Pench Tiger Reserve - Second Safari

Road to Indore and Back Part VI

10 May 10

We had to get up at 0400 hrs as Lallan, our Gypsy driver was to pick us up at 0500. We had a quick cup of tea at Kipling’s Court at 0455 hrs and Lallan arrived at dot 0500 hrs. We reached the Turia gate at 0510. After making the permit by showing our web booking print out, I gave the permit and money to Lallan who did remaining formalities. Sudama was our guide for this trip.

We set out at 0530 hrs and ours was second vehicle into the forest. First we went to Junewani Talab, as last few sightings in the morning safari were here. There were many animals for whom the day break was just happening. Lake was full of life and merriment but obviously there were no tigers because if there were tigers, the remaining animal kingdom would be in super quiet mode.

After some wait we decided to look for other animals and also check other water points for tigers too. The sighting was good with all the animals that we saw yesterday were registering their presence with us with regularity. We also saw various types of Owls sitting in the voids of various trees, a pair of male and female jungle lizards again in a void of the tree.

At a spot when we saw restless Deers and two Jackals we thought the Jackals were hounding the Deer’s. We were focused on jackals and here came Wild dog with near orange coat and black bushy tail (like German Shepherd dogs) charging behind the Deer. We saw the dog but even before our son could click his Canon 450 D, the deer and the dog chasing them vanished behind rocks. We got to see a wild dog but no photos could be clicked.

Driving further we saw variety of birds including two types of Eagles, Black Stork, scores of Peacocks, Jungle Fowl, etc. On the way to Hand Pump, there were pug marks of a tiger. Also at a spot on the route there was smell of Tiger Kill (dead Animal), so we went to Hand Pump region where yesterday two Gypsies had sighted the Tigresses with collar but no luck there too.

We decided to go to Elephant Camp at Alikatta and check for Tiger Show This is how the show works:-

Forest staff takes their Elephants out early in the morning and track tigers. At one such location they keep track of the animal and later as safari vehicles arrive the Elephant camp they are given token for sighting the Tiger in that location.

The safari vehicle then takes you to that location where the tourists board the Elephant, go in the wilderness (where Gypsies can’t go) sight the Tiger and return to their vehicles. The charge per person is Rs 100 for this elephant ride and sighting.

There was a sighting very close to Elephant camp and we went there, boarded the Elephant and saw the Tiger (actually the Tigress with radio collar, the lead actress of BBC documentary, ‘The Spy in the Jungle’, available at Animal Planet (and other e commerce sites too) website for USD 19 only, other actors are her cubs) in flesh and blood for the first time resting under shrub kind of growth. She was the same animal whose pug marks we had seen.

There was a sense of fulfilment though I must admit that other sightings had already made our trips more than ‘Value for Money’. When we returned to Elephant camp (only place where toilets are available) as the group members found there way to rest rooms, we could witness Rotis being made for Elephants right from making the dough to making the Rotis (no stretch of imagination one can call such thick rotis ‘Chapatis’, if one does it all the Chapaties of the world would commit suicide). It was interesting to watch. Each Elephant is fed Chapatis of 10 kg dough apart from vegetation in the Jungle that they eat.

From this place we set out again to check Pench river bank and other water points. After all, we had seen only one Tiger where as as per 2005 census there are 33 Tigers in Pench Reserve and the actual numbers have only gone up. On our way we also saw Bison, herds of deer resting in the shed, some standing and some sitting comfortably. Another interesting sight was to see group of three female Langoors sitting around a tree trunk, huddled facing tree with their young ones clinging to their stomach sheltered from rapidly increasing heat of the jungle between the mothers and the tree.

Eventually it was nearing 0830 hrs and the guide and Lallan decided to try our luck at Junewani Talab yet again. Reason, for last four days, a pair of Tiger and Tigress has been sighted at Junewani around 0900 hrs. We reached Junewani at about 0905.

