Day 4 (25th March)
Bheda Ghat is around 20 Kms from Jabalpur and is famous for the marble rocks through which the River Narmada flows. We left the hotel at 07:15 and were at Bheda Ghat by 08:00. The first sight which greets you is the mighty waterfall (called Dhuandhar Falls) created by the cascading waters of Narmada. The sheer drop, the volume and the speed of water turn it into a frothy white, immersed in a shroud of luminescent fog. It is a mesmerising and captivating sight. After soaking in the sight and taking photographs, we left for the marble rocks which are barely a kilometre or so away.
The turbulent and cascading Narmada suddenly transforms itself into a genteel river with hardly a ripple, as it flows majestically through the gigantic marble rocks. The beauty of the river flowing through the marble rocks can be truly experienced only through a boat ride, so we dutifully went for a boat ride through the marble rocks. If any of you happen to visit Jabalpur do go to Bheda Ghat and take the boat ride. It is a once in a life time experience.
Nugget of wisdom : Entreat, cajole, weep, whine, pay, bribe – in a nutshell do whatever, but always take an engine propelled boat. The oar propelled boats can only negotiate half the distance.
Ours was an engine propelled boat, so we went to the farthest point possible and sniggered at the misfortune of those who had to return without being able to see the natural beauty of the gigantic white marble rocks towering on both sides of the stream. The marble rocks are a geological wonder of sorts as the Narmada flows through them only for about 5 Kms out of its hundreds of Kms long journey.
The boatmen are an entertaining bunch of characters and one of them kept us regaled with some real, but mostly invented tales. Pointing to a patch of pink marble, with a dead pan face, he announced, “यहाँ रेखा लाल साड़ी पहन कर नहायी थी, film प्राण जाए पर वचन ना जाए में ... नहाने के बाद उसने इतनी जोर से अपनी साड़ी को धोया कि white marble, pink बन गया."
After the boat ride and the almost mandatory purchase of marble artefacts, we went to a lovely little motel situated at Bheda Ghat for breakfast. Called Motel Marble Rocks, it is run by the MP Tourism Devt. Corp. The motel was well maintained, clean and the balconies attached to the rooms gave a magnificent view of the majestic Narmada flowing through the marble rocks. Oh, how we wished we had stayed here itself rather than at Jabalpur! May be we will, during some other excursion.
Breakfast over, we drove back to Jabalpur and had to drive through the city for our onward drive to Kanha National Park.
Jabalpur to Kanha National Park
Route as planned through Google Map
Jabalpur – Lakhnadon – Keolari – Nainpur – Bamhani – Kanha (distance 260 Km)
Route we finally took
Jabalpur – Jabalpur Cantt – Mandla – Kanha (distance 150 Km)
Rituraj had painstakingly charted the route after much ado on the internet, only to be told that there is a much better and shorter route available!!! Also Google Map shows Kanha National Park at an entirely different spot, so if one blindly follows google (which many of us do) one would probably reach a jungle which is not the national park!!
Nugget of wisdom : Do not trust technology too much and do not feel shy in asking for directions.
Nugget of wisdom : Do not trust technology too much and do not feel shy in asking for directions.
Traffic in Jabalpur (as in all towns and cities) is mad. It was quite an effort to get out of the city, but eventually we did and were on the road to Kanha. Rituraj’s (he is a keen wild life enthusiast) fervour seemed to have rubbed off on Jenny. Hitherto not a great one for wild life, even she was keen to reach Kanha quickly.
There was a lurking apprehension in our hearts though. We had heard that curfew had been imposed in Mandla due to some violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims the previous night. Bravehearts that we are, we drove on nonetheless!
The drive from Jabalpur to Mandla was beautiful – full of hills, ghats and forests. The traffic was minimal and as the road was fairly good we made pretty good time. We kept looking for signs of normalcy in the oncoming traffic to reassure ourselves. Our confidence levels really rose when the cops at a check post allowed us to proceed even after being told that we were going to Kanha via Mandla. As we found out later, the route to Kanha skirted the town of Mandla and was not curfew bound. We thanked our stars and drove on.
We had by now switched off the GPS and had shredded the route chart made by Rituraj and had fallen back to the ancient wisdom of asking for road directions from street vendors, fuel pump attendants and sundry villagers. And a pretty smart move it proved to be indeed; the gateway to Kanha National Park is from a place called Khatia from where you drive to the Kisli gate to enter the core area of the national park. Kanha is a village which is far away from these gates!!
Nugget of wisdom : If you drive to Kanha from Mandla (none of you are ever going to, we know) ask for directions to Khatia and NOT Kanha. Or better still hire a taxi and relax.
A minor misadventure notwithstanding (we took a wrong turn in between but realised the folly within a kilometre or two and promptly reversed), we were at Khatia by 14:00 hrs. Khatia is a small, nondescript village; but is now dotted with hotels and resorts which have sprung there due to the lure of the Royal Bengal Tiger; of which only 1411 are left as per Aircel and Dhoni et al. Kanha is supposed to have one of the highest concentrations of the same and is a favourite haunt of tiger enthusiasts, specially foreigners. That explained the multitude of hotels and resorts.
