even past a dam on the Dhasan river (a tributary of the Betwa river which flows past Orcha) And a railway crossing  To finally reach Khajuraho around 1PM. Because of the unpredictable nature of India's highways, we usually avoid booking hotels in advance. And boy, did it pay off this time since we were late by a whole day. But it also means paying surge price during Christmas time. Any hotel with enclosed parking was quoting around 3k on MakeMyTrip. We tried MPTDC hotel Payal, but they informed that they were full. But they directed us to another MPTDC property: Tourist village. This looked good and was a steal @1.5K. So we checked in at this place for the next 2 days.  The entrance  Another shot  Our "Cottage"  Our steed visible from the porch  Interiors  This intricately carved door leads to the bathroom. Our hotel was less than 1KM from the western group of temples. This group is the most famous and by far, the best preserved of all the Khajuraho temples. I wanted to walk there (easily doable), but my wife was against it. So, after freshening up, drove over to the western group of temples. Now, it was almost 4PM, so we decided against entering. Just got the tickets to a light-and-sound show in the evening and returned.  Western group of temples from outside the compound  The show which started at 8PM  Please excuse the grainy night-time shots. This is where even the latest phones will not hold a candle in front of a DSLR camera.  In-spite of pushing the slider to the absolute top to let more light in the lens, these pictures are all that I could manage. We always make it a point to visit these light-and-sound shows wherever they are present. This is primarily to get a feel of the place at night, which is otherwise not possible. Trust me, even with all the people around, these places have a magical vibe about them after dusk which should not be missed at any cost. Thus ended the second day of our trip. Day 3 23 December 2019: Khajuraho Today we didn't have anywhere to go. So woke up late, had breakfast at the hotel and started for the temples.  Breakfast of Puri Sabzi. I really liked the plates. Now, Khajuraho is a very famous place with a well documented history. So, I will spare you the details since all I know is either from Wikipedia or from what our guide told us. Instead let me post whatever pictures we clicked in no particular order.  Only this picture is taken from Wikipedia. It shows the plan which is followed in almost all the temples.   Us  The erstwhile Sanctum Sanctorum   Check out the roof!! Last edited by avi_swift : 30th April 2020 at 20:55. |
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30th April 2020, 17:12
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| BHPian Join Date: May 2015 Location: New Delhi
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| Re: Christmas Holiday in Madhya Pradesh Since I have reached the limit of 30 pictures, let me continue here. Day 3 Contd   Erotic carvings consists of only 10% all carvings  Yet mention Khajuraho to anyone, and the first thing to probably come to their minds are erotic sculptures  Later restorations to strengthen the structure  This particular carving shows Zoophilia (had to Google for this  ). Just look at the manner in which the lady at the back has been depicted hiding her face. Our guide showed us other sculptures which showed a man pulling the hair of the woman, emphasizing that rapes were a problem even back then. He also showed us sculptures where the woman is holding what looked like a modern ladies handbag, ladies brushing hair, applying vermilion etc. But these were mostly at an upper level, beyond the range of cameras without optical zoom.     Us again        I believe these are called Chandrashila (moon stone steps). They were present at the entrance of all the temples  And finally, our guide informed us that this particular panel is the most famous in the entire western group, responsible for a good share of Khajuraho's erotic reputation. It was past 2 when we finally made our exit. We have been here since 10AM and were very hungry by now. Headed over to a place called Raja Cafe just across the road from the western group. It's a good place with a great view of the temples and tasty food.  View of the temples from the cafe  Lunch Post lunch,we visited the eastern and southern groups. These are far away from the western group and also appeared to be comparatively uncared for.      Dog tired, we came back to the hotel. Had an early dinner around 7:30 and called it a day. Last edited by avi_swift : 30th April 2020 at 17:15. |
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30th April 2020, 18:41
| #3 |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2015 Location: New Delhi
