So, after a good sleep in our little cottage, listening to the odd critter bleeping away and the whirr of our ceiling fan overhead (sounds authentic and tranquil right ….? ) we received our gentle ‘wake up’ knock on our front door at 5:15am …. ‘ello’ from Bhola, our butler – a change into ‘jungle clothes’, cup o’ tea and freshen up, then off we set at 5:45am with a jeep full of 4 others. Entered park at 6:15am (when it opens), admin complete – here’s the info bit: Bandhavgarh national park comprises of mixed foliage, mainly sal and bamboo trees with open grassland. Set in centre of Vindhya Hills and an area of 168 square miles…..
After 20 mins, two of the new arrivals needed the toilet (!) so ‘bush stop’ made, then off we set. This mornings sightings:
Jungle peacocks
Jungle wild boar
Jungle spotted deer
Jungle cockerel (he’s back!)
Jungle black faced (cute, long tails as seen in Jaipur) and rhesus (vicious ones as seen in Agra!) monkeys
BIRDS (new to us!)
Jungle woodpecker
ELEPHANTS (sadly working ….)
Fellow guests seemingly stunned by peacocks beauty as it is India’s national bird so that is lovely and heartwarming for them to see, we are still enjoying the bumpy ride (as with Kenya, donning cagools early in morning, prising off as sun heats up …), listening to the crunch of fallen, dried leaves under the tyres (likened to the sound of ‘crunchy nut cornflakes’ !)!) and basking in the heady scent of sal tree blossom interspersed with road dust (!) …stopped for muffins, biscuits, tea, coffee and a tomato (or chicken) sandwich and visit to bush toilets (!), dodging naturally thorny surrounding foliage which might give us ladies a little jump!!
Drive continued, 4 seemingly short hours then back for cuppa, lunch (and our retreat to library for wifi and iPad blogs!) – next drive 3pm – thoughts of pop song ‘eat, drink, sleep, repeat’ now ‘eat, sleep, safari, repeat!’
So, will blog later if anything to report, but for now, did I mention WE SAW A TIGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep, on leaving the park, despite ban of ‘walkie talkies’ (seems mobile phones don’t count!), high speed zoom along dusty road to join other half dozen jeeps … Hidden within the foliage about 50 yards from us was a solitary male tiger, around 18-20 months, as huge as a male lion, having a snooze …. Visibility was ‘just about see the stripes and whipping tail’ then he got up – sadly he had a limp, maybe through a thorn – seems park rangers periodically give him a jab of antibiotics (they are permitted to drive within foliage with vet on locating tiger and evidently not just administering a dab of germolene!) – they said he has only had limp a couple of weeks and it was much improved …… As I am sure you can imagine, though we didn’t see his face (for within moments he wandered off deeper into the bush), we were utterly in awe – so much so, as I lowered my camera and simply watched his magnificence, and I cried ……
We were blown away and stunned to have seen him, greedily now wishing for a look into those golden eyes, but forever captivated by those stripes …. So camouflage maybe ‘unusual’ for he barely blends in with green trees and firs, buy hey, being a green tiger would be a little embarrassing for him I feel…..