MP Police has a Police Officers’ Mess right at Khatia, which is where we were going to stay. Incredibly the building next to the Officers’ Mess sported a board proclaiming it to be a Guest House of the Railways; but there is no railway line for miles together!!! If you are visiting Kanha then do use all your ingenuity to find if you have some relative high up in the police or the railways!!!
Car parked, luggage unloaded and a cup of tea later, we enquired regarding the timings and were told that the gates open at 15:00; but that no private vehicles are allowed and only Gypsies registered with the forest deptt are allowed within. So promptly Rituraj got a Gypsy organised and asked the driver to come at 15:30. The perspicacious amongst you may have noticed that there is no mention of lunch (actually you had not, which means you are not perspicacious enough!!!) We were abjuring lunch in the dhabas!!!
While waiting for the Gypsy we took out the camera (put in a fresh battery), binoculars, caps and were now fully armed so to say. The gypsies are all painted jungle green and have been modified to have two rows of seats behind the driver and have no hoods. Armed with the jungle visiting armour mentioned earlier and a couple of bottles of chilled water, thoughtfully given by the waiter in the Mess, we were soon at the Khatia gate. There were quite a few gypsies like ours waiting for the minor paperwork to be be completed and most of them were occupied by white skinned (actually red skinned because of the heat) foreigners. The first gate negotiated, we were into the peripheral area adjoining the core area and as we drove on towards Kisli the driver switched off his horn because honking is prohibited in the core area. A few minutes later a board proclaimed that we were now in the core area and like avid tourists we immediately started scanning the jungle for wildlife. However, the only wildlife we saw were the common langurs (black faced monkeys)!!! We passed a board showing directions to the Baghira Log Huts and were told that this is the only hotel/resort within the core area and is run by the MP Tourism. May be, we will stay here the next time.
Soon we saw a wooden barrier with a row of gypsies and we knew that this was the Kisli gate. Some more paperwork and allocation of a guide later (yes it is mandatory to take a forest dept appointed guide along) the wooden barrier swung open for us and we were in Kanha National Park. No tarred roads now, only dusty mud tracks. And soon we were covered with red dust churned by the gypsies preceding us.
Nugget of wisdom : Always wear a cap and carry a spare towel or two while going into the National Park; also carry some rags to wrap around the camera & binoculars.
Our eyes were hungrily scanning the forest for wildlife. Not for long though. We soon started spotting Spotted Deer (Chital), Sambhar, Monkeys and Barking Deer. For the uninitiated : Spotted Deer, Sambhar and Barking Deer are all part of the same genus and along with Monkeys and Wild Boar are the best prey for the tiger.
The gypsy driver asked if he should take us on the routes having the highest probability of sighting the tiger. Rituraj told him not to bother too much, as sighting the tiger is purely a matter of chance and that if luck favours us we would sight a tiger. Jenny, however, was really keen on sighting a tiger and wanted to go on the routes where the chances of such sighting were the highest but she kept quiet.
The dust was overpowering by now and soon we were telling the driver to take routes with less dust, which meant lesser gypsies, which in turn meant lesser chances of sighting the tiger!! As we roamed in the jungle, the camera was kept busy with Rituraj clicking photographs by the dozen.
Suddenly the driver said “साहब, आगे Tiger है" and as we eagerly peered into the thick foliage of dried grass he pointed to about 10 gypsies standing in a row some distance away. Our hearts were beating fast as we joined the other stationary gypsies. Every occupant of the gypsies was standing and looking to their left. Some were wildly gesticulating, some were peering through binoculars and some through the monstrous camera lenses towards a thicket a trees about 150 meters away.
We dutifully joined in, and started peering through squinted eyes towards the same spot, but all we could see was dried grass and trees. No tiger. Our driver was by now standing up and suddenly he said “वहाँ , उस पेड़ के नीचे.” The scene which followed is reproduced below without paraphrasing to retain the full flavour :
Jenny : “कहाँ? कहाँ? किधर? कौन सा पेड़?”
Driver : “ वह जो बड़ा सा पेड़ है, मेरे हाथ के सामने.”
Jenny : “अरे, कौन सा पेड़ ... वहाँ तो कई पेड़ हैं.”
Driver : “वह जो बड़ा पेड़ है, इस छोटे पेड़ के ठीक पीछे ... उसी के बगल में टाइगर लेटा हुआ है.”
Rituraj : (Grumbling) “कोई टाइगर नज़र तो नहीं आ रहा है ... किस पेड़ की बात कर रहे हैं आप?”
Driver & Guide together : “सर, वह जो बड़ा सा पेड़ है ... इस छोटे पेड़ के पीछे.”
Rituraj : (Almost annoyed) “अरे, यहाँ तो पेड़ ही पेड़ हैं ..."
Jenny : (Peering intently in the meanwhile) : “मुझे तो कोई टाइगर नज़र नहीं आ रहा है.”
Driver : “मैडम, दूरबीन से देखिये.”
