Jim Corbett Park: My Experience...
To visit this place, one needs to obtain permit from government office in Ramnagar. So did us.
Once that is obtained, a booking is made for one of slots of morning (6 hr to 9 hr) or evening(14 to 17 hrs).
We visited Jim Corbett last weekend (Delhi to Ramnagar via newly constructed NH24 - about 6 hrs drive). I have been to a lot of places in the last 3 years, but this was one of the best travel experiences of my life. Away from the complexities of Delhi is this beautiful location. It is situated on the bank of one of the most scenic rivers of India, Kosi. The river is clean, clear and shallow, so you may cross or walk along the river flow in it. The stones beneath are clearly visible and we spent hours collecting different kind of stones there.
Many new resorts have come up on the river banks and are becoming very attractive alternative to the usual tourist locations. We stayed with La Pearle, a very simple resort with its one end providing direct access to the river.
After enjoying the river for an entire day, we moved on to enter the Jim Corbett park in the evening slot.
Overall, safari is a really nice experience.
We started our journey at about 14 hr and the forest got denser every meter forward. The guide tried to scare us by all means. Initially he told us stories; some true, rest made up, in order to meet that end and instructed us to hush while passing through the forest, but ironically continued to chat to himself(or us?) as we moved along. He continued to do so till the end of the journey. He had wide choice of subjects, ranging from lapataganj on SUB TV to his wife’s frequent trips to Moradabad.
Apart from discussing on these topics, in the spare time, our eyes rummaged around for tigers. We had decent cues from other residents of our hotel of keeping not much hope to grab glimpses of the "man eaters of Kumaun" as probability disfavors it strongly. All we could expect was a nice ride through the forest. But the older ladies in our group had full expectation of watching the stars of the forest. They got this assurance from their goddess.
So the first point where we took a pause was the entry point of the forest. The noting down of the names was another way of threatening, but you see, government has to do its job. But we had to show our high sprits and prove ourselves as true adventure freaks. So, with the trust we had in our drivers, we managed to move on. They are trained to drive in immense pressure circumstances. We had four ladies in our group and we couldn't have avoided shopping in the forest as well. So maintaining the dignity of our team members we performed our responsibilities. We bought a book and a T shirt from the shops there.
But before this some thing worth telling happened. Just when we arrived at this point, we saw number of safaris checking in, like us. Meanwhile a number of people started creating good amount of noise and in a full swing of excitement were pointing fingers in a particular direction….there it was… the first tiger of the day!…loose, seemed to be in hunting mood. Preys were plenty around this point: elephants, deer in good number. This was the moment…fortunately, we were all still parked in the safari and without any delay we rushed to the spot. Surprisingly, we were running after a tiger...madness!! anyone would say. Meanwhile we could the see the hero walking gracefully through the tall grass, providing it camouflage. The length and style of the specie was awesome. By the time we got there, almost ten other safaris were there, only to realize that the movement from our side was way too loud to see the tiger from behind its ear. We had to console ourselves with 35-45 m away glimpse. After waiting for another view for about few minutes, we gave up and finally went back to entry point.
After the shopping spree, which I mentioned earlier, we moved on to the interior, Bijrani through Amadanda. This is one of the four zones of Jim Corbett Park.
Tourism zone: Entry Gate
Dhikala: Dhangari
Jhirna: Khara,Kalagarh
Bijrani: Amadanda
Sonanadi: Vatanvasa
Domunda: Durgadevi
On our way, we were told that the forest houses 165 tigers in a total area of 1300 sq Km with National park in around 520 sq Km.
As we proceeded, we saw a number of deer, monkeys, tiger paw marks(Guide enlightened us by informing that the paws marks are planted mostly to make tourists happy and contented), so given the reality, we could not feel blessed to have seen it. In fact, he also told that a few days back the guides found a paw mark(real one), the mark showed that the tiger might have slipped a little there. So, the guides showed it to every one visiting the forest that day, while on the consecutive days, one of them would go and make the same mark fresh again with his handiwork and all guides would utilize it for fooling the tourists, telling them how lucky they were and the tiger had just passed across!
