10th – 13th of November – Agra, Delhi and home

After the last morning drive and breakfast back at the resort, we packed our bags, piled into 4 cars and drove to Katni and the train station there to take a sleeper train to Agra. The drive there we not much different that the other drives between national parks; plenty of open space and nature, and a couple of bird sightings if you paid attention. We also got to stop at a place where there were a row of large trees where we could get a clear view of a large group of bats sleeping.

Katni turned out to be a busy city but narrow roads. It wouldn’t have been too bad had it not been due to holidays which resulted in clogged roads and difficulties moving through traffic. We got to the station first, and despite the 4 cars were like stuck together for the entire drive, due to the traffic in Katni it took more than 10 minutes before the next showed up.

We had maybe 1½ hours at the station before our train would arrive. We had already been warned that trains in India can be notoriously late – several hours wasn’t unheard of. And even if it was on time departing lots of things could happen along the way so you would never really know until you arrived at your destination. It turned out that our train was delayed – but only by 10-15 minutes. The trains here are long, so getting ourselves positioned on the platform to be able to enter our carriage we had to go quite far – but as soon as we left the main building things were much less crowded so the situation improved. The general chaos on the platform was not nearly as bad as I had feared. The train rolled into the station. And rolled. And rolled. We were towards the rear of the train so we got to see all the cheap cabins/carriages pass by us (some of them were horribly crowded and made you feel claustrophobic just looking at them) before ours stopped almost right where we were standing. With a good amount of slightly chaotic rushing and piling our bags and ourselves into the train, we were ready to head north towards Agra.

We were placed in a sleeper carriage – a luxurious one, even, as it had AC and you were able to have a bit of privacy behind your curtain and it didn’t feel crowded. I ended up in a bed along one side (opposite a group of 4 beds in a cabin like you’d normally see in a sleeper train) which was definitely made for Indians. It was short enough that I had my feet out the side of the bed but just wide enough that I could be there while also having my camera bag there (it had been recommended to keep all valuables with us in the bed). Despite the not quite comfortable conditions I ended up getting a good night’s sleep on the ride, as opposed to others in the group who apparently struggled to get any sleep at all.

 

 Detailing at the Red Fort.

 

 

Arriving in Agra – on time, even – we left for the hotel where we had breakfast and deposited our bags before spending the day touring the Red Fort and Taj Mahal. Not much had changed since my last visit there but it was nice getting a refresher. Having left most of my camera equipment back at the hotel and only bringing my wide lens (recommended doing this due to security at the locations) I realized, standing at Taj Mahal, that the river passing by had amazing bird life going on, and plenty of birds that we hadn’t seen yet on the trip. Had to remind myself we were there for the buildings, not the wildlife.

 

 

We spent the night in Agra before getting on a private bus that took us back to Delhi and our hotel. Getting back I was reminded of how far away from cities we had been in the past days and weeks as the traffic chaos that met us reaching Delhi was nothing like what we had seen at all since we left almost 2 weeks ago. Goodbye quiet – hello millions of people trying to get where they need to be, dust and pollution. Returning to the hotel we had a few hours before going out for dinner and some of us ended up on the roof where we had a spectacular view of the thousands of kites in Delhi flying around and coming in to roost for the night. It was crazy seeing so many of this beautiful bird at the same time and a great end to the trip. That night I had a pickup for the airport and with an on-time departure I was homebound, giving enough time to watch Bullet Train and Nope, and still have time for a needed nap. I even had significantly more time during the layover than on the trip out resulting in far less stress.

 

Black kite.

 

And with that another amazing trip was concluded. A not so small part of the amazingness was due to the great people I traveled with. Big thanks to our guide Krishna Kumar who at all times did his utmost to get us to see as much as possible, without losing his constant high spirits. Big thanks to Phill, Kristi, Derek, Tim & Tracy, Sharon & Ian, Annette & Alan, Bev & Rod, Pam & Margaret and David & Heather for being a great group of people to travel with. I hope you had just as much fun as I did and that we may one day meet again.

Full album can be seen here.

7th – 10th of November – Bandhavgarh

The drive from Kanha to Bandhavgarh was not much longer than from Pench to Kanha, but due to the constant zigging and zagging as we were navigating some steep ups and downs in hilly terrain instead of 4 hours it took closer to 6 to reach our new destination.

 

 

Gaur.

 

The place worked the exact same way as the previous; on arrival we received a small drink (juice or similar), dinner at 1930, wake up at 0515 and leaving before 0600, back before noon having had breakfast on the morning drive and getting a wet face towel and drink on arrival, leaving again at 1430 and returning after dark around 1800, towel & juice and then waiting for dinner time. The biggest difference here was that the towels were thick and warm!

 

 

 

 

Included in the tour when in Bandhavgarh was 6 drives; 4 morning and 2 afternoon drives. Most in the group decided to go on an optional tour on the second afternoon where nothing was otherwise planned.

 

 Indian vulture.

 

The resort had a sizable lawn with contact to a field-y area which meant plenty of chances to see birds that you wouldn’t necessarily see on the game drives. Hooking onto the group’s very competent birder it was amazing how many birds you got to see and pointed out by him because he had an amazing eye for birds in general. And some of them were as beautifully colorful as they were small and hard to see.

 

 

We were separated in new groups from Kanha, and every drive put us with a new driver and guide. Our tour guide swapped through the vehicles so everyone got to drive at least once with him. He was an excellent wildlife guide and his intuition with regards to where to see a tiger was often spot on.

Lesser adjutant (equivalent to the African marabou stork).

