Off to India Safari in a few days time...
Oct 15th, 2006, 08:12 AM
#21
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Hi Kavey,
Yes, Ranthambore is frustrating with those rules and regulations, but, here in the Southern Parks there are no such set rules of circuits and driver restrictions....
Yes, corruption exists all over the world....unfortunately, it is more visible in India and i think lots of people are really trying very hard to change the situation.
Hari
Yes, Ranthambore is frustrating with those rules and regulations, but, here in the Southern Parks there are no such set rules of circuits and driver restrictions....
Yes, corruption exists all over the world....unfortunately, it is more visible in India and i think lots of people are really trying very hard to change the situation.
Hari
Oct 15th, 2006, 10:18 AM
#23
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Hari, what are the southern parks that you would recommend. We wont have the time to visit any parks in our next visit but for future reference. I have a lot of family in Bangalore so that makes a nice transfer point as well.
Miriam
Miriam
Oct 15th, 2006, 01:38 PM
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Hari, I have not encountered the Indian level of corruption - where it is so endemic in all arenas of life - anywhere else. But yes, it's the knowledge that many within India are actively trying to change it that gives hope. Just think what India has accomplished despite this handicap - at the leading edge of technology and science and much, much more. Just imagine where it could be without the corruption - it just boggles the mind to imagine!
I'm glad to hear that the Southern Parks don't have the same problems as Ranthambore in terms of bureaucracy, routes and so forth. I had thought Bandhavgarh might also work in this way and will be very pleased to find it does not.
I'm glad to hear that the Southern Parks don't have the same problems as Ranthambore in terms of bureaucracy, routes and so forth. I had thought Bandhavgarh might also work in this way and will be very pleased to find it does not.
Oct 16th, 2006, 06:01 AM
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Oh Lynda, That sounds wonderful. It's fantastic that you kept in touch with your pen pal for all those years and what better excuse to go to India than a wedding. And TIGERS, well what can I say - the're high on my list too along with Polar Bears and Pandas. I swear I'm going to have to stop reading these boards - I just want to do EVERYTHING, especially, like you, when it comes to animals. Please keep us updated with your planning, I'd love to hear all.
Imelda
Imelda
Cindy
,
Oct 16th, 2006, 09:28 AM
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Have a great trip!! I LOVE India -- we had an amazing trip there this past January. Our first week was a safari in Corbett and we saw so many animals. The highlights were mating elephants and, of course, the tigers! We saw 3 tigers in 3 days -- heard them roaring back and forth to each other in the forest, spotted another one from the back of our elephant, and then had a third leap across the road right in front of our waiting jeep. Hope you have a fantastic trip!
Oct 17th, 2006, 09:13 AM
#32
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Leely, ha ha, love the sound of "Mr. Kavey" ha ha - since Kavey is just a shortening of my real first name, Kavita, I don't think Pete's ever been referred to as Mr. Kavey before! I like it! He isn't so sure!
Thanks everyone for all the good wishes!
Thanks everyone for all the good wishes!
Nov 9th, 2006, 12:24 AM
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Back! Seems like I missed quite an exciting period on the Fodors board while I was away. But glad to see that the community seems intact and all my Fodors friends are still here.
Trip went really well and we had some wonderful wildlife sightings - I'll tell you all about them once I have caught up on a few work bits and pieces first.
Ironically, after being fine and dandy throughout the trip Pete and I both picked up nasty stomach bugs on the flight home (yes we're confident it was on the flight itself) and were out of it all day yesterday - our first day home. So I'm a day out and playing catchup already!
Looking forward to catching up on the forum too!
Kavey
Trip went really well and we had some wonderful wildlife sightings - I'll tell you all about them once I have caught up on a few work bits and pieces first.
Ironically, after being fine and dandy throughout the trip Pete and I both picked up nasty stomach bugs on the flight home (yes we're confident it was on the flight itself) and were out of it all day yesterday - our first day home. So I'm a day out and playing catchup already!
Looking forward to catching up on the forum too!
Kavey
Nov 10th, 2006, 04:17 AM
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Here's the report:
http://kaveypie.livejournal.com/37613.html#cutid1
Not very exciting - just a basic factual report on accommodation and wildlife...
Photos will be quite a lot longer...
http://kaveypie.livejournal.com/37613.html#cutid1
Not very exciting - just a basic factual report on accommodation and wildlife...
Photos will be quite a lot longer...
