Trip members: Karthik, Sathish Raja, Nirmal and Baranidharan
Trip date: 19, 20 and 21 Oct 2018
Trip Plan : Chennai - Chandrapur - Tadoba - Markanda - Chandrapur - Chennai
Popular enough, Tiger sighting is always elusive and one of the dreams for anyone. Tadoba in Maharashtra is always known for better Tiger Sighting Index compared to many other Tiger reserves across our country. We planned to visit TATR - Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, with the objective to see atleast 2-3 Tigers across 4 safaris. The Safaris can be booked only online; and Sathish Raja had booked the safaris almost 2 months ahead.
Nearest railway station for Tadoba is Chandrapur, 27 kms apart and airport is Nagpur - 160 kms. For anyone willing to visit TATR, 2 things are very important. One - understanding of the core and buffer zones and gates of Tadoba; secondly - the plan. The sequence of plan is to check availability of train or flight, check and book the online safari tickets first, then book the train/flight and look for accommodations. There are accommodations across ranges - mostly with food.
Visit : http://www.mahatadobatiger.com/
Zones, Gates and Safari at TATR:
Tadoba is Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests and is divided into Core and Buffer zones. The core zone area is where it is natural forests with no human living in - basically, no villages. Buffer zone are is where humans and Tigers/wildlife co-exist. The Core zone has 6 gates which are kms apart. Moharli and Kolara are famous Core zone gates. Moharli gate permits 20 gypsies in a safari; 18 by the Kolara gate and rest all put together allow 20! Costs involved per safari are of 3 parts - online safari ticket, Gypsy rentals and guide fee. All these are mandatory; camera fee being Rs.200 for camera above 250mm lens and no fee for lesser ones - to be paid at the counter in entrance. The entry fee for Gypsy vehicle are : Rs.2050 for core zone and Rs.650 for buffer zone - this is online. The guide fee is Rs.350 - to be paid in the counter at entrance. Each of these fee are for a group - no individual tickets. While booking online, name and ID cards have to be given and they are verified at the entry point (atleast in core zone).
The 6 gates to Core zone are: Moharli, Khutwanda, Navegaon, Kolara, Kolsa – Zari and Pangdi
The whole TATR region is divided into three different zones:
The buffer gates are: Alizanza Zone, Devada Adegaon, Agarzari, Junona, Kolara Buffer Gate and Ramdegi Buffer Gate.
We planned 2 safaris in Core (Moharli) and 2 in buffer (Junona and Agarzari). These are close by to Moharli, when compared to any other gate. Devada Adegaon and Agarzari are opposite to each other; with Agarzari having better Tiger Sighting Index.
If there are no online tickets available, there is one final window - to get tickets in Canter - Rs.400 per person - booking possible 30-45 days earlier at Chandrapur DFO office - if could not booked, try your luck at the Moharli gate during the safari time at the counter. If seats are available or no show, you have the chance to get your tickets. We got our tickets because of some double booking by a resort :). Yeah - lucky and we saw our first tigers in this lucky ride.
Safari Timings:
Morning: Entry Time - 6 AM to 8 AM; Exit by 10 AM
Evening: Entry Time - 2.30 PM to 4 PM; Exit by 6.30 PM
The gypsies shall lineup at the counter 15 minutes before the open time and ticket-ID card verification happens. Then, the gypsies shall be guided by the TATR guide across everywhere in the zone. The route is chosen by the pug marks, history of last few days of sighting the big cats and their instincts. ID card verification with tickets are done and hence carry print outs of the tickets and the same ID card that was mentioned in the ticket. Gypsies for safari shall be arranged by the Hotel where you stay. The gypsies are mapped to each of the gates and the hotel guys are well connected with these gates. The gypsies shall come and pick you up for extra cost - varies - Rs.500/Rs.1000 based on the place you stay. You don't get any other options - unless it is shorter distance and you can walk!
Tigers:
It is being said by the guides and locals that they are 80+ active Tigers across zones including the cubs. The cubs are covered in the census as tigers only after they start building its territory and demonstrate being an adult. Tigers can be seen with its cubs, called Streak. Based on the information from the guides and the chances to see the Big cats, we were able to understand the various Tigers in TATR.
Core zone - Male Tiger - Matkasur, Bajrang
Core zone Streaks - Maya and 2 cubs, Choti Tara and cubs, Sonam and Sita
Agarzari Zone - Male Tiger - Kali
Agarzari Zone Streaks - Madhurai and 3 cubs, Sharmili and 3 cubs, Madhu
Day-1
We started from Chennai by GT express by 7:15 PM. We reached Chandrapur by 9:15 - on time. Breakfast within the train was quite horrific. So, plan to be prepared accordingly - get down and have in Chandrapur or pack enough. Chandrapur has some good restaurants.
