14.11.24 CCU (18 20 hrs) >Raipur (20 00 hours) > Train by Gondia BJU Express to Umaria
15.11.24 Raipur (00 15 hours) > Umaria (Train by Gondia BJU Express) > Auto (@Rs 700) > Greetoe Celebration Van Vilas Bandhavgarh (08 30 hrs)
15.11.24 Greetoe Celebration Van Vilas Bandhavgarh
Evening Safari at Tala
16.11.24 Greetoe Celebration Van Vilas Bandhavgarh
Morning Safari at Khitauli
Evening Safari at Tala
17.11.24 Morning Safari at Tala
Evening Safari at Khitauli
17.11.24-18.1124 Greetoe (19 15 hrs)>Raipur (04 40 hrs)
18.11.24 Raipur ( 08 40 hrs)>CCU (1010 hrs) >Office
14.11.2024
Sovon, Arun, Mohua and I took the flight from CCU at 18200 hours. Sudipta da did not get the Plane ticket and took Bande Bharat Express train. We reached Raipur at around 2000 hours and left for Raipur Junction by Uber and paid around Rs 570/-. When we reached Raipur, it is already quite empty. We had our dinner at one of the numerous restaurants at the Station. Sovon and Arun had Rajasthani Thali and we had Domino's Pizza (apart from Fried Rice which we brought from home). We were supposed to take Gondia BJU Express at 1235 to reach Umaria at 0638 hrs.
But Sudipta da would have surely missed the connecting train (expected to reach Raipur at 0130 hrs) , had it not been advised by a local person, that since Bande Bharat is coming from Calcutta>Bilaspur>Raipur route and our Train was going towards Umaria along this route Raipur >Uslapur >Umaria , your friend should get down at Bilaspur and take a train or Auto to reach Uslapur. Uslapur is only 8 Km from Bilaspur and is apparently a bypass station for Bilaspur. Bilaspur is around 2 hours from Raipur. We were almost certain that he would have missed the first safari. Moreover there is a connecting train to Umaria next day at 1200 hours. Thanks to that person, who spent nearly 40 minutes to explain everything to me and Sudipta da got up at Uslapur at 0230 hours and finally we all met at Umaria next day. It was a great relief for us.
There are various ways to reach Bandhavgarh
Get In
By air: Jabalpur Airport, at a distance of 190 km, is the closest airport to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. Private vehicles are available to form the airport to the national park area. Since Kolkata to Jabalpur connection by flight has stopped, we had to go to Raipur to go to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve
By rail: Satna Railway Station, at a distance of 133 km, is the nearest railhead to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. Apart from that Umaria is only 39 Km from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. Katni is 102 Km from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. Another important important station is Shahdol, MP , which is near Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.
Bandhavgarh National Park is well connected with all the major cities and stations in India.
- Jabalpur : 190 km/ 4 hrs
- Satna: 120 km
- Umaria: 39 km/ 45 min
- Khajuraho: 270 km/ 6 hrs
- Katni: 102 km
We could have opted for any of the options. On the date of journey Raipur>Umaria was the best option for us.
By road: Umaria is the best option for us to reach Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. We could have taken the road journey from Katni or Shahdol or Satna, depending upon the connection train or Plane.
Know Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve
The foliage in Bandhavgarh National Park is mostly of dry deciduous type. There are 32 hills, plateaus, meadows and cliffs – all of this makes it a very unique place. It is somewhat similar to Ranthambore NP.
The vegetation of Bandhavgarh is specially filled with Sal forest in the valleys and Bamboo stretches on the lower slopes of the region. While half of the forest is being covered with fine trees of Sal and Bamboo, the forest also beholds the mixed species around the higher hills that also includes high grasslands which are the major specialty of the Bandhavgarh jungle. We saw Leopard tree, Indian Ghost tree, Crocodile barked tree etc.
https://www.bandhavgarh-national-park.com/flora-in-bandhavgarh.html
Bandhavgarh National Park like all the other parks of Madhya Pradesh, remains open for visitors from 1st October till the 30th June. But in winter it is very cold and sightings are not good . We visited in 15th November-17th November and we did not have very good sightings, though we saw tiger 3 times in 5 safaris.
Core Zones : There are 3 Core safari zones in Bandhavgarh National Park, namely Tala Zone (540 Sq kms), Magadhi Zone (400 Sq kms), and Khitauli Zone (400 Sq Kms).
Summer season, March to June, can be hot and dry, but it offers the best chances for spotting animals.
Source : https://www.mpforests.com/
Morning Safari in November - 6.15 am - 1100 am
Evening safari in November - 3.00 am - 5.45 am
Night Safari ( 7 pm to 10.30 pm).
There was an elephant safari also.
Unlike others, this park seems to be easier to book. You can actually see how many seats are available in which area. Unlike Corbett, it seems to be scam free. However, I did the booking through my friend Avijit - 89101 11675 , who is doing it semi - professionally. He is very reliable and stays near my house. He has always the latest knowledge of all the Parks in India.
You can book from this Govt. website (part of the Park falls in MP):
https://forest.mponline.gov.in
Like all the other parks of M.P., Bandhavgarh too allows a total number of 8 people in a jeep, out of which 6 are tourists and the other 2 are the guide and the driver.
There is also Canter service available - we saw one during our safari. So it is possible to book even one seat for few zones.
The forest is apparently closed on Tuesday. I did not verify it independently.
We paid initially for the permit online through our friend Rs 2950/- (2450 + 500 service Charge of agent per Safari) and paid the balance at the resort Rs 4,200/- (3600 - Car + 600 Guide) per Safari
Bandhavgarh Fort
In the core Tala zone of Bandhavgarh lies a fort which is the oldest fort of India – the Bandhavgarh Fort. It links back to the Ramayana era. It is said that it was a hill which Lord Rama flattened into a plateau. And then built a fort on top of it. He gifted this fort to his brother Lakshmana. This is where the name “Bandhavgarh” originates. In hindi, “Bandhu” means “Brother” and “Garh” means “Home“. Thus the name, “Bandhavgarh“. The fort is very massive and it has several temples also inside it.
