Back from Bandhavgarh, India

Back from Bandhavgarh, India

 

In May we made a quick trip to India – spending 8 days in Bandhavgarh, a park we had visited in 2013.   We were there at the peak of the heatwave, so it was quite tough – especially because the tiger sightings inexplicably dried up during a good part of our trip.   But that’s wildlife – always unpredictable!  We did have some great sightings at the beginning and end of our trip though – and we still had a great time.  A bad day in the bush beats a good day in the office every time.  We surely will be returning someday!

We chose to go to Bandhavgarh because I have the impression it is one of the better managed parks.  Indeed we were impressed at the lack of chaos around tiger sightings – everyone was mostly orderly and not too noisy, and we saw none of the horrible scenes where tigers are surrounded by 40 vehicles.  Bureaucracy is still alive and well though – it is very expensive to change your assigned zone, and your assigned route is only given to you just before you get into the park for every drive.  For those not in the know, when you book park permits you book them by Zone – Bandhavgarh has 3 of them – and you can only drive within that zone.  Apart to being restricted to a particular zone, visitors can only drive a specific route within that zone.  This is a method devised to reduce congestion at tiger sightings and it seems to be working quite well here.  I get it.  Though I still believe things can be improved.

Anyhow, I will leave you with a short video compiled by Black Grouse Photography of some of our most memorable sightings during this trip.  I am posting new images from this trip on my social media pages, namely Instagram and Facebook – make sure to follow me for the latest photos!