We had booked a cab with the place where we booked rooms with. They charged Rs.1200 for the pick-up with Innova - around 30 kms. We had booked our rooms at a home stay - Akska's Home Stay. We booked a 4-bedded room - the mattress were clean, fresh and tidy. The restrooms though small were quite clean and tidy, clean towels and required toiletries. The home stay is run by Sonal who took care of us very well - arranging cab, jeeps, sharing local information, home made food - veg and non-veg, hot water, doctor on the call and much more. We would anyday recommend to stay here if you goto Moharli. Added advantage is that this is walkable from the Moharli gate and 1.5 kms from Junona gate. Excellent hospitality.
We had lunch - dhall, eggs, rice, phulkas and pappad and got ready for our first safari. We had the gypsy picking up at 2:30 and went through the Junona gate after the checking. The guide and driver were not so interactive; which we felt after going through other gates. We were welcomed by Indian rollers and did site some Indian Gaurs. We roamed around in search of the tigers - across grasses, deep forests and water bodies; however the big cats eluded. The long grasses and thick forests were quite scary as the sun set. We came out without seeing the big cat but our hopes were not bleak as we had 3 more safaris.
Day-2
Started by 5:30 and reached the counter at Moharli gate. We did not do booking online as it was full. We hoped to get tickets in canter, which was told that it is full because of direct booking in Chandrapur. We patiently waited until 6:45 while all gypsies went and the canter was filled. The person at ticket counter noticed that there were 7 more seats empty on account of a double booking and gladly we got our lucky ride. There are 2 canters - 22 seats in each of them. We got into the canter - entering as the last vehicle for the morning. We rode through the artificial Moharli lake and then through the long 7 kms stretch road from Moharli to Tadoba. We were told that Tiger crossing is common on these roads and we were excited. There are long rock pillars by the side of the road, which were put by King Ballarshah for directions in the forest. The roads run by it.
Few gypsies started returning and said they sighted Maya and cubs. Our canter driver drover very fast to the spot and there we were. Initially, few tigers - hardly could we spot - yellow skins between thick bushes and shrubs; but, they cam out. We first sighted the male giant - Matkasur. Then, Maya and 2 cubs came out ! Wow, what a sight - 4 tigers on one eye - not on lens as they were quite distanced and were moving all through. Slowly, the crossed as well and we had very good sight of Maya and her cubs. Matkasur moved the other way. The canter took us around and helped us get good views of the Tigress and cubs. Wow .. what a moment to enjoy the Yellow Glossy Big bosses !
We came out by 10 AM, there was souvenir shop and did some small purchases. We had discussed to buy souvenirs only if sighted the Tiger. We had breakfast at Hotel Tigerland. The breakfast was ok with respect to taste and were freshly prepared - we ordered plates of Aloo paratha, Poha, Upma and Poori and shared between us. We reached back the rooms, refreshed and took some rest. By 1 PM, had quick lunch at the same hotel - Hotel Tigerland - which was also ok - rice and sides.
3 PM and we reached the Agarzari gate. We got a very good driver and a guide. The driver was driving us through the jungle like Tomb raiders! The guide sensed that there is very good Tiger movement as there was a hunt. Tigress Madhuri had hunted a cattle, which came from a nearby village for a graze! Through the race against seeing Tiger, we reached in no time deep inside the buffer zone and saw Madhuri and her 3 cubs !! One more Streak to see ! The giant animal was walking on the sun glowing grass with 2 of its 3 cubs, one being shy running between shrubs. We spent almost 2-3 hours going around Madhuri seeing her walk across and mark boundaries. Looks like it was Tigress Sharmili's territory and she was going around in circles and both were securing their cubs.
We attempted to see Sharmili several times, hearing her roar, she being very shy, we hardly sighted her; one or twice for spark of seconds; nothing more. One other gypsy spotted the 3 cubs of Sharmili and asked us to join as these cubs are almost becoming adults and not so used to tourists. We got a WoW sight again, with these cubs enjoying time on the water in a canal. The whole safari of 3 + hours, we were just roaming within a 2 km range tracking and sighting Madhuri streak and Sharmili's streak all time. It was such a great education for us !
