Samuel and Malennie share their unforgettable journey through Central India’s breathtaking wildlife, highlighting their encounters with tigers and other remarkable animals. They trek through lush forests, visit serene lakes, and observe majestic creatures in their natural habitats, including tigers, playful monkeys, and exotic birds. Their adventures are meticulously recorded in an engaging tour diary, where they capture the beauty and wonder of Central India’s wildlife through vivid descriptions and personal reflections.
Report By: Sudhir Sharma
On 23 September 2023, Sameul & Malinie sent us query regarding their wild life tour to India for May 24. They did good research about parks and were aware of booking system. Ranthambhore at time used to have advance booking of 365 days. But now it has been changing to 90 days.
As usual we requested to do google meet for planning the tour. They agreed & we did a short meeting. Actually, a short google meeting helps us to understand many things about client’s needs & feasibility of plan. I asked them why they chose so many parks for the safaris. Are they photographers? Malinie simply replied that they want to maximize their chances for tiger sightings.
Soon itinerary with hotels & safaris were finalized. They gave us only the wild life part of their tour initially.
01 May 24: Agra Jhansi by train Khajuraho sightseeing & Night safari in Panna national park.
Today we took Gatiman express (premium train) from Agra at 10;00 am & reached Jhansi station around 12:35. later we start driving to Panna. On the way I asked them to visit Khajuraho & they agreed. Beautiful monuments no doubt. They enjoyed it. We reached Panna resort around 06:30 pm.
At 07:00 pm we set out for our safari. Night safari in Panna is superb. You get something to see either leopards or sloth bears. So, we were lucky to see two sloth bears (male & female) at the end of safari. Samuel’s Samsung phone camera is great & he brilliantly captured those bears with little light.
02 May 24: Morning safari: Madla zone no sightings.
Panna had been on top since last two years. T151 & her 04 cubs were almost seen in alternate safari. But this time nature has another plan for us.
Left our hotel at 05:15 am. Entered the park with Madla zone. Searched for T151 & cubs. Only one of the jeeps saw one tiger across the Ken River. The breath of this river at some places is up to 01 km. As the tiger was moving on the other side of the river, we just heard few calls from monkey but unable to locate it. At that time, we assumed that T151 has gone on the other side of the river & cubs might be on our side. We kept waiting for time when no signs turned out we decided to move in T141 territory “Piper tola” area.
Piper tola is huge grassland area beside a forest check post. We trekked that area thoroughly but no luck. Later we decided again to check Judi area (Area of T151). Almost 02 :30 hrs. of safari were finished but luck did not favor us. We went to center point for breakfast and when we just doing breakfast some guides got information about sightings in different place. We immediately rushed to that place but not success. That place was about 07 kms from Centre point. When we reached that place few jeeps who saw that tiger told us that He too moved to river bed side.
Till end of first safari till 10:30 am no sighting was done. It was getting very hot & decided to back to hotel.
02 May 24 Afternoon safari: Madla zone no sightings.
For the afternoon safari we were on time at the entry gate. All guides & drivers were confused about T151 & her cubs’ moment. Everyone was expecting miracle on our side bank of ken river. The thing was that no one had seen them crossing the river so all expected to be in Judi’s area. Mostly their mother leaves them & cross the river for kill. If she succeeds, then take cubs to the kill. This happens once or twice a month.
We and other tourists’ jeep checked every water hole & their resting area but no sighting. Then later at the end of safari nothing turned out for our favor. By the end of the safari every one start accepting that T151 crossed the river with her cubs & that was true.
03 May Morning: Zone Madla with no sightings.
This morning it was decided to directly go to T141 area. We went up to that place Spent some time & later went to Vultures point to some photography of vultures. While reaching there you still get a chance to check other tigers’ territories. This was our Third safari & we were struggling for glimpse to tiger to start our tally of tiger sightings.
These safaris taught us there is no guarantee in wild for tiger sightings. Because tigers keep on moving & sometimes, they go inaccessible locations.
In this season this our second time that our clients did not see any tiger in Panna National Park. But any way we have to accept nature as it is.
After checking out we moved to Bandhavgarh our next destination which is 04 to 05 hrs. drive.
04 May 24 Morning: Tala zone with Bajrang male tiger.
We started from hotel around 05:15 am. The tala zone being my favorite this year did not disappoint me. Initially there was no warning calls & any pug marks. So, we had to wait for some time in chakradhara. Bajrang the dominant male is the boss of this area, so there is no timing for his moment. We kept on waiting for 01:30 hrs. Suddenly A sambhar deer call made our day. After few calls We saw Bajrang walking slowly in the short grass. What a light & what an angle it was. So finally, our bad luck with tiger sightings broken. This was our first tiger sighting with a huge male.
