Bandhavgarh - Day One

February 3-9

As much as we liked the desolate salt desert, moonscapes, acacia scrub, wetlands and wildlife of the Little Rann of Kutch and the lush woodland savannahs, waterways and birds of Keoladeo, it was Bandhavgarh that truly gave us the sense of being in wild India. We understand why Butch and Susi make it their home base, and it is, after all, where they first met. (For their story visit: butchlama.com, see "about us" and click on "our story" at the bottom of the page.)

We arrived in the village of Tala in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, in time for lunch at Tiger’s Den, where we would reside for the next six days.

The accommodations were very nice and spacious, with a great shower and plenty of hot water, after allowing a few minutes for the heat to make its way to the showerhead. The food was wonderful, and the dining room was looked after by the ever-smiling Manish, who in a past life may have been a Jewish or Italian mother. He was always on the lookout for an empty plate to refill with all sorts of wonderful Indian delights, including a never-ending supply of naan or chapattis. The grounds at Tiger’s Den were lovely with beds of flowers and shrubs and lines of bottle palms interspersed with a tree that reminded us of a closed umbrella. 

After lunch and settling in, we had our first game drive in the park.

Zone 2 - Magdhi Gate

Bandhavgarh is divided into three or four zones, depending upon your source of information. It has a large number of hills, some of which rise 1,000 feet above the lowlands of the park. One of the most impressive hills is called the fort. It sits in the middle of the park, and has been used, traditionally as a fortress because of its views of the surrounding territory, and the protection provided by its steep slopes. 

The habitat is a rich mixture of fields, tall grasslands, forest dominated by sal trees, bamboo thickets and a variety of water features from streams running down from the hills to reservoirs, which are frequented by wildlife, especially in the hotter weather. 

Sal Forest

One of the Rocky Hill Tops

Grassland and Forest Edge

Spotted Deer at Water Hole

For our first drive we were in zone 2, the Magdhi zone. During that first afternoon game drive, Butch was in his element behind the wheel of our gypsy. A gypsy is a 4x4 Indian made vehicle that is akin to a jeep. They are used in Bandhavgarh as the primary safari vehicle. 

The gypsies are deep forest green and open topped with two rows of bench seats – the back one raised above the front one so those in back can see over other passengers’ heads. Although we saw them loaded to the gills, they seat up to 4 people comfortably on the benches, with bucket seats for the driver and a passenger in the front cab. In addition to having Butch as our driver, we picked up an official guide for each safari, who provided another pair of very experienced eyes for tracking tigers and other wildlife.

Butch drove the sandy roads searching for signs of tigers – whether paw prints (pug marks) on the road, scratches on trees or in the sand to mark their territory, evidence of where a tiger took a rest along the road, or scat. 

We would also come to a dead stop at times, and Butch would turn off the engine, so they could listen for any telltale sounds, such as alarm calls from prey species within the park, proclaiming the presence of a tiger nearby. He and the guide conferred frequently in Hindi, interpreting the different clues and trying to anticipate where the tigers might be and where they might show up next. Along the way we saw lots of other animals: herds of chital or spotted deer, the less gregarious sambar, the largest deer species in India, and two species of primates - rhesus macaques, and the quite handsome langur monkeys. The short grass fields were rich with deer and an abundance of peacocks feeding.

Spotted Deer

Langur Monkey

Butch and our guide conferred with every other vehicle we passed. No one had seen a tiger that afternoon. We had resigned ourselves to the fact that sightings were sparse and our expectations of finding tigers were fairly low. Other groups had completed two drives a day for five or six days without seeing one of the big cats. 

Sign as you leave the Magdhi Zone

It would be disappointing to come so far and not see a single tiger, but I think we each tried not to get our hopes up and sought consolation in the fact that we really were enchanted by the terrain with its mix of landscapes – open grasslands, savannahs, closed canopy forests, lush tree tunnels as the road ran along creek sides and the high points in the park with lovely rocky balds on the hills. There were also plenty of other mammals and lots of birds to keep us happy.  So we remained upbeat and enjoyed what we did see.

Late in the afternoon, Butch pulled off the road again to listen. While we sat quietly, we heard several sharp alarm calls from deer in the vicinity. These calls alert other prey to the presence of predators, and the guides use them to home in on the location of tigers. We were on the alert, sitting quietly, watching for any other signs of activity and listening for further calls. We eventually proceeded, took a turn onto another track and drove down the road to see one very large tiger lying in the road. Upon our sudden approach, he rose and ambled across the road and off into the undergrowth. We were amazed at how quickly we lost sight of him in the bush. That bright orange color and striping provided amazing camouflage. Butch identified him as a sub-adult male. So, just as we were each silently resigning ourselves to how difficult it would be to see a tiger, there he was, if only briefly. It felt slightly unreal – a magnificent, pinch yourself moment.

To add to that excitement, we heard something we were told is very rare – tiger growls coming from within the forest. Apparently there was some jockeying for position among the members of the tiger community and they were being uncharacteristically vocal. Hearing the growling, which occurred intermittently for some time, was almost as good as seeing the tiger. Both were a real thrill. We waited around for some time, in hopes of another sighting, and caught up to some other gypsies full of wildlife watchers that had gathered in a spot together along the road near where someone else had caught a quick glimpse of another tiger. We watched and listened, but in the end, it grew late, and we needed to be out of the park before dark, so we headed for the exit, quite content with all we had seen and heard, and very much enamored of Bandhavgarh National Park.

It was a great day – the first of many, and to top it off, we were so warmly greeted upon our return to Tiger’s Den, as though we were old friends returning home. We freshened up and then had a wonderful meal, washed down by a tasty Kingfisher beer. Soon after, we collapsed in our beds, knowing that we were set to wake up at 5:15, in order to be back at the park gate when it opened just after dawn.