Tadoba: Thrilling Tiger Safari: Day 1

 The Journey from Pune to Tadoba National Park via Nagpur, Night Safari

 

PC- Sameer Bhide. Shot on OnePlus

 We went on this 3-day safari in May-June 2022, which was almost at the tail-end of the safari season. There were six of us on this trip, and we were very, very excited. For four of us, it was going to be our very first trip dedicated entirely to wildlife safaris. A dear friend of ours (and one of the six people on the trip), knew a tour operator who would plan the entire trip for us, which in itself for a strange experience for the hubster and I, as we like to do all the planning right down to the minute detail. But overall, it turned out to be a good decision.

The first day started with waking up at an ungodly hour as most trips generally do. We were taking the 7am flight out of Pune to Nagpur. Travel post-COVID has become kinda dicey with the crowds at the airport being very unpredictable. We decided to err on the side of caution, and reached quite early. Four of us, Myself, The Hubster, The Cousin, and The Friend-Who-Is-Like-A-Sister (henceforth referred to as The FWILAS), left from our place for Pune Airport at 5.15am. The other two, The Friend Who Planned The Trip (FWPTT), and His Friend, would be joining us at the airport. 

There was hardly any crowd at the airport. We were checked-in in no time. The flight took off as scheduled, with us landing at the Nagpur Airport at 9ish. From this point on, the tour operate had taken care of everything-- the transportation to Tadoba National Park, the stay at MTDC resort, the four safaris, the guides, the drivers, the entry fees. We only had to pay for our meals and the sole camera that we carried.

The road-trip from Nagpur to Tadoba with a stop for breakfast took us around five hours. The road is in a good state of repair for most part, so the journey was pleasant enough. Once we reached, we were advised to have lunch and rest, as the first safari for the day was going to be a night safari, which would start at six pm. 

We did as advised, gathering in the parking lot at 6 pm. Finally our adventure was beginning!

This safari, like all others on this trip, was an open jeep safari. Twilight turned to dusk as we entered the buffer zone of the Tadoba National Park via the Junona Gate. 

I, for one, had come on this safari with zero expectations of a sighting, which in retrospect was the best frame of mind to be in! 

This was one zone where we were allowed to carry mobile phones, which are otherwise banned inside the national park. We were advised to put our phones on silent mode. The guide gave a brief overview about Tadoba National Park-- when it was set up, the kind of flora and fauna in the park, the population of tigers, etc. 

There were around five or six other open jeeps full of people who were also on the safari. We went up and down the stretch of the road where a new male tiger had been spotted. This tiger had killed a sambar deer, and having found it too difficult to drag deeper into the jungle, was being forced to come to the kill till he had eaten enough of it to reduce the weight of the kill!


 

We waited patiently, talking only in whispers. After around ten or fifteen minutes of waiting, the guide instructed the driver to drive up the track again to a spot away from the crowd of the other Gypsys. But no sooner had we halted, the guide received a communication that the tiger had come to the kill!

The dash our vehicle made on the dirt track to reach the spot was nearly as thrilling as actually spotting the tiger :D . The adrenaline was already pumping and our heart rates were already high after this super high-speed dash where we were hanging on to our dear lives in the open jeep. Maybe we were all a tiny bit surprised that all of us were still in the vehicle when we reached our destination!

Night Safari! PC- Sameer Bhide. Shot on OnePlus

 

But the moment we spotted the magnificent beast, we were awed! The tiger, a huge male, was approximately fifty feet from us, feasting on the kill. Words cannot describe the feel of sitting in that open jeep in the night with the apex predator just a few feet away, crunching on the bones of a sambar deer! Yes, we actually heard the crunching noises!


PC- Sameer Bhide. Shot on OnePlus

 

 

Our first safari was a super hit. We couldn't wait for more to come, and were all super excited to go on the early morning safari the next day.

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