[lovecars21]

Well Samba this time you seem to be showered with Luck of sighting Tigers!
Very well written travelogue and superb pictures as always. While going through your TL I literally had to sit down and note points for planning our Jungle trip which hopefully I will be able to do when Ishaan grows up.
Rated 5 Stars

[haisaikat]

Wow, another EPIC account of travel Samba, this one surely will inspire us to consider MP for road trips. Rated 5 stars. Our little one has a hard time distinguishing wild vs domestic animals, let me try using your TL over this weekend to test his knowledge once again

Even I went to North Bengal around same time, yet to put up the TL owing to time crunch. I am amazed to see such clear star constellation pictures can be viewed from MP. My idea was they are easier to spot from hills with low light pollution, although I failed to spot this time due to lack of knowledge on their whereabouts.

Also you were in Jabalpur / Marble Rock around 31st Oct / 1st Nov only. If I recall Purnima was around that time only, did you not get a chance to visit the Marble Rocks in the full moon?

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

It seems that Kolkata Bhpians have shifted their focus from the Himalayas to Madhya Pradesh.

I look at the bigger picture, the immediate benefit is newbies (count me) have more ready made itineraries to consider for future trips beyond the usual ones and the icing on the cake being the stunning photos which can come to great aid in persuading others (read spouse)

[Travelmania]

Smooth walkthrough of an exiting trip. Very informative for fellow travellers. Speechless photographs are simply pushing my soul to visit the places. I would love to follow your footsteps to travel this part of the nation. Cheers SAMBA for an ecstatic and useful travelogue.

[ABHI_1512]

First things first- Superlative pictures of a well planned and well executed trip. I was myself excited for the trip ever since I first heard of it from you !! Wonderful sightings of the big cat and equally wonderful pictures will be a memory of the life time.

We, as an audience will also get the chance to savour the pictures every now and then and that’s a bonus. Wishing you many miles to you and our fellow BHPians, waiting for your next adventure since you guys are already in the planning mode again

Rated five stars

[sudhirbharadwaj]

Superb Travelogue ! I lived my own experience to Kanha and Bhandavgarh 12 years ago just reading your experience. Superbly narrated and thanks so much for transporting us to another world altogether.

[vnabhi]

Lovely TL Samba! Brought nostalgic memories to me of my trips to Bilaspur, Sambalpur, Hirakud and Rourkela. The tiger resorts you visited are also great--you are awfully lucky to spot so many in your first safari at either resort!

I had visited Tadoba a few years ago, and we could get sightings like you only on the 2nd day.

I can see that you crossed places like Manendragarh and Rajnagar. My DIL hails from that region, and we intend to visit that place sometime next year.

BTW, I don't think I have seen a TL on the route you have taken this far. Thanks for posting!

[arindam_xeta]

Samba recreates every trip once he is back home. This is unique of him apart from his driving and photography skills. It's been a long while since I wrote actively in team-bhp, but this trip surely warrants an account of it.

Let me share some videos off my Nexon and some pictures from my camera and then I'll add a few more details of relevance on top of what Samba has detailed already.

Ambikapur

Reaching Ambikapur, this is after you have taken left from Allahabad towards Ranka, this is mostly the character of the road all through after Allahabad, until you enter the forest stretch which was in really bad shape, dusty, rough and completely no tarmac for about 30 odd Kms.

https://youtu.be/4W_gBwZJHU4

The below is a glimpse of MP-SH11 this strech was a postcard to drive through

https://youtu.be/GNEC-8fofkI

Jabalpur

Sayata flexing and posing



Avi saving some pictures for matrimonial



My better half with my daughter



At Marble Rocks



Kanha - Safari

Our Gypsy for that evening, these smooth 4WD were awesome to hold and of-course to ride.
Picture Credit: Samba



All were super excited



A Sambar Deer, they were posing every now and then



He didn't look happy in those chains



These tuskers are used to maintain the forest these days, wasn't a good feeling seeing them chained, in monochrome to reflect his mood



A spotted deer



Gaur, oozing with BHP



Marked their territory successfully



A termite mound



Another Sambar Deer, they were so curious



Evening safari came to an end



Kanha was a treat to the eyes, continues in the next post

[arindam_xeta]

Kanha Continued ...