04 May 24 Afternoon: Magdhi zone with Dotty’s daughter “Fighter” & buffer female.
Magdhi zone has less sightings record this year but if you have more safaris time then one safari is compulsory. After loosing sightings in Panna, me & Ayodhya guide here were very alert. We do not want to miss any sightings opportunity. So, we directly decided to checks Fighters territory which is long distance from the entry gate. Around 01 hrs. prior to the exit time we found that tigress siting beside the main road in open. Only three jeeps were there.
As exit time was approaching, we start moving towards exit gate. Suddenly wild elephant group came in front of us. We decided to take another route. We were little fast as this route is longer. 20 minutes prior to gate we saw Buffer female on the main road towards us. We stopped at good distance to take some head on shots. Later more vehicles came & she took side track to walk. She was walking in side grassland for nest 10 minutes. Good Sightings again. Thanks, Magdhi zone!
05 May 24 morning: Khitauli zone with Tara & her cubs; Pujari male & Dhamohkhar Male.
This morning was Khitauli zone. We started at 05:15 am from the hotel. This zone is a little far from Tala zone. Started checking all possible water hotels & main treks for various tigers like Chota bheem, Pujari male etc. Finally, we reached Tara’s space. One of the jeeps waiting near the check post told us that they saw one cub of Tara 30 mtrs inside from the road. These cubs are so sigh & Tara is an experienced mother. She always avoids vehicles when cubs are too small. We started waiting at the spot. Soon other jeeps also came & stopped there with the hope of seeing tigers. The tourists, when they wait, do not keep silent. But we noticed that a crow was coming & going to the place where the cub was seen.
After some time, our Guide Ayodhya noticed a piece of meat in a crow’s beak. Later binoculars. It had become clear that there was a kill inside the forest 30 meters from the road.
Now we have decided to give full time to this family. We missed this tigress & family with Mr. Ryan, Andre & John. I did not want to miss it again. But it was going to be tough to wait for a long time. Many jeeps did not notice the crow ‘s moment, so they left without clew. I told Sameul & Malinie that we were going to wait there for hours if they wanted to see Tara with her cubs & they agreed. We decided to observe a pin drop silence in our jeep. In the next 15 minutes, all the jeep lost hope & moved further. So, we were alone beside the big tree.
After 05 minutes later, Tara came out of the stream bed, checked both sides. She noticed us but as we were alone, soon she started growling & calling the cubs. One by one she first got close to the road & then she crossed the road behind our jeeps by 30 feet.
What a sighting it was after waiting for an additional 01 hours. This was the best from Bandhavgarh. There was a water body on the other side of the road. All four moved to water. After drinking water, cubs started playing inside the pond. Good pictures taken.
It was almost 09:30 am when we decided to get back. On the way back we saw another huge male tiger called Pujari in a different water point. He was sitting in the water. As the sun reached, his face changed. He stood up & changed his place. The light was perfect for photos.
Later, before leaving the zone, we found DM (Dhamokhar Male) tiger. When we entered the park, he was sleeping on the grass. But when we returned, he was awake and sitting in the open. This is his favourite stops when he moves from Dhamohkhar (buffer area) to the Khitauli zone.
05 May 24 Afternoon: Tala zone with Bajrang male.
It was very hot afternoon, mercury could have been around 45 C. Since we have seen Bajrang in the first safari so we decided to check Chakradhara female 01 tigress & her cubs. We directly went to Sita Mandap area & checked her area. The jungle was quite & no pug marks. After that we returned to Chakradhara area. first, we checked all the grass lands & later moved to the last pond. As soon as we parked our jeep, monkey started making warning calls. After few calls, Bajrang came out to drink water. It was around 04:30 pm.
The last safari in Tala gave us Bajrang moving near the pond. Great day in Bandhavgarh!
Total 09 different tigers were spotted in 04 safaris. Thanks to Goddess Durga for giving good sighting after Panna went blank. She really blessed us in Bandhavgarh.
06 May 24 Afternoon: Mukki zone with Tigress DJ & her two sub adult’s cubs.
On 06 May morning after breakfast, we started driving to our next destination & more famous park Kanha. On the way we enjoyed tea & local food. Bandhavgarh & Kanha are 04 to 05 hrs. apart by car.
