Serendipitous Sighting - A visit to Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve

“Aapko Dikha?”, “Nahi, dusri gypse wale bata rahe the unko dikha, aapko dikha kya?”, “nahi hame bhi nahi dikha”

This is a recurring discussion, happening whenever another 4x4 passes by in the jungles of Tadoba, as we crisscross the jungle to see the elusive Tiger. This is our second safari of the three we booked and the only one in the evening. Freezing cold in the morning makes us believe that the Tiger is not going to come out of its resting area and this is our only chance to see the Tiger.

Located 30 kms from Chandrapur, and 150 kms from Nagpur, Tadoba – Andhari Tiger reserve [TATR] is the oldest and largest in Maharashtra and covers an area of roughly 630 square kilometers.

We decided to spend a weekend in Tadoba and booked three rides from Moharli gate, which allows a maximum of 30 vehicles per shift and reports maximum sightings out of 5 gates at Tadoba.

We reached Tadoba the previous night and stayed at one of the newly set up tented accommodation – United 21 Tiger Camp. The beautiful tents with amenities do not help keep the cold away and more so when the news reaches that Nagpur has recorded the season’s low of 5⁰ C. and Tadoba would be cooler by about 2-3 more degrees. A quick tea, followed by adding layers of clothes on our body, makes us a little comfortable as we await dinner in the tented restaurant. Chicken, Dal, Rice, Vegetable, Roti, Papad and a dessert – we are more than happy to settle for the night with one thought – will getting up at 4:30AM the next morning be all worth it?

The rules for arranging the vehicles have changed recently and the hotel manager is confused. With some calls and asking around, he manages to get two 4x4’s for 6 of us and we quickly settle in to make a 3 kilometer dash to the main Moharli gate.

It’s still pitch dark, when we make our way to the forest office to show the ID cards and the permit – registered online two months ago. We join a long queue of vehicles – all open 4x4’s as everybody awaits the clock ticking slowly to hit 6:00AM, when the gates open in winter.

At 8:30AM, restlessness sinks in, two and half hours in the jungle has yielded nothing but few common birds, a bunch of monkeys, spotted deer and occasional sambar. The enthusiasm is wearing out. Our guide painstakingly tells us the history of this place and explains the various zones, problems of the park and that occasional state transport bus which still crosses the park to make its way to district HQ of Chandrapur. 

 At 10:30AM we head back from wherever we are, disappointed to not have spotted the tiger. On the way back till the gate, the guides tell us this could be because of the spell of rainfall which the park witnessed three days ago.

Breakfast is ready at the hotel when we reach and that is followed by a quick Vegetarian meal after which the 4x4’s are ready again for the evening safari. In the second safari, we have seen most of the mammals for the second time, we now know which route we are going to take and what we will be seeing next. The only change is an occasional owl or eagle, which we did not spot in the morning. Heart sinks, when a 4x4 stops and says, “Subah jate waqt teen gypsy ko tiger dikha, Sonam raasta cross karke jhadi mein gae hai, kill udhar hai” (Three vehicles saw tigress Sonam this morning, the tigress crosses the main road and went in the bushes where they suspect she has killed an animal)

Tigers are named across National Parks, while Bandhavgarh has had Charget, Sita & B2, Ranthambore has had Machli. Tadoba, which is home to around 60 tigers as per our guide, has Sonam, Tara, Maya, Gabbar, Yeda Anna and many more…

Day two ended with another sumptuous round of food but disappointment about the tiger. Next day would be our last safari in the jungle, before we head back to Nagpur. As if it was a routine, the entire family was up and ready at 5:30AM in the chill – thanks to the hotel being on the banks of reservoir of Erai Dam. The 4x4’s made their way to the gate again, as we did the now familiar process of identification and waited for the clock to strike 6AM. The guides had a different plan today, to first show us the Andhari river and then start the regular circuit with first visiting the Telia lake, followed by other areas.

