p>The day we had been waiting for finally arrived – our Tiger safari was about to unfold.
We flew from Delhi to Nagpur and then were driven to Kahna National Park, where we checked into Banjaar Tola, a property run by &Beyond and the Taj group.
The rooms were beautifully done, the circular bed leading onto a massive bathroom and a private balcony with a serene view of the river and jungle. Everything was finished in natural materials, which gave an overall earthy feel.
At the crack of dawn, we climbed on board an open range rover, exactly like the South African ones, and met our naturalist (game ranger). We collected our guide (tracker) at the park entrance and drove through the gates for our first game drive. Being accustomed to the African bush, the lush beauty and the way the rising sun filtered through the dense trees was breath takingly unexpected.
It really felt like something out of the jungle book. Khana is actually the forest which inspired Rudyard Kipling; his story was apparently based on a real boy who was found near a wolf’s den.
Our first encounter was with a tree full of Langur monkeys. They were all sitting on branches, checking us out while dangling their legs. We saw many more trees full of monkeys and could not help but stop and laugh at their funny monkey ways.
We saw Barasingha (a species of swamp deer that was brought back from the brink of extinction), wild dog, jackal, a million spotted deer and lots of gaur (really big bison). There are no radios allowed in the Indian parks, so the naturalists have to use the old school method of stopping and asking each other what they’ve seen. By our third drive we still had not seen the elusive tiger and the game drives felt like thrilling hunting trips – listening for alarm calls, shouting stop at every orange bush and putting out tiger vibes.
When we finally saw a massive tigress coming over a hill, our stomachs flip flopped, our hearts leapt and we ignored the rules and stood up to get a better view.
Even though it was hard to get a great photo without a telephoto camera lens, it was a completely thrilling encounter. In the early mornings, the tame elephants and their riders track the tigers and when they find one, they allow the guests to view the tiger from the back of the elephant. We broke my number one ‘bush rule’ – never ever miss a game drive – and slept in, missing out on this amazing opportunity.
After two nights at Khana and one tiger viewing, we drove to Pench National Park and checked into Baghvan camp. Even though this lodge is also run by &Beyond and the Taj Group, it is completely different to Banjaar Tola. The rooms have a modern Indian style with magnificent pieces of furniture. The bathroom is separated by a stairway leading to a private, outdoor, king size bed where you can sleep, weather permitting. The rooms have an outdoor shower area and are surrounded by a tall dense teak forest. There is a feeling of complete solitude with hardly a building in sight.
Only a few hours away from Khana, the Pench forest might as well be in a different country. The forest is less dense and is intersected by the massive Pench River. When we saw the river for the first time is was hard not to compare the landscape to a golf course. It looked so picturesque and manicured, that only a huge herd of spotted deer made us feel like we were in ‘the wild’. We had two more tiger sightings at Pench; a male tiger and a female with 2 big cubs. Both were just as thrilling as the first sighting.
On our last evening, we were having a drink in the lodge lounge when the naturalist told us that there were flying squirrels outside our room. We raced back to our room to find a romantic dinner set up on our balcony. It was beautiful and wonderful, but not as exciting as a flying squirrel…
We were enjoying our meal when a large black animal the size of a house cat scrambled up the tree about 2 meters away from us. We jumped up, got a flashlight and watched this animal teetering on the top of the narrow tree. And then… it jumped… and glided across the clearing to the top of another tree. It was a flying squirrel. Possibly one of the most exciting moments of my game viewing life.
Our stay with &Beyond was perfect. The beautiful lodges and the warm, generous staff facilitated our every desire and we were very sad to say goodbye.
Our tiger safari came to an end, far too soon.