Indian savannah, Black buck national park velavadar.

 imperial eagle

Black buck national park velavadar is a long time attraction for me, this is a grass land called Indian savannah, which give similar looks of Africa, this national park is spread in 34.52sq km area, is a home of 4500 black buck with two albino female, 16 to 18 Indian wolf, and 5 to 6 stripped hyena with different other mammals. The area covered with 3ft high dance grass land where those predators can hide, so only a good guide can make your safari successful

The place is 150 km away from Ahmedabad, in comfortable speed with one stoppage we reach the place within three hours, road condition is really good for a smooth drive and no toll booth in the way, once you leave bhavnagar pipli highway and make your entry to adhelai velavadar road then be care full any time black buck came in the way. This road 10 km, is too narrow to pass any vehicle from front.

We book forest guest house (Kaliyar Bhavan), booking not possible on line, first check the availability by calling forest office Tel.: 0278-428644. If available then send DD of any bank address to RFO Velavadar, and send to Assistant conservator of forest, Blackbuck national park, Bahumali Bhavan, Annex building, Block no S-10, forest department, Bhavnagar 364001, Gujarat). Once your DD is received by them, your booking is confirmed.

There are a total four double bed (3 ac and one non ac) room and two dormitory capacity 10 bed each. Among three ac rooms, two for tourist and one for forest officers, ac room cost 3000 per night, non ac room 1000 per night and dormitory 100 Rs per person. Dormitory is on road side but rooms and in side the park, abount 400 to 500 mtrs inside. Two kitchens are there one for guest house, which supply only tea, and other with dormitory for meals, but you have to pre book your food in advance. There are no other option available for food nearby.

We reach the place at around 10 am in the morning, no documents was checked and we immediately checked in, room was quite good spacious and clean, with attached dressing room, bath and geyser, although geyser does not work so they arrange hot water bucket from adjacent ac room, I must admit the room, bathroom, towel, bed sheet everything are exceptionally clean.

 Siberian stone chat

 Montagues harrier

Common kestrel

Joint jump

 male pack

 We take two safari in the evening and next day morning, photo Identity proof is necessary during entry pass for safari. Vehicle entry fee 400 week days, 500 Rs for sat and sun day, Guide charges 400 Rs, and camera charges 200 Rs, we got a great success of spotting Indian stripped hyena in evening, credit goes to our guide Shikandar  who is a very well knowledgeable young energetic one, we had spotted numerous birds like rufous-tailed lark, black-crowned sparrow lark, crested lark, common crane, kestrel, imperial Eagle, Short toed Eagle, hen harrier, spotted eagle marsh harrier, montagu’s harrier, flamingoes, pelicans, grey heron, purple heron,

 rabbit

common crane

 stripped hyena

wild bore

At night we walk through 400 mtr in dark to the dining room for dinar, only one street lamp in the way and the jungle area is totally dark, so don’t forget to have a torch, but I must admit the food quality is magnificent, we enjoyed the real teste of Gujarat, dinner cost 140 per head.  Next morning we did not get breakfast as that was not pre booked.

Night is dark and silent, lots of bugs come from the bottom opening of the door was a problem for us.

Next morning safari I opt for shikendar for guide, but as per the rule guide provided on first come first serve basis so we got balwant, he is quite aged and not to speak Hindi/ English well, in the morning before safari shikendar informed us, that wolf howls and chested black buck all night so more chances for sighting, but our luck does not favor, but we did spot rabbit, golden fox, wild boar, albino black buck, and lots of birds.

Short toed snake Eagle

 jackal on road 

Albino black buck

 montagu’s harrier male

 

Jambughoda wild life sanctuary, only leopard rore nothing else

Jambughoda is not a well-known and famous wild life sanctuary, as per local peoples of that zone, no wild life will be visible in day time, and still I had visited the place during monsoon with a least hope. The sanctuary is 200km from Ahmedabad and easy to travel through road, we drive through Ahmedabad Vadodara express highway, get the halol exit, and then drive through Vadodara hallol highway, take halol bypass to reach jambughoda, reach destination with the halp of GPS easily.