A Tata 207 with two foreigners was the only vehicle waiting. The driver told us that Tiger roars and deer’s warning calls were being heard for last half an hour. We also decided to camp there (in the gypsy, no one is allowed to get down from vehicle). At about 0910 hrs there was commotion among deers in the vicinity of a dry nullah which leads in to Junewani (though now blocked by bandh which also serves as road and a bank of the present lake created by this bandh. Sudama, our guide sensed that Tiger(s) is present near by. Then the roar was heard yet again.

Within 3-4 minutes my wife noticed some rapidly moving object in that area and alerted the guide who checked with his binocular and confirmed that it’s a Tiger. There was no further hint for next five minutes and suddenly out of no where a Tigress climbed from the dry nullah on to slightly higher ground.


What a majestic sight it was to have an audience with King of the Jungle for the first ever time in the wild and in the open. That was not the end of a romance with Tiger for that day, it was merely a beginning. Soon yet another Tiger appeared and both sat there on the high ground. From there if they had to come to the lake they had to climb the bandh and climb down to the lake and the prospects of that happening looked good.

Soon enough the tigress started the climb, came up on the bandh, inspected the surrounding and walked down to the lake. She got into the water to cool herself and drink water. She sat down into the water and started drinking it intermittently.

In another 3-4 minutes the Tiger came up on to the bandh but did not get in. He walked down to opposite side of the lake and got into water in repeat action of what the tigress was also doing. As the tigers landed at the lake there was a pin drop silence among all the animals. The mischievous Langoors climbed the nearest tree. The small duck like birds (I was told the name but cant recollect) who were fishing into the pond just went underwater and came up to breath only to go underwater again. Peacocks and Pea hens went into hiding and there was a different kind of silence in the area. As the tiger’s roar was heard by other guides too, at the final count there were a total of six gypsies / Tata207 out of 28 that entered when tigers came.

After some time the Tigress came out of the pond and joined the Tiger on the other side of the pond in to the water. After about five minutes they both got up and walked into the nullah leading to Kalapahad. Soon we could not see them and the scene changed.

The Langoors started playing vigorously as if they were trying to make up the lost time, the small duck like water birds came up and restarted fishing in the water, peacocks also could be seen. In fact one langoor rushed to water and drank water to his hearts content as soon as the tigers were out of the scene. What an experience it was. How many in this world would get to see the Tigers up front and close? We were among the few lucky ones.

Time was nearing 1000 hrs hence we returned from the Reserve. Had good breakfast at Kipling’s court and rested. We had called for an AC Indigo taxi to drop Mom and daughter to Nagpur (Charges non AC 1600 and AC 2000 irrespective of the vehicle one hires) for their flight which was at 2035 hrs. That taxi came at 1400 hrs. we started from Pench and went to Rukhad to Bison Retreat (another property of MPSTDC, 35 km from Pench and 23 km from Khawasa on the way to Jabalpur) to have lunch. Lunch was excellent. Post lunch, mom and daughter went to Nagpur and we started form Jabalpur at 1555 (172 km). NH 7 within Pench forest was two lane. It became four lane and stayed so till few km beyond Seoni. In fact the Seoni bypass was not officially opened but we were told that we can go through it. We did go and there were little adventures crossing it but we did cross. In any case it is fully ready and would open in about 10 days (by 25 May). The two lane NH7 post Seoni has okay surface and not too heavy traffic. We reached home at Jabalpur at 1845.

Journay to Indore and Back - A Date with Pench Tiger Reserve -Continued

Part V

Ist Safari in to Pench Tiger Reserve

Afternoon Safari starts at 1600 till 1900. One needs to reach the gate by 1530 (this seems to be time during summer when temperatures are high). Chandan was our driver and he arrived on time at 1520 hrs at Kipling’s court (pick up is from your resort/ hotel).

We reached the main gate at 15:30. The procedure is complicated, in that, either one gives net booking print out or fills up a form (and pays the charges) at a window where they make a permit (530 on web booking and current booking). Pick up your permit and then go to another hut where show your permit and the forest people make entry in a register and take guide fee of Rs 150. After you pay guide fee and attach its receipt on permit, another forest person allots you a guide (so three queues in all, thankfully, your safari driver does the last two jobs for picking up the guide). Actually all these tasks can be done at one place where they should make permit, take fee for guide and allocate guide. Three queue system just appears to be a method to give work to more people but it ends up harassing the tourists.

