In continuation of my earlier blog http://vacationsinuttrakhand.blogspot.com , I attempt to describe the experience at Jim Corbett. We reached Ram Nagar at around 9.15 AM and obtained the permit to enter the park which included confirmation of one night stay at rest house at Dhikala. We also booked the Jeep Safari. Initially we envisaged to visit the park in our own car but later dropped this idea when we were told that travel by small vehicles was neither comfortable due to inclement roads nor safe due to possible attacks by wild elephants on way. We parked our car at the parking, arranged by the Jeep owner for our safari and moved towards Dhangiri gate in the Jeep at 11.30 am. Dhangiri gate is around 18 kms from Ram Nagar and it took around 40 minutes to reach there. After reaching Dhangiri gate, we got our permit registered and moved towards Dhikala which is around 30 kms from there. The jungle in fact starts from Dhangiri itself. The path inside the jungle was very bad. We were instructed strictly not to get down from the vehicle inside the territory of jungle. No one is allowed to do so except at the earmarked placed. On our way to Dhikala we saw spotted dear, sambhar and wild elep
hant. Not many animals were visible at that hour due to scorching heat of sun. The driver of the jeep took us to crocodile point where we could see only one crocodile. In the Corbett Park, the river that flows is called Ram Ganga and is called life-line of the jungle. Due to scanty rainfall previously, there was very little water in the river. We reached Dhikala at 1.30 pm. After reaching there, we completed check in formalities and enquired about elephant safari next morning. The officer in charge to book the elephant safari was away at that time. After putting our luggage in the room, we proceeded for lunch in the canteen. The food served here was delicious. After an hour, I again went for booking of the elephant safari. The officer told that it might not possible to book the safari for the next morning as he was expecting some VIPs for this. At Dhikala, they have only four elephants which means only 16 heads can go for a ride every time. He suggested to take elephant safari in the evening itself. Since we had planned the evening visit by open Jeep we were not interested in elephant safari in the evening.Finally we decided that if we didn’t get tickets for elephant safari in the morning we would take jeep safari both the times. On our further request he booked us in waiting and advised us to confirm at 7.30 pm in the evening.
Thereafter we took some rest as the time of evening safari was 4.30 pm. Th
e timings of evening and morning safari are flexible and change according to the rising and setting time of Sun. In the evening, we proceeded for our Jeep Safari. Hiring a guide is a must in Corbett.Venturing around in jungle in an open jeep is a thrilling and adventurous experience. Standing in an open jeep like a King to have a perfect view of the surroundings, on way we saw herds of spotted deer, barking deer and sambhar. As we advanced deep into the jungle we saw tuskers and a herd of wild elephants which were approximately 20 in number. In this group, there were two baby elephants that were looking very cute. For safety they kept themselves between two elder
elephants. We spent some time there watching the herd of elephants from a place called high bank. While coming back we saw two sambhars trying to cross the road. We asked our driver to stop the car at a distance so that we could watch them moving. Moreover in jungle animal right is first. We patiently watched them crossing the road as can be seen in the attached video. On moving ahead, our guide saw footprints of a tiger. His experience told him that the tiger must have crossed this place during afternoon. We waited there for some time as there was a call of tiger from the three sambhars sitting near the river. We waited there for some time but there was no trace of the tiger. We requested our driver and guide to move to some other area of the jungle. He took us to grass lands, another area of the Dhikala zone to visit. On our w
ay we saw a herd of around 25 deer. Watching so many deer at a time was very exciting. The grass in the grass land was very high. Here also we saw three tuskers.On way back, we learnt that riders of one of the four elephants saw a tiger crossing road. In Corbett tiger is such a rare sight that whoever happens to see a tiger comes as a winner and his winning stance sends the other riders into a gloom of not able to see the tiger. Before proceeding for dinner we got our elephant safari for next morning confirmed and paid the fee in advance. Dhikala is a horrible place to stay during summer. During rainy season it is closed. The best season to visit this place is winters when though it is stated to be slightly extra cold during winters. During summer, it is very sultry with wan
ting basic facilities such as water in toilet etc. The room cooler kept in the room and not the desert cooler outside at window made the room atmosphere almost killing. We could not open the window for the fear of monkeys, and when under watch at the window we opened it for half an hour we invited a large number of mosquitoes which pestered us the whole night. As advised we stored some water in buckets because water in the morning is available from 6.00 AM onwards and we had to be report for elephant safari at 5.30 AM.04/06/2010
Next morning, the weather was very pleasant. This day, we went for elephant safari. Since we were three membe
rs in a family and an elephant could accommodate only four persons, the manager requested us to send Aditya with another group of three boys and accommodated a newly wed couple with us. We experienced much difficulty in accepting his suggestion because as a close knit family, we three have been enjoying or suffering together especially when out of station. Finally Aditya and we (my wife and I) were on different elephants. The she elephant started her journey through grass lands because unlike jeep safari which proceeds on the jungle roads to any area, the elephant safari could be through thick of the jungle but only within the grass land area. The mahout wanted the elephant to climb down across the river which initially she resisted and on the mahout beating her, she became seemingly unmanageable. The ten minutes of struggle of mahout with the elephant sent shivers through us and internally we almost repented having chosen elephant safari for the morning instead of jeep safari fo
r which we had even paid. However, soon she relented and climbed down and thereafter never disobeyed her mahout.Herds of sambhar, chital and barking deer were visible on the way. We did not expect to see tiger. As apprehended there was no sight of tiger till 7.15 AM and our scheduled time of return was 7.30 AM. Suddenly there was a call from another Mahout which our Mahout caught immediately although we could not understand it at all. The two elephants standing close by and our Mahout frantically looking through the high grass, we were almost non-plus as to what the Mahouts were searching. Our Mahout asked
us to be silent and then suddenly pointed to the tiger quietly concealing himself in the grass there. Our Mahout was more elated than we because he was seeing tiger third day consecutively. For us it was fulfillment of the mission in just one attempt. However, we both were sad for Aditya, who was not lucky enough to see tiger and for whom it was second visit to Corbett. Since accordingly to our calculations the probability of Aditya seeing tiger was more, the camera was carried by him. As for we, seeing the tiger from a distance of 5-6 metres and that too for around 4-5 minutes, we felt the pangs of not having a camera to shoot the beloved of Corbett.Anyway whatever happened had happened and we were back by 7.30 PM. By that time there was water in bathroom. We took bath and thereafter proceeded for breakfast. We were back to the room by 8.30 AM. We packed our luggage, completed check out formalities and boarded our jeep for way back. On way back we were confronted with a big boa crawling on the road which was shot by Aditya in his camera. We were back to Ram Nagar by 11.30 AM. From there we picked our car and after transferring our luggage from jeep to our car, we moved back for Delhi. We reached Delhi around 6.00 PM. After taking rest for next two days, Saturday and Sunday, we again got busy with our routine to and from office.