After lunch we geared up to the first safari in Bandhavgarh. Here our guide was Rajendra Jharia (18 years’ experience). I told him that our Panna’s safaris were blank & he too was surprised. So, we planned to take maximum out of Kanha. We stayed at Khatia Gate so we have drive for 45 minutes to reach Mukki zone. Our driver was excellent. Without wasting any single minute, we reached Mukki zone’s main water hole where two sub adults cubs of Tigress DJ were sitting in water body. They were siting in open & easily visible.
After 20 minutes they both got up & started playing in water. Later they came close to the main road. The whole show went for 01:30 hrs. All types of shots were given by them.
Later we heard call of Sambhar deer from a distance. Rajendra guessed that their mother DJ might be coming. After watching them fully we decided to leave & try for their mother. We drove back for 10 minutes we saw DJ coming towards us. We made some quick pictures of her.
This was a brilliant start from Kanha!
07 May 24 morning: Kanha Zone with Neelam’s 03 cubs.
This morning, we were excited for the Kanha zone. Kanha’s grasslands are one of the best habitats for tigers. Now days Neelam & her three cubs are seen. Another Tigress Mohini also resides here & recently seen shifting her cubs in moth of April 24.
Kanha has more green areas as the park is huge also. We started with Grassland area & waited for 40 minutes. Soon all cubs came out of the grass near the Centre point. Two cubs really came close up to 10 feet distance. They are really bold enough. One cub did not follow these two & returned back.
These cubs are younger than DJ’s cubs.
07 May 24 Afternoon: Khisli zone & missed tiger.
The weather started changing since we entered the park. Strong wind started during the safari. This zone is with hilly terrain & does not have flat sections like Kanha & Mukki zone. One tigress with 04 subadults cubs live here. More ever good leopards’ sightings are there.
We find some pug marks & started following them. few sambhar deer calls were there too. We located the Sambhar in the middle of the hill. But he stopped calling. Then we left the place & stopped near the water hole. There were two more jeeps with us. Suddenly monkey started giving waring calls but that was other side of the hills. We rushed to that point but one tiger had gone.
08 May 24 Morning: Mukki zone no sightings.
This day it became cloudy since the beginning of the safari. Everyone was praying for no rains. While driving from Khatia gate to Mukki zone we saw pugmarks. We followed them. There was continuous warning calls of Barking deer where pugmarks ended. We tried our best but success. later we decided to stand at the water hole. This was exactly opposite to the place of Barking deer calling point. All vehicles of Mukki zone were lined up. Everyone waited till 10:30 am. But tiger did not move. The reason we analyzed was that due to clouds it was less hot & tiger did not require water so it did not turn up.
08 May 24 Afternoon: Wednesday Afternoon core zone closed so no safari relaxes.
This afternoon was the first break after we started our wild life part.
09 May 24 Morning: Kanha zone with Neelam’s cubs & leopard sleeping in the tree.
Since morning from 04:00 am I heard thunder storm. After few minutes it started raining. It rained every heavily until 05:30 am. At first, I felt that today’s safari might get cancelled. After that it became lighter. We checked hood of Jeep, fitted it & took two umbrellas with us.
With entered the park with rain. Even after driving for 01:30 hrs, it did not stop. We all were down with no sighting’s expectations. We decided to use the time & went to Centre point for breakfast.
We finished our breakfast quickly. One of the guides told us they spotted leopard sleeping in the tree. With no waste of time, we rushed there. It was still there. Not far from the road easily visible. Good pictures were taken.
Later Sun came out & we returned back to Kanha’s grassland. After waiting for few minutes again Neelam’s cubs came out. This time not that close as the previous sighting but good enough to take photos. All three of them sat outside the grass for Sunlight.
So, Kanha was great with different actions of Tiger & a leopard in African style. Total 06 different Tigers were spotted by us.
09 May 24 Afternoon: Transfer to Jabalpur with Boat ride in Bedaghat ( Marble rocks) & overnight train to Ranthambore.
After Safari check out & started driving to Jabalpur for overnight train to Ranthambore.
Kanha to Jabalpur is 03:30 hrs. As our train was around 08:50 pm I decided to take Samuel & Malinie for Boat ride in Narmada River. This place is called Bedaghat & both side while boat ride u can see huge marble rocks of different colors. Very nice & different experience. If you have time then this place is must to visit.
After dinner took overnight train to Ranthambore.
10 May 24 Afternoon: Zone 01 no sightings.
The train was on time & reached at 09:30 am. We reached hotel. After lunch got ready for Ranthambore safaris. Here our guide was Pramod. He is one of the senior field guides & selects zones for safaris. You cannot believe that for Ranthambhore we booked safari in September 23 but zone 03 was sold. So, we decided to book one safari in Tatkal quote which is three time of normal safari in cost.