Shesh Saiya and Charan-ganga
Near the Bandhavgarh fort lies the Shesh Saiya, a statue of God Vishnu lying in a reclining position on the 7-hooded snake “Shesh Nag” . A stream of water flows from near his toe. This is believed to be the source of Charan Ganga – which meets the ocean at Dwarka.
Natural caves
There are many ancient caves in the Tala zone of Bandhavgarh National Park as well. They are located at the base of the Bandhavgarh Fort. And it seems these caves were used for meditation purpose in the ancient times. There are in total around 39 such caves in this region. The biggest cave is called “Badi Gufa” (Big cave). In the later time, these caves were used by the wild animals of the national park. On the last day, we went to see this.
Jungle Attractions
Bandhavgarh has one of the highest density of tigers known in the world and is home to some well-known tigers which are large. Charger, a tiger so named because of his habit of charging at elephants and tourists (whom he nonetheless did not harm), was the first healthy male known to be living in Bandhavgarh since the 1990s,as well as a female known as Sita. Charger once appeared on the cover of National Geographic and is considered the second most photographed tiger in the world. Almost all the tigers of Bandhavgarh are descendants of Sita and Charger.
Apart from tiger, there are in general more than 22 species of mammals and more than 250 species of birds.
Some of the most famous animals in the Bandhavgarh National Park include carnivores like Asiatic Jackal, Bengal Fox, Sloth Bear, Gray Mongoose, Striped Hyena, Jungle Cat. The artiodactyls found here include wild pig, spotted deer, sambar, chausingha, nilgai and chinkara with mammals like dhole, the small Indian civet, palm squirrel.
Birds include crane, black kite, crested serpent eagle, black vulture, Egyptian vulture, common peafowl, red jungle fowl, dove, parakeet, Indian roller can also be found in abundance.
Apart from the above, the park also has special birds like Grey Hornbill and White-Breasted Kingfisher etc.
15.11.2024
Gondia BJU train reached Umaria at 0640 hours and we had put on our alarm to get down at Umaria since it is not the last stop ! We hired an auto for Rs 700 each (Manager - Anil Yadav-6260 267264 and in charge of the resort Siddhartha Ghose +9189894 70874) , to reach our Resort - Greetoe Celebration Van Vilas Bandhavgarh (https://greetoeresorts.com/).
The resort could have hired the car for us Rs 2000 for 5 people and Rs 1500 for 4 people. The resort is owned by a person from Satna. They have a resort at Panna, Sanjay Dubri and Kanha also. There is a banyan Tree in the resort. You can enjoy swings under the banyan tree as well. It is one of the interesting resorts, I have stayed.
They told us, if we wanted a specific driver, then we have to pay Rs 1000 extra per safari. It is more important to have a good driver than a guide, they told us. Later we found that most of the guides are having an experience of 2-3 years only. One of them was only 1.5 months.
We learnt from the guide that number of tigers in Bandhavgarh is 165 and male tiger has a territory of 40 sq Km and female tiger has 10-15 Sq Km. Unlike both Lion , both male and female hunts. The move a lot during night and their eyesight at night is very good. The deer has very good sense of smell. That is why a tiger will try to stay in a place, which is against the wind, so that the smell is not carried to the deer. Every year the deer shed and grow antler. When a new antler is growing, there is lot of blood circulation along the antler and antler can bleed, if it is injured. Tiger is very fond of Sambar meat,since it can survive 10 days with that meat. A tiger can eat 15 Kg every day. A female tiger weighs around 300-350 Kg, while a male tiger weighs 400-450 Kg.An average lifespan of a tiger is 15 years in wild.
SAFARI
15.11.24
The First (evening) safari was at Tala gate - It started at 1500 hours and ended at 1745 hours.You have to carry the hardcopy of the online booking.
The guide is new, with only 2 years experience. We did not have good sightings. We saw Spotted deer, Barking deer and Langur.
We had our dinner and went to sleep early, since we have to get up early.
16.11.2024
The morning safari was at Khitauli gate.It starts at 615 hours and ends at 1100 hours. It is in MP. They are more tourist friendly. They did not charge for camera . You have to carry the hardcopy of the online booking. There is a breakfast break for the morning safari. Our resort arranged for that.
The sighting was good. We saw Tiger, Malabar Hornbill, Grey Hornbill, Red Throttled Lapwing, Peacock, adjutant Stork and Sambar.
After returning from safari we had an chit chat session.
The evening safari was at famous Tala gate. The sighting was good. We saw Tiger twice, Common Kestrel, Vulture, Owlet and Racket Tailed Drongo.
We had our dinner and went to sleep early, since we have to get up early.
17.11.2024
The morning safari was again at Tala gate.
The sighting was not good. We saw Rufous Treepie and Spotted Owlet.. We went to see a statue of God Vishnu lying in a reclining position on the 7-hooded snake “Shesh Nag” . It is believed to be more than 1000 years old. A stream of water flows from near his toe. This is believed to be the source of Charan Ganga – which meets the ocean at Dwarka. It is in this Tala Gate zone and it is on top of a hill. There are many ancient caves - which was used to horse stable, Court etc, we were told.
The evening safari was at Khitauli gate. The sighting was not good.
After the safari we went straight to the Resort and after a cup of tea left for the airport at 7.20 pm.
18.11.2024
SOURCE :
wikipedia
https://traveltriangle.com
https://www.bandhavgarhtigerreserve.org/tourist/point-of-interests
