4th November 2009, 10:33
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| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Navi Mumbai
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| A Trip to Jim Corbett This is my first travelogue, so please excuse me with my narrative style & content. We had planned to visit Delhi to our relatives house during Diwali vacation & from there we had planned to visit Jim Corbett & Nanital. This travelogue is about our visit & experience at Jim Corbett national park. I did not click much photos of the roads & their condition. We had left from Delhi to Jim Corbett on two Innova's, which our relative had booked through some travel services. Our plan was to leave Delhi at 05:30am on 20th October, but Since there were three families, it took us some time to complete the morning activities, finish our bath & hence our departure got delayed by almost 20mins. We left Delhi at 05:50am. I am not much familiar with the route, but the route was Delhi - Noida - Ghaziabad - Moradabad - Rampur. Approximately 20-25kms near Ghaziabad is in very bad condition as the road widening work is in progress. We reached Rampur at around 12:30pm. We had already booked our accommodation at The Camp River Wild (Camp Riverwild,Jim Corbett National Park India) & we had informed them about the name & age details of each & every one who will be there for the safari. As we reached the Forest Office, one person from the agency, through whom, we booked the accommodation & safari greeted us & we had to wait in a queue to fill up the forms detailing, who all will be traveling together in each jeep (we were 9 people including my 4 year old daughter). Only 4 persons are allowed per jeep, so we booked two jeeps for safari on 21st morning. Our entry was to be from Bijrani gate. After completing the Forest office formalities, we left for our resort, which was about 25kms from the forest office. When we reached somewhere near the resort, we saw a board showing us the direction. Looking at the direction, we were worried, since the road (kutcha road) seemed to be narrow & as we proceeded further, we came across a rivulet (joining the Kosi river) which was covered with small boulders & there was almost no water. We had to cross this rivulet & then reach the resort. The resort was very good with the kosi river flowing next to the resort. The view was excellent & immediately we all were recharged after the tiresome journey. Some pictures of the river (excuse me for the poor quality). A scene from the river just outside the resort gate  Kosi flowing in its glory  We were informed that we have to be ready by 5:00am in the morning & the two safari jeeps will be reaching our resort to pick us up at sharp 5:00am. We all were ready by 5:00am & found that both the jeeps are fully open type. It was very cold & all of us were covered with sweater & caps. We reached Bijrani gate by 6:00am & were waiting in queue as other jeeps had also reached for the safari. The gates opened only by 6:20am & we entered the forest. Each jeep was provided with a guide & our guide's name was Dharmendra Negi. I personally was not having any hopes of spotting a tiger as the population is dwindling & you should be extremely lucky to spot one. All of us were very excited & we all were ready with our cameras & camcorders to shoot any wildlife that we could spot. After some time, we started spotting some pug marks & at one place, our guide spotted a pug mark, which seemed to be fresh & was over a jeep track. As soon as we went a little ahead, there was an open area towards our left, he asked the driver to stop the jeep & the jeep following us also stopped. Our guide asked the driver to switch off the engine & all of us were talking in whispers & even my daughter who is normally loud also started talking in whispers. The guide climbed on top of the jeep & was looking out with his binoculars & hearing to the sounds. We were there at the same spot for around 10 minutes & our guide was having a gut feeling that the tiger was somewhere nearby. And finally he said look there tiger is walking, we all were looking in the direction he pointed & it took us some time to spot the great & elusive tiger among the bushes. I cannot explain the excitement & the feeling I had on seeing the strong beast walking majestically. As the tiger was walking towards the roadside, which we had traveled, our guide asked the driver to reverse the jeep & go backwards. We traveled around 50m in reverse & again stopped our jeeps. The driver switched off the engine & the guide asked him to remain seated in his seat. After waiting for about 2 minutes, we could see the tiger crossing the road in front of us. It was a sight to behold. I started clicking the pictures, he crossed the road & as soon as he reached the other side, he urinated & marked his territory indicating that this is his home & we should be careful. After that he gave one fierce look at us & went inside the bushes. This is one seen that I will never forget in my life. We all couldn't imagine, how lucky we were to spot a tiger & that too at such a close distance on our first safari. I came back impressed with the mighty cat from the safari. Now some photos (I am not that good a photographer, so please excuse me with the picture quality) The safari jeep  The pug mark  First spotting  Can you spot the tiger?  All ears  Out on the road    Marking territory  The scary look  That's all from me. Hope you guys enjoyed the pictures. |
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4th November 2009, 10:48
| #2 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Melbourne
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4th November 2009, 10:54
| #3 |
| Senior - BHPian  | Great pictures, you were very lucky  ! The thrill of seeing a Tiger out there in the open is just something else, isn't it |
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4th November 2009, 11:03
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| BHPian  | Wow!!! This trip was worth it just for the tiger sighting. The tiger knew all along you people were watching it and just before disappearing it just let you know. What a majestic creature. |
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4th November 2009, 11:21
| #5 |
| BHPian  Join Date: May 2005 Location: BANGALORE
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4th November 2009, 11:29
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| Senior - BHPian  | Absolutely fabulous and you took great shots !! Quote:
Last edited by DKG : 4th November 2009 at 11:31. | |
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4th November 2009, 13:29
| #7 | |||||
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Navi Mumbai
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Tiger sightings are not guaranteed. It depends on your luck & your guide's experience. Our guide informed us that many people are not ready to wait at once place, where the guide thinks the tiger could be around. People are normally impatient & they hardly wait for a minute & blame the guide saying that he is trying to fool them. Since the guides are paid by government & hence they don't gain anything by trying to fool the visitors. Quote:
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Here is the picture of the tiger marking its territory.  Last edited by Bala_R : 4th November 2009 at 13:38. Reason: Added the picture of tiger marking its territory | |||||
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4th November 2009, 14:56
| #8 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bangalore
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4th November 2009, 17:09
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5th November 2009, 08:52
| #10 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Pune-Bangalore
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| Hey you are extremely lucky to see the tiger. Thanks for sharing those amazing pictures of that noble animal |
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5th November 2009, 11:31
| #11 |
| Newbie Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Hyderabad.
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5th November 2009, 12:02
| #12 |
| BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Gurgaon
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5th November 2009, 13:17
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| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Navi Mumbai
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5th November 2009, 14:33
| #14 |
| Senior - BHPian | I am so jealous man.... |
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5th November 2009, 21:03
| #15 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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