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<\/a><\/p>\nThere are only a limited number of jeeps allowed at a time inside Bandhavgarh National Park, so you have to book a jeep safari much before you land in Bandhavgarh \u2013 preferably at the time of your hotel booking itself. That morning at 6am, we were lined up at the gate of the resort along with similar jeeps from different resorts, waiting for the opening of the park. There are 4 different routes inside the park marked A B C and D \u2013 we were on the A route that day. At 6 in the morning, the ground was still covered with the grey fog, the sun wasn\u2019t up and visibility was quite limited. For the first 1.5 hours of the safari, we huddled in cold in the open jeep as we tried in to spot something – anything. But the forest was very silent and it looked like the animals too were waiting for the sun to appear.<\/p>\n
Midway into the safari, we halted at the stopover point. It is a Forest Dept halt with loos and couple of vendors selling tea and hot pakoras. Oh the joy of warming our frozen fingers by holding cups of warm tea and munching hot pakoras ! All the jeeps make a stop here and soon the demand for pakoras and tea outnumbered the sellers’ capabilities \u2013 and there was a huge waiting for them. Meanwhile having downed two teas each and two plates of pakoras each, we finally felt a little revived and indulged in some photography before starting for the second half of the trip<\/p>\n
By this time, the sun had crept up the horizon and the mist had cleared up. Suddenly the forest had woken to life. There were monkeys on the trees (and on the ground), birds twittering and lots and lots of chital to be seen, along with the occasional sambar deer. But alas, no tiger. We spotted the usual pug marks on the trail at one place, but I guess that\u2019s the only thing most visitors to tiger reserves come back with. However, not all were that unlucky. One of the jeeps on the C route had been lucky \u2013 and they made a rather big deal about their tiger viewing<\/p>\n By the time we finished our morning safari, it was almost 10 and the sun was a little more assertive. On stationary ground, the temperature was just perfect \u2013 and the hotel had breakfast waiting for us. Breakfast was just as good as last night\u2019s dinner buffet and the aloo parathas were packed off with gusto. Since waking up at 5 in the morning on a holiday is just not done, we compensated by taking a mid morning nap. After a light lunch, it was time for the afternoon safari at 2pm<\/p>\n We again lined up in a queue at the gate of the sanctuary \u2013 and this time we had some serious photographers with metre-long lenses for company in other jeeps. Since the tiger had been sighted on the C route in the morning, we got ourselves signed up for the C route. And the C route definitely had more animals than the morning A \u2013 we saw more chitals, sambar, peacocks \u2013 and once thought we were close to a leopard too, but the forest guide couldn\u2019t be sure. However, our bad luck with the tiger continued \u2013 a couple of jeeps behind us on the C route happened to see the tiger walk, across the road<\/p>\n Our driver, quite a spirited fellow, took a U turn and raced back rally style to the spot where the sighting had occurred, but we were too late. The tiger was apparently on its way to a watering hole and the forest guide opined that he would come back the same way, and he would cross the road again. We picked a spot on the trail and waited \u2013 hoping the tiger would take the same route but it wasn\u2019t to be. And so we came back empty handed again<\/p>\n However, we had the foresight to make contingency plans in the afternoon for such a disappointment. The ever-ready-to-please staff had been instructed to light a bonfire for us under the gazebo and a waiter was left to keep bringing piping hot snacks for us \u2013 for it had again become very cold and misty. The warm fire, the delicious chicken and paneer tikkas and fiery spirits made it a memorable evening in Bandhavgarh<\/p>\n We took the Rajendra Nagar express from Mumbai which departs from LTT at 10.30pm. It reaches Katni at 5.30 pm in the evening, from where you can take a taxi (pre-arranged) for the 100 km to Bandhavgarh. The roads in Madhya Pradesh are not that good and it seems no one in the state has heard of dual carriageways \u2013 everything is strictly 2-lane. Katni itself is a typical Indian small town and it isn\u2019t necessarily the best idea to spend a night there. The road from Katni to Tala gate in Bandhavgarh, passes through a bit of the northern part of the Bandhavgarh sanctuary \u2013 which is where we were on the first night at 9pm.<\/p>\n View Larger Map<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n There are a lot of options of staying at Tala for all kinds of budgets. However, we cannot recommend Tiger Den Resort (http:\/\/www.tigerdenbandhavgarh.com\/<\/a>) enough. Apart from the fantastic rooms \u2013 the bathroom in our cottage was as large as the bedroom in my Bombay apartment \u2013 the service-with-a-smile was the best I have personally experienced in my traveling life. It cost us Rs 4500 per night for a cottage \u2013 inclusive of all meals<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nHow to Get There<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Where to Stay<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n