We traveled south from Khajuraho to Bandhavgarh National Park via pre-arranged private SUV. As it turns out it can be really cost effective, and obviously a huge time savings to take a car or plane vs. train. We enjoyed the beautiful landscape, flooded valleys and farmland all intermixed with narrow mountain roads.
We arrived at our “resort” called Goldbro Tiger View Resort around 5pm, ready to take it easy and see some tigers in the next few days! Again, we were the ONLY people there. There was a staff of 5 or so young men, none of which spoke English…not that they should… The place was a bit old and had patchy electricity and running water, but we still had a good time. There was a pool too, but we never made it in. When we wanted a hot shower, we’d let the manager know, and one of the staff would build a fire to heat our water, which took about 20 minutes. Best showers ever.
Our first jungle safari was the following evening. Bandhavgarh National Park, according to Lonely Planet, is the top park to visit in India for tiger spotting. It isn’t fenced in at all, and there are supposedly a high concentration of tigers here. In total, we went on 3 jungle safaris – 2 evenings and 1 morning… and NO tiger sightings! But, we did see several paw prints and heard lots of roars. A couple of the other safari groups spotted a mother and her cubs crossing the street. Oh well… We did see a leopard and were told this is very rare so that helped to make up for the lack of tiger sightings. In our pictures of Bandhavgarh you’ll see one that looks as if there is nothing there. There is a leopard in there somewhere, we promise. We also saw more spotted deer than I probably ever will in my lifetime. Also saw many monkeys, Sambar deer, barking deer, peacocks, wild boar, storks, mongoose, and bison.
Tala is a tiny town closest to the park, where we stayed. We went to the market everyday for food and talked with the locals, who were very nice. It’s kind of weird that there are obviously so many Westerners here on safari’s, but we never really saw any of them in the town. It seems like such a shame to spend the entire time in a resorts, with such a cute little town right outside their gates.
On our last night in town, there was a “marriage party,” which was more like a rave. At dinner, the owner couldn’t shoo us out fast enough because he wanted to attend. It seemed as if the entire town lined up outside our hotel. Old and young alike were marching down the street, followed by drummers and a massive old generator, operated by a man pushing it along on a cart. People held ornate lights above their heads (also generator operated), and young boys lit off tons of fireworks.