07 Kanha NP
MP Tour
Kanha National Park, 160kms south-east of Jabalpur covers 1945 sqkm of wooded grasslands and sal-forests. Its the setting of Kipling's Jungle Book. It had a poulation of about 140 Tigers, 87 Leopardes and plenty of Deer and Nilgai
9th December 2005: Left from Pachmarhi at 6:45AM and drove via Chhindwara to cut into NH-7 at Seoni (about 208Kms) and decided to stop here for the day here. So at 1:00opm checked into Hotel Anand at Rs 385/- per night. Had Lunch and just relaxed.
10th December 2005: Left Seoni after breakfast at 8:15 am an dheaded East thru some bad road stretches. Reached Khatiya Gate at Kanha around12:30 pm. Took a roadside Hotel Chandan (Rs 200/-) very near the Kanha Park entry gate.
After Lunch did a 2-Hr Gypsy Safari into the Park. Saw deer but no Tigers
Kanha - Spotted Deer
No animals at the river too
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11th December 2005: Booked for another Jeep-Safari early morning at 6:00am and re-entered the Kanha Park. Two hours of searching did not reveal any tigers.
Finally all jeeps assembled at the Kanha-Gate waiting for elephant-borne spotters to locate Tigers.
Kanha gate where all jeeps waited
They Elephant guys finally located a sleeping tigeress deep inside forest and called by wireless, each jeep to a nearby trail and then took all Pax turn by turn on elephant-back close to see the sleeeping tigeress ! Like a conducted Tiger-viewing tour, for a price of course!
The little bit of brown tinge in this picture is the Tigeress!
Though I could see the tigeress with my naked eye, my camera could not capture a clear picture thru the thick forest foliage! It was pretty thrilling to see a tigeress, just 10 feet away .... albeit a sleeping one ... and from the safety of an elephant-back.
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I was back in room by 11:00pm. Had a lunch, packed my bags and drove off from Kanha by 12:30 pm. A couple from Surat, Gujerat (Sandeep Shah & wife) joined me for a ride till Jabalpur. I dropped them at 3:45pm and continued further west to Bhedaghat (on Narmada river) to see the Marble Rocks there.
Kanha NP Grasslands - view from Gypsy Jeep Safari
Deer crossing the Jeep track in Kanha
Plenty of Neelgai in Kanha forests
Boarding the elephant via step-ladder to approach sleeping Tiger
The elephant nears the Tiger..... just 10 feet away
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