Came back to the rooms with a great sense of satisfaction of seeing 1 Tiger, 3 Tigress and 7 cubs !! WHAT A DAY ! Everyone we spoke to - at the hotel, stay, guide and drivers, we were told that this is so uncommon to see so many tigers on a day ! We were abundantly blessed for the day :) with none disagreeing !!
Day-3
One more safari on the core zone on gypsy - we were satisfied with all that happened the earlier day. However, we want to see other Streaks in the Core area in Moharli zone. Our guide first led us to locate Sonam - tried to search all around but could not get a clue where she was! After 30 minutes, we entered into the Tadoba region and roamed around to locate Chota Tara. Again, we jumped into seeing beautiful forests in the dawn - sighted colourful birds, butterfiles, hundreds of spotted deers and Langurs.
Then came the message that Maya is blocking the way and had been sleeping. By the time we reached, almost all the gypsies and canter had crowded and were waiting for Tigress Maya to get up! The line was so exciting how a big cat puts all to wait patiently and provoking more excitement. When it woke up and saw the long queue of vehicles, it did nothing but yawn! The royal walk begun and just moved. That Gethu moment !!
With utmost gratification, we winded up our safari and reached back the rooms. We learnt about a temple called Markanda - around 63 kms from Chandrapur. We had booked our tickets on GT express around 3 PM from Chandrapur. We had quick breakfast of Upma and started by 10:45 to Markanda. The roads from Chandrapur were quick excellent apart from a stretch of 2-3 kms. We reached Markanda by 12:40 and decided to spend time till 1:10.
Markanda Deo temple is located by the outskirts of the town of Chamorshi in the district of Gandchiroli. This complex is located by the banks of River Wainganga and is a group of temples. The temples are sort of ruined and being restored by ASI when we visited. The temple built in 8th century in the same architecture like Khajurao has many sanctums hosting mainly Lord Shiva - in form of many Lingas, Yamaraj and few more. The temple seems to be quite popular locally and active today as well. We spent around 20-30 minutes and came back to the car.
It looked like we would reach the station well ahead of time, and we went to Maa Kali temple in Chandrapur. This temple is open from morning to evening and has a distinct architecture. The temple was quite crowded and we skipped the line to see the deity from outside door. We quickly had dharshan and returned back, 20 minutes more to catch the train.
We bought hot-hot-hot piping samosas, jelabi - just out of jeera, biryani and fruits for our train. They helped us as lunch and snacks across the day until we had dinner - nice idlies and kichadi at Warangal railway station. An item cleared off bucket list !
Trip date: 19, 20 and 21 Oct 2018
Trip Plan : Chennai - Chandrapur - Tadoba - Markanda - Chandrapur - Chennai
Popular enough, Tiger sighting is always elusive and one of the dreams for anyone. Tadoba in Maharashtra is always known for better Tiger Sighting Index compared to many other Tiger reserves across our country. We planned to visit TATR - Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, with the objective to see atleast 2-3 Tigers across 4 safaris. The Safaris can be booked only online; and Sathish Raja had booked the safaris almost 2 months ahead.
Nearest railway station for Tadoba is Chandrapur, 27 kms apart and airport is Nagpur - 160 kms. For anyone willing to visit TATR, 2 things are very important. One - understanding of the core and buffer zones and gates of Tadoba; secondly - the plan. The sequence of plan is to check availability of train or flight, check and book the online safari tickets first, then book the train/flight and look for accommodations. There are accommodations across ranges - mostly with food.
Visit : http://www.mahatadobatiger.com/
Zones, Gates and Safari at TATR:
Tadoba is Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests and is divided into Core and Buffer zones. The core zone area is where it is natural forests with no human living in - basically, no villages. Buffer zone are is where humans and Tigers/wildlife co-exist. The Core zone has 6 gates which are kms apart. Moharli and Kolara are famous Core zone gates. Moharli gate permits 20 gypsies in a safari; 18 by the Kolara gate and rest all put together allow 20! Costs involved per safari are of 3 parts - online safari ticket, Gypsy rentals and guide fee. All these are mandatory; camera fee being Rs.200 for camera above 250mm lens and no fee for lesser ones - to be paid at the counter in entrance. The entry fee for Gypsy vehicle are : Rs.2050 for core zone and Rs.650 for buffer zone - this is online. The guide fee is Rs.350 - to be paid in the counter at entrance. Each of these fee are for a group - no individual tickets. While booking online, name and ID cards have to be given and they are verified at the entry point (atleast in core zone).
