Well I could count
myself amongst the lucky few to have had a firsthand experience of watching the
majestic and highly celebrated tiger of Kanha National Park.
We took the Jabalpur
express (garib rath) from Bandra terminus in Mumbai till Jabalpur. It was an
overnight journey and we reached Jabalpur station by 7:00 am. We had pre-booked
cars which took us to a hotel in Bhedaghat. The place is a famous tourist
attraction for its naturally occurring and imposing Marble- Rocks on the
Narmada River and the Dhuandhar waterfall. What few people don’t know about
this place is its important historical background. It is a treasure trove for
the fossils of dinosaur eggs. Another impressive and a fun activity would be to
take the boat ride in the Narmada River at Bhedaghat. For those who understand
hindi do not miss the commentary of the guide during the boat ride. For those
who don’t understand the language, don’t worry the marble rock structures are
sure to mesmerize you. (this visit takes hardly half a day so don’t miss it)
After lunch we left for
Kanha National Park and arrived at the resort in time for evening tea. The resort
in which we were staying was the Wild Chalet Resort. It’s a charming place with
individual huts having a modern décor on the banks of a river. We were warmly
welcomed and shown to our rooms. Post snacks we had an acclimatizing session on
wildlife and we strolled down to the river bank. Here we got to hear the
crystal clear calls of the nightjars and of the birds going back to their
roosts. The session was really helpful as most of the people were going to go
for a safari for the first time. The normal dos and donts were mentioned which
had to be followed to the T. We called it an early day and retired to our rooms
post dinner so that we could cope with our exhaustion and be prepared for the
following morning. A little information about the park is that there are 4 major
zones in Kanha national park namely Kanha, Kisli, Sarahi and Mukki.
We woke up in the wee
hours of morning got ready had tea and biscuits. Our safaris arrived to pick us
up at 5:00 am sharp. We were all excited and bursting with energy as it was our
first safari. All were in high spirits despite the early wake-up. We arrived at
the gates where we had to get our ids checked by the authority and wait in queue
to get our guide. Once the gates opened we proceeded to our zone which was the
Sarahi zone. Well I would like to note a fact here that we were told not to
expect a tiger in the first safari we should keep our eyes open for the birds
and other mammals. So we were busy training our eyes on the birds and trying to
put names to their voices. We got some pretty pictures. We happened to come
across a huge herd of the Indian Guar mistakenly called as Bison. Their sheer
size was enough to make us feel afraid. We were taking in the sights and smells
of the morning in the beautiful forest. We saw herds of the famous Barasingha
which is restricted to Kanha National Park then we reached the patrolling guard’s
tower inside the forest where we could get off stretch a bit and get refreshed.
We then started back to
the gates and suddenly we were confronted with the loud kileee kileee kileee
kileee of the stork billed kingfisher. It is a large bird with impressive colors
which are hard to miss. It took us a few minutes to realize that it was trying
to shoo away another handsome raptor the changeable hawk-eagle. We were really
happy with these sightings only to come across the mightily shy and really
adorable barking deer a little further down the trail. We moved ahead and we were
talking in excited whispers when suddenly we heard something like a roar and a
growl. It was repeated again, so we reversed our jeep and low and behold to our
right were two huge sloth bears fighting over territory. It was my first time
to have come across a sloth bear during a safari in my last four years of
travel. So I was one happy traveler, and to get to see two of them fight was as
good a bargain as possible. After the bears retreated back we had to hurry to
the gates in order to be avoiding penalty. We were all excitedly talking in
hushed tones and showing pictures to each other and showing a few Mahua trees
whose flowers are a delicacy for the sloth bears. When suddenly our driver just
slammed the breaks right in our path sat Munna (MU1). Sighting a tiger
in the wild is an experience in itself, something which cannot be expressed but
only felt.
Yet
here he was this majestic creature sitting like a king in the center of the
road with no care in the world. After a few minutes he got up and walked into
the grassland as we overtook him. He then turned around gave a hair raising
growl and walked back to the road. His walk was captivating and demanded
everyone’s attention. The sheer fact that he was just merely a few feet away
was enchantingly scary. His muscular stature and his signature spot marks on
his head which spell “CAT” are something that one cannot miss. This tiger is lovingly
called as Munna and is very famous and well photographed male tiger of Kanha.
After walking on the road like royalty he then headed into the woods and
disappeared, but his sighting was something which has been etched into my
memory forever. We were undoubtedly lucky to have sightings of the Sloth Bear and
the Tiger in our very first safari. Our introduction to Kanha National Park was
simply unrealistic and absolutely fruitful.
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