3 Days, 4 Safaris, 8 Tigers and numerous other wild creatures - That's what sums up my recent trip to the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. We got amazing sightings in 3 out of our 4 safaris and here is everything you need to know to plan your adventure to the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve-
Travel from Mumbai - The Mumbai-Nagpur Duronto Express is the most convenient mode of transport to reach Tadoba. After reaching Nagpur Station at around 7 am in the morning, we took a cab to reach Chandrapur District which is a 3-hour journey from Nagpur.
Stay for 2 nights -
Waghai Resort offers the amenities of a hotel in a homestay-like ambience. Equipped with all the basic amenities, I would definitely recommend this place to everyone. The meals were as good as home cooked by their inhouse chef and was decent for our liking. You might need to tell them explicitly to make the food a little less spicy.
We had 4 safaris booked for our stay (These gates were selected based on information from the a few contacts related to recent sightings) -
1. Core Zone - Moharli Gate
2. Buffer - Junona Gate
3. Buffer - Junona Gate
4. Buffer - Agarzari Gate
Day 1 - We checked into the hotel had our lunch and were ready for our first safari in the Core Area.
Important things to note for ALL Safaris -
1. The first jeep to reach the entrance is at an advantage as it gets a clear path ahead for viewing as well as moving.
2. Mobile phones are strictly not allowed inside the safaris. Any kind of photography or videography has to be done only with professional cameras.
3. Book your safaris well in advance as only limited number of jeeps are allowed. Buffer zone safari costs around INR 4500 per jeep and Core Zone Safari costs around INR 6000 per jeep. You can even opt for a Canter in the core zone.
4. You can shop for souvenirs at any of the safari gates - they have a bunch of options from Magnets, T-shirts, Caps etc.
5. Always try to have a friendly conversation with the guides and drivers. They would be more than happy to share their knowledge and experiences.
6. Make sure to carry adequate water. It gets really hot during the afternoon safaris. Plastic bottles are not allowed hence take a steel bottle or you can even rent glass bottles at the entrance
7. Most important - don't just focus on being able to spot a tiger. Try to enjoy the entire process of listening to deer calls, guessing where the tigers could be, tracing their whereabouts and patiently waiting for them to come out of their hideouts
1. Moharli
The Core Zone Safari afternoon slot was from 2.30pm to 6.30pm. We saw our first tigress - Lara and her 3 cubs right at the entrance moving to and from a water body nearby. Going deep ahead into the jungle, we reached the Telia lake and saw a very small glimpse of another tigress Maya resting on the other side of the lake.
Core Zone has more strict rules than the buffer zones. The forest area of the core Zone is majorly dry deciduous forest and hence the afternoon safari will be extremely hot.
2. Junona
Our first Buffer Zone Safari was in the morning slot of 6am to 10am. The best part about this Safari was patiently waiting for the sighting by just seeing a very thin layer of the skin almost camouflaged in the dry jungle.
Soon enough, we saw 'W' the tigress and a little ahead was her male counterpart 'Taru' (a.k.a Paras). Taru was happily settled in one of the crevices having a small water body. We spend almost an hour just staring at the giant beauty until he finally walked away.
3. Junona
We did our third safari at the same gate again in the afternoon slot - 2.30pm to 6.30pm. We were able to spot the male tiger Bajrang nicely seated at a water body and waited as he disappeared into the forest. Later we spent almost 2 hours tracking Taru again as he moved around the forest providing elaborate glimpses every few minutes.
Another jeep from our entourage got the opportunity to spot 'Chhoti Madhu' - the female tigress - in another secluded part of the jungle.
4. Agarzari
The last safari of our trip was at the Agarzari Buffer Zone in the morning slot - 6am to 10am
We were aware that there has been no movement in this zone and hence the chances of spotting a tiger were rare but a leopard could be spotted . Hence we already had our expectations set. This time we just enjoyed the amazing weather, beautiful lakes and colorful birds in this area.
NOTE - There might be forest maintenance work going on in any of these zone which reduce the possibility of a sighting sometimes. Hence it is very important to track the updates of the developments in these zones.
