New Year with Paaroo!!

It all started in October; we did our bookings as soon as the Zone Reservation Window opened online from https://www.corbettonline.uk.gov.in/. Just to let you know, there is only one official site of Corbett reserve. So, we booked Dhikala Zone for 3 Days 2 Nights.

Finally, December was here! Time to fuel up our adventurous souls…Yayyy! We moved from Delhi early morning. What a foggy morning it was? It took us around 6 hours to reach Ram Nagar. As soon as you reach Ram Nagar, you have to drop your vehicle there and board the Jeeps to roam around inside the Corbett Forest. As we were 10 people, we took 2 jeeps and finally the journey away from all the chaos began!

Although we were tired, but our energy levels boost up as the cold breeze of Corbett hit our souls. The thrill had just began! Passing through the dense forest, we reached our zone – Dhikala where we were going to spend our next two nights. We checked-in the rooms and proceeded for our Afternoon Jungle Safari – Day 1.

I feel so blessed to witness the true side of Mother Nature with its children playing around. And I got lucky to see the very graceful and powerful cat – Leopard, the Deer, the Barking Deer, the Sambar. My eyes even got a chance to see the glimpse of Royal Bengal Tiger roam around in his area. It was a thrilling experience to actually listen to the deer and sambar call and then wait for the Tiger to come out. We literally used to sit and stand in the jeeps in silence, waiting for just a glimpse. Finally it was sunset and we had to come back to our zone. On first day, we had our dinner, some family chit chat, roamed around for a while and then dozed off due to tiredness. It was the first New Year eve when everything was so calm and peaceful with all my loved ones around. I actually loved it and only wish my each year to start like this <3

Day 2 began early morning 6:00 a.m. It was freaking cold and we all were packed up from head to toe restricting the cold breeze from entering inside us :P Wandering from here to there in search of the Tiger, we got to see so many deer, jackal, a cute tusker. I even got a glimpse of the Tigress roaming.

We literally waited for hours at different locations in the forest to see the tigress but it was not easy luck. Well, morning safari ended and we had only few hours to freshen up. Dancing around and relaxing, it was time for our afternoon safari.

With a hope to see the tigress, we boarded our Jeeps. In no time, we were in the dense forest looking for Tigress when one of the fellow jeep gave indications of the Tigress in that area. All jeeps were parked waiting for the Tigress but it didn’t come until when the deer crossed our path, I could see the tigress running.

All jeeps stopped and there was the QUEEN. Oh my god! I will never forget that look in the eye. I will never forget that walk. She was the showstopper! Her name was Parvalli and she walked with us without harming us for around 20 mins. We saw every fine line on her body so clearly. Her roar felt like music to our ears. It was a lifetime experience!

Finally we left as it was quite late to return to the zone. Even after coming back, we couldn’t stop thinking and talking about the beautiful Parvalli. Later that evening, we all went on looking for the constellations. And I came across one more beautiful thing. I witnessed the Moon Rise. Is it even a thing? Oh yes! A very unreal and gorgeous thing of this universe. Sunsets and Sunrises are amazing indeed but Moon Rise gave me literal goose bumps that day. I loved every bit of Day 2…Hope you were amazed after reading it.

Now, it was our last morning in Jim Corbett. Oops! Time just flew away. We all went on our morning safari with a hope of witnessing the tigress for one more time. We waited for hours again but had to come back just by seeing her footprints. We had no regret of course!

It was one amazing experience to disconnect with people and connect with the nature. It was a great start to 2021. In that moment, I only wished everyone to stay together and happy. It was an overwhelming experience for me after a year. I hope everyone gets to experience such natural beauty with their loved ones.

Hope y’all enjoyed reading it!

#disconnecttoconnect