We finally entered the main gate at around 1600 hrs. The sanctuary was awash with variety of animals. We saw Langoors, Jackals, Peacocks and Peahens, Wild Boar, Deers, Nil Gai, Sambar, etc many times during the safari. We could see variety of birds also like owls, Tiger Brush, etc. Our guide searched for elusive tiger on large number of water holes but we had no luck. After looking for tiger at around six water holes (out of twelve) and Pench river bank we returned to Junewani water point (Talab) at around 1815 hrs.

What about Tiger? No, we could not see any but the scene was superb. The Deer, Peacocks and Langoors were giving tiger sighting (Danger) calls. Very different kinds of sound then their usual calls. All of these animals wanted to drink water but in the hierarchical Jungle none could dare till ‘King of the Jungle’ (at least this jungle is ruled by tiger) has had his drink of water.

The animal kingdom was stand still with a pregnant silence and the mankind around (about 10 safari jeeps full) were excited that finally they would sight the King. The animals were standstill and fearful, the humans were excited but the King was unmoved. He was somewhere there but would not oblige any one of us. At 1830, the forest inspector (or whatever they are called, who has been present there, indicated that the time is up and we must go out of the park.

All safari jeeps returned with heavy heart without sighting. Morning safaris has had sighting of tigers (one male and one female) at the same spot to their heart’s content.

We were very happy with all the sightings and had no special regrets for not sighting Tiger. We also knew that tomorrow morning again we would go to Jungle and have our chances. Only Dr Abheek Ghosh of Nagpur and some of his friend had sighting of one tigress (who has a radio collar on her which is likely to be removed in two days as her tracking would be discontinued on 11 May 10) at Hand Pump area.

We came back to Kipling’s court at 1920 hrs. Had a cup of tea and had dinner at 2100 hrs. Food was good. We were all tired and slept off at 2200 hrs. In any case, tomorrow morning Lallan (our Gypsy driver who is very famous naturalist) is to come and pick us up at 0500 hrs as park entry starts at 0530 hrs.

Sahib, Sindh, Sultan, The NWFP Flavors in a Authentically Different Environment

On a day’s outing last 10 Jul, we (self and wife) were in the City Centre Mall at Road No 1, Banjara Hills. After spending lots of time wandering in the mall, around 1345 hrs we started looking for a place to eat. We went up to 5th floor where their food court equivalent is. This whole floor is with BJN Group (whatever BJN means).

This group has four eateries if I remember correctly (It was 10 Jul 2010, long time has passed). One continental, One Bar, One Chinese and the last one was – Sahib, Sindh, Sultan.

Hell of a funny name for a restaurant to be called as such! The curiosity got better of us and we went to this place for Lunch. This place serves Indian cuisine with stress on NWF Province (now in Pakistan). As we entered, there was a hall, specious one, for dinning and also a different section too, where also one could dine.

As we explored further, we realized that the main hall resembles the railway platform and the other section, in fact, is like a railway coach, a dinning car to be precise. This section also had resemblance of Rly sleepers and the metal that is put on sleepers under it, to make it appear a dinning car on a platform.

To add to the authenticity, the waiters also were dressed in Railway waiter’s period uniform and the head waiters like Ticket Collectors. It felt very interesting and was done up very well.

When we were given the menu card, the mystery was let out. Sahib, Sindh and Sultan were the names of first three Steam Locomotives which ran on Indian Railway system in its infancy when first ever train ran between Mumbai (if my guess is correct, Byculla was the origin) and Thane in the year 1857.

In the memory of those engines, the place has been named accordingly. How interesting! Also the decor is period decor of a railway platform and a dinning car of that era with the waiters and headwaiters uniforms complimenting the decor.

So far so good. The décor and the theme were impressive. Then came the turn of food. Before ordering food we sought one of their non alcoholic drink (can’t recollect the name) for my wife, which was good, and a beer (no issue with the name, it was Kingfisher 330 ml) for self.

