[StarVegabond]

Eye catchy title for the threads,
good narration, great photographs
Great Locale = Corbet National Park

has all the things necessary to make a great travelogue.
thanks for sharing

[harishnayak]

The road less travelled. Let the journey begin.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by akas_chauhan

Do u have a dial up connection or what? You could post all of them in a single post though. BTW nice pictures.

Thanks, Akas. I do have a broadband connection, but rhandle explained it precisely. This post, however, is from a GPRS datacard connection .

Originally Posted by rhandle

Well dial-up-connections are days of past. It's not connection which takes time but selecting pictures which you want to post, then even resizing them so that you can attach them here, thinking about what sentences to say so that they carry your emotions and are in sync with pictures. I do not think writing travelogues is easy, since you want and try to ensure the readers go and feel the same experience what you were having. Have patience I am sure he would do his post full justice!

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Sir, nice narration.
BTW is there only one FRH.

Thank you, MC. No, there are quite a few FRH's, spread over the different zones - Dhikala, Bijrani,Jhirna and Durgadevi (IIRC). Dhikala is the most popular and well-known zone, and there are at least 5 FRH's there - Sultan, Gairal, Sarpduli, Khinanouli and Dhikala. But I was told Bijrani zone is more interesting in terms of wildlife spotting as well as scenic beauty. As a matter of fact, there was a notice put up at Ramnagar for all cars going in, not to stop anywhere, because a rogue male tiger has got into the habit of chasing cars!

And yes, you can take your own car in, but I think it is only if you are also staying in one of the FRH's for the night. And roaming around the forest does not require one to compulsorily take a guide either - maybe once to get your orientation fine.

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Like WLS in MP, cannot one take their own vehicle with a guide?

But at Bandhavgarh and Panna, we were told specifically that one cannot take one's own car with guide into the forest - it just has to be the local Gypsies. So your query above comes as a surprise to me.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Eye catchy title for the threads,
good narration, great photographs Great Locale = Corbet National Park
has all the things necessary to make a great travelogue.
thanks for sharing

Thank you for enjoying it.

More posts in the evening...

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

But at Bandhavgarh and Panna, we were told specifically that one cannot take one's own car with guide into the forest - it just has to be the local Gypsies. So your query above comes as a surprise to me.

On our trip to Khajuraho, we had gone to Panna WLS and IIRC we had entered into the park through the south gate. I was in my Uno and had taken the car with a guide all the way inside. I understood that there was another gate but the road was real tough and only suitable for 4X4. Itwas a good trip for us we had seen a tiger killing a chinkara in front of us while we were on the elephant.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

On our trip to Khajuraho, we had gone to Panna WLS and IIRC we had entered into the park through the south gate. I was in my Uno and had taken the car with a guide all the way inside. I understood that there was another gate but the road was real tough and only suitable for 4X4. Itwas a good trip for us we had seen a tiger killing a chinkara in front of us while we were on the elephant.

That's interesting! Which year was this? When we were in Panna in Dec '07, apparently no tiger had been sighted for over 2 months before that time.

And if they do allow one's own car into the WLS, I am all interested to make another trip to MP sometime soon. Kanha and Pench are the places we haven't been to, and would definitely like to visit.

[pramods]

Pench is where you can take your own vehicle, but only "SUV", car are not allowed anymore in Pench. Deisel SUV need to be less than 5 years old. Kanha don't allow any personal vehicle only local "Kanha Jungle" registered Gypsy's are allowed.

-Pramod

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

That's interesting! Which year was this? When we were in Panna in Dec '07, apparently no tiger had been sighted for over 2 months before that time.

This was way back in Dec'04 and was part of our 15 day honeymoon road trip.

[tanwaramit]

good pics and narration SS, I too intend to be there. Your thread is quite helpful.

Is there any tax etc for vehicles entry there ?

[suman]

Good stuff. Now the Facebook posts are making sense

Keep 'em coming!