As we entered the Telia lake area, we saw a bunch of vehicles and excited tourists pointing towards the other bank of the lake. “Udhar hai, pathar ke upar, jhadi ke niche” ( there she is, just above the stones and below the grassland) was the first intimation that we are going to see the Tiger. Little straining of eyes and using binocular (10x50) gives a complete picture of the majestic Tigress- Sonam, resting near the lake. “arey apne paas dekh rahi hai” (she is looking at us) says the next voice from another vehicle as the morning calm is filled with umpteen camera clicks from everybody all around. More 4x4’s join in and the jostle to find a vantage point leads to the forest department vehicle ordering all vehicles away.

As we start moving, Sonam stops to drink water and then crosses the lake from the shallow area to come over to this bank – only to disappear in dense forest there on. As irony would have it, the person with longest lens to his camera has to be helped to see where the Tigress is!

The day here on is spent in searching for more Tigers around the park, but as the guide had said on the first day, “chehra dekh ke hi pata chalta hai, inko tiger dikha ken ahi” – You know if the person saw the tiger or not by looking at his face. Our faces have lit up as we criss cross the park yet again. Half an hour before the park closes, we make another dash to Telia – hoping that Sonam the tigress has decided to roam around a bit and explore some more area. Back to the hotel, the feeling is of an successful trip as we pack and make our way to Nagpur !

As has been the case before, every trip to the jungle ends with a plan of making another trip to another jungle !

Best Season: For maximum sightings, the best season is summer – when tigers come near the main roads and sit in the waterhole which is serviced by tanker. However, summers can be harsh with temperatures exceeding 45C daily. Weather wise the best season is from February to April.

Safari: The safari bookings open 60 days in advance and need to be booked online. The bookings fill up very fast. Maximum vehicles are allowed from Moharli gate. The park is closed on all Tuesdays. There are two safari’s a day.

The permit costs INR 1265 for a maximum of 6 people and the cost of guide and 4x4 is additional which is to be paid before the safari starts. Rules change often, but currently it was INR 2300 per safari.

Connectivity: Nearest Railhead is Chandrapur (30kms) on Delhi – Hyderabad / Chennai line and nearest airport is Nagpur (150kms). The resort can arrange a taxi for pick up. Alternately taxies are available at Nagpur Airport.

Accommodation: There are ample accommodation options at Tadoba near all gates. The MTDC property is closer to Moharli gate. We stayed at United-21 Tiger Camp, an upcoming property, which currently has 20 luxurious swiss tents. The cost was INR 3000 per person per night on twin sharing inclusive of all meals. 

About the authors:

Priyanka Sharangpani - Joshi is a lawyer by profession & a passionate traveler. Priyanka is founding partner at Lex Credence, a law firm based out of Pune. She dreams of visiting all continents in the next 10 years!

Ameya Joshi is a Management professional who dreams of completing atleast one Round the world trip and loves to personally route each trip. His dream destinations Moscow & Istanbul already visited, he now tries saving for a trip to Tahiti.

Both of them are looking for sponsors for a Round the World Trip.

From Lohegaon to Sonegaon & back on IndiGo’s A320

2014 ended with very few flights for me, yet I went to some new places, flew new airlines and aircraft. Even before the year was to end, I had booked for a short trip to Nagpur for a wedding, followed by a short family holiday in Tadoba Tiger Reserve. As always the trip had some last minute scare due to work, but I made it!

Trip Planning & Flight History– The first of many favorite parts of a trip

We booked the ticket in October’14.  The sector has traditionally seen flight operations from IndiGo. If my memory is right, the airline started basing its second A320 in Pune sometime in October 2009, with base departures to Chennai – Kolkata with one aircraft and Nagpur – Delhi with another. In 2013-14 when the airfield saw closure due to MAFI (Modernization of Airfield Infrastructure) project of Indian Air Force, the schedules were changed and when the airfield opened for normal operations, IndiGo chose to continue its base departures to Chennai and Kolkata – thus starting a non-stop Kolkata flight, terminating the early morning Nagpur flight.