Thereafter, we ordered one Chicken dish and one other dish with nan and tandoori roti. At the time of ordering the prices appeared steep but I must admit, their portions were commensurate to the prices, in fact they were big. Two of us had difficulty in finishing, we had to get one of the dish packed to carry back home.

How about the quality? We were very happy with overall experience with SSS. The decor, theme, ambience and the food was good. The staff was also nice. The day was my wife’s birthday. When we mentioned to their staff post lunch, they felt bad that we did not inform them earlier else they could have managed a cake.

All the same, they produced a complimentary Phirani dish for her to celebrate her birthday. The Phirani was also good. The place also has Maghai Paan too, on order. The day at City Centre was would up with a lovely Maghai Pann after a delicious lunch in a great place.

Do we recommend it? Whole heartedly, particularly for voracious Non Veg eaters (we are not). Our cost, I would say was about Rs 800 for two (I don’t recollect the exact amount) with drinks and food.

So! Keep up the date with Sahib, Sindh, Sultan on one of the Sundays when you plan to visit City Centre Mal on Banjara Hills.

Happy Eating.

Journay to Indore and Back - A Date with Pench Tiger Reserve

Part IV - Nagpur to Pench and Checking in at Kipling's Court (MPSTDC)

09 May 10
Started from Nagpur post good breakfast at 0910 hrs for Pench Tiger Reserve. Traffic was heavy till Kamthi which is about 20 km from Nagpur. The road is two lane through out and not so good in Maharashtra though when the road (NH 7) enters Pench Forest, the road is good even in Maharashtra.

Crossed Sillari junction (To go to Sillari where Maharashtra Tourism has a out sourced resort where one can stay) and reached Khawasa at 1030 hrs. We had booked FRH at Khawasa which is immediately after one turns left for Turia. FRH rooms were good but they did not have coolers and back up power supply.

Power situation in MP is bad. MP Forest has also upped the room rent to Rs 900 per day. Despite rooms being good, for two reasons ie power cuts coupled with no power back up and no coolers, we decided to check out Kipling’s Court at Turia (A MPSTDC resort).

At Kipling’s Court the AC double room was at about 3900 per day with Rs 800 for extra bed, non AC @ 2900 with Rs 700 for extra bed and dorm at 700 per head. All plans are American plan (AP) with three meals and two tea included but for dorms only Veg food is given where as for rooms (both AC and Non AC) non veg and veg cuisines are given. All meals are buffet.

They have two Dorms of five persons each and have three toilets and three bath common between these two dorms. Dorms and non AC rooms have coolers. Only drawback of Dorms is, only Indian type toilets are available. One can make use of Western type at the reception though. We liked the place and checked in into five seater dorm. One can book all accommodations of MPSTDC at If it was winter we would have stayed in FRH Khawasa.

Gypsies for afternoon safari and next day morning safari were fixed. The rate for Gypsies is Rs 1200 per safari. Lallan would be driving us tomorrow (he is praised by many on the net). MPSTDC also has its own safari Gypsies. One can hire Gypsy if it is not a week end and crowd is less for even Rs 1000 per safari by prior discussions with Gypsy owners/drivers well before actual safari.

Photos would be inserted later.

Part V - about First Safari into Pench Tiger Reserve follows.

Journey to Indore and Back - Next Part - Hyderabad - Nagpur over NH 7

Part III

08 May 10

Missed the alarm at 0425. Got up only at 0503. No panic as packing is done. A cup of tea and dot at 0600 we moved out.

From Bolarum we went on to Shamirpet - Hyd road and turned right in to Alwal to reach Nagpur road (NH 7). By 0630 we were on the Nagpur road. Road condition was very good. Till Medchal the traffic was heavy, after that traffic conditions became better. Stopped at Harita Restaurant of APTDC, 102 km from home after two hours at 0805. Good place, good food but crowded and self service hence takes time. We spent 30 min which included a plate of Idli and two cup chai. Preparation is good and the place is recommended (don’t have breakfast at home, keep that for Harita of APTDC).

Road condition thereafter was good with four lanes in place except when road passed through a major town like Armur, Nirmal and Adliabad or forested area (about 80 km) but in the forested areas the two lane surface is very good and sufficiently wide. Good thing however is that the bypasses around Nirmal and Adliabad are likely to be ready very soon (may be within a month).