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| Re: Christmas Holiday in Madhya Pradesh Day 4 24th December 2019: Panna Day 4 was also an easy day. Panna is hardly 50 KM away, so we started after 12. 45 minutes later, we were at Eriline Resorts. Since we made the safari bookings after reaching Khajuraho (last Sunday), afternoon slots for 24 December was full. So, we had booked for 25th December morning.  Roads were good  This is actually the main building of the resort housing the dining room, kitchens, staff rooms etc.  Guests stay at the back of the main building, in cottages like these.  Although small, the interiors were tastefully decorated. Tariff included all food i.e breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was expensive but the place was great and the food was very very tasty. So much that we forgot to click a single food picture here. However, this property is right by the highway, so you will miss the river(but its only a 5 minutes walk). There are other resorts which are by the Ken river but to get there, you will have to drive through some very narrow roads. We liked this place so much that we seriously contemplated extending our stay by a day, but in the end, we were very keen on visiting the famous marble rocks. So ruing the fact that an entire day was wasted before due to smog, traffic and battery problems, we decided to stick to our original plan. Lazed around for the rest of the day and went to bed early in preparation for our 6AM safari on Christmas. Day 5 25th December 2019: Panna & Bhedaghat Reached Karnavati camp which is barely 500M away from our resort but on the other bank of the Ken river. Anybody with a safari booking has to come here with the booking receipt and show them at the counter. The forest officials will allot the Gypsy. After the formalities were done, we got into our allotted Gypsy and crossed the river again, since the Madla gate of Panna national park is bang opposite our resort.  All set to enter on a chilly winter morning No, we didn't see tigers. But I like jungles and I wasn't complaining. Don't go to the jungles fixated on tigers, else there is a very big chance that you will be disappointed. Instead just enjoy the ambiance, it's very different than what we are used to in the cities.    A long time back, I read on a jungle travelogue here on Team-BHP about the situation faced by a non birder in the presence of hardcore birders. We faced the exact same situation. We were 5 people in our Gypsy. Besides us, there was a doctor couple from Jabalpur and a guy from Lucknow. All 3 are avid birders and came prepared with big big cameras. I was smiling to myself comparing what was written in that travelogue and what was happening before us: STOP... Go ahead 1 meter... STOP.. Reverse half the distance.. STOP.. Go ahead just a tad more.. And good shot!! I was surprised that despite all of them wearing glasses, they were able to see small birds on top of trees, while I was straining to see with my bare eyes.  Jungle Tracks  Ken River. There is also a place where you can hire a boat, however we were forced to give that a miss as there was an almost 1 hour waiting time for the boat. We were sorry to miss that, I'm sure it would have been a memorable experience to float past a very scenic jungle on a boat.  There was a kill here (not very visible in this picture, but we could faintly see it through the bushes). We waited almost 45 minutes hoping for the tiger to return but he didn't oblige. Previously, I have been to Ranthambore, and I would pick Panna over the former any day. In Ranthambore, you can only go only to the zone for which you have the tickets, but here we wandered about all the zones from 6AM all the way till noon. Then, Ranthambore has big noisy diesel canter trucks whereas in Panna, all the vehicles were petrol gypsies. So, in spite of the fort in Ranthambore (I admit it's a great view from the top), I believe Panna is more charming and peaceful of the two. Also your Panna ticket will cover for your entry in Raneh Falls (car and guide charges extra), but we opted out of that since we had to travel to Jabalpur. After returning to our hotel, quickly freshened up, had our lunch and managed to start our journey a little after 1 PM.  The road ahead cutting through the forests was spectacular.  Pretty soon, we were going uphill.  The road was very scenic, so what better place to stop and click a picture of our steed?  This is the top of the ghat section. It was downhill after this.  At the top. The drive in the 1.6KM ghat section was my first taste of hill like roads. Although I didn't face any problems, I was constantly worrying about what would happen if some genius takes a corner without sounding the horn. So in spite of excellent tarmac and wonderful scenery, I was sort of relieved when we finally came down on the other side.  Pretty soon the scenery changed to this.  Till the time we hit a tolled road after Katni. And no, please don't get deceived into thinking that this is like the Yamuna expressway. There were literally dozens of cattle on the road and you have to be very careful as a single high speed impact can cause great misfortune. We rolled into Bhedaghat around 7. Tried the MPTDC hotel but they just confirmed what was being shown on Makemytrip: there are no rooms left, only 'Tented Accommodation' was available and the tariff was 5K plus taxes. We were prepared for Christmas surge price but this was insane, and we were skeptical about spending so much money on government hotels. Yes, they have great location and great rooms, but I seriously doubt if it will be worth it if we had to spend so much. So we turned to another hotel available: Shagun Resorts. It looked good from the outside, but all the rooms royally sucked. We had done a recce of the area by driving around and saw that the other options sucked more. Then we seriously considered driving back to Jabalpur, but when all the attractions are in Bhedaghat, we didn't feel like staying 30 minutes away. So we were forced to come to the sad decision: we will manage here for 1 night and start our return journey next day. We were most exited about this place but unfortunately, we couldn't stay here longer.  