Nov 10th, 2006, 04:40 AM
#38
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Hi Kavey,
Thanks for sharing the trip report in super quick time.....couple of quick questions, the closest airport to Bandhavgarh is Nagpur which is a 6 hour drive from the park, is it the normal way for people to visit the park if i have to fly into Nagpur via Mumbai?
Another question, you mentioned long waits to get to the tigers....how many vehicles max at a sighting?
Did you get a chance to visit the CCA lodge to chk it out?
Thks
Hari
P.S: I only read the Bandhavgarh portion of your report, but will read the rest tomorrow....
Thanks for sharing the trip report in super quick time.....couple of quick questions, the closest airport to Bandhavgarh is Nagpur which is a 6 hour drive from the park, is it the normal way for people to visit the park if i have to fly into Nagpur via Mumbai?
Another question, you mentioned long waits to get to the tigers....how many vehicles max at a sighting?
Did you get a chance to visit the CCA lodge to chk it out?
Thks
Hari
P.S: I only read the Bandhavgarh portion of your report, but will read the rest tomorrow....
Nov 10th, 2006, 05:03 AM
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Welcome back Kavey!!! It sounds like you had an amazing time. And LOTS of tigers .... WOW!!! Sorry to hear you had a bad hotel experience ... reminds me of somewhere 
. I have only skimmed through your report and am going to print it out to read properly. One question - what, if any, vaccines are required for India??
Imelda
. I have only skimmed through your report and am going to print it out to read properly. One question - what, if any, vaccines are required for India??Imelda
Nov 10th, 2006, 05:54 AM
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Hari
I can't comment on whether most people fly to Bandhavgarh - certainly given that we were coming from Bharatpur (which is so close to Agra Cantt station) and there being a direct overnight train to Umaria (which is so close to Bandhavgarh) the train option definitely made most sense for us.
Our first sighting in the park was awful - we'd just entered the park for our first drive - Pete and I were the only two in the jeep since the other couple didn't arrive until the next day - and we shortly came upon this chaotic mass of vehicles. Unfortunately, as our guide explained to us, local Indian visitors are less willing to follow the guidelines to maintain discipline and quiet in the park, especially at animal sightings, that visitors from overseas - not sure why. So there were at least 15 jeeps all full of passengers, most of whom were standing up, talking and shouting loudly not only at members of their own party but across the various vehicles, everyone shouting, drivers revving and arguing over positioning to catch a glimpse of a tiger on the riverbed quite a distance below. No one would move, it was complete chaos, I can't tell you how much we hated it. We waited patiently for a while (as we were blocked anyway) but eventually begged our driver to take us away from the circus and stressed that we'd really prefer not to experience anything like it again (even if it meant missing out on sightings). As it happened people eventually started moving on and we quickly took advantage of a gap and slipped through, with only the briefest glance at the tiger - I was so disappointed that this was Pete's first experience of this magnificent beast - and continued into the park where our driver and guide kept us out of the way of the majority of other vehicles.
Incidentally, all the camps barring CCAfrica use these darn uncomfortable gypsy jeeps. Some have horizontal seats so that passengers sit in two rows facing forward but many, including ours, have bench seats on each side which means you're constantly twisting to face forward. Seats are also hard and suspension poor and my back and knees and bottom were sooo painful that my guide gave me two thick blankets to fold and sit on after that. The camp said they have already ordered replacement seats for ONE only of their three gypsy jeeps and these will be forward facing so if you stay there, pre-book this jeep.
CCAfrica use a landrover similar to those we experienced in Botswana - three rows of comfy seats raising in height each row. Some drivers wondered if the extra width and size of this vehicle would be a problem but I don't think it would. No we didn't get a chance to visit the camp - I meant to but didn't get round to asking/ arranging it.
The big queues and wait for tiger sightings are if you sign up for the elephant back rides. Basically, your driver signs you and up and receives a numbered chit - and these are placed into a random order by the authorities there to give all camps/ jeeps equal access to best/ worst slots. Then, provided the elephants find a tiger, the jeeps all go to the waiting point on the nearest road and queue up. In order, the elephants do round trips from the road to the sighting and back. You climb onto the elephant directly from the jeep which is hard so NOT for those with limited mobility. The tigers stay put apparently provided there is always at least one elephant in attendance. So the one time we did it we ended up sitting in this queue, not moving, not seeing anything, for over an hour until our turn came. Pete declined so the other three of us (and one from another car) got onboard, the ele took us into the forest, about 2-3 minutes later we arrived at the tiger sighting (a mother sleeping nearby, somewhat obscured, and a near full grown cub sitting out in the open very nearby to us), we stayed for a few minutes, the mahout turned the elephant several times allowing those on each side of the seating to get good views, and then we turned back.