The 6 gates to Core zone are: Moharli, Khutwanda, Navegaon, Kolara, Kolsa – Zari and Pangdi
The whole TATR region is divided into three different zones:
- Tadoba Zone/Range (via Navegaon and Kolara & gates)
- Moharli Zone/Range (via Moharli & Khutwanda Gates)
- Kolsa Zone/Range (via Zari & Pangadi gates)
We planned 2 safaris in Core (Moharli) and 2 in buffer (Junona and Agarzari). These are close by to Moharli, when compared to any other gate. Devada Adegaon and Agarzari are opposite to each other; with Agarzari having better Tiger Sighting Index.
If there are no online tickets available, there is one final window - to get tickets in Canter - Rs.400 per person - booking possible 30-45 days earlier at Chandrapur DFO office - if could not booked, try your luck at the Moharli gate during the safari time at the counter. If seats are available or no show, you have the chance to get your tickets. We got our tickets because of some double booking by a resort :). Yeah - lucky and we saw our first tigers in this lucky ride.
Safari Timings:
Morning: Entry Time - 6 AM to 8 AM; Exit by 10 AM
Evening: Entry Time - 2.30 PM to 4 PM; Exit by 6.30 PM
The gypsies shall lineup at the counter 15 minutes before the open time and ticket-ID card verification happens. Then, the gypsies shall be guided by the TATR guide across everywhere in the zone. The route is chosen by the pug marks, history of last few days of sighting the big cats and their instincts. ID card verification with tickets are done and hence carry print outs of the tickets and the same ID card that was mentioned in the ticket. Gypsies for safari shall be arranged by the Hotel where you stay. The gypsies are mapped to each of the gates and the hotel guys are well connected with these gates. The gypsies shall come and pick you up for extra cost - varies - Rs.500/Rs.1000 based on the place you stay. You don't get any other options - unless it is shorter distance and you can walk!
Tigers:
It is being said by the guides and locals that they are 80+ active Tigers across zones including the cubs. The cubs are covered in the census as tigers only after they start building its territory and demonstrate being an adult. Tigers can be seen with its cubs, called Streak. Based on the information from the guides and the chances to see the Big cats, we were able to understand the various Tigers in TATR.
Core zone - Male Tiger - Matkasur, Bajrang
Core zone Streaks - Maya and 2 cubs, Choti Tara and cubs, Sonam and Sita
Agarzari Zone - Male Tiger - Kali
Agarzari Zone Streaks - Madhurai and 3 cubs, Sharmili and 3 cubs, Madhu
Day-1
We started from Chennai by GT express by 7:15 PM. We reached Chandrapur by 9:15 - on time. Breakfast within the train was quite horrific. So, plan to be prepared accordingly - get down and have in Chandrapur or pack enough. Chandrapur has some good restaurants.
We had booked a cab with the place where we booked rooms with. They charged Rs.1200 for the pick-up with Innova - around 30 kms. We had booked our rooms at a home stay - Akska's Home Stay. We booked a 4-bedded room - the mattress were clean, fresh and tidy. The restrooms though small were quite clean and tidy, clean towels and required toiletries. The home stay is run by Sonal who took care of us very well - arranging cab, jeeps, sharing local information, home made food - veg and non-veg, hot water, doctor on the call and much more. We would anyday recommend to stay here if you goto Moharli. Added advantage is that this is walkable from the Moharli gate and 1.5 kms from Junona gate. Excellent hospitality.
We had lunch - dhall, eggs, rice, phulkas and pappad and got ready for our first safari. We had the gypsy picking up at 2:30 and went through the Junona gate after the checking. The guide and driver were not so interactive; which we felt after going through other gates. We were welcomed by Indian rollers and did site some Indian Gaurs. We roamed around in search of the tigers - across grasses, deep forests and water bodies; however the big cats eluded. The long grasses and thick forests were quite scary as the sun set. We came out without seeing the big cat but our hopes were not bleak as we had 3 more safaris.
