TRAVELK AT TADOBA ANDHARI TIGER RESERVE, MAHARASHTRA
I visited the Tadoba Tiger Reserve with my husband and daughter during the month of May 2019. The Tadoba Tiger Reserve was established and named after the local deity, Taru in 1955. According to old folklore, the tribal God Taru was killed in a legendary encounter with a tiger and thus on the banks of the river Tadoba was built a shrine devoted to him. The park has gained huge popularity due to the high density of tigers. The landscape of flora and fauna in this national park is vast with deciduous forests filling the entire reserve. It is overshadowed by teak and bamboo. This National reserve is teeming with tigers, sloth bear, spotted deer, wild dogs, leopard, blue bull, wild boar, langur, barking deer, bison, and many more.
I was always keen to visit Tadoba and sight “THE BIG 5 OF TADOBA”- the Bengal Tiger, leopard, Dhole (wild dog), Sloth bear and the Gaur (Bison). We decided to book a stay at the Bamboo Safari Forest Lodge in the end of May 2019. At the time of booking, as is TravelK policy, I spoke personally to Akshay, the manager and head naturalist of the lodge to finalize all safari options regarding buffer and core zones. Of course me being me, I did mention to Akshay that we were keen to see the rare melanistic leopard.
26th May we flew early morning from Mumbai to Nagpur and drove 2 hours to the Bamboo Forest Safari Lodge. It is an absolute oasis of luxury with spacious suites, polite and efficient staff, and excellent naturalists which is of paramount importance on a safari holiday. We stayed for 2 nights and did 4 game drives in total – the first in the buffer zone and 3 in the core zone. With temperatures soaring up to 48 degrees Celsius, the Tigers would definitely be seen near the waterholes of Tadoba.
On our very first drive in the buffer zone, we were fortunate to see Junabai’s male and female cubs saunter to the waterhole and cool themselves from the blistering sun. This lovely sighting lasted for about an hour. Then driving along we came upon the 4-year-old tiger Rudra sleeping. We waited patiently, hoping he would wake from his slumber. Just 10 minutes before we had to head back, he sat up suddenly and stared at 2 wild boars that stumbled close to him. Alas, we had to leave the animals to their antics and rush back as the gate would shut.
The next morning after a cup of coffee we left the lodge at 5:00 am. This time we saw the most photographed tigress in the world, Maya and her 2 cubs sitting on the brink of the lake under the shade of a Jamun tree with their Sambar kill. Of course, we spotted birds, a barking deer, spotted deer, Sambar, etc. We also sighted the colorful Indian Pitta bird, a summer visitor to Tadoba from the Himalayas. As we were driving along we suddenly heard the crazy alarm calls of a langur. We reversed the car quickly and soon spotted the langur still calling. Our naturalist Akshay was convinced that the langur had seen a leopard. Then the spotted deer across the meadow started giving alarm calls. Alas, we couldn’t wait and track the predator as the park would shut and so with a heavy heart we left.
The pm drive started with just no movement whatsoever. We entered the Kolara gate, drove towards the Mohurli gate but no trace of any tigers !! We then came across a pair of wild dogs drinking water at the banks of the lake…our first sighting ever of the Dhole. They would gingerly walk to the lake, quickly drink some water and then step back always…on full alert should there be a crocodile lurking around! We enjoyed seeing them for a good 15 minutes and then continued onward. About 15 minutes later the jeep turned right and there sitting right in the middle of the small water body in a ditch was the cutest sloth bear – he looked straight out of a Hamleys Toy Store! But seeing our jeep must have startled him as he immediately jumped out of the water and climbed up, gave us a look as if to say we had disturbed his chilling time in the pool and then disappeared into the bush. Oh, he was such a cutie.….wish we could have enjoyed his pool mischief for a while.
Anyways as it was getting close to sunset we decided to head back to the lodge happy that so far on this trip we had seen 4 of the TADOBA BIG 5, the only one eluding us was a leopard. Akshay very confidently assured us that we would see one on our last safari the next morning to complete the 5.
As we entered the forest for our 4th and last safari our naturalist Akshay directed the jeep to the ruins to see if we could glimpse Tara and her 2 cubs. When we reached the spot, there were 4 jeeps waiting. Soon we saw Tara and her cubs walking gracefully towards us but then disappeared in a nullah leading to the lake. Our main agenda that morning was to see the rarely sighted melanistic leopard ‘Blacky’. While waiting we heard the shrill alarm calls of a Sambar deer. On Akshay’s intuition and experience we left immediately and started driving towards the alarm call with only Blacky on our mind. We stopped at a particular spot, switched off the engine and waited patiently for maybe another alarm call to direct us to the probable spot.
Within 5 minutes we heard an alarm call reasonably close to us and as we positioned ourselves in the jeep, there he was !! THE ELUSIVE BLACKY! He stepped halfway out of the bushes, looked on both sides of the road, walked stealthily across the road – stopped midway, glanced at our jeep (the TravelK jeep always gets the look!) and then walked away into the bushes. We did click pictures of this beautiful animal but for a second after he passed, seemed rooted to the spot, hands shaking and just couldn’t come to terms with this extraordinary sighting. I sat speechless in the jeep… It was unbelievable. We then drove away, absolutely euphoric and in a happy bubble.
OMG… even after a week I sometimes feel I dreamt this… Blacky was the point of our trip to Tadoba and of course, became our most memorable sighting. It made up for all the heat and dust of the safari drives in the month of May with temperatures soaring to 48 degrees Celsius.
Rich in heritage as well as wildlife, the Tadoba Tiger Reserve is truly mesmerizing. We believe in CONSERVATION THROUGH TRAVEL and thus work with lodges and travel partners who are passionate about conservation work, nature, and wildlife. Do get in touch with TravelK to book your next safari to Tadoba.