Then we moved on to the so called zero area. The forest houses huge number of deer and monkeys. Hence the tigers are always happy to be around. Beyond the permit point, the whole forest is within planted high tension line, the line is there, without any high tension though. I think it is used only in case of an emergency.
We kept looking around without any success, not even a snake or a python or even a butterfly...very disappointing of course. So we entertained ourselves with guide's chat. After about one full hour of loitering around, we crossed a point were about 5-6 safaris were already parked, many pointing fingers again in a direction, but this time every body had managed to keep our basic nature suppressed and kept real "real" quite. This point was slightly off the track, but we sneaked out and we also parked along side others. This was the second opportunity. The drivers and guides are really quick in spotting the animal, and I must say, I was impressed. They pulled us in the proper direction, turn our heads around if needed, in their attempts to make us get the glimpse. This time it was a striped tiger, and unlike the first one, with only its face and 20 percent of the body visible from among the grass. Some people could even see the tigress, but i couldn't. I tell you, it is a really huge, very beautiful and a clear representation of power. The animal started moving at a slow pace, this time for a change, it was moving towards us. I think the driver was also well aware of our bare defense. The distance was also very small, about 20-30 m. I took about a minute or more to spot it, sadly, after our driver’s elaborate efforts. He helped all of us in making our trip successful.
After we all had seen, and tiger had again vanished in the grass, we decided to move from the location as the tiger was quite near and too much of confidence in the driving machine could be harmful. I am sorry to have not taken any pictures, mainly because of my inexperience and lack of quick wittedness. I promise to get better next time.
We spent another hour and a half roaming around the bushes and the rivers. All other commoners of the forest were easily accessible. We contented ourselves with the their pictures and discussion of the past two thrilling experiences.
We finally exited around 17:45 hrs, with fond memories of Jim Corbett park and bliss of getting the lucky moments, wearing my new favorite….the JIM CORBET T shirt!
Once that is obtained, a booking is made for one of slots of morning (6 hr to 9 hr) or evening(14 to 17 hrs).
We visited Jim Corbett last weekend (Delhi to Ramnagar via newly constructed NH24 - about 6 hrs drive). I have been to a lot of places in the last 3 years, but this was one of the best travel experiences of my life. Away from the complexities of Delhi is this beautiful location. It is situated on the bank of one of the most scenic rivers of India, Kosi. The river is clean, clear and shallow, so you may cross or walk along the river flow in it. The stones beneath are clearly visible and we spent hours collecting different kind of stones there.
Many new resorts have come up on the river banks and are becoming very attractive alternative to the usual tourist locations. We stayed with La Pearle, a very simple resort with its one end providing direct access to the river.
After enjoying the river for an entire day, we moved on to enter the Jim Corbett park in the evening slot.
Overall, safari is a really nice experience.
We started our journey at about 14 hr and the forest got denser every meter forward. The guide tried to scare us by all means. Initially he told us stories; some true, rest made up, in order to meet that end and instructed us to hush while passing through the forest, but ironically continued to chat to himself(or us?) as we moved along. He continued to do so till the end of the journey. He had wide choice of subjects, ranging from lapataganj on SUB TV to his wife’s frequent trips to Moradabad.
Apart from discussing on these topics, in the spare time, our eyes rummaged around for tigers. We had decent cues from other residents of our hotel of keeping not much hope to grab glimpses of the "man eaters of Kumaun" as probability disfavors it strongly. All we could expect was a nice ride through the forest. But the older ladies in our group had full expectation of watching the stars of the forest. They got this assurance from their goddess.
So the first point where we took a pause was the entry point of the forest. The noting down of the names was another way of threatening, but you see, government has to do its job. But we had to show our high sprits and prove ourselves as true adventure freaks. So, with the trust we had in our drivers, we managed to move on. They are trained to drive in immense pressure circumstances. We had four ladies in our group and we couldn't have avoided shopping in the forest as well. So maintaining the dignity of our team members we performed our responsibilities. We bought a book and a T shirt from the shops there.