Dhuandhar falls was right next to the place. We went for a visit but we were in for a rude shock. The falls were majestic, no doubt about that, but every nook and cranny of the rocks in front of us was littered with trash. Soft drink bottles and cans, mineral water bottles, cigarette packs ... you name it and it was there. And there were dozens of small shops selling these items, who were now winding up for the night. Last edited by avi_swift : 1st May 2020 at 16:44. |
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1st May 2020, 18:52
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| Re: Christmas Holiday in Madhya Pradesh Day 6 26th December 2019: Bhedaghat and Jhansi Woke up early next day since we had plans to go to Gwalior. The dinner at the hotel yesterday was equally bad.But since there are no restaurants at Bhedaghat, we didn't have any other options. For breakfast, we bought lots of fruits (oranges and bananas) from a roadside vendor.  One thing good about this place was you could park right in front of your room.  The place really has a lot of potential. The area is huge and there is a nice garden as well. I am confused why they don't put a little effort in keeping the rooms spick and span. Went to Marble rocks first.  We have to go this way for the rocks.  The opposite side It was not even 9, but it was still pretty crowded. There were boats offering rides for 100 bucks. But in these, you have to share the boat with other tourists. We heard that you can also hire a boat for yourself. If you do so, you will be offered a longer ride and you will even get a chance to stop the boat in front any marble mountain that catch your fancy and climb on top, although I'm not sure how safe that will be. But the image of trash that we saw in Dhuandhar falls the night before still played on in our minds, and we were also targeting to reach Gwalior by that night. So we didn't try for a private boat and went with whatever was in front of us. Big mistake as we found out.  All the boats were row boats. I didn't see a single motor boat there.  The canyon lies ahead.. Don't miss the commentary by the boatmen in the below videos:  Typical marble found in the area. Despite the plethora of shops selling marble objects, the boatmen informed us that mining is illegal in the area. The objects that are on sale are usually made with marble from Rajasthan. Good move by the government    Looking back... The Marble Rocks are awesome and completely deserves their fame. We were skeptical about what we might find because of the previous night, but as it turns out, from the water level(where any trash, if present, becomes invisible), they are fascinating. The boatmen told us it is also possible to visit them during full moon night, when the Narmada Mahotsav (Sharad Purnima) is going on. I surely look forward to visit Marble Rocks during this time because I am sure it will be a completely different experience.. with moonlight reflecting off the marble. After 45 minutes, we were dropped off from where we started. Spent some time looking for marble souvenirs for home. Shopping done, we went to Dhuandhar falls. There is a ropeway which gives a panoramic view of the falls and river. We went straight to that avoiding anything else. Turns out, the other side is a LOT cleaner.   It was quieter as well with very less people. Spent some time just watching the water cascade down with a roar. It was almost 1 when we were done. Quickly checked out and started for Gwalior. We hate it when a vacations seems just about rushing from one place to another, but in this case, we were forced to do so by the awful room.   Surprised to see this.  Soon we hit the forests again  This went on for quite some time. Thought the tarmac was good, there were times when the road was just single lane. Any opposite traffic and I had to go off the road. But this drive was by far the most enjoyable of the entire trip, with very less traffic and long stretches of forest.  Till we hit the tolled road to Jhansi  Fantastic tarmac but as before, be on your guard because of cattle. In spite of mostly good roads and scant traffic, by 6, we were only near the outskirts of Jhansi. Gwalior was merely 100 odd kilometres from there and on familiar roads since we used these roads for our onward journey. But since we were familiar with the road, we knew that the conditions will be bad with numerous diversions (due to ongoing road widening) many of which are not well marked, bad tarmac and heavy traffic. Google predicted 3 hours to Gwalior (internet was back in UP by then). Although this stretch will never be as desolate as the one where we were stuck earlier, we still decided to play safe and halt at Jhansi for the night. Found a decent hotel 'Srinath Palace' with enclosed parking and checked in. The below picture is taken from TripAdvisor since I forgot to click a picture of the facade of this hotel as well.   Fish at the reception  The rooms were big Last edited by avi_swift : 2nd May 2020 at 11:31. |
