Who is a lover of a National Park?
A nature enthusiast
and
An animal enthusiast
A National Park is the only place, in India, where nature comes without billboards- 'Log Huts available for your comfort' and when you land at the address given, you go crazy searching for log huts because there are none there are only brick cottages; Ski Equipment Available Here! and there is not even a inch of snow anywhere one could possibly not make a snowman the size of one's toe but the billboard is there all weather-proof.
In the national Park, there are none; though you wished there was one that informed you in which hole the tiger would come to have his morning water or in which tree the leopard rests in the afternoon. Coming back to the point that I was making, it is only a fraction of Earth that remains untouched by human hand and is primitive in its appearance and that is a good reason to plan a trip to a National Park. India is fortunate to have many national parks which are accessible by road, rail and air transports so what are you waiting for?
In the national Park, there are none; though you wished there was one that informed you in which hole the tiger would come to have his morning water or in which tree the leopard rests in the afternoon. Coming back to the point that I was making, it is only a fraction of Earth that remains untouched by human hand and is primitive in its appearance and that is a good reason to plan a trip to a National Park. India is fortunate to have many national parks which are accessible by road, rail and air transports so what are you waiting for?
A Safari Booking!
I planned the trip to Kanha National Park three month in advance, 4 nights were booked for 4 families from 30 th April - 4 th May in Club Mahindra. We all got so busy with our lives that none of us remembered to book the safari. When a month was left for departure, I called the resort to book safrari, they told me that it is booked online at www.mponline.gov.in which is a government run website. In the same breath he told me I could make a advance booking at the spa to avail special offers.
" NOT TILL I BOOK THE SAFARI" I said rather haughtily and hung up.
The first time when I opened the website, I spent more than an hour going in circles, got frustrated and found it more productive to help my son with his maths homework, abandoning project safari.
After a couple of days, I figured out how to do it - for my readers who want to book a safari simply copy and paste
https://www.mponline.gov.in/Portal/Services/Forest/FinalForest/foresthome.htm
To my greatest dismay none of the safaris were available for our dates. Frantically, I called my friends- they reacted differently. Some of them promised to check with their friends who are wild life enthusiasts, one of them did not care much about not being able to do a safari.
" NOT TILL I BOOK THE SAFARI" I said rather haughtily and hung up.
The first time when I opened the website, I spent more than an hour going in circles, got frustrated and found it more productive to help my son with his maths homework, abandoning project safari.
After a couple of days, I figured out how to do it - for my readers who want to book a safari simply copy and paste
https://www.mponline.gov.in/Portal/Services/Forest/FinalForest/foresthome.htm
To my greatest dismay none of the safaris were available for our dates. Frantically, I called my friends- they reacted differently. Some of them promised to check with their friends who are wild life enthusiasts, one of them did not care much about not being able to do a safari.
Synopsis of what followed in the next two weeks:
- I found that there are two timings for safari- morning - 4 hours (starting before sunrise) and afternoon -2.5 hours (closing at sunset time), while Wednesday afternoons are off.
- The start time of both the safaris change by 30 minutes according to time of the year.
- The safari bookings starts 120 days in advance, some vehicles are allotted for current bookings which may increase if there are any cancellations from advance bookings.
- As far as current bookings are concerned, there may be a long queue with folks lining up sometimes from the previous night for a 6.00 A.M Safari. One member of the travelling party needs to be present himself for the booking and so one cannot just get any one to stand for himself/herself. Some touts provide the option of putting up a person to block the position and ask you to come at 4 or 5 AM to take your spot.
- There are two gates from where the safaris start i.e the Khatia Gate and the Mukki Gate which are around 45 kms apart while the park itself is divided into 4 zones namely Kisli, Sarhi, Mukki and Kanha (Central) zone.
- The Kanha zone has been designated as the premium zone by the forest department and while entry permit (per vehicle) cost Rs 1200 for the first 3 zones it is RS 1800 for the Kanha zone
- Portal charges of Rs 50 are also payable per booking while the mandatory guide will set you back by Rs 300 and the vehicle around Rs 1800 which can be hired from the gate or better still through the resort where one is staying with in which case the vehicle can come to pick you up from the resort early in the morning at an extra charge.
- Club Mahindra staff said they would try their best for a safari on current booking but can't promise. This time they did not mention spa offers.
- A resort by the name of Mridhu Kishore promised one safari if we stayed in their resort. That option was rejected after paying a visit to their website.
- Frantic discussions took place among the four families seeking safari in Kanha National Park- no friends of friends who are wild life enthusiast came to rescue and one family cancelled their resort booking ( no cancellation charges 15 days prior to booking) . We were then left with 3 families.
- The 3rd call to Club Mahindra was rewarding. The forest department run a 19 seater canter (large open mini bus) safari and Club Mahindra was able to tie up some reserved seats with the government department on a one off basis for 3 days (1-3 May.) It being a long weekend and they being a new entrant in the vicinity had to do something to keep their guests coming and not cancelling their trips. This came at a high cost of Rs 2000 per person though and works out much more expensive than the advance safari. Club Mahindra being an established national player needs to build in all the taxes in the billing and which inflates the cost partly.