A new day (well after not seeing any tiger that was the best caption at that moment)



Open grasslands at Mukki Zone



Jackal - we saw a few of these



Boy we loved those colors







The misty water bodies were a treat to the eyes



We almost held our breath as we saw Naina and 3 of her cubs, this was at the third safari at Kanha zone and our desperation was beyond all limits. This was a great moment of truth for the entire team in our gypsy after having no sighting in the last two safaris at Kisli and Mukki zones. The other gypsy had a great sighting at Mukki at the very last moment before the safari was about to end at Mukki.















All these shots were taken in a single breath as if, such was the excitement!











The heaven opened its flood gates it seemed, we saw Neelam another flamboyant tigress of Kanha. Neelam walked around from a stream which dwindled through an open grassland area. I have never felt such excitement. Time passed in a flash, we lost senses of hunger and thirst, every muscle of our bodies involuntarily kept support us to catch glimpse of the striped lady. She walked passed us in such glamour and royal demeanor, that he had our day sorted















After such back to back tiger sightings, mind became really started being creative



Below is a glimpse of - What if - we had not had those sightings that day.



Thanks to Samba for reaching out to Chandan Motel owner Dinesh and lining up Mr. Mohan, our guide and driver for the day at Kanha Zone, his experience was definitely an advantage. The next post brings up Bandhavgarh pictures

[arindam_xeta]

Bandhavgarh ...Continued

This was the first shot at Bandhavgarh, this spidy really caught our attention and we rapid fired our shutters



Pug marks kept our hopes alive



And there came the moment, this was a tigress called Spotty. Other cars were following this tigress for a while, we were lucky to have reached the spot on time.













Once you have seen this yellow cat you surely have an inner peace that lifts your tastes and feelings a notch above



In Shackles - not a good sight at all, especially for such sensitive souls, I wish someone does bring some relief to these poor souls.



Network of trees





Ahh I caught it



What a show of downforce



Spectacular landscapes



In flight vulture





Rough and tough...and a bit grumpy that face



Vishnu Temple at Bandhavgarh



Ending this post with this shot as Spotty long jumped across the fence to enter the buffer area of the forest, was lucky to capture this



Some more pictures from Bandhavgarh continues in the next post

[arindam_xeta]

Bandhavgarh ...Continued

Loved this etna orange spidey, it matched my Nexon's color tone



This was Orange as well



This spidey was rebuilding it's net, it was really too busy to pose



Colors of Bandhavgarh



A new day



Some light and shadow in the forest





Any time is hide and seek time for them like my daughter





Introducing .... Samba

At Narmade Resort



Kapildhara falls, such is the view point at this place, that you can shoot everything but the falls. Samba probably had a better shot, I was a bit grumpy at the entire state of things. One could walk down at the bottom of the falls if time and energy permits but, its a long haul, however though I'm frowning the falls was really a treat to watch.





Some Car photography of our lovely steads



My son loved these furry souls and clicked a few snaps at Narmade Resort. They have a lot of these rabbits set free at the resort lawn.





These tree houses costs around Seven big ones for a night, but is a treat to stay





Hirakud Dam



View of the ropeway, sadly it was closed during our visit



A view of the 25 Km long Hirakud dam, but unfortunately we could not really view or enjoy it fully as most of the roads along the dam were closed by local police





So a lovely trip came to an end. Must mention Nexon crossed 15,000 Kms on Odometer, and covered 3100 km in this trip from Kolkata. Was really happy with a mileage of 19.7 km to a liter of diesel.

Pictures of Nexon to end the post.

[arindam_xeta]

To add to the hotel review already done by Samba

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ml#post4934401 (Forests, hills & more! Our road-trip to Madhya Pradesh from Kolkata)

Hotel reviews-

Jabalpur

While Pride By Samrat was sub par for food and due to the same the second night I was hell bent on not having their food. So I ordered delivery for the entire group from a nearby restaurant.

Wang Chinese Cuisine

Quality Chinese Food at reasonable rates, delivery was quick (at Pride by Samrat) and on promised time and the entire group was left finger licking. One may get their contact from google and order on phone, also there is every chance you will be overwhelmed by the quantity of food they deliver, so get an idea from them before you order.

