After 2 wonderful days in ‘Bandy’ we then drove to Kanha National Park for a further look for tigers. On the way their our driver stopped at a roadside stall where Shane partook in a Tea Marsala with him. I wasn’t too sure and declined but as we’d done this with him before I said nothing to deter Shane.
We hit Kanha around lunchtime and found it was owned by the same company that owned the ‘Bandy’ camp. These cabins were just as fantastic as Bandy but in an entirely different style. Whereas the Bandy cabins were on stilts and in a modern ‘bush’ style at Kanha the camp was named “Earth Lodge” for good reason. From the ground up the construction here was in a ‘mud/stone/stick hut style’. Both places were incredible and we’d highly recommend them to anyone. Working in our favour also was the fact that the Tiger Season was supposed to be ended and the camp should have been closed down but authorities told them to remain open till the end of the month. this meant they had no bookings (bar us) so we had 24 – 30 staff waiting on us hand and foot and we were loving it. I might have to do a separate post detailing our lodgings as most have been right over the top. The big grey stone building below is the lodge while the yellow cabin is our cabin. The monkeys you see are on/around our verandah and on the skylight.
Anyway, lunch done we hopped straight into a jeep for our next safari. This was to be our first of four here at Kanha. We weren’t out long when we heard the warning cries of the Sambah Deer letting all and sundry know that a Tiger was about. As luck would have it there were two, a male and female pair. Suddenly as they began to get close enough to see some big arsed arrogant guide with a car full of fat pricks stopped right in front of us blocking our view and he refused to move. I got a glimpse but Shane didn’t. Really annoyed we shot off to look for more sightings when Shane suddenly doubled over. In obvious agony and without warning we had to race back to the camp. We almost made it when she ‘collapsed’ throwing up everywhere. Delhi belly had taken its revenge after the roadside stop earlier in the day. Unfortunately this cut her adventures at Kanha short and a week later she is still a bit nauseous when having to eat. In the pics below the arch you see is made totally of deer antlers confiscated from poachers in the park by rangers who are also pictured on Patrol elephants. The huge bull is a Gaur (or Gaul) and can top 950kg and 2.2 mtrs in height. Then there’s the “Honey Tree” with the mass of bee hives and the “Monkey Tree” too.
The next few days were relatively uneventful. My last 3 safaris went “tiger free’ and we left Kanha smiling but a bit disappointed. We realise there are no guarantees when looking for tigers but it would have been nice. After Kanha our driver took us to Nagpur where the next day we caught the plane back to Delhi for our next Indian Tour, the Royal Rajasthan Tour. Read about that as I post it. These pics are of the trip to Nagpur (Raddison Blu) then Delhi.
P.S. Just as an aside we’ve just read that 3 days after we left Kanha a local man was mauled to death by a tiger in the same area of Kanha as we’d just been visiting.
Cheers
Garry