Currently, Go Air flies an early morning departure to Nagpur, which operates as Bengaluru – Pune – Nagpur – Kolkata in the morning and reverse in the evening along with two departures of IndiGo, first at 11:05 and the later at 18:25.

In the past, Jet Airways has tried this route, when they operated a Pune – Nagpur – Indore and vice versa routing on a B737 (Kolkata – Mumbai – Pune – Nagpur – Indore and return) and prior to that Kingfisher had a popular Nagpur – Pune connection via Indore on ATR-72

Booking

It was a breeze as usual on the official IndiGo website. Hassle free, with options of choosing seats, meals and excess baggage – none of which was booked by us.

Few days prior to the flight, I checked what the availability of seats is, most of the paid seats were snapped up, which meant the chances of getting emergency row or first row was rare, so I purchased the seats.

Airport Information

Enough has been covered in my previous trip reports about Pune and hence I will update only the latest. The canopy structure is now complete, so vehicles now come in and stand underneath the canopy. Also complete is a building in the old parking area, which was supposed to house ticketing offices and Air Asia has been allotted space there, the rest of the airlines are protesting to move there. The hangers meant for private jets parked in Pune are in final stages of completion.

Nagpur Airport – famous for the over a decade old MIHAN project now has a Work in progress hanger which will soon be for Air India MRO along with 7 bays and one operational runway – 14-32 which is 10500 feet long. The airport has been renamed as Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in 2005 from its earlier name of Sonegaon.

Rotation

IndiGo’s two A320s parked at Pune typically operate as Pune – Chennai – Pune – Nagpur – Delhi – Goa – Delhi – Bengaluru (Subject to change once it reaches its hub in Delhi) and Pune – Kolkata – Dibrugarh – Kolkata – Ahmedabad – Pune – Nagpur – Delhi, making it easier to predict the registration a day in advance !

Pune – Nagpur is a distance of 605 kms ( 800 announced by the pilot) which is scheduled to be covered in 1hour and 20 minutes. The flight would typically fly overhead Aurangabad (IXU) before setting course for Nagpur. 

The return rotation typically works as Delhi – Vadodara – Delhi – Kolkata – Dibrugarh – Kolkata – Delhi – Nagpur - Pune

Pune - Nagpur

Check-in & Airport Experience

We reached the airport well in time for our 1825 departure. The cab situation in Pune has improved after Meru cabs entered the scene. Quickly going through the standard CISF – double check at Pune, we made our way to a quick baggage screening and to the counters of IndiGo. An IndiGo aircraft was pushing back for Delhi – their 5^th daily and another (VT-IDD ex-Tiger Air) was at the bay waiting to go to Bengaluru as 6E-105.

Check in was quick and pleasant, followed by a very quick security as we went and waited at the first floor departure gate. No new options have been added in terms of shopping or eating at this level.

Unfortunately there was no air force activity in this clear winter weather as we waited for our flight to arrive from Ahmedabad.

Boarding & In-flight

The incoming aircraft landed before time at 1750 hours from Ahmedabad (AMD) and docked at bay 4. About 100 passengers seemed to have got down at Pune. I hurried to stand first in queue so that I could find a place for cabin luggage as well as see the loads on AMD-NAG sector.

Hello 6E had this interesting information

Boarding commenced at 1805 and was done in the next 5-7 mins, helped by light load of 78 pax boarding at Pune with around 25 already inside the aircraft transiting. That is indeed a very light load of just over 50%!

As we made ourselves comfortable, IFE Poonam briefed us on the safety procedures since we were seated on the emergency exit row and the reason why I’m mentioning the name here is because these were the most crisp and clear instructions I have ever had in over 50 flights which I Have sat on the emergency exit row. Indeed the airline should ensure that the IFE trains their other crew for this.

Doors closed at 1812 and we pushed back at 1815 for a long taxi to runway 28. The instructions by the crew were very clear except for one part where the crew mentioned that Capt. Peter was from Czechoslovakia. Well, he can either be from Czech Republic or Slovakia! It would be a 1:15hr journey to Nagpur. Vacant premium seats were available on sale inflight.

