We had a couple of days left on our Club Mahindra vacation and constant reminders from Club M resulted in a 2 day booking at Kanha National Park, M.P. As is usual with me I planned the visit and ensured a short detour from Nagpur to Tadoba as well. Based on our trips to Kabini and Gir, we believe two days are sufficient to visit a wildlife sanctuary, even though we are not wildlife enthusiasts or environmentalists.
Tadoba located about 150 km south of Nagpur, has 60 tigers and 6 cubs in a 600 km area. There are 3 gates to the park and road signs are almost non-existent. We were @ MTDC, Moharli Gate and had to take a oneone-hour detour as the driver landed at the wrong gate. 60 odd vehicles are allowed in the park daily and the fee for 2 people with a Maruti Gypsy which had seen better days is Rs.3000/-. Earlier Tadoba tourists used to stay next to the lake, but now they have been pushed outside the core area. Densely forested, it is not easy to spot animals, and although we saw the usual spotted deer, sambhal, barasingha, bison, langurs, etc. the tiger was elusive. Word finally got round that Maya the tigress had been spotted near a pond, and we had this amazing sight from a distance of 150 metres, of Maya and her 2 cubs. We tried to find Sonam, a tigress with three cubs, in the Moharli area after seeing Maya, but we were unsuccessful. Tadoba is closed on Tuesdays.
We left at 7 am on Tuesday for Kanha. The roads are quite good and a bypass ensured that we reached Kanha (skirting the Pench Wildlife sanctuary) in 6.5 hours just in time for our afternoon safari. Club Mahindra @ Kanha is a lovely place and our experience with Club Mahindra properties has been consistently good (we’ve stayed at Gangtok, Coorg, Gir & Mahabaleshwar). Having Wi-Fi in the reception Area is also a bonus as cell coverage is patchy, and data connectivity is almost non-existent. Our Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning safaris through lush green forests, dense vegetation and good roads / paths, unfortunately, did not result in tiger spotting. We spotted pug marks aplenty, but the tiger remained elusive. There were close calls and a couple of tourists did spot the tiger.
Kanha is a well-kept sanctuary with newer Maruti Gypsies and strict rules. Home to 90+ tigers, 60 odd leopards, plus bears etc., it is spread over a 900 sq.km. area and 1100 sq.km. area buffer zone. I would definitely recommend a visit even if you cannot always be lucky to spot a tiger.
We’ve had a 50% strike rate with lions / tigers, having spotted them in Gir and Tadoba and missed them in Kabini and Kanha. Though we did spot a leopard at Kabini which is even rarer. The jungle energises you in a way that is difficult to explain. Humans ordinarily used to having control over everything else in cities, are now subject to the laws of the jungle. The deer and monkeys don’t care too much about you. The wild boar and Bison want to avoid you and the tiger chooses his own path, and it’s your good fortune if you spot one. We saw an amazing eagle, blue tailed bird, two jackals and a huge Indian bison crossing our path. And we won’t forget the mother wild boar and its multiple piglets (at least 10) scooting across our path to join their mother.
I guess that's the last of our trips in December 2015 with nothing planned in 2016..... a chill out year.
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