Whilst the sighting was great those we had in the jeep were better in our case and all four of us decided together we simply didn't want to do any more of these elephant rides. It took some time for our guide to really believe it as apparently most people do all the elephant rides they can get (mornings only).
Not sure what vaccines are needed - I think it depends on which areas of India you visit. We already have typhoid, tetanus, polio and I have yellow fever from previous trips to Africa so we didn't need any vaccines. We took anti-malarials with us plus a medical kit including prescribed medicines to treat stomach upsets, vomiting, sore throats, bites, stings and a number of other potential health problems. Didn't have to use it until we got home, ironically!
I can't comment on whether most people fly to Bandhavgarh - certainly given that we were coming from Bharatpur (which is so close to Agra Cantt station) and there being a direct overnight train to Umaria (which is so close to Bandhavgarh) the train option definitely made most sense for us.
Our first sighting in the park was awful - we'd just entered the park for our first drive - Pete and I were the only two in the jeep since the other couple didn't arrive until the next day - and we shortly came upon this chaotic mass of vehicles. Unfortunately, as our guide explained to us, local Indian visitors are less willing to follow the guidelines to maintain discipline and quiet in the park, especially at animal sightings, that visitors from overseas - not sure why. So there were at least 15 jeeps all full of passengers, most of whom were standing up, talking and shouting loudly not only at members of their own party but across the various vehicles, everyone shouting, drivers revving and arguing over positioning to catch a glimpse of a tiger on the riverbed quite a distance below. No one would move, it was complete chaos, I can't tell you how much we hated it. We waited patiently for a while (as we were blocked anyway) but eventually begged our driver to take us away from the circus and stressed that we'd really prefer not to experience anything like it again (even if it meant missing out on sightings). As it happened people eventually started moving on and we quickly took advantage of a gap and slipped through, with only the briefest glance at the tiger - I was so disappointed that this was Pete's first experience of this magnificent beast - and continued into the park where our driver and guide kept us out of the way of the majority of other vehicles.
Incidentally, all the camps barring CCAfrica use these darn uncomfortable gypsy jeeps. Some have horizontal seats so that passengers sit in two rows facing forward but many, including ours, have bench seats on each side which means you're constantly twisting to face forward. Seats are also hard and suspension poor and my back and knees and bottom were sooo painful that my guide gave me two thick blankets to fold and sit on after that. The camp said they have already ordered replacement seats for ONE only of their three gypsy jeeps and these will be forward facing so if you stay there, pre-book this jeep.
CCAfrica use a landrover similar to those we experienced in Botswana - three rows of comfy seats raising in height each row. Some drivers wondered if the extra width and size of this vehicle would be a problem but I don't think it would. No we didn't get a chance to visit the camp - I meant to but didn't get round to asking/ arranging it.
The big queues and wait for tiger sightings are if you sign up for the elephant back rides. Basically, your driver signs you and up and receives a numbered chit - and these are placed into a random order by the authorities there to give all camps/ jeeps equal access to best/ worst slots. Then, provided the elephants find a tiger, the jeeps all go to the waiting point on the nearest road and queue up. In order, the elephants do round trips from the road to the sighting and back. You climb onto the elephant directly from the jeep which is hard so NOT for those with limited mobility. The tigers stay put apparently provided there is always at least one elephant in attendance. So the one time we did it we ended up sitting in this queue, not moving, not seeing anything, for over an hour until our turn came. Pete declined so the other three of us (and one from another car) got onboard, the ele took us into the forest, about 2-3 minutes later we arrived at the tiger sighting (a mother sleeping nearby, somewhat obscured, and a near full grown cub sitting out in the open very nearby to us), we stayed for a few minutes, the mahout turned the elephant several times allowing those on each side of the seating to get good views, and then we turned back.
Whilst the sighting was great those we had in the jeep were better in our case and all four of us decided together we simply didn't want to do any more of these elephant rides. It took some time for our guide to really believe it as apparently most people do all the elephant rides they can get (mornings only).
Not sure what vaccines are needed - I think it depends on which areas of India you visit. We already have typhoid, tetanus, polio and I have yellow fever from previous trips to Africa so we didn't need any vaccines. We took anti-malarials with us plus a medical kit including prescribed medicines to treat stomach upsets, vomiting, sore throats, bites, stings and a number of other potential health problems. Didn't have to use it until we got home, ironically!