Oriental white eye

Jambughoda forest

white browed fontel

 little cormorant

 

Gujarat forest department is running two forest guest house in jambughada where a/c room 1500Rs and non AC room 500 Rs, namely dhanpari and kada. Dhanpari is well maintained having food facility, kada is near kada dam 1.5 km inside forest without food facility, for food you should come back to dhanpari,

Near kada dam another beautiful guest house with splendid view of kada dam also having watch tower facility is available for forest officers only, not for common people.  

 kada dam

red wattled lapwing                                 

 

pied kingfisher

From the eco-tourism gate about 1km vehicle is allowed, we reach the place early morning, entry fees was 400Rs, and we took a guide for 200Rs, there is no safari inside, we do a nature walk through the dance forest of teak, bamboo, mahuda, we did climb the hill though huge slippery rocks, and come down to the kada dam, our guide show us leopard pug mark, bears den, many birds but alas no animal was seen. We was roaming near the kada dam for photography, suddenly we hard leopard roar, it was thrilling we wait for another hour at that place, hard the roar second time but did not fortunate enough to see the big cat, But I must admit the forest was magnificent, greenery all around, it gives an extraordinary view of surrounding kada dam, so once you plan for a visit don’t expect animals only enjoy greenery.

Asian Paradise flycatcher

 

Corbett national park and wild life sanctuary

Jim Corbett National Park is the oldest national park in India, located in Nainital district of Uttarakhand and was named after  Jim Corbett who played a key role in its establishment. Corbett has been a haunt for tourists and wild life lovers for a long time. Tourism activity is only allowed in selected areas of Corbett Tiger Reserve so that people get an opportunity to see its splendid landscape and the diverse wildlife.

                                                                Greater spotted eagle
Corbett National Park is one of the thirteen protected areas covered by the World wide fund for nature under their Terai Arc landscape Program. The program aims to protect three of the five terrestrial flagship species, the tiger and the Asian elephant.

Tiger pug mark

 

Jim Corbett is one of my childhood hero, so a tour in the land of Corbett was a long-time dream for me, among the four zones of forest dhikala is the best to visit, booking can be done by www.corbettonline.uk.gov.in , Indian visitors are allowed to book 45 days in advance, and I had tried hard to book FRH in that zone, booking starts at 10am, you will be surprised to know I had tried to book from 3^rd feb to 10^th feb every morning, but FRH get full within 1-2 mints, god knows who can fill up the entry from with all details and do money transaction so fast. Therefore I had opt for cantor safari in Dhikala zone (jeep safari and elephant safari allowed for those lucky persons who can manage to book FRH with in 1 min time), cantor is a kind of large open jeep, seating capacity is 20. Only two cantor was allowed to go inside jungle per trip. I booked cantor for two adult and one child cost is 2626 Rs which include safari, guide and camera charges.

Natural beauty of Corbett

Dhikala FRH                                              

Wild elephant

Sambar deer

 Pack of wild elephant

To stay at ramnagar I had booked tent option in Corbett motel (through cleartrip.com) and a vehicle was booked from gurukripa travel (www.gurukripatravel.com )  for my entire tour plan, from corbett motel to ramnagar corbett office is about 2km, our safari time was 6am, we had started at 5am, and by mistake we reached at Amanda gate (Bijrani zone), it was absolutely dark no one was there, luckly found one guard who give us instruction to reach ramnagar office immediately else cantor will leave for jungle, (the same was instructed from corbett office reception to report by 5:30am), so we again go back to ramnagar office, but it was closed, no one there to help us. Local taxi drivers around confirm us cantor will come to that place only, ultimately cantor arrive the place at 6am, we get in and everybody exited for safari, surprisingly the driver and guide making delay and waiting for some other tourist, after repeated hammering they ultimately start journey at 6:15am,

We reach to Dhangarhi gate at 7am. The morning of late March the atmosphere was too cold, we had taken all protections, but it was found insufficient. On the way to the dhangarhi gate few deer was sighted, at the gate the copy of the booking and the ID card of each tourist was checked and then only allowed to go inside, so pls carry your own ID card during visiting corbett,

 Woolen necked stork

 Barking deer

Chital deer

Jungle safary starts from dhangarhi gate, cartor will take you to the dhikala FRH (30 km away in side jungle) and then take a small round around 6 to 8km in side jungle, and then take the back way on the same track, there was a break at dhikala guest house for 30 mins, and total safari time is of 5 hrs,

The overall jungle experience was good, but not seen the majestic royal Bengal tiger, though we did found lots of animals, like spotted deer, sambar deer, barking deer, wild elephant, crocodile, jackal, travelling by the side of Rāmgangā river in foot hill of Himalayas was a great experience, many deer elephant and crocodile was spotted on the river bank, sighting of animals are quite often so will not got bored in the safari.

when reach to Dhikala FRH by that time elephant safari for the resident was over, (so tiger sighting chances are available for those early riders, thus if you wish for a sighting of tiger there will be no other option left than to book FRH which is next to impossible for a common person) At the dhikala FRH we request the mahout to take a small elephant ride, so we are lucky to take an elephant ride which was an extra adventure for us and my little daughter enjoyed a lot.