Kanha –The Jungle Book
The summer we all were waiting for was finally here. Bidding goodbyes to our school for the last time ,the ex-spmites were pumped for this trip.
April 14 2018, the day to leave.
The group chats filled with conversations by all the enthusiastic folks. Our train was at 6pm but all of us were present at the station at 4pm itself. Apart from the school gang we also had a little group of the ‘bacha party’. We all together were a group of 30 people. Before starting the journey we all were sorted into groups of 6. Some of my friends and I were sorted to Chitra maushi's group which also had her son, Omkar…the lucky pair, good for us. Total 5 groups with their adrenalines full started the journey late evening.
It was a splendid overnight train experience. After having our dinner in the train we all were tired and full. We were instructed to sleep but we didn’t. Although we were threatened by our neighbors we stayed awake for quite a long time. I remember falling asleep around 12am over gossips and horror stories which were not so fun.
We reached Nagpur the next morning at 9:30am. And then we started our bus journey to Kanha. Jamming to songs on the way we stopped for our lunch. The way ahead we experienced a refreshing rainfall while entering Kanha. Fallen trees and small settlements welcomed us in. we reached our hotel resort at around 6pm. Enjoying the comforts we freshened up for our dinner. Fell asleep being tiered and ready for our first safari the next morning. Not to forget that the wakeup call was at 4 am .
April 15,
To my surprise we all were up at sharp 4. All of us were going to different zones . Our group was going to the mukki zone. Kanha is divided in zones namely kanha, mukki, and surri. The gate opened sharp at 5:45am. All of our groups entered different zones. Abhijit kaka’s group accompanied us. Freezing and half awake we all started spotting different birds. Some of them I noted are;
Brain fever
Spotted owlet
Jungle babbler
Red wattled lapwing
Racket tailed drongo
Serpent eagle
Brown cheeked fulvetta
Wood pecker
Cuckoo
Plum headed parakeets
Saw many langurs ; monkeys (the eyes of the jungle) which till the end remained interesting unlike the deers. The baby langurs were the major attraction. The barking deer was a rare scene.
We also spotted many spotted deers and sambhars. Barasingha was also a major sighting.
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| barking deer |
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| langur with its baby |
Exactly after half an hour of our ride we started hearing calls from these deers . And then at exact 6:45 we spotted the prince! ‘Chotta munna’. With the most Bollywood entry possible,the tiger walked from the trees towards the pathway. We experienced him marking his territory. Huge , built , and gracefull at the same time, he accompanied us for a complete hour before going back to the woods with indeed a Bollywood exit. We had our breakfast in the jungle itself at a meeting central point. Our safari finished at 10:30. All of us shared our experiences. Reshma maushi's group had a wonderful sighting of Neelam the tigress. A marvelous experience. Apart from tigers, we also spotted wild dogs aswell. A rare sighting!
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| chotta munna |
Our afternoon safari was at 4pm This time it was Kanha zone. Reading about Mowgli and imagining the jungle stated by Rudyard Kipling was different and actually being in the jungle book itself from where the Sherkhan had emerged is different. This time we were here for our own jungle book. Kanha has a majority of meadows and hills as well. The striking heat this time made it harder to spot tigers as all of them were probably inside the wood enjoying their meals in the shadows. Later in the evening it started to turn gloomy with a bit of rainfall.Peacocks with their beautiful feathers were a fantastic view.
We also experienced a perfect kill by the jackal. So fast, not even more than 3 seconds, but a sight to remember.
We arrived back to our hotel almost half asleep and tired. After freshening up and having a little snack a show was organized for us. A short movie about the famous tigress of Kanha, ‘Lakshmi’.
Amazing experience and a lot of information was learned by us.
We also had an opportunity to experience a clear sky full of stars which is hard to see in cities such days.
April 17
The safari for the next day was filled with a lot of hopes. As we had no luck last time all of us had our fingers crossed to spot the tigers. Kanha having many meadows with tall grass and sal tress..we couldn’t really spot them easily even if they were just in front of our eyes. Especially with the leopards it was very hard to find them. Being a perfect camouflage it tricked us all.
Around 6:50 when all of us had given up on seeing any tigers or leopards we spotted 3 gypsys gathered by a pond surrounded by tall grass. To our surprise we saw a cub of Neelam..which was not as small to be called as a cub was hidden in the grass. One after other many gypsys started gathering there as well. The cub being shy walked back being not seen at all. We were not able to see him for almost an hour ahead.
Something I learned from this experience was ‘patience’. Patience is one of the most important things in the jungle. For eg. If the predator looses his patience the prey is no more in hands,and if the deer has no enough patience to stay in the hide he is dead to the hands of the beast. We in this place had to be patient enough for the tiger to show a better appearance. We decided to have our breakfast and come back to the same spot. Which I think was a wise decision.
Coming back we saw all of the 4 cubs walking back to woods from the meadow.
the cubs going back to the woods
Even though it was a quick sighting, it was worth it.
Coming back to the hotel we all decided to sleep being tired. All of us were ready for our last safari. Hoping the best. But we did not see any tigers for our last safari.
As we were not able to see the big stuff we started focusing on the little stuff. More different birds, tress, fauna, and also a little bit of history to note down in our books.
Even if the luck was not so good for us this time some of our friends did get to see some sightings!
The camouflaged leopards were also seen failing a little this time to trick our friends. A sloth bear also made a striking ramp walk for the viewers at the end.
A perfect birthday gift for Reshma ma’am.
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| a leopard completely camouflaged |
Coming back to the hotels we decided to celebrate a little. We celebrated the birthday and also had a fun DJ night. Sangeet khurchi and more games were arranged making the environment full of fun and masti. A night to remember.
A morning trek was arranged the next morning. Some of us enjoyed it but most of us decided to sleep late.
And after all it was time to leave. No more wake up calls at 4. And no more tigers! None of us wanted to leave but we had to. We had our train in the evening. But we decided to reach Nagpur a bit early.
The train back home was full of conversations. Nobody was ready to go home but we all had memories and amazing experiences to have for lifetime.
This jungle book of ours is full and complete. Thank you iCampers for this marvelous adventure. Cannot wait for more. Also thank you to all the amazing photographers.
Thank you.
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| The group. |
