An easy, practical and in-sequence itinerary planner I have travelled the length and breadth of India, and am truly proud of its rich and varied heritage. I am amazed by the tradition and values, the people, festivals, celebrations and the changing landscape. Have you wondered if it's possible to travel across India completely? Most foreigners arriving in India, land in Delhi and then travel the Golden Triangle route first- which is a good decision incase you have limited time at hand and want to make the most of it. The Golden Triangle- Delhi, Agra and Jaipur includes the much hyped Taj Mahal which invariably is part of a tourist's bucket list. This blog on the other hand- is a sequential strategy and detailed 'been there done that' itinerary plan starting from Mumbai. I am sure as we go through this Journey you will understand India better. My experiences are based from the perspective of a - digital nomad, budget backpacker and from a local standpoint. Each Itinerar
My-best wildlife sightings 🐯 in India
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To have a better success rate at spotting wildlife, here are my Top 4 picks based on my personal experience...
Disclaimer~ I have certainly not had the opportunity to visit all the reserves in India, e.g. Jim Corbett National park in North India. Bandhavgarh and Kanha, I did attempt but could not due to less number of pax. As such, my review is only based on parks I have personally visited so far.
Set up in 1955 in the Chandrapur area of Maharashtra, Tadoba is the biggest reserve in Maharashtra. And as such it is no ordinary feat to spot the elusive tiger. And when you do it's for these reasons alone :
An ambitious conservation campaign
After having relocated a number of villages from the forest area, TATR is now spread over nearly 1,700 sq km. Infact recently another 79 sq kms has been added to give the tigers more space, and by relocating few more villages. This is indeed a great effort by the govt and officials, thereby offering both humans and tigers a better chance to thrive.
Good balance of prey and predators
The park has 115 tigers and 150+ leopards according to 2019 census with a healthy prey and predator balance
Thriving natural habitat
Driving around the forest in a jeep is by itself enjoyable, just to experience the beauty of the forest and its water bodies. The forest is abundant in teak, bamboo, ghost trees and the mahua is everywhere to see.
Protected forest
Hunting, fishing and such activities is completely banned 🚫
Dedicated forest safari guides
Another observation was, the forest safari guides at Tadoba are a dedicated and never give up team. Even though I did a canter safari (goes only on the road), they did everything they could and we had more than one tiger sightings that day.
I spent 2 days in this forest~ one day at Masinagudi, where I could do a short trek within the forest (not safari jeep), and another day at Theppakadu. Although I had no luck spotting a tiger, Madumalai has a healthy elephant population, besides other wildlife. Bandipur is the same forest, but on the Karnataka side.
A wild elephant seen while driving past Nagarhole NP, Karnataka
#3 Annamalai tiger reserves, Tamilnadu & Kerala
Annamalai is the Tamilnadu side and Perumbikulam is the Kerala side of the same forest. This forest is also very beautiful and enjoyable. During the time I visited, there were some landslides making it difficult to tread to deeper parts of the forest. Otherwise the forest is great for birding 🐦 enthusiasts. Many other wildlife like deer, Gaur, wild boar are in abundance.
Nagarhole is the Karnataka side and Muthanga WLS is the Kerala side of the same forest. The Nagarhole forest gate (Karnataka side) is roughly 65 km/ 1.30 hrs from Mysore. I had a longing to visit Wayanad Kerala, and this was a great opportunity to drop by Nagarhole enroute Mananthvady, Wayanad.
This was such a rewarding safari. Except for the elusive tiger, we were able to get decent animal sightings, like; bear | barking deer | sambar| elephants in their natural habitat | plenty of deer |Malabar squirrel. The forest is also incredibly beautiful.
A wild elephant seen while driving past Nagarhole NP, Karnataka
Another interesting thing I noticed is; every evening at about the same time, when you are driving or even by bus~ you will see herds of elephants cross the road. Other times you can see wild elephants along the road.
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