Highly Recommended

Amarkantak

Narmade Anandam-

The rooms are cottage types with unique shapes, feels really awkward when you enter first time, it has all standard features though. Interestingly, the entire room creates an audio reflection in such a way that the person sitting in front appears to be talking from behind, it was really fun for us after we noticed it. Beware of spiders here, our rooms unlike other's, were infested with more than 50 black spiders in every nook and corner. While attendants took care of it pretty quickly, but its something you may want to ensure before you put you little ones to sleep. In-fact when I woke up there was one hanging from the ceiling way above about 5 inches atop my nose, almost saying good morning to me.

Recommended

[GhostRider28]

What a nice travelogue - perfect balance of the right narration and complementary videos and photos! The route was insightful,. We had taken a different route to Jabalpur via Allahabad and Khajuraho, back in 2013. My tiger sighting luck has not been good at all!

[Sayata]

It was 13th March 2020, the day I added Brownie, my brand new Ecosport to my family after getting parted from my beloved red swift, Sia.
Just the very next day we went for an overnight trip with some very close friends and some fellow Bhpians of our small “Car photography” group to Dalma, Jharkhand. Soon after returning within a week the long lockdown started due to Covid 19 and everything got stationed which we used to call our daily Life.
Post lockdown, I did some small road trips to Ayodha pahar , Mandarmani and Shantiniketan which didn’t satisfy my wanderlust bug and enjoying my steed to the fullest.
Hence when I came to know that DBhpian Samba and Arindam da (Bhpian : Arindamxeta) have planned for a road trip to Madhya Pradesh, focusing on Jabalpur ( marble rock ), Kanha and Bandavgarh, I couldn’t resist. As I have never been to any proper reserve forest before (except Dooars in West Bengal and some parts of Simplipal in Odhissa ). Plus I have never driven a Crossover so long before, these were reasons enough to work as a catalyst for my wanderlust bug.

This time my partner in crime was my 9 years younger cousin brother Avinandan (Bhpian AviC93) and Mr Debarshi Chakraborty (DC da) along with Brownie (My Ecosport Tdci, 2020 Trend Bs VI).
Since this is a travelogue not an ownership review, I will not say much, but in short about my 1st time experience with Brownie from the 3021km ( from my home to home) 11 days trip ( before brownie, I have only driven hatchbacks and sedans ) . Being an ardent Maruti lover and a long time Maruti user , I was quite skeptical about Ford , again thanks to DBhpian Samba as he adviced me for Ecosport and shifted my affinity from Maruti, I am happy to declare, post this trip, that the advice was absolutely correct and there are no regrets.
Ecosport is an all-rounder. It can perform equally well, be it the national highways, bumpy broken state highways or on the curves of ghat sections of central India. Its excellent build quality ( with very minimal body roll ) and excellent handling ( in terms of steering feedback and suspension) gave me actually no fatigue while driving long hours.
I remember during my last long trip to Spiti valley with my Swift, back in 2018 I was quite fatigued out while doing 1000km at a stretch (Kolkata to Kanpur) after crossing 700kms (approx).
It took me around 13.5 hrs while returning homeward from Sambalpur to my home (in south Kolkata). I covered 669 km without any fatigue.
What I didn’t liked about the car , are the visibility issue in ghats due to the thick A pillar and the hopeless Navigation Map of the OEM Fly audio head unit.

Coming back to our trip, I will not go in details about the trip as Samba & Arindam da have already written a lot for the same, rather I would like to share the pictures taken by me.


On the way from Kolkata to Ambikapur







Day 1 at Ambikapur







Day 2 On the way to Jabalpur and stay :



















Day 3 : sight seeing at Jabalpur.

Dhuandhar falls and Marble rock:

[Sayata]

Day 4 and Day 5 : Reaching Kanha and the Jungle safaries

[Sayata]

Day 6 and Day 7 : Reaching Bandavgarh and the Jungle safaris






































Day 8 , Day 9 and Day 10: Amarkantak and back to Kolkata from Sambalpur through the scenic Saranda :