Finally we had 2 safari to our names
Club Mahindra Resort is a small, quaint property, one-storey cottages outlines its boundaries with a lagoon pool and bar in the center. Kudos! for retaining old trees and building around it. When you go to a toddler's room, you see broken toys; similarly when you come to Club Mahindra Resort you see broken equipment. In this resort it was the cricket nets- broken and non-operational. The kids were very disappointed and in our 4- nights stay the nets remained dead. I found it bizarre that the breakfast and lunch buffets were niggardly sparse and the dinner menu literally over the top! there was table- top sized burger, 3 feet-long long sandwich and to count deserts one would fall short of fingers and toes.
Safari no-1
It was 6.30 am, 20 people seated in the canter waiting outside the Khatiya Gate to enter into the wild. The two canters stood parallel to each other soaring aboves tens of jeeps all around. There was a lot of hustle-bustle all around, with people crowding around ticket booth and some tailing in a queue. The gate resembling a wooden bar went up and the jeeps zipped into the forest leaving clouds of dust behind. The people jerked forward, clinged their cameras tightly around their arms and chest and looked content. The long wait was over and the rendezvous which had played in their minds over the last many weeks was to happen in reality.
My wait was not over, the canter stood still waiting for its guide to arrive. I got down and made some noise, the Club Mahindra chaperon hovered around like a bee asking for grace moments. One of the last vehicles to enter that morning, we advanced to the gate with our guide Farooq- and it was to be KISLI ZONE for us.
My wait was not over, the canter stood still waiting for its guide to arrive. I got down and made some noise, the Club Mahindra chaperon hovered around like a bee asking for grace moments. One of the last vehicles to enter that morning, we advanced to the gate with our guide Farooq- and it was to be KISLI ZONE for us.
Farooq became my friend immediately, he generously divulged facts, supplementing my understanding with his experience. The canter moved on a pucca road with Sal trees on both sides, the cold breeze slapped you and it was wintry at that time in the hot month of April.
The beautiful Sal trees were a highlight of Kisli Zone; the sky-scraping trees stood on a covering of its own fallen leaves. February and March are the shedding months and within weeks it gets the new leaves. The tree is more dense towards the crown and its fruits and flowers infuse a fragrance to the environment. There were termite hills near the Sal tree trunks and some of them rose upto three feet.
The beautiful Sal trees were a highlight of Kisli Zone; the sky-scraping trees stood on a covering of its own fallen leaves. February and March are the shedding months and within weeks it gets the new leaves. The tree is more dense towards the crown and its fruits and flowers infuse a fragrance to the environment. There were termite hills near the Sal tree trunks and some of them rose upto three feet.
Elephants are available for a joyride but a booking has to be made in advance.
There are about 28 elephants in kisli zone, who are chained and let loose in the jungle for their gastronomic needs.In the next hour we saw spotted deer, bisons, wild boar and sambar deer.
After another hour the temperature increased and it became very warm. Also the sun's blazing rays pricked you like thorns and tiredness set in; pessimism and heat seemed to be working in tandem. By 10.30 am it became absolutely certain that a sighting was not in the destiny of all 20 in the canter. Everything around looked hot, dry and dusty.
Nature Trail
The nature trail is a walk in the buffer zone, starting from the Khatiya Gate. After the last safari vehicle puffs into the jungle, a guide will accompany you for the walk. He will take 400 Rs for his services, which is talking and walking. He will go on and on with his stories, where the characters are the sal trees, tigers, other smaller animals from the reptile and insect families, guides, villagers and forest guards also make a guest appearance. It is a blessing if you have a big group as once your enthusiasm dies another person can give him company.
There are metal boards with rocky frames giving you information about the species found in this jungle. The information is precise and practical as long as the words are readable; many of the boards have got eroded pretty much like the soil erosion. There is also a tower that you can climb to get a bird-eye view.
I dont know why humans were given so much HOPE at birth, inspite of the chances being as low as 0.05% of sighting a wild cat we walked to the water hole hoping to find one. I dont know if its the over dose of HOPES in our system or the conspiracy of the guide taking you around.
You have the option of doing a short trail ( 3km) and a long trail (6km); price is same, the good thing is that you do not come back through the same path as you go so you get to see different parts.
Please do not choose to go for a nature trail hoping to see a wild cat but if you are a nature enthusiast and love walking its a great idea to be there early in the morning (7.00 am) for the oxygen-rich walk in the woods.
There are metal boards with rocky frames giving you information about the species found in this jungle. The information is precise and practical as long as the words are readable; many of the boards have got eroded pretty much like the soil erosion. There is also a tower that you can climb to get a bird-eye view.
I dont know why humans were given so much HOPE at birth, inspite of the chances being as low as 0.05% of sighting a wild cat we walked to the water hole hoping to find one. I dont know if its the over dose of HOPES in our system or the conspiracy of the guide taking you around.