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2nd May 2020, 13:15
| #5 |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2015 Location: New Delhi
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| Re: Christmas Holiday in Madhya Pradesh Day 7 27th December 2019: Gwalior We have been to Gwalior before. So when we were forced to halt at Jhansi, we were pondering what to do. The main reason Gwalior was in our plan is because it's almost impossible to drive from Jabalpur to Delhi in 1 day unless you start at the crack of dawn. But Jhansi to Delhi is definitely doable in 1 day. But then, if we returned home on 27th, it would mean a very early end of our trip. So we decided that we will stay in Gwalior for that night and return on 28th. That would give us a whole day off on Sunday before office starts. I admit that I was looking forward to this because I wanted to see Gwalior fort again. My personal opinion is this is the second most impressive fort in India, right after Mehrangarh (I really admire forts and my favorite monument in Agra is not the Taj Mahal ). After few days with minimal pollution, smog returned to haunt us again.  Just before Gwalior, there was a massive snarl, probably more than 1 KM long. Seeing no other option, I followed other cars 'off road'.  Had to cross some pretty rough stretches. This poor fellow probably got stuck.  After a 15 minute delay, we were free of the snarl. We were inside the town limits by now and there is a railway track running by the road. It took more than 3.5 hours to travel the 100KM to Gwalior. We checked into Central Park hotel and went straight to the fort after freshening up.  The first stop was the statues of Jain Tirthankaras carved in the rock  All the statues were defaced under Babur.  But they were restored later.   The climb up was steep. But the good thing is traffic is regulated inside the fort. All vehicles are required to line up before the gate. Once the attendant verifies that all the vehicles which are going down has passed, he gives the go ahead for the fort bound vehicles. Once all of them has reached the top, the traffic on the other side is given the green light. This is actually necessary, else it would have led to lots of burnt clutch. Teli ki Mandir   Another angle  SaasBahu Temple The name is actually thought to be a corruption of 'SahasraBahu Temple'.   Divine rays ... Inside the larger (Saas) temple  Intricately carved sculptures inside  The smaller (Bahu) temple seen from inside the larger    The larger temple seen from inside the smaller  The town below us... Gwalior fort (Maan Mandir Palace) Due to fading light, I don't have any good pictures of the interiors of the Man Mandir palace. The insides are not well lit and are dark even during daytime. Still let me post a couple of them.  Window..  Lots of tile-work survives even today..  Facade of the Maan Mandir palace. This picture was taken around 5:30. Even in the fading light, the smog was noticeable.  The same place in October 2018.  Let me add another old picture. This is inside the Maan Mandir palace. Although it's much more intricately carved, whenever I see this picture, I am somehow reminded of the Star of David (Jewish Symbol). I even asked this to our guide but he was not aware of any Jewish connection to the fort.  Parting shot in front of SaasBahu Temple  Our hotel was decorated for the Christmas and upcoming New Year celebration. Last edited by avi_swift : 2nd May 2020 at 16:10. |
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2nd May 2020, 17:34
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| Re: Christmas Holiday in Madhya Pradesh 28 December: Gwalior and then back home Today we were returning to the daily grind after a visit to the Jai Vilas palace which we forced to leave out last time. The breakfast spread at the hotel was lavish. Started for the palace after filling up.  Our room  Here also, our steed was visible from our room Jai Vilas Mahal This palace is like the Umaid Bhawan of Gwalior, in the sense that both the royal families ditched their old forts for more modern residences. The royal family(Scindias) built this in the 1870s supposedly to welcome the prince of Wales.  You have to enter by this gate  This Second World War era gun lies outside. There were also 2 railway coaches built by ... hold for it .. Rolls Royce Apparently they were used by the maharaja when he went for inspection in the Gwalior light railway. This was the first time I ever heard of Rolls Royce making trains. But unfortunately, I probably deleted the picture since I can't find it anymore. The actual palace  Entry is through this door  The entire chariot(except wheels and other load bearing parts which needed to be made of iron) is made of silver. These maharajas sure led a ridiculously ostentatious lifestyle.  Hunting 'palki' complete with binoculars and lantern  Another silver chariot  Check out the banister  View from the inside   One of the many rooms  I believe this used to belong to a queen  Corridor..  