Still at Corbett - Holiday Part III

And now it was time for that Canter Safari that was in a large 16-18 seater open vehicle.. we started off with a bit of hesitation as we were in the last row, and the seats and the state of the vehicle in general did not inspire confidence. Unfortunately our fears were confirmed and the next 6 hours were the most uncomfortable I have spent in recent times. I don't have any diagnosed back problems but have neck issues due to spondylitis, and I can't imagine what someone with an acute problem would feel like. Noisy vehicle, somewhat noisy (though not bad) co-travelers made it nearly impossible to come close to any animal except maybe the deer who were used to it all. 

I would definitely not recommend this for elderly travelers, there was a lady in the other vehicle who was finding it tough to even get in and off. Someone definitely needs to be held accountable for posting some health warnings here. It's just so easy to get away with stuff like this in India :(.

The male Chital is the one with antlers

Tailor bird nests if my memory serves me right

Desolate trees always seem to make for nice photos :)

Gharials sunning themselves, photo taken with super-zoom  as we were really far away

Large flocks of deer by the side of the water body

My back was feeling so stiff after this that I knew there was no way I could put up with a long drive to Binsar the next day(even in a comfortable Innova) if I didn't take some rest! So that's pretty much what we did :). All in all, with the absence of ever spotting any tigers or lions on all our holidays, and the discomfort caused by this one, we have decided that our next Jungle safari shall be a few years from now, and definitely in Africa ;).

While on the subject of the resort, I must mention that we have been blown away by the food in a couple of the Club Mahindra destinations, especially Coorg & Munnar. The Zest resort at Pondicherry also had an exceptional spread. At Corbett, our experience was that while the rates for the "Fun dining" that is offered only to members remains the same, the quality and spread of food definitely doesn't. Maybe the rates should also be based on what is actually available? Just a thought. On the positive side though, they do not charge for young children upto the age of 5, and though S has turned 5 and we told them that, they took one look at his size and courteously charged us only for D.

At Corbett National Park - Summer Holiday Part II

So it was time for Leg 2 and we were going to spend that at Corbett National Park, at the Club Mahindra Resort located close to it at a place called Garjia. I had booked a cab from a company called Incredible Routes, whom I got to know of through (where else?) Facebook :). Kripi, who runs the company, was very polite and responsive to all my queries, and we struck a deal completely online, again a first for me. The very courteous driver along with his Toyota Innova were at our doorstep in the morning, and we were off. It took us close to 6 hours for the drive, along with a stop for breakfast. We made it a point to take it a bit slow, due to the kids having a bit of a history with car-sickness, and the bad roads at many points didn't make it any easier.

Our room was at the far end of the property, but the lovely view from the window made the walk worth it :). That is the Kosi river, which apparently has a lot more water in it after the rains.

As is usually the case with us, the rest of the day after a journey was spent relaxing at the room and the surrounding areas of the resort, to be fresh for an early morning safari the next day.

I had booked the safaris a month in advance, as this was recommended when we made our booking at the resort. There was a choice of a gypsy safari, something called a canter safari that was for a longer time and in a larger 16 seater vehicle (I got a warning about this from a cousin, but had already made my booking by then!), and an elephant safari. Now the last option was a big no-no for us as the elephant rides we have taken at various destinations have been no fun, not just in terms of comfort for us, but feeling very very bad for the poor elephant.

I should mention in advance, that this was our 3rd jungle/safari destination, and we knew that hoping to see an animal like a tiger or leopard was pretty futile, but did that make me hope any less? Of course not! Looking behind every bush, rock and clump of grass is what makes it interesting, isn't it :). Unfortunately the closest we got to the tiger were some pug-marks, which we were told were "fresh".

Hmmph.. that only made me search all the more and I finally found a stone that resembled a tiger ;).


On browsing through my photos, I find this eerie similarity to my pics from Kabini. Honestly in a few weeks, I think even I won't know which were taken where! Many instances of the 3 types of deer most commonly seen in Indian jungles - the Chital or spotted deer, the bigger sambhar and less common and very small barking deer. I think the most interesting event we saw that morning was a group of wild elephants drinking water from a watering hole. The news passes from one gypsy driver to another and I am sure every group that morning must have had a glimpse of these majestic creatures :).

The afternoon was spent visiting the local Garjia temple - we didn't actually go inside as there were these long snaking lines of people waiting to go in and then at the resort with such simple joys as the trampoline. Phew, seems like this travelogue is going to have more than 3 parts, rest of the Corbett leg coming up soon :).