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.
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