Jenny : (Practically jumping with joy and gleefully removing the lens caps of the binocular) “अरे हाँ हमलोगों के पास तो binoculars है ... मैं तो भूल ही गयी थी.”
Jenny : (After a few seconds of scanning through the binocular) “ अरे, अरे, टाइगर!! सच में टाइगर है ... मुझे बिल्कुल clearly दीख रहा है ... wow what a sight ... एकदम साफ़ साफ़ दिखाई दे रहा है ... क्या आराम से लेटा हुआ है ! Absolutely majestic”
Rituraj : (Mournfully looking askance with eyes squinted to the maximum and grumbling in low tones) “पता नहीं टाइगर सचमुच है, या यूं ही बेवक़ूफ़ बना रहे हैं ये लोग.”
Jenny : (Still peering through the binocular) : “WOW … it is shaking its head now … अरे, अरे, पूंछ हिला रहा है वह.” To Rituraj “See through the binocular … it is absolutely clear.”
Rituraj : (Still not able to determine which tree): “कौन सा पेड़?”
Jenny : “वह जो बड़ा सा पेड़ है ना ... (pointing with her finger) … बिल्कुल मेरी उंगली कि सीध में ... उसके बगल में देखो.”
Rituraj: (After looking through the binocular for a few moments) : “ मुझे तो कोई टाइगर - वाईगर नहीं दीख रहा है.”
Jenny: “अरे, उस पेड़ के नीचे देखो ... वो वाला पेड़ ... वो वाला ...”
Rituraj: (After struggling for some more time) : “Jenny, कौन से पेड़ की बात कर रही हो?”
Jenny: “देखो ... यह छोटा पेड़ है ना ... उसके पीछे ... थोड़ी दूर पर कई पेड़ हैं ... उनमें जो सबसे बड़ा पेड़ है उसीके नीचे लेटा हुआ है ... तुमको binocular से भी नहीं दीख रहा है ... I can see it clearly even without the binocular”
Rituraj: (Looking lost and totally frustrated) : “Let me try”
Rituraj: (After a few moments) : “ YES … OH YES … I can see it now!!!”
Jenny : “दीखा? दीखा? कितना majestically लेटा हुआ है ना ... binocular मुझे दो तो.”
Rituraj : (Looking elated as if he had won the battle of Waterloo and giving the binocular back to Jenny) : “Let me see if I can see through the camera or not”
Jenny : (Now remembering that we also had a camera) : “Rituraj, फोटो लो ... फोटो लो ... फोटो ...”
Rituraj : (Looking through the camera with maximum zoom) : “ फोटो आयेगी नहीं .”
Jenny : (Still excitedly peering through the binocular) : “ अरे फोटो लो ... देखा जाएगा ... अरे tiger है, tiger ... zoom करके तो दीखेगा ”
Dear readers, this is how we saw the tiger for the first time in Kanha, and these are the pictures. Can you spot the tiger???
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| From 10)Kanha Spot the Tiger |
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| From 10)Kanha Spot the Tiger |
By now the number of gypsies had swelled to about 25. If the collective wish of 100 plus souls had any power, the tiger would have got up and moved. Obviously, however, the collective wishes do not have persuasive powers; and the tiger kept sitting nonchalantly and swatting flies with its tail. Yet, no gypsy moved … such was the mesmerising effect of the tiger. Everybody waited. The collective prayers would surely have created a din in Heaven; yet the tiger did not move. Not even when a herd of Sambhar and some spotted deer sauntered very close to it.
After waiting futilely, without being obliged by the tiger, we decided to move on. The driver and the guide tried to coax us into staying put like the others, but Rituraj was convinced that the tiger was not going to move in a hurry. So, we left the multitude of stationary gypsies and the equally stationary tiger behind and drove further on.
As the sun rays weakened, the shadows lengthened and the atmosphere cooled down a bit, there was a surfeit of Spotted Deer, Sambhar, Peacocks, Monkeys etc. which started coming out of the shadows to graze. We also saw a full grown Wild Boar but it was so intent on foraging in the grass that we could not see the tusk.
All vehicles entering the core area have to be back by 18:30. As we approached Kisli gate our guide spotted a herd of Gaur (Bison) grazing at a distance. They were pretty far away though, so we moved on and were out of Kisli gate a few minutes before the deadline. As we drove towards the Khatia gate we chanced upon a herd of bison right next to the road. Led by a mammoth bull bison the herd consisted of females, young adults and calves. We had seen lots of bison in the Betla National Park near Ranchi but never at this close a range. A full grown bison with its gigantic strength and sharp horns can even challenge a tiger and a single tiger will rarely try to take a bison on.
Very happy and satisfied we came back to the Mess. A hot cup of tea and a refreshing bath later we just relaxed. Rituraj worshipped his new found deity (the liquor consuming Kaal Bhairav) as we chatted about the tiger and the myriad other animals we had seen. Dinner was served promptly at 21:00 and it was a simple but tasty and wholesome spread. Hungry we surely were; and after a good meal we promptly went off to sleep for tomorrow we were to leave for the forest at 05:30 in the morning.
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