 

Being in separate vehicles we were as usual at the risk that a vehicle missed something the others got to see. Here a couple of vehicles got to see a leopard which we didn’t, but we were all lucky to have two major tiger sightings. We were driving along when suddenly the driver took off at a back-breaking pace for what felt like 10-15 minutes. On those roads that experience was varying between fun and horrifying. Apparently the driver had received a phone call about a tiger being spotted (dear Indian government: drivers didn’t have their phones on them and they definitely didn’t hand them over to the tourists when nearing the sighting area in case there was a government vehicle present – they are very aware of the rules and would never break them, and you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet). When arriving there were already quite a few cars there, but we got to see and spend some time with a very pregnant female (less than a month from giving birth) who had just eaten a kill so she was not doing much other than resting, occasionally lifting her head to make sure no one were messing with her kill. At one point an elephant patrol came by to document the kill (forest rangers use elephants as they can go everywhere as opposed to vehicles that need to stay on the roads) which woke her up and had her leave and cross the road. Because she wouldn’t have done this if the patrol hadn’t come through and she was near another tiger’s territory they managed to nudge her back to her original position again before she disappeared into the thicket. Getting to touch the elephant as it passed close by I realized that despite it looking – and is – very durable the skin is surprisingly soft. 

 

Verditer flycatcher.

 

Our second sighting was two-fold. On the last afternoon drive towards the end of the visit and it had started getting dark we heard two tigers growling at each other; they were very close but neither of them came out where we could see them (though one other vehicle managed to briefly spot a sloth bear that usually doesn’t come out until it gets dark. The following morning going out on our last drive of the tour, we returned to the place we had heard the growling and here – only a few minutes’ drive from the park entrance – we saw a male and female, socializing and mating. Our tour guide was over the moon about this, mating is usually not done in the open and as he hadn’t seen for 2-3 years made this a very special situation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A large group of vehicles had gathered on the road looking at the two tigers and suddenly without warning everyone scattered in all directions. It turned out a government vehicle had arrived and as you are officially only allowed 5-ish minutes with the tigers before you have to leave them alone all drivers & guides suddenly had other places to be. We ended up circling a nearby lake before coming back where only the government vehicle and a single other safari vehicle was parked. We parked 10 meters further down the road, and within moments we heard more growling in the bushes before both of them crossed the road right in front of us and disappeared. We left once again, and despite not seeing anything special after this for the remainder of the drive we weren’t particularly disappointed about that.

 Indian white-eye.

 

 

On the last night at the resort we watched a documentary of the park outside on the roof of one the buildings. A funny occurrence happened when the tigers and their growling in the film resulted in the monkeys in the trees around the result started giving out warning calls.

 

Purple sunbird.

2nd – 6th of November – Kanha

After a 4-hour drive from Pench we arrived at our camp at Kanha NP where we would be staying for 4 nights, going on 3 morning and 2 afternoon drives.

 

Routine here was more or less the same as in Pench; wakeup call at around 0515, leaving between 0545 and 0600 to line up at the entrance to the park which opened at 0615, stop for breakfast at some point, leave at 1130 at the latest, return at 1445 and leave again at 1730. Return to the resort for snacks, meet for a short briefing at 1930 followed by dinner.

Indian roller.

 

The process of entering the park was much stricter than in Pench – we had to show our passports which got cross-referenced with the reported lists of vehicles/passengers. We had the same driver & car on all drives, but the guide would be new every time. The guide was technically not a guide but a park ranger there to make sure the driver stayed in the designated sector of the park (among just generally making sure rules were followed).

 

Being higher than Pench mornings were significantly cooler and it took longer for the sun to burn through the morning mists. But when that did finally happen we were back to being nice and toasty again.

  

Siberian stonechat.

 

 

The park was huge – only app. 20% could be visited – which meant that we drove a lot, both to get from the gate to our sector but also to find anything watchable. There was plenty of birds around, the same with deer of various kinds – even the rare blackbuck made an appearance not far from the road. Tigers and leopards were significantly rarer, though. Our vehicle ended up spotting 2 tigers at two different times (during the two first morning drives); both were spotted crossing the road so the sightings were brief. One disappeared into the undergrowth, the other went to sleep in the bushes and was almost out of sight.

  

Blackbuck.

 

On the last afternoon drive we were heading out and near the exit another car had stopped; one of the passengers said there was a tiger but neither their driver nor guide seemed invested. Probably because of the latter and the fact we were getting close to the deadline for when we had to leave the park I couldn’t convince the driver to wait a few minutes so we could have an extra look. Returning to the resort we were the first ones there, the rest arrived 10 minutes later. It turned out that they had spotted a leopard– according to their description – exactly at the location where the passenger in the other vehicle claimed he had spotted a tiger. That bothered me quite a bit – not because they had spotted something I hadn’t – but because the driver & guide hadn’t wanted to give just a moment to a tourist’s curious suspicion.

 

 

Dragonflies at the hotel. 

 

The afternoon we didn’t go for a drive we visited a house in the village to see how they lived. It was very simple (compared to a western residence) but very nice according to their means. To be honest these kinds of visits feel a bit colonistic to me and therefore a bit weird, even if it is the family that invites us to see and not just us walking in. A bit snobbish “Oh look darling – they have locks on doors! How quaint!”. But we did get to see a few birds along the way, so that was nice.

 

Moth at the hotel.

 

When arriving in India a husband in the group was denied entry at the border at the airport due to an anal power-hungry immigration officer: he got turned around due to a too old photo on the visa. After a bit (a lot) of confusion, chaos and getting her bag with her and his bag with him, he got a return flight to England while trying sorting out a new visa with a newer photo. In the end he was successful and retuned to Delhi, got through immigration, and when we arrived in Kanha he arrived a few hours later. There was applause and big smiles all around. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer couple.

 

Fruit bat.