As we taxied out, my wife wondered if IndiGo has taken my last Trip Report seriously and stopped announcing “समयपर रहना अनिवर्य है”/“ Samay par rehna aniwarya hai” ( It is mandatory to be on time). I wondered that too since there was no announcement to this effect. 

We waited for an 9W ATR to land (arrival from Indore) and were cleared to taxi on active, where we made a powerful westwards takeoff from runway 28 at 1820, banked right headed to Nagpur.

Service started soon after we stabilized and I saw that the non-veg options have substantially reduced in the menu. We ordered for Corn & Spinach sandwich (Quality improved over last time), Non-Veg noodles (Out of stock) – hence asked for Veg Noodles and two coffee.

Cockpit crew did not announce the flight details like altitude, speed and route in-flight but Capt.Devraj, the First Officer came on PA as we started our descent and announced that our ETA would be 1928, 17 mins before schedule and outside temperature being 21 degree Celsius with clear skies.

We landed before time on runway 32 and went till the end to turn and park at one of the aerobridges. The airport is a huge building with flights concentrated at few times, like many other airports.

Deplaning & Baggage

The baggage was quick to come out and the staff was around to check if we are taking our own baggage or not. We were out in no time being welcomed by infinite horns at the airport and chaos that ruled the exit lanes.

Nagpur – Pune

Check-in & Airport Experience

We reached Nagpur airport, fairly early for the 2145 departure, which I was sure would depart early. As we entered, we saw crowds boarding flights for Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune on IndiGo, Air India and Go Air.

Check-in was quick and pleasant experience but the security lines were long and we waited for lines to be cleared before we crossed Security. The Security Hold Area (SHA) is divided into ground floor and first floor sections. I think Nagpur is the only airport, where I have purchased a bottle of water for Maximum Retail Price (MRP)

Boarding & In-flight

The incoming flight arrived at 2105 and about a 100 passengers deplaned before row wise boarding was announced and enforced. We boarded in the second lot and made our way to the emergency exit row. The briefing on emergency procedures seemed dull and not up to the mark, obviously compared to the inbound flight.

Hello 6E was missing from my seat

Boarding was complete for this flight which had about 12 empty seats and push back commenced at 2134 as we taxied to runway 32 and were airborne at 2041. Capt. Puneet Kaushik was in command with First Officer Capt. Dhillon for this 800 km journey which was announced to take an hour and 10 minutes. We banked left and set course for Pune cruising at FL340 (34000 feet).

Between boarding and push back – came the twist, the familiar and amusing announcement in auto mode - “समयपर रहना अनिवर्य है”/“  followed by “समयपर रहना महत्वपुर्णा है”/“Samay par rehna mahatwapurna hai” ( It is important to be on-time)

Now I am confused on why this was not played in the inbound flight ! Standardization anybody ?

Inflight service was quick owning to this time of the day not being the perfect time for Buy on Board. We asked for two cups of coffee which were promptly delivered.

The pilot came on PA and announced the commencement of descent (somewhere over Aurangabad) at 2215 and expected time of arrival being 2240. A steep descent later,  we flew in really smooth with flaps extended, reduced thrust as we made a feather touch landing on runway two-eight at Pune at 2234 and exited the runway after light braking to reach the bay at 2235. This indeed was one of the best landings I have had for a long time!

Deplaning & Baggage

The step ladder at the rear took a lot of time to come thus the majority of the crowd rushed towards the forward exit as we deplaned and made our way to Baggage belt 4 to collect our luggage. As we walked towards the arrivals gate, VT-GOQ of Go Air taxied in followed by a Jet Airways aircraft.

Overall Rating

Booking – 5/5

Web Check in / Website – 5/5

Airport Experience – 5/5

On-Time – 5/5

In-Flight service 4/5 (Inconsistent)

Meals – 3/5 (Still needs improvement)