But before this some thing worth telling happened. Just when we arrived at this point, we saw number of safaris checking in, like us. Meanwhile a number of people started creating good amount of noise and in a full swing of excitement were pointing fingers in a particular direction….there it was… the first tiger of the day!…loose, seemed to be in hunting mood. Preys were plenty around this point: elephants, deer in good number. This was the moment…fortunately, we were all still parked in the safari and without any delay we rushed to the spot. Surprisingly, we were running after a tiger...madness!! anyone would say. Meanwhile we could the see the hero walking gracefully through the tall grass, providing it camouflage. The length and style of the specie was awesome. By the time we got there, almost ten other safaris were there, only to realize that the movement from our side was way too loud to see the tiger from behind its ear. We had to console ourselves with 35-45 m away glimpse. After waiting for another view for about few minutes, we gave up and finally went back to entry point.
After the shopping spree, which I mentioned earlier, we moved on to the interior, Bijrani through Amadanda. This is one of the four zones of Jim Corbett Park.
Tourism zone: Entry Gate
Dhikala: Dhangari
Jhirna: Khara,Kalagarh
Bijrani: Amadanda
Sonanadi: Vatanvasa
Domunda: Durgadevi
On our way, we were told that the forest houses 165 tigers in a total area of 1300 sq Km with National park in around 520 sq Km.
As we proceeded, we saw a number of deer, monkeys, tiger paw marks(Guide enlightened us by informing that the paws marks are planted mostly to make tourists happy and contented), so given the reality, we could not feel blessed to have seen it. In fact, he also told that a few days back the guides found a paw mark(real one), the mark showed that the tiger might have slipped a little there. So, the guides showed it to every one visiting the forest that day, while on the consecutive days, one of them would go and make the same mark fresh again with his handiwork and all guides would utilize it for fooling the tourists, telling them how lucky they were and the tiger had just passed across!
Then we moved on to the so called zero area. The forest houses huge number of deer and monkeys. Hence the tigers are always happy to be around. Beyond the permit point, the whole forest is within planted high tension line, the line is there, without any high tension though. I think it is used only in case of an emergency.
We kept looking around without any success, not even a snake or a python or even a butterfly...very disappointing of course. So we entertained ourselves with guide's chat. After about one full hour of loitering around, we crossed a point were about 5-6 safaris were already parked, many pointing fingers again in a direction, but this time every body had managed to keep our basic nature suppressed and kept real "real" quite. This point was slightly off the track, but we sneaked out and we also parked along side others. This was the second opportunity. The drivers and guides are really quick in spotting the animal, and I must say, I was impressed. They pulled us in the proper direction, turn our heads around if needed, in their attempts to make us get the glimpse. This time it was a striped tiger, and unlike the first one, with only its face and 20 percent of the body visible from among the grass. Some people could even see the tigress, but i couldn't. I tell you, it is a really huge, very beautiful and a clear representation of power. The animal started moving at a slow pace, this time for a change, it was moving towards us. I think the driver was also well aware of our bare defense. The distance was also very small, about 20-30 m. I took about a minute or more to spot it, sadly, after our driver’s elaborate efforts. He helped all of us in making our trip successful.
After we all had seen, and tiger had again vanished in the grass, we decided to move from the location as the tiger was quite near and too much of confidence in the driving machine could be harmful. I am sorry to have not taken any pictures, mainly because of my inexperience and lack of quick wittedness. I promise to get better next time.
We spent another hour and a half roaming around the bushes and the rivers. All other commoners of the forest were easily accessible. We contented ourselves with the their pictures and discussion of the past two thrilling experiences.
We finally exited around 17:45 hrs, with fond memories of Jim Corbett park and bliss of getting the lucky moments, wearing my new favorite….the JIM CORBET T shirt!
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