[neoranjit]

Nice long exposure shots. Wondering if you should have had more of the water and very less ( comparatively ) of the stationary objects. That way, the water flow would have got more attention. In the second pic., the trees and the rocks seem to take off the attention that the water should be getting. Just my thoughts

btw, how long was it exposed ?

[sen2009]

Its like the doctor has my tooth half plucked, holding it half way uprooted and doing other stuff! Please sir, pump up the gas - VLX 4x4 should move faster than this.

[tsk1979]

Lucky you! whenever we have gone to corbett, the accomodations inside are always booked!
Did you go for advance booking or something, or you were just lucky!
I guess next time we will also go and stand in the line!

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

Is there any tax etc for vehicles entry there ?

Yes - Rs.150 for vehicle entry permit for 24 hours, and Rs.50 per adult (valid for 72 hours on a single entry). That's the fun - you can't send your car out on its own to renew the permit for the next day , so you end up paying the entry tax for the person all over again!

Originally Posted by suman

Good stuff. Now the Facebook posts are making sense

Suman, are FB entries always supposed to make sense? Anyway, glad you're enjoying it.

Originally Posted by neoranjit

Nice long exposure shots. Wondering if you should have had more of the water and very less ( comparatively ) of the stationary objects. That way, the water flow would have got more attention. In the second pic., the trees and the rocks seem to take off the attention that the water should be getting. Just my thoughts

btw, how long was it exposed ?

I thought so too, only problem was how far I could adjust the camera angle when placing it on a ledge. Next time, I promise to get me a gorillapod!

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...slow-river.jpg has 25s at f/8 on ISO200; http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...w-river-2-.jpg has 3s at f/3.5 on ISO200; http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...w-river-1-.jpg has 30s at f/3.5 on ISO200.

Originally Posted by sen2009

Its like the doctor has my tooth half plucked, holding it half way uprooted and doing other stuff! Please sir, pump up the gas - VLX 4x4 should move faster than this.

The VLX 4WD has a slow driver behind the wheel - in reality as well as on this forum! Sorry, but let me see what I can do this evening...

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Lucky you! whenever we have gone to corbett, the accomodations inside are always booked!
Did you go for advance booking or something, or you were just lucky!
I guess next time we will also go and stand in the line!

Nope, we were just plain lucky - just for one night. Our luck didn't hold out the next night!

[SS-Traveller]

The river made a fascinating subject to try out the various settings on the camera, and here are a few of the results. Do post your comments.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

We managed to sweet-talk the canteen manager to give us some stuffed parathas instead.

After our lunch at the Gairal FRH, it was time to explore the zone. The Assistant Manager of the FRH, a guy from Ranikhet called Negi, was to be our guide for the next few hours. We had to compulsorily come back to the FRH at 5:30PM. No driving is allowed in the forest after that time, and if caught, carries a penalty of Rs.1000. Pay up or they don't let you out of the main gate.

Here was an attempt to use the SL flash setting, with the inside of the Dhikala canteen lit up with the flash, while the view outside the window is not too dark or washed out.


In the event, our drive consisted of going up to the Dhikala FRH about 20 km away, then taking a drive through the grasslands called "Dhikala Chawr".

A spot in the "chawr" where a Hindi movie was shot (I forget which).






This was where the 4WD was needed, as a Gypsy headed our way from the opposite direction. With not enough space to pass, both cars had to put left wheels off the track. The Gypsy, with two people on board and a light footprint, sailed through. The Hawk's rear left wheel dug into the ground and spun for a second. 4H engaged, it carried on like nothing bothered it in the first place. Slight whine from the front diff after switching back to 2WD (for a few seconds I thought it was some kind of bird call!), which needed reversing up for a few feet - wife's suddenly surprised that I am reversing, and explanation required about disengaging the front hubs.

On the way back to Gairal, we take a diversion through Khinanauli - a steep track, but Hawk refused to demonstrate wheelspin on 2WD. The Bridgestone H/Ts hold on well.

Back to Gairal sharp at 5:30PM, a few shots of the river and the car,

and it's time to sit down with my novel.