Worst was yet to come. When we reached Maharashtra the road became bad. Four lane work could be seen everywhere but most work looked dead (no one was working though some road laying activity at some stage could be seen) Small patches were ready and put to use. Therefore, every 200 meters there was a track change (diversion) from old road to new patch and vice versa. The junctions between diversions were not levelled properly. This nightmare continued till 388 km from Hyderabad (about 90 km from Nagpur) when good four lane surface started. Till four lane work is done the patch post Adliabad (20 km from Adliabad) till 90 km from Nagpur (a stretch of 60 km) is going to be bad.

With this journey we made it to Nagpur (490 from home) in total 8.30 hrs of time (only 7.30 hrs of driving in our Indigo Diesel). We enjoyed two more breaks (apart from Harita) in the car itself with AC running (just stoped to the side of the road) and had a cup of good dip tea during those two breaks (using Electric Kettle which works with car cigarette lighter socket and it was very convenient). Once full Four lane road is available the time between Hyd and Ngp would be 6.30 hrs of driving time@100 km top speed.

The economy we got was 16.43 km/Ltr with AC on and about 100 km of poor quality road (with outside temperature of about 42 degree centigrade). Stayed at Nagpur for the night. My mom and daughter also arrived at Nagpur in the evening from Mumbai.


Part Four - Nagpur - Pench Tiger reserve would follow

My Road Journey to Indore and Back - Part II

Preparations for the journey - second part

03 May 10

Efforts to send fax requesting accommodation booking at Khawasa over 30 Apr and today to Field Director, Project Tiger, Seoni did not succeed. On the given fax no, the ring was going but fax tone was missing. Eventually spoke to Shri Tiwari Deputy Director, who after understanding the problem agreed to take the request for accommodation over phone.

After some time spoke to his staff, a very nice lady, who noted the requested and promised that the accommodation would be booked at Khawasa FRH. She however mentioned that cooking facility is not likely to be available. We would have to go to Turia where the park main gate is there. She also advised to book safari trips in advance at www.mponline.in because only 50 vehicles are allowed per trip. Have sought advice from Dr Ghosh on the matter.

All the references accumulated during the research for accommodation are as follows:-

(a) Field Director, Project Tiger (MP), Seoni
Phone 07692-223794, 222169 Fax 07692 – 223204
For booking of Forest Rest Houses at Karmajhiri (Rooms / Dorms) Two units, Tourist Hut at Karmajhiri and FRH at Khawasa.

(b) Bison Retreat at Rukhad on NH7 and Kipling’s Court at Pench can be booking online on MPSTDC website www.mptourism.com/accomm/index.html where availability also can be checked. Phone no of Bison Retreat is 07695-290130 and at Kiplings Court is 07695 – 232830, 232855 and fax is 07695 - 232850.

(c) FRH at Sillari in Maharashtra (32 Km from Pench Main Gate in MP at Turia) can be booked with DCF, Nagpur at 0712 – 2524624. FRH at Totaldoh can be booked with Field Director, Project Tiger (Maharashtra), Nagpur at 0712 – 2560748.

(d) MTDC Resort at Sillari (understand the management is in private hands) can be booked by speaking to Mr Kale, Manager at 07114 – 691415 (Rate Rs 1400 for AC Double and Rs 1000 for Non AC Double).

04 to 07 May 10

Dr Ghosh also recommended booking of safari slots online at www.mponline.gov.in and hence we have booked two safaris, one on 09 May afternoon and second on 10 May forenoon. With this my preparation for Nagpur / Pench part of the trip is over. All that remains till we depart on 08 May for Nagpur is to do careful packing. Did essential shopping and toping up fual tank of the Car on 06 May and on 07 May finished final packing. Ready to go. Plan to leave tomorrow (08 may 2010)between 0530 to 0600 AM for Nagpur.

My Road Journey from Hyderabad to Indore and Back - A Detailed Write Up

Since the write ups were created in May, they are in the present or future tense as per the date of writing.