Thakurghar  I really liked the stained glass  Fountain  Indian style dining room  Western style dining room  The famous train to distribute cigars and other stuff     The chandeliers in this Durbar hall are said to be the largest in the world. Apparently eight elephants were suspended from the ceiling to check the strength  Seeing a Rolls Royce train outside, I expected to see some of their automobiles as well. Instead the only car that we saw is this humble BMW Isetta. Well, they probably have not put their cars on display yet.. But I wasn't complaining since it was the first time I saw this car. Now the vacation was really over and it was time to go home. The return journey was uneventful. We started around 2PM and reached home after 9 with the last 2 hours spent in Delhi traffic.  The final count. Our steed officially passed 30000KM in this trip. But since the meter was reset after 25XX KM, in reality, she had passed the 30000 KM mark before starting. Also the time somehow got messed up during the trip. It was around 9:30 when this picture was taken. If you are still with me, I want to thank you for reading. Signing off for now.. Last edited by avi_swift : 2nd May 2020 at 18:22. |
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2nd May 2020, 19:07
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| Team-BHP Support   | |
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2nd May 2020, 20:18
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| BHPian  | Re: Christmas Holiday in Madhya Pradesh Congratulations Avijit, very nice travelogue. I almost traveled MP with you, no TL is complete as per me without the food clicks and the way you have included them proudly makes me wonder you are a foody too . The temples, falls and mahals are all very nice, so is the marble rock too. I long to visit MP sometime in future.As a matter of practice three things I always do nowadays are
During our last trip to Vishakhapatnam, we got way better hotels at cheaper rates during our overnight halt at Bhubaneshwar while returning by booking them on the go rather booking online that we had opted during the onward journey. Of course this works unless you are going to a remote area where its village or there is scarcity of hotel. Last edited by haisaikat : 2nd May 2020 at 20:29. |
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3rd May 2020, 15:49
| #9 | |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2015 Location: New Delhi
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| Re: Christmas Holiday in Madhya Pradesh Quote:
And yes I am a foodie, and being a Bengali, I have a 'softer' spot for sweets. Though it's a long way from Kolkata (if you want to drive), visit MP when you get the chance. It's a fascinating place with lots of forest and historic places. The tourist count is way less than Rajasthan, so you will find the whole experience more pristine. The downside is roads are not up-to the mark and scarcity of good hotels in some places (like Bhedaghat). Regarding hotels, what you said makes perfect sense. But since it was Christmas time, we thought pre-booking would be a better idea. But we didn't book for more than 1 day in advance: like we booked for Panna in Khajuraho, booked for Gwalior in Jhansi etc. The only fly in the ointment was Bhedaghat. Because there is practically only one hotel(MPTDC) there, right from the day we started checking after reaching Khajuraho, it consistently showed us very steep prices. Also if you don't mind, can I ask your opinion about the pictures? Since I used only a phone(an old one at that), I was hesitant about putting them here. | |
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4th May 2020, 11:19
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| Team-BHP Support | |
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4th May 2020, 21:29
| #11 | |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2015 Location: New Delhi
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| Re: Christmas Holiday in Madhya Pradesh Quote:
I agree MP is a very beautiful state but I feel it's underrated. For me, the drive through the long stretches of forest and the ghats was my best memory of the trip. In these parts, the traffic was low by Indian standards, and the tarmac was really good(although they deteriorated significantly in practically all other places except the tolled portion of the national highways). Regarding Panna, I think what you mentioned is correct. Our guide did mention that the number of big cats is quite high(forgot the exact number) and sometimes they venture out and prey on the village cattle. This leads to retaliation from the villagers it becomes a problem to control if it comes to that. He said that although there were sufficient prey in the forest, since tigers will not allow other tigers in their own territory, there has been instances when village cattle has been killed by the big cats. | |
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5th May 2020, 14:04
| #12 | |
| BHPian | Re: Christmas Holiday in Madhya Pradesh Quote:
Mods can merge this with previous post. | |
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