For the first day morning safari, we didn’t have the vehicle booked by the hotel. In the morning, we went near the park gate (Tala) to find if someone can share their safari vehicle with us. After a hard search, we found an American who was ready to help us. We thought that we were lucky to get the jeep, and now our luck of spotting the tiger would soon follow :) After 3 days of safari in Pench & Kanha, I was not very keen in experiencing the forest. The forest here is very much like Kanha with Sal trees & Bamboos and I must say that the scenic beauty of this park didn't impress me. My only interest was in spotting animals, especially tiger since that was one of the biggest reasons for this trip. It is commonly said that, in Bhandavgarh the chance of spotting tiger is 99%. Before we planned for this trip, we heard from many people that there is no way that anyone could come back from Bhandavgarh without spotting a tiger. At least, we can spot the tiger in the ‘tiger show’. All these words made me feel very hopeful about spotting tiger in at least one of the three safaris that we have planned in Bhandavgarh.
We did all the three planned safaris in Bhandavgarh and in each of the trip we came out of the forest without spotting a tiger. I must say that I was disappointed after each trip and the hope of spotting the tiger was gradually wearing out. Every trip we made, we were always close to the tiger, but could never spot it. There was a time that a small tiger cub moved into a bush (spotted for very brief moment by a guide in another jeep) and didn't bother to come out for more than an hour of our waiting. It had two other siblings and the mother Tigress was not around. All of the jeeps waited there with the hope that mother would return in the evening. But, she didn’t come. May be she chose to take a different route that day! There was another time, when we heard a loud growl of the tiger - The guide mentioned that the sound is arising not from too far, and it should be within 100-200 meters off the road. It was really thrilling to hear the wild growl of the tiger. I wished that he comes out and gives me a look :) But, that didn't happen. Some other time, there was a deer in the meadow which got alerted and started making the alert calls. We waited there for a long time only to watch the paranoid lone deer.
Anyway, after 3 safaris we didn't spot a tiger in Bhandavgarh. The reasons mentioned by many were - It is winter and the tiger can easily settle inside the forest as the water reserve is high. Due to peak season, there are too many vehicles and many more such obvious reasons. But, how can all these be true only for Tala zone in Bhandavgarh? In the same forest, due to peak season, another zone named Magdi was opened up. The general idea is that the spotting of tiger in Magdi is difficult as it is denser than Tala. However, in one safari, there were 3 sightings of tiger and all the jeeps could spot them! So, the reasons quoted are just means of convincing people and does not really apply to the happenings. I say, it is mere luck! So far, we had 7 safaris in total in this trip and the luck didn’t bother to pass by my side. I went through height of disappointment and convinced myself that I would visit in summer again. Our driver was mentioning that "In winter, people ask if you spotted tiger, whereas in summer, people would ask how many tigers you spotted!".After all the disappointing safaris, we were just wandering in the streets of Bhandavgarh. We had another half a day in Bhandavgarh and then our plan was to go to Khajuraho. The disappointment was really bothering me and decided to take another safari in Bhandavgarh, not wanting to miss a chance. I didn’t want to blame myself for just freaking out on the Bhandavgarh roads, instead of spending the time in the forest. But, the problem was we neither had permission nor the safari vehicle. Anyway, after some hassle, we ended up sharing it with few MBA students who had come from Pune. Now, in this final trip, I didn't have any expectation. I took this trip so that I don't later regret that I should have made another try somehow. Anyway after 3 hours of safari in the last trip, I didn't spot any tiger. We were coming to the end of our safari number 8 and all I saw was wild cat and mangoose! yee... But, wait! suddenly things changed. There were hoards of jeeps waiting in one area and our driver immediately understood the cause and rushed towards it. There she was! I saw a tigress doing her 'cat walk'. It was an absolute beauty. After walking for some time, she attempted to climb a tree - All her four paws on the tree and her tail waving in the air. What a scene to watch in the wild! It was one of my dream come true. The excitement maddened me for few moments - My luck was pushed to the last 5mins of my 33hrs of total safari time. Never mind, I got her in wild and it was an extraordinary moment (No photos though, since it was slightly dark and slightly far). It is one of the most unforgettable moments in my life and we moved out of Bhandavgarh with a success story to tell!
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