This afternoon safari we were expecting to spot Tigress either Sultana or Noor. But not succeed.
11 May 24 Morning: Zone 04 with Riddhi & 03 cubs & sloth bear.
Riddhi & her cubs have been star of Ranthambhore this season. But the problem with them is they keep moving between zone 03 & zone 04. No surprise that they can change zone in one day.
Pramod started the safari with all positiveness. As they reached Malik Lake, they found cubs & Riddhi in zone 04 siting on the other bank of the lake. Malik lake divides zone 03 & zone 04.
After sometime Riddhi started moving toward zone 04. All cubs followed her. Riddhi was aiming for spotted deer. Her cubs also noticed this. All of them moved towards stream. The deer went into the stream. One female cub went in after deer from the lower side. The other male cub went upward on the bank. After seeing the female cub near the deer moved upward. Suddenly the male cub grabbed the deer. What a strategical kill cubs made!
It all went so quickly that we saw male cub holding the deer’s neck in his mouth. After some time, he started eating & even did not allow mother and other siblings.
These cubs are sub adult cubs. This is best definition of sub adult tiger.
Later a sloth Bear was also sighted. This was really another great day of the tour.
11 May 24 Afternoon: Zone 03 no sighting.
We booked this zone in Tatkal quota which opens 07 days prior to visit date as without this zone Ranthambore remains incomplete. We did expect to see Riddhi & her cubs but we had seen them in the morning in zone 04. Zone 03 has two big lakes called Padam & Raj Bagh lakes. This zone looks very beautiful even without tigers. Beside Riddhi’s family two Mae tigers are also seen in this zone.
It was very hot & they moved dense part in zone 04.
12 May 24 Morning: Zone 04 with Tigress Shakti.
After having previous safari without sighting, we again had zone 04. Started with thought of again catching the whole family in zone 04 but not successful. After checking every possible point around Malik Lake, we further moved to Lakarda check post area.
Lakrada is very big area and Shakti tigress is seen many times here. We started finding any fresh pugmarks in all internal roads of Lakarda. We also stopped at Water hole to hear some warning calls.
Later we moved to Jamun deh area & spotted Shakti female Tigress very close by. So, coming so far in zone 04 really paid off. Zone 04 is the biggest safari Zone of Ranthambhore where 08 to 10 adults’ tigers live,
12 May 24 Afternoon: Zone 02 with one cub of Arrow Head.
In season 2023- 24, zone 02 has been equally rates as zone 04 & zone 03 from sightings point of view. This zone is inhabited by Tigress Arrow head & Noori Tigress. The temperature must haven around 45 C, but tiger’s sightings greed did not stop us from going to park in time.
After entering the park near a water body one of the cub form Arrow head was sleeping beside a tree. All jeeps came around & stood nearby for the cub to move. But this cub kept sleeping till exit time.
13 May 24 Morning: Zone 02 with Tigress Arrow Head & 03 cubs; T101 ( Male ) ; Tigress Noori & Sloth Bear .
This was our last drive of the tour for tigers in national parks. The only one safari that was left for Leopard is the Jhalana leopard safari in Jaipur. Last evening, not seeing the Arrow Head with cubs was pinching us to keep the tally of tigers moving up. All of us started praying to our Goddess Durga, who ‘s vehicle is itself Tiger.
Goddess Durga accepted our prayers & blessed us with the whole family of Arrow head, Tigress Noori & T101 male & sloth bear.
Arrow Head & her cubs was seen just the end of Naal ghati after entering the park with in 20 minutes. They walked parallel to our jeep.
Noori was seen little bit inside. She might be with a kill.
T101 was very well sighted. We got head on shots. He crossed the road just in front of us & cooled himself by sitting in small water hole.
In a total of 11 different tigers, 02 sloth bears were spotted in a total of 06 safaris.
After lunch Check out & took train to Jaipur.
15 May 24 Afternoon: Jhalana Leopard safari with leopard Bahadur (huge male)
This small leopard sanctuary is doing magic in Jaipur. If you have time, then it is must visit place for animal lovers. The leopards are bold enough. The habitat is perfect for photography as well.
We took afternoon safari which was 02:15 hrs. long. We trekked a leopard by our own with help of peacock’s call. The whole sighting span was about 45 minutes when he came out from grasses, stalked up to water hole & drank water for about 15 minutes without minding jeeps around.
