Kanha Memories

So, here I am more than eighteen months later, revisiting our wonderful week-long MNS trip to the Kanha Tiger reserve.  It was a first visit for many of us in that group, and at the same time, we had a Kanha "veteran" - it was his 15th/16th visit I think!  

Many of my friends thought I was a bit nuts - who would visit central India in the height of summer?  It will be hot, and dusty we were warned.  " Oh ange thair kadikadhe", was another common concern of various Madrasis!  Yeah, right we were going to see tigers and wildlife and sal forests, not bother about what we ate, I said loftily.  Secretly though, I packed a suitcase full of food - Amul Masti, Tang packets, Mansukh snacks, and milk for my ten year old son!  As a result, I skimped on the clothes I took, which did not work out well, as you will see.

The route we took was Madras-Nagpur by overnight train.  Nagpur-Kanha by road. The road is good and though we took some six hours going, on the return it was less.

15 April 2007: 2pm in the afternoon and we set off for Central Station to catch the Jaipur Express for Nagpur. Madras in April (or for that matter all of India) is hot, and we hope that our AC waitlisted tickets will get confirmed. (We had confirmed sleeper class tickets, so there was no worry of us not making the trip, thankfully.) Just a hope that we could travel in cool comfort. Very not-green of us I had to admit - there were some more passionate members than us travelling in the regular sleeper.

We did get AC nevertheless, and sank in to our seats with a sigh of relief. Our smaller group consisted of my husband and son, plus two good friends Raji and Sheila. It was one of our first outings with MNS and the trip helped us get to know the other members and their families. All in all, I think we were some 25 members of various age groups, and each with our own idiosyncracies and interests.  We were a motley bunch!

The evening on the train passed by filled with games of Uno, gossip, excitement and puliyodarai and chips. A good night's sleep, and a railway breakfast arrived. As also the first "disaster". As I listened avidly to the conversation around, I contrived to spill the sambar all over my lap! Oh no, one of my only 3 pants taken for the trip!! At this point, my husband quickly got engrossed in his book, my son scooted to the upper berth muttering, "I'm out of here", and I burst into hysterical giggles. It was left to my good friends Raji and Sheila to retrieve the situation - some napkins were produced and water, and the mess was cleaned up as best as we could!

After this, it was almost time to get off, and disembark we did at Nagpur in the midday sun of central India, rudely welcomed to reality! Vijay very helpfully procured some lassis for us, and then we found three Qualises awaiting us. As also Rannu!

Rannu, the dada of Seoni!

Smiling face, colourful shirts, paan-stained teeth, unruffled by anything.  That was Rannu, the boss of our taxi service, constantly on his cell phone, organising his drivers and cars with his can-do attitude.  

We reach Gopalganj to find threatening clouds, lightning and thunder, and no tarpaulin for our luggage.  So we stop at the roadside, some more phone calls are made by Rannu - mysteriously, his phone works, but not ours! - tarps are brought from some house, and there you see himin the picture above,  fixing it.  Anyway, we wait for a little while, he makes another call and then informs us that the rain which was coming down in Pench, further down,  had stopped, and we could proceed!!

Our Qualis had our little clique plus Vijay and Dhruva.  Further drama on the way,  We stop at Seoni because Dhruva needs money from the ATM.  (I thought to myself, he must be very brave and have great faith in ATM technology to be attempting this here!)  Sitting in the car, we could see him arguing with the guard outside.    I was quite sure his card had got stuck in the ATM!  Then Vijay gets down to go to his aid, we see him combing his air, twirling his moustache, putting his arm on the guard in a friendly manner.  More movements inside the ATM.  Vijay and Dhruva re-emerge - and guess what, they had the money and the card!!  The problem was that the security guard had put off the ATM, and was reluctant to put it on!  So, after testing the efficacies of the ATM system in far-off Seoni, we set off again.

Its a lovely drive, through Pench tiger reserve, and then the rolling plains of Madhya Pradesh.

 16th April, 7-15 pm:  We arrive finally at Kanha!

By this time, it was dark, and there was nothing to be seen.  Checked in to the MP Tourism dormitory - we had booked the whole dorm - and then trooped off for dinner at the mess next door.

In hindsight, staying at the dorm, pictured on the left is probably the best way to see Kanha.  It inexpensive at Rs 100 per bed per night (incl food!), was clean, with common bath and toilet facilities at the rear of the building which were in good shape.  

