MEMORIES OF KANHA!!!

      Another jungle safari. Another magical experience. This time with my son Yuki. Our first mom-son vacation. After my last years' Tadoba safari, I chose Kahna National Park in MP for 2017. This time my 6 years old son Yuki was companying me along with other people from Tadoba group. I had planned for Bhedaghat stopover as well to visit the famous Dhuandhar waterfall & Marble stoned gorge of Narmada river.

On 21st Nov., we caught a train to Jabalpur, taking overnight journey to reach there. On the way to Kanha, our first scheduled stop was Bhedaghat. Just an half hour drive from Jabalpur. It was early morning so we halted for breakfast at the hotel that overlooks The Narmada river flowing through the gorge. Our trip had officially started with a beautiful view. One of the attractions of Bhedaghat is The Boat Ride through this gorge. This marvelous location is very famous as many of Bollywood songs have been filmed here till date. We took the boat ride. The atmosphere there was so Serene. The view was Stunning. The Marble stone that surrounds entire area has many shades of colour. Pure white, Gray-ish, Pink-ish. Those who visit Bhedaghat on the night of Full Moon, Specially on 'Sharad Poornima', They can take the night boat ride and the effect of those moonlit marble stones is absolutely mesmerizing. This whole gorge is like a maze. Depth of river is more than 400-500 ft at some places. There used to be crocodiles in this part of river but unfortunately human interference drove them away long time ago. To my surprise, we got the beautiful pair of Egyptian vultures sitting on cliff nearby. Quite a rare sight! Also huge beehives hugging the white stone looked awesome.

Later we visited 'The Dhuandhar Fall'. Though it wasn't in it's full glory at that time, it still looked massive. After absorbing the view into our mind, we headed towards the main attraction we were waiting for. Kahna National Park! After almost 3-4 hours of drive, we finally reached at the Khatiya Gate of Kanha. Our resort named 'Barhasingha' was just 5 minutes away from the actual gate. That evening was activity free which was really needed to get rid of the fatigue of travel. Weather started to get cold as sun set. All of us retired to rooms to get a good night sleep.

Next day at dawn, our first safari started. Kanha National Park is the only place which has the population of Barhasingha deers. No Where Else. Therefore Barhasingha is the main attraction rather than Tiger in Kanha. Hoping to start our day with some unique sightings, our Gypsy entered the Khatiya gate heading into the core zone of the forest. To our delight, a very cute and curious Jackal welcomed us right in the middle of a road. Ohh!! Such a cuteness overloaded!! While we were admiring it, that jackal also curiously walked around the car and then ran off the road. The forest of Kanha is very different than the one I saw in Tadoba. Tadoba is almost 60% of Bamboo forest which goes dry in summer. It has 3 big lakes inside the reserve. and terrain is almost flat. But here in Kanha, The  Evergreen 'Saal trees' cover the 70-80% of the forest area. So even in summer, the forest remains bright green and cold. Water-bodies in Kanha are like small ponds scattered here and there. No big lakes. The terrain is quite mountainous and vast. As we came to the meadow, we got the sight of fully grown handsome Barhasingha male standing alone. Those antlers looked magnificent. It truly made our day. Then as we went on, A big Cheetal male showed up showing off its beauty. 

There is a Museum which is located inside the national park. It has specimens and skeletons of various animal and birds. At the front there is a huge Arch donning the Name of Kanha. The Arch is entirely made of real antlers and horns which deers & antelopes shade. Before it was the reserve, there were villages inside the forest and villagers used to collect the shaded antlers and sell back to forest department. Once the villages were relocated outside the reserve, this practice stopped and those antlers were used to create this stunning Arch. After visiting the museum, we headed back. Just near the inner gate 6-7 jackals were  lazily resting in the shadow of huge trees. Our very first safari was indeed very successful, I would say. 

In the evening safari, another rare sighting happened. Blackbucks!! They are not the native animals of Kanha but they have been brought here for breeding purpose. We got to  see three handsome males of Blackbuck antelope. They were absolutely stunning. In that safari, got to see many Peacocks up close. The whole families of Cheetals and Barhasinghas were grazing side by side. A beautiful Sambhar family made there presence known. As compared to Tadoba, bird activities seemed very less at Kanha. Possibly because of the thick forest and lack of lakes. Still, overall the first day ended on a very good note. In the late evening some of us went to watch the tribal Baiga dance show which native tribal folks perform for tourists.

New Day! New Hope! On 24th, we only had one morning safari left. We all were depending on luck for the sighting of the tiger. Previous day, we had a chance but it couldn't fructify. There were couple of cubs hiding in tall grass. But so many vehicles lined up on the road that scared the cubs. They just sat there unmoved, hidden from our sight. Only few lucky people got the glimpse of them. We were hoping for the best this morning. Our guide and driver took us on a trail circuiting the hill in search of a tiger. We got the plenty of pug marks of male tiger on that trail but unfortunately they were little old. Two hours gone, just got some Sambars and some Gaurs.

We reached the plains, almost loosing hope, when we saw a lone Cheetal male standing in the meadow. So I asked the driver to pull over so that I can click some Photos. While I was at it, another Gypsy came and told us that some workers saw a Tiger couple on the other side of that grassland. So our guide decided to take a chance and wait there. We heard few alert calls of Langurs. After waiting for 20 or so minutes, guides spotted a tiger at the long distance. Excitement level just shot up that instant. I woke Yuki up. Poor thing was asleep due to cold weather. At distance, the tiger started walking quite fast, parallel to the tree line and within a minute it came closer to the pond nearby. On a funny side, that Cheetal, was still standing there, grazing and totally unaware that a predator was walking behind him. It was actually amazing to watch.

Now our Tigress, as we came to know, walked through the grass and suddenly vanished. No one could see her. All started guessing if she just sat there or walked away so fast, left us searching for her. For 10-15 minutes we were so nervous, praying for her to show herself. Finally she came in sight again. To our surprise she started coming our direction to cross the road. No one can contain the thrill and excitement. Yuki grabbed my phone and started clicking photos. The Queen of jungle gave us quite a chills when she turned her head towards the vehicle, straight staring at us. Like ordering all to make way for Her Highness. That Magnificent Beast crossed the road, walking Gracefully & Carefree, like she owned every moment. Very rightly so. Taking her own time, she  slowly walked out of our sights. The moment she vanished, people came to their senses. Our patience paid off big time. While coming back all were reliving that few minutes only. I felt so happy for my son that he got to see this Beauty up close at very first jungle trip. He clicked some nice pics of the tigress. Now he has great tale to tell back at home. With fulfilled hearts we bid goodbye to Kanha, returning to routine life. Planning for next adventure.

 

Must say, No matter how many times you go to Jungle and witness the Nature's Creations, it's Never Enough. Never!!!