Recounting one of the most ambitious safari cum road trips to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve that I’ve ever undertaken.
The drive from Hyderabad to Bandhavgarh is an approx. 1000 KM drive spanning three states, one national highway, a couple more state highways, a couple of ghat roads, and a couple of forest ranges.
It’s not the first time that I am driving through this route – so, planned the drive as well as contingency measures (stocked water and food) etc. in advance. But a greedy stopover at Pench National Park, Karmajhiri, that could have been avoided only protracted time and added pain to an otherwise pleasure-laden drive; not to mention the painfully slow drive through the Pench jungle owing to the very badly maintained roads.
Better roads
We (two of us – Venkat and I) started at 5:30AM on the chilly winter morning from Hyderabad. The 50 odd KM drive through the Nehru ORR was a warm-up for the further drive. We decided not to make any stops for breakfast etc., to cut down the travel time. We had to pick up a friend, Mayur, who would be waiting on the Oriental Express Way, after taking his flight to Nagpur from Mumbai.
Owing to my awareness of the route, and the lesser traffic, and the very fantastic roadways, we could maintain an average speed of 100KMPH from Hyderabad to Nizamabad bypass till Adilabad bypass, despite a couple of stops for nature calls and the very irritating toll gates. As expected, once we crossed the bridge atop the tributary of Pranahita at Adilabad, and as we entered the Maharashtra state, the roads are single lane, with some road works happening hither and thither.
We made a stop for some Tea at the dhaba close to Tipeshwar Wildlife sanctuary road in Pandherkawda and proceeded with the rest of the journey. The intention was to reach Nagpur before 12:00PM, and pick our friend who would be waiting.
The pain
The road is straight with some occasional diversions to Hinganghat till Jam, where it turns left for Nagpur. We then picked up Mayur at a pre-determined place, and proceeded forward. We did stop for lunch at some posh highway restaurant, where we had some chilly chicken, panneer and some garlic butter naans. The delay was more than 45 minutes and this eventually proved very costly.
For as much as I reckon, the further drive through Pench forest range was pleasant, if not excellent. It was a single road but a nice ride. Till we reached Pench Sillari and Khursapar gates, everything seemed to be excellent, but the road ahead was full of gaping pot holes and deep cuts. The safari at Pench, Karmajihiri was supposed to start at 3:15 PM, and at 2:00PM, we were still driving at 20KMPH with close to a 100KM distance to destination.
Somehow managed to reach the diversion from the highway to Karmajhiri road at Mohgaon by 3:00PM. Karmajhiri was still a good 30KMs from here, but I thought, even if I drive at 60KMPH, I should reach the destination in another 30 minutes; 15 minutes late by the entry time. Somewhere in between, we lost a track of the road, with Google Maps not at all helping with the route and we ended up driving through the country roads filled with sand and mud. Priorities changed and the target was to reach by 4:00PM, post which we will be denied an entry into the forest. With a couple of grace minutes, we reached the gate, requested for an entry and managed to get into the forest.
As with the previous time, Karmajhiri didn’t prove lucky this time too; but no regrets since we were doing only a stop-gap safari. Sightings were good around this period with Raiyyakassa male tiger and C1 from Collarwali’s previous litter leading the sightings. But, we weren’t lucky; there wasn’t any sightings that evening. We had some coffee at Shanta Bai’s home stay just outside the Karmajhiri gate, a place where I stayed erstwhile, and then proceeded with our journey to Bandhavgarh via Seoni.
Further ahead
The road ahead wasn’t as bad the one through Pench forest, but occasionally, we would meet with single lane roads interspersed with double lane roads. I was longing for the Jabalpur to Bandhavgarh stretch which is my favorite drive of the entire trip.
It must’ve been 10:00PM by the time we reached crossed Jabalpur. The road after Shahpura is again a single lane road with some regular traffic and occasional hard bend roads and a couple of hair pins. At this hour of the night, at least, the need to negotiate traffic at the intermediate villages is eliminated. There is a possibility of seeing wild animals. We did spot a couple of opportunistic Jackals in the suburbs. It must be 1:00AM or so by the time we reached Tala village, and our resort – Nature Heritage. Switching on the room heater, for the chill was unbearable, we crashed to our respective beds.
More than 1100 KMs (including the detour at Pench, Karmajhiri), 2.5 hours of game drive through the Pench jungle, another 15 hours of travel comes to an end.
At Bandhavgarh
Day 1: Our safari this day was at Magadhi zone. The morning drive went almost empty, but we enjoyed the chill. We had the middle seat removed from the Gypsy – gives us an edge to view and click from better angles. I don’t remember if we even saw any pug marks. Our driver Banty himself was distraught as he wasn’t able to show us a tiger. Tiger is our majorly tracked subject, but if an opportunity presents, we click any animal from as common as Sambhar deer or Indian Gaur to exotic birds. In a previous trip, we clicked a Mottled Wood Owl to our heart content.
The evening drive too was going to be a total washout, but the last few minutes before we left the jungle proved otherwise. Following a very strong Sambhar call, our driver parked the Gypsy to one side, expecting the tiger to walk out. The sun had already set, and the light was fading, which got us worried. Meanwhile the Sambhar call faded away, the other Gypsys made a beeline to a point little ahead of us, while our driver didn’t budge, still saying that the tiger would come out from this point. As expected, the son of Bamera (a legendary tiger) walked out, allowing us to click some great photos, albeit the low-light. The outcome was that we were all gleaming.
Day 2: A small cloud cover left us worried about an imminent rain. The game drive was in Tala zone, and we were expecting almost no sighting. Tala zone, the once very popular and haven to Bandhavgarh’s most famed tigers, now lies empty following the deaths of many tigers in the recent past. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the sighting of Spotty’s cubs, though they were behind a thick cover of greenery. Nothing much to photograph but, nevertheless, a sighting.
The afternoon was highly overcast, but we luckily could spot Spotty this time. Her sister Dotty has given us some wonderful sighting to cherish for life, in a previous trip. Named after Spotty and Dotty from Disney’s Lion King, these two tigresses are from the Sukhi Pathiha female’s previous litter. Again, owing to Banty’s common sense, we could click a couple of decent photos of the tigress that walked across the road. But what we were on lookout for is the next four game drives at Magadhi in the coming two days.
Day 3: Our hopes of some sighting were dashed, doused and wetted by an unexpected rain spell both in the morning and evening. The game drives were a total washout. The temperatures further dipped and sighting the ever elusive Bengal Tiger became all the more difficult. We were able to see the pug marks but the tigers denied to oblige.
Day 4: Same story. Temperatures dipped and except for the pug marks and a few Sambhar calls, nothing else. However, following a very strong Sambhar call, we almost ran into a tigress that was drinking water from a puddle on the road. The tigress Kankati jr. from Rajbhera’s previous litter walked into the thicket when she saw our Gypsy approaching her.
Day 5: We were supposed to start early in the morning, but greed crept in, and we wanted to do another safari, as the trip hasn’t been very satisfying. Opted to do Magadhi; at Tala, one of the biggest tigers of Bandhavgarh, Mangu was seen roaming with his mate, Solo, while Magadhi was a total washout. Nothing much except for a Jungle Cat basking in the Sun.
Return journey
And we proceeded with our journey back home. Mayur had a flight to catch at Nagpur in the night, and after having lunch at Mayur’s place in Jabalpur, we proceeded to Nagpur via Chindwara, bypassing the very bad Pench roads. Dropped him at the airport and proceeded to Hyderabad. It was 2AM by the time we reached Hyderabad after a not so very satisying trip.