You have the option of doing a short trail ( 3km) and a long trail (6km); price is same, the good thing is that you do not come back through the same path as you go so you get to see different parts.
Please do not choose to go for a nature trail hoping to see a wild cat but if you are a nature enthusiast and love walking its a great idea to be there early in the morning (7.00 am) for the oxygen-rich walk in the woods.
Safari no-2
The second safari was the evening slot (3.30pm -6.00 pm) and we were booked in canter. There are certain disadvantages of being in a canter- the vehicle and people can be noisy ( seats 20 whereas the jeep seats 6) cannot pass through very narrow lanes and one does not know which zone is allotted to the canter till the last minute. Though the previous evening a canter sighted a tiger.We were lucky to get the Kanha Zone; two reasons we had already seen Kisli Zone and Kanha Zone is more scenic. The guide seated himself in the seat next to the driver and the canter left leaving a heat haze behind.
It was hot and breezy, the Kanha Zone has more variety in the form of plant life in comparison to the Kisli Zone. Every km does not look like a photo copy of a km traveled. There are sal trees, bamboo plants, grass lands and thorny bushes. What makes it very scenic is wide landscape with hills in the background that you can feast your eyes to.
Half an hour into the hot, dusty jungle the weather changed dramatically, gray clouds covered the sun like a woman masking her face behind a black veil. We passed a water hole, saw a wild boar, waited for the king of stripes but no luck! We trailed ahead on the clearing and saw about 10 jeeps parked ahead in little gaps with its fellow travellers along with guides standing and looking at the same point. I felt a pang of excitement...Finally my time has come!!!
On questioning the people in other jeeps, I got to know some of them were doing day safari and were waiting in that spot for four hours holding their cameras like babies. They assumed that a tiger was resting behind thorny plants, very close to the clearing. Some of the jeeps went away and four to five remained there including our canter; all attempts to see the animal with binoculars, standing on the seat on your tippy-toes and craning the neck to the utmost were futile. Our guide totally believed that there was a tiger there and while we all stared at the spot he suddenly said that he saw the tiger lift his head. What a liar!!! we saw nothing . Suddenly a peacock flew and landed on the same spot as the imaginary tiger was to be. The guide was not even a bit embarrassed as if it was a routine job to fool the travelers.
We moved ahead and turned back, the weather became lovely with a slight drizzle. The clouds played hide and seek with the sun and lovely colours were seen in the sky as we returned to the gate.
It was hot and breezy, the Kanha Zone has more variety in the form of plant life in comparison to the Kisli Zone. Every km does not look like a photo copy of a km traveled. There are sal trees, bamboo plants, grass lands and thorny bushes. What makes it very scenic is wide landscape with hills in the background that you can feast your eyes to.
Half an hour into the hot, dusty jungle the weather changed dramatically, gray clouds covered the sun like a woman masking her face behind a black veil. We passed a water hole, saw a wild boar, waited for the king of stripes but no luck! We trailed ahead on the clearing and saw about 10 jeeps parked ahead in little gaps with its fellow travellers along with guides standing and looking at the same point. I felt a pang of excitement...Finally my time has come!!!
On questioning the people in other jeeps, I got to know some of them were doing day safari and were waiting in that spot for four hours holding their cameras like babies. They assumed that a tiger was resting behind thorny plants, very close to the clearing. Some of the jeeps went away and four to five remained there including our canter; all attempts to see the animal with binoculars, standing on the seat on your tippy-toes and craning the neck to the utmost were futile. Our guide totally believed that there was a tiger there and while we all stared at the spot he suddenly said that he saw the tiger lift his head. What a liar!!! we saw nothing . Suddenly a peacock flew and landed on the same spot as the imaginary tiger was to be. The guide was not even a bit embarrassed as if it was a routine job to fool the travelers.
We moved ahead and turned back, the weather became lovely with a slight drizzle. The clouds played hide and seek with the sun and lovely colours were seen in the sky as we returned to the gate.
Munna- The Tiger with a Tattoo!
Yes there are names given to the tigers in this park and Munna is a special one as stripes on his face below the head form the letters CAT. He is the only wild cat in the world to have his specie name tattooed on his head.
Shopping
There is one souvenir shop inside the gate selling T-shirts and caps which is more expensive than the ones outside the park. There are two small outlets selling T-shirts and one big shop selling a large variety of products like handicrafts, metal statues, toys, paintings jewellery, caps, clothes etc.
Please Note
Balli is a very resourceful person having special friendships and contacts with people behind the ticket counters in Kanha, Tadoba, Bhandavgarh and Pench. You can contact him at +917869160500
There are few basic lodges in the jungle that can be booked in advance.
You can also pre-book a full day safari, (6.30 am - 6.00pm) at the cost of 25,000 Rs.
There are few basic lodges in the jungle that can be booked in advance.
You can also pre-book a full day safari, (6.30 am - 6.00pm) at the cost of 25,000 Rs.