Bandhavgarh

Bandhavgarh is considered one of the best places to see tigers in the wild in India. It is also one of the most expensive places to go on safaris in India and along with the limited number of jeeps that are allowed into the park, bookings have to be done early. You are bound to hear how luck plays a huge factor as far as sightings are considered, however you would be considered quite unlucky if you were not able to spot a tiger in Bandhavgarh after a few safaris. The plain areas with large visibility and thee extremely high density of tigers in the park make for a high incidence of the large cats crossing paths with the tourists.

There are 3 zones with the highest sightings reported from Tala zone followed by Magadhi. The Khitauli zone is known more for the lack of tigers due to which other predators like wolves, bears and leopards are seen more often. Our safaris were 4 in the Tala and 2 in the Magadhi zone. The first afternoon safari started off in the Tala zone with no tiger, but a quite a few paw prints and calls, a couple of gaurs, loads of prey and some birding. Guides there are also completely focused on finding a tiger more than anything else, birding requests need to be repeated and specific as any trip without a tiger is considered a disappointment by quite a few guests.

The next morning was a lot more eventful with a pair of mating tigers spotted early on near a road common to Magadhi and Tala zone(our safari was for the Magadhi zone). With over 20 jeeps and a couple of elephants trying to get close, we could manage a few glimpses as the male, the lesser timid of the 2 ventured out for a while. Soon they disappeared, apparently irritated with the large fan following and we got back to searching for others. The afternoon safari at Tala was a lazy one with some birding and landscapes.

The next day consisted of 2 safaris in Tala and on both we managed to spot the same male again. The morning as we waited and tracked calls for about an hour and in the noon as we turned into a road and found him sitting less than 2 meters from a jeep. The tiger called a Mukunda male was not a shy one but each time, he left after posing for a few photos. The last safari at Magadhi was more about birding as we found quite a few hawk eagles, vultures, yellow wattled lapwings and bush-quails.

On one of the days we ventured out to the fort in the Tala zone between the safaris. The 3 km trek to the top is moderate but could be tiring in the midday sun in summer. The fort itself is the reason for the name Bandhavgarh (brother's fort) as legends claim it is the fort gifted to Lakshman by Ram. Later the same night, as we had to travel 14 km from the Tala gate to a nearby village to get to an ATM, we spotted 4 foxes and a domestic cat which we mistook for a jungle cat initially. The wildlife on the roads at night is considered quite normal with foxes, wolves and deer seen commonly and atleast a couple of drivers claimed to have seen even tiger and a bear near the roads.