Where to go? What all to
see? How long is enough in each place? The idea of a pan-Indian, non-stop
wildlife wander seemed incredibly romantic, and the detailed planning was
eventually surprisingly enjoyable, but narrowing down to the final list of destinations
was anything but easy. The problem is simple
– our country has so many things to see across so many places, that it
will probably take a lifetime to see it all, and I only had a few months at
best.
Finally, it boiled down to what
all I really wanted to see and apart from the tiger, and in no order of
preference, it was the Leopard, Elephant, Lion, Rhino, Wild Dog, Asiatic Wild
Ass, Blackbuck, Wolf, Hyena, Desert Cat, Kashmiri Hangul and the Nilgiri tahr. Just
chasing the last three would imply three different parts of India, the Wild Ass
in the West, Hangul up north in Kashmir and Tahr in the Southern Hills. Add in
the tiger forests of Central India and some serious geography lessons were
needed!
Also, we had just around
three months for all of this. March through May was the only available window – I
couldn’t do before March and most parks start shutting down for the monsoon in
June.
So the planning had to be
pretty meticulous to ensure that we gave ourselves a fair shot at seeing all
these species, make sure the travel was seamless to avoid wasted days and
ensure that we did all this in a pretty aggressive budget. I have to say that
putting this together was one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done.
Starting from a list of
nearly 30 National Parks and Sanctuaries, the list finally narrowed down to 17,
across West, North and South India. The only regret was not going to the East,
especially the North-East, but it didn’t really work out for time and timing
reasons. But I will go there sooner rather than later. There’s always a next
time!
Where to start? Honestly,
this gave me headaches for a good two weeks, as I juggled with possibilities
and combinations. And not knowing where to start gave me no joy with the rest
of the planning. After these two weeks I asked the wife for help. And Surbhi
settled that dilemma straight up when she said she was joining the first leg
and she wanted to see Lions. And there is only one place in India where we
could see Lions – Gir National Park in Gujarat. So the West it was.
The rest of the plan sorted
itself out pretty easily, as destinations just dovetailed each other in a
pretty convenient sequence. Starting from Gir, the whole trip was finally
planned in three phases (with family time breaks in between) of around three
weeks each, with around 5-6 destinations in each bucket. And the sequences were
planned to ensure no wasted days, with minimum travel and transit time.
So March was West and North
India – Gir, Velavadar, Little Rann of Kutch, Ranthambhore, Dudhwa, Corbett and
Dachigam. All as different from each other as can be, both in terms of the kind
of forest as well as the inhabitants.
April was reserved for the
beautiful Southern forests – Bhadra,
Anamalais, BRT Hills, Bandipur and Kabini. All loosely part of the Western
Ghats/Nilgiri Biosphere. With some animals endemic only to this part of the
world.
May would be Tiger heartland
– Tadoba, Nagzira, Pench, Kanha and
Bandhavgarh. the forests of Central India, Kipling ‘Jungle Book’ country. With
Ranthambhore thrown in again, as a personal favourite.
And the idea was to travel
by road or train as much as possible. I have always felt that air travel is almost
always antiseptic and more a convenience than a real experience. What I really
wanted was to travel the real way, soak in the countryside, meet the people,
stop by the wayside and have chai, get off at the railway stations and absorb
life as it passes me by, at the true Indian speed - 8 kmph not 80!
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