Part I

Planning for the Journey

02 May 10
After a long gap of over a year we decided to undertake long Road Journey over_land in our Indigo LS which is two years old. The trip route originally planned was – Hyderabad – Nagpur (where our son was to join us) – Jabalpur – Indore – Shegaon - Jalgaon – Tuljapur and back to Hyderabad. A chance discussion with a colleague brought in Pench Tiger Reserve about 90 km from Nagpur on the way to Jabalpur on NH 7 in to our programme.

Then started the research on Pench. A treasure trove was found in 'Team BHP' forum post of Mr Adil and same post gave me introduction of Dr Abheek Ghosh of Nagpur. Discussions with him cheered me more as I could get pin pointed information on budget (absolute budget) accommodation in Pench area. They included FRH at Karmajhiri, Khawasa and 'Bison Retreat' on NH 7 in MP and FRH Sillari and MTDC Resort at Sillari. Other accommodations that I had searched earlier were exorbitantly costly (one could do two safaris in Pench in the lower side of their rent and about eight safaris in the rent on higher side).

I was trying to book FRH at Khawasa or Sillari. Worst case I was to look at MTDC Sillari. 'Bison Retreat' at Rukhad, 110 km from Nagpur on NH 7 could have been a good option but it was booked on my date with Pench. FRH stay would have been by itself an adventure as no cooking is available.

It is Raining Cats and Dogs – less of Water, more of Scams

The environment in our country has become so gloomy with umpteen news reports bringing out / talking about scams. The scams seem to be order of the day as if the whole country is busy in one type of act, indulging into scams.

It does not seem to lead us any where. There seem to be no field which is free from scams. PF scam in judiciary and the case of erstwhile CJ of Karnataka, Mining Scam, Education scam (AICTE big bosses and MCI big bosses are in jail), CWG scam, Telgi stamp scam, Power station in the wet land (with clearance obtained on the name of waste land, by creating play of words), Telecom scam, sugar scam, FCI scam or careless losses of food grain, Fodder, Milk, Old Age pension, NREGS and many more such things are happening around us.

No one individual nor any department of government seems free of such wrong doings. Inherently, I am an optimistic and therefore, I would like to take it that the muck is coming out in open thanks to media and RTI. It could not get any worst and thus it can only become better as days pass by. As more and more guilty come under the scanner and as some of them get punished later if not sooner, we may see resurgence of good people.

My only worry is that my optimism should not be misplaced and we should not end up being in bigger cesspool then heading for better. Hope we come out of the scamming days to performing days. Hope is only weapon I have in these doomed days.

Why Glamorize the People Taking Law in to Their hands

Now a days, every day the Security Forces are coming under stone pelting at various locations and every day one odd person, may be an adult or a child is meeting with his death. Unfortunate it is, but the question is, did he die in road accident or did he die while pelting stones.

Don’t this whole affair of stone pelting sound bizarre. Are there no Tar roads in Kashmir or are there so many stone queries in Kashmir that stones are so readily available all over the state of Kashmir (across all kind of towns) that they can be thrown on Security Forces in ‘spontaneous’ demonstration. Or is it that these stones being systematically made available as part of planned strategy to force the hand of Security Forces in firing Tear gas, Rubber bullets or actual bullets? Remember even tear gas shell or Rubber bullet can kill if it gets launched or fired from closer distance.

All is not well in Kashmir. A lot of planning seems to be behind these protests being called ‘Spontaneous’ by Azadi Protagonists. There is some one or there are some people who want to take shelter behind ladies and children because facing Security Forces, even with guns in their hand, has become costlier affair as the forces have dominated the area and gun can not do much any more in such a situation.

If these youths are being forced in to demonstrations as a shield, our sympathies should be with these innocent young boys and administration must take a note of it and crack down on actual perpetrators. On the other hand if these youth are party to the whole game voluntarily and are using pre-supplied stones to force the hand of Security forces, then we all must refraining from calling them ‘Killed’ because only innocent people when they die in firing or accident, etc are called ‘Killed’..

In this regard this blog post is worth reading:-


http://pragmatic.nationalinterest.in/2010/08/08/looking-differently-at-kashmir/