Day-2
Started by 5:30 and reached the counter at Moharli gate. We did not do booking online as it was full. We hoped to get tickets in canter, which was told that it is full because of direct booking in Chandrapur. We patiently waited until 6:45 while all gypsies went and the canter was filled. The person at ticket counter noticed that there were 7 more seats empty on account of a double booking and gladly we got our lucky ride. There are 2 canters - 22 seats in each of them. We got into the canter - entering as the last vehicle for the morning. We rode through the artificial Moharli lake and then through the long 7 kms stretch road from Moharli to Tadoba. We were told that Tiger crossing is common on these roads and we were excited. There are long rock pillars by the side of the road, which were put by King Ballarshah for directions in the forest. The roads run by it.
 |
| Rock pillars for direction in dense forest |
 |
| Tiger Matkasur |
 |
| Tigress Maya and cubs |
We came out by 10 AM, there was souvenir shop and did some small purchases. We had discussed to buy souvenirs only if sighted the Tiger. We had breakfast at Hotel Tigerland. The breakfast was ok with respect to taste and were freshly prepared - we ordered plates of Aloo paratha, Poha, Upma and Poori and shared between us. We reached back the rooms, refreshed and took some rest. By 1 PM, had quick lunch at the same hotel - Hotel Tigerland - which was also ok - rice and sides.
3 PM and we reached the Agarzari gate. We got a very good driver and a guide. The driver was driving us through the jungle like Tomb raiders! The guide sensed that there is very good Tiger movement as there was a hunt. Tigress Madhuri had hunted a cattle, which came from a nearby village for a graze! Through the race against seeing Tiger, we reached in no time deep inside the buffer zone and saw Madhuri and her 3 cubs !! One more Streak to see ! The giant animal was walking on the sun glowing grass with 2 of its 3 cubs, one being shy running between shrubs. We spent almost 2-3 hours going around Madhuri seeing her walk across and mark boundaries. Looks like it was Tigress Sharmili's territory and she was going around in circles and both were securing their cubs.
 |
| Tigress Madhuri |
 |
| Tigress Madhuri |
 |
| Tigress Madhuri and cubs |
 |
| Tigress Madhuri |
 |
| Tigress Madhuri |
 |
| Tigress Madhuri |
 |
| Tigress Madhuri |
 |
| Tigress Madhuri |
 |
| Tigress Madhuri |
 |
| Tigress Sharmili |
 |
| Tigress Sharmili's cub |
 |
| Tigress Sharmili's cub |
 |
| Tigress Sharmili's cub |
Came back to the rooms with a great sense of satisfaction of seeing 1 Tiger, 3 Tigress and 7 cubs !! WHAT A DAY ! Everyone we spoke to - at the hotel, stay, guide and drivers, we were told that this is so uncommon to see so many tigers on a day ! We were abundantly blessed for the day :) with none disagreeing !!
Day-3
One more safari on the core zone on gypsy - we were satisfied with all that happened the earlier day. However, we want to see other Streaks in the Core area in Moharli zone. Our guide first led us to locate Sonam - tried to search all around but could not get a clue where she was! After 30 minutes, we entered into the Tadoba region and roamed around to locate Chota Tara. Again, we jumped into seeing beautiful forests in the dawn - sighted colourful birds, butterfiles, hundreds of spotted deers and Langurs.
Then came the message that Maya is blocking the way and had been sleeping. By the time we reached, almost all the gypsies and canter had crowded and were waiting for Tigress Maya to get up! The line was so exciting how a big cat puts all to wait patiently and provoking more excitement. When it woke up and saw the long queue of vehicles, it did nothing but yawn! The royal walk begun and just moved. That Gethu moment !!
With utmost gratification, we winded up our safari and reached back the rooms. We learnt about a temple called Markanda - around 63 kms from Chandrapur. We had booked our tickets on GT express around 3 PM from Chandrapur. We had quick breakfast of Upma and started by 10:45 to Markanda. The roads from Chandrapur were quick excellent apart from a stretch of 2-3 kms. We reached Markanda by 12:40 and decided to spend time till 1:10.
Markanda Deo temple is located by the outskirts of the town of Chamorshi in the district of Gandchiroli. This complex is located by the banks of River Wainganga and is a group of temples. The temples are sort of ruined and being restored by ASI when we visited. The temple built in 8th century in the same architecture like Khajurao has many sanctums hosting mainly Lord Shiva - in form of many Lingas, Yamaraj and few more. The temple seems to be quite popular locally and active today as well. We spent around 20-30 minutes and came back to the car.
It looked like we would reach the station well ahead of time, and we went to Maa Kali temple in Chandrapur. This temple is open from morning to evening and has a distinct architecture. The temple was quite crowded and we skipped the line to see the deity from outside door. We quickly had dharshan and returned back, 20 minutes more to catch the train.
We bought hot-hot-hot piping samosas, jelabi - just out of jeera, biryani and fruits for our train. They helped us as lunch and snacks across the day until we had dinner - nice idlies and kichadi at Warangal railway station. An item cleared off bucket list !