According to me, the nicest part was that it was within the park.  if you click on the Kanha map above, to the west, you will see the Kisli Gate, which is where this dorm is located.  So, at night, we could hear the calls of the jungle, we heard alarm calls of cheetal, and one night even a leopard call quite close to the dorm.  There was a water hole just across the road from the dorm - a lovely place to sit in the afternoons, just to watch the birds come and go.  One day there was a group of wild dogs frolicking here, another day some sambhar deer came to have a soak in the water, and there was always a flock of roller birds and storks to keep it lively, with brainfever birds in the trees around us.
April 17th:  5-45 am:  Joseph and his canter bus!

Another interesting character at Kanha was Joseph, the resident what - manager, fixer, administrator, driver?  I could never figure out.  But so helpful and friendly.  One thing he did unfailingly was drive this bus/Canter.  It took all 24 of us on a trip around the park.  After one such ride, we decided against it!  While it would work out decidely cheaper, it also made a hell of a racket, could not go on all the park roads and also offered limited visibility as compared to the open Gypsy jeeps that are available and seen below.

Anyway, Joseph took us in this canter to the local market one day where we were acquainted with mahua - the local intoxicant - , then he showed us the one spot next to the Mess, where a BSNL signal was available, for all those needing to make calls, even gave us his phone to make these calls,   helped coordinate our meals and was always available for a chat.

Early morning "q" awaiting entry into the park.I found Kanha a very well run park, the guides were well-trained, the drivers were disciplined, and rules were for the most part obeyed.  Morning ride times were 6-10 am and evenings 4-6.  If the drivers did not get out within this time, they were severely penalised.

There was a bit of mayhem if a tiger was spotted when everybody went a bit berserk, but for the most part it was an orderly and enjoyable experience.

Much to my surprise, the mornings were lovely.  At 6 am it was nippy and we all had some dupattas handy to use as shawls, but by 8 or so, it became warm, and by 10 it was hot.  We lucked out with the weather in that we had thunderstorms every other night, which kept the temperatures and the dust down and the nights were cool. 
Early morning lightThe sun falls on the lovely sal forests.  I could never get bored of these forests.  Each day they looked more beautiful, than the previous, with the morning light casting different "moods" almost on the forest.
... And the forests were filled with the chatter of tree pies, an occasional shama, pigeons and langurs.

A forest camp
And the facilities!
The central campsiteThis was where there was a little canteen where you could get samosas and tea, where the guides would get information about where the tiger shows were for the day.  there was also a good museum with lots of information on the flora and fauna of the region.

Tiger country... the meadows
Shravan Tal


Sunset views
Morning and evening, for six days we went on jeep rides in the forest.  Waking up at 5am, no TV, no newspaper, clean air, good company, sumptuous food.  Even my son managed to make all the morning rides.  The map below shows our regular routes - the brown Kanha area in the centre.  The "You are Here" reflects the Main camp location.

Circular road, Shravan Tal are all the flat lands, but some of the roads are hilly, and so provide a view of the forests below.  We travelled all the way to Bamnidadar - at the right hand bottom corner - one morning.

More on the tiger show, Bamnidadar, barasinghas, as I write!

Continued in Kanha Memories:The graceful and handsome barasinghas.

The vultures at Kanha

During our 2007 summer trip to Kanha, we saw these four vultures on the sal trees, as they sat and waited patiently for the tiger to leave its kill in the dry grassland below.

Through our binoculars, we could see the vultures very clearly, but our cameras were not powerful enough to get a better shot.  (Those little black specks in the photo on the left!)

We had heard how vultures have become a rare sight in India, and so we were all the more excited by our sighting.  There they sat looking like the Jungle Book crew, and I would not have been surprised if they had broken into a "So what are we going to do now?" conversation!

Our jeep was filled with greenhorns, and when we returned to the dorm to share our sighting, there was much disbelief, as other senior members were quite sure we had seen some storks and mistaken them for the vulture!  Our picture was not conclusive, but the profile - not a stork surely.  Our "honour" was restored when the Kanha guide who came with us confirmed to them that yes, they were vultures!

Sadly, we were the only ones on that trip to have spotted these birds.
These vultures could be extinct within a decade, because of the diclofenac... not a happy thought.