Bandhavgarh : Tiger tales and Fancy resort

So if you want some time to stay away from the city hustle at some quiet place , close to nature then this is the place.

Day 2:

It was the safari day today and it was raining heavily since morning 2:00 am, we had to leave by 5:30 am morning for the safari but due to bad weather we left at 6:30 am. While on the way to forest department office we were skeptical as to we'll get to see the tiger or not.

NOTE:

1. You need to book the Jungle Safari ride before hand as there's a limited number of safari allowed in the jungle as it's a protected area.

2. For the booking of the Jungle safari you can get it done through your hotel.

3. You need to carry every identity card for every passenger as you'll have to show it at every gate. At the jungle zone entry gate, railway station and district entry point.

There are 4 different zones of the Tiger reserve in which the Tourist Safaris are allowed:

• Tala zone

• Magadhi zone

• Khitauli zone

• Panpatha zone

Bandhavgarh is located in Umaria district and the neareby airports are: Jabalpur , Khajuraho and Raipur . But the easiest for us was by the train. The near by railway stations are: Umaria and Katni. So our Journey to the Jungle is as follows:

Ranchi - Barkakhana - Beohari

We started from Ranchi in the evening and went to Barkakhana in the evening 7 by road and from Barkhakhana we had booked our tickets to Beohari.

Day 1:

We reached Beohari at 10:00 am and the resort that we had booked had sent a car to pick us. Then our journey to the jungle actually started, from Beohari station to the resort is almost 60kms away so had a nice road trip of 2 hours.

We reached the Maati Jungle Resort, our home for next 2 days, resort by the pond amid the fields and next to the forest. There are cottages with sufficient room space and each having a private pool (best of all), There rooms with machan and also family rooms. So we got 2 cottages facing each other with nice cozy bed and sitting space, in fact it was too big for 2 people.

After getting freshened we went to the restaurant area which has the swimming pool in front, indoor game area (snooker table, Foosball table, carom board etc.),a home theater, basketball and badminton court and swings tied to the trees. What else could we ask for more than this to spent a leisure time to relax with friends.

Jungle Maati Lodge:

We ordered for lunch which was tasty and very homely. We has the rest of the day which we wanted to spend in a relaxing mode so post lunch we had all the time for ourselves so we went around the resort to see the work in progress as the architect in-charge of the expansion of the resort is our friend. Then we played all the games possible with was so much fun. We couldn't avoid the pretty pool even though it was cold but still we jumped in the pool and that was it we had lot of fun jumping around.

After the pool time we went back to rooms and at night we had the bonfire ready with barbecue .

There are open jeeps for the Safari ride where we were accompanied by naturalist, they understand the routes of the tiger and also their zone, they get the sighting signals through the other animals and they can give a lot of information about various animals found in the forest. Timings for entry into, and exit from, the park vary according to the season.

NOTE:

The Bandhavgarh National Park remain closed from July 1st to October 15th.

So morning in-spite of the rainy weather we went to Tala zone and the driver being very supportive said " sighting tiger is more about luck, so be optimistic and believe that you'll see one and you might definitely get lucky".

We were very hopeful and as we entered the guide opened his box of information. We could see spotted deer, peacock, monkeys and sambar deer. As told by the guide other than tigers there are leopards, chital, barking deer, bear, langur, nilgai, Asian bison, wild boar, jackals and few more.

As we were going around we found traces of an elephant gone wild who had trashed some trees and the birds had been screaming around.

We would stop by to get some signal of tiger but we failed to get one, it was 10:00 am now and driver took us to a small area amid the forests where there were some tea stalls where they also served some breakfast items. It was run by the villagers around so there were more tourists and we had some Maggi and bread omelet.

So then again we started our ride but couldn't get a sight of any tiger. Still there were some amazing experiences watching the spotted deer who were least bothered by our presence.

So by noon we came out of the forest and most of the areas were blocked because of the wild elephant. The moment we came out of the Tala zone the zone was closed until it was safe from the wild elephant.

We came to the town and went around some shops there and got some souvenir.

We came back to the hotel for lunch and it was still cloudy. We had an option to go for the evening ride or not but we opted to go ahead hoping to sight some tiger.

Post lunch we left from the resort at 2:30 pm and this time we had a different naturalist for a different zone of Magdhi.It was still drizzling and we were depending on our luck for tiger sighting.

We entered the zone and it was still drizzling a little. As we moved ahead we saw 1-2 safari jeep standing at a spot and then what we saw was so unreal. A tiger was sitting under the tree relaxing and enjoying his own time, he was fearless and so real.

In the mean time few more Safari jeeps joined us , the area is owned by the tigress named 'Solo' who has 4 cubs of around 14 months so our guide suggested the driver to pull the jeep back as there was a chance we could spot the 4 cubs. He wasn't wrong , we saw 2 cubs playing and coming towards us. Wooh that was a sight and we were just amazed to see those tigers so freely moving and playing around. On the other side could see the other 2 cubs playing around the bamboo trees. That was the moment and we were too lucky to see all the 4 cubs.

We moved further ahead and on way we saw many other animals like: Sambar deer and bison as well. Most interesting was to see the barking deer , they stay alone and they bark when the see the carnivorous animals.

Also Read: dampa tiger reserve

The entire forest area is just too mystical with dense forest, unpaved roads and all the fallen leaves. It was mystical, it was cold and felt like some movie scene.

Soon it was getting dark and we were on our way out of the forest when we saw the Asian bison one of the largest mammal and we saw it standing right on our way. It was scary but the driver was smart enough to escape from him.

Soon we were back to the resort and the bonfire was ready for us after the cold weather. The hotel staff prepared Batuknath chicken , which is a special high nutrient chicken breed for our dinner and it was too delicious.

Day 3:

This was the last day at Bandhavgarh, so we woke up and planned to enjoy at the resort area and the swimming pool. We were soon in the pool and had a fun time after which we got the breakfast.

By 11:30 am we were ready to leave from the resort as we had another 2 hours drive to Umaria from where we had our train to catch.

Bandhavgarh was all about spending some quality time with friends where you'll have all the time to enjoy without any wi-fi or internet. We were lucky to sight the tigers and some more amazing animals and got to know a lot about them.