As the young cubs reached near the Gypsy bonnet, Guide Neeraj murmured to the driver “its time to move back” … and the gypsy slowly rolling back on a steep uphill road which was never done before …  luckily the Gypsy was brand new and hence could climb successfully … as they moved back young cubs kept coming near to it followed by the Tiger and Tigress !! … this went on to ~30 minutes … and at last the couple dived into the deep forest….

When I asked Neeraj about the breath taking moment in his carrier .. he stated the above incident which took place during one of his safari with a small family … where he confronted with a family of tiger on a descending steep road patch  … he said that since it was only the brand new vehicle helped to escape back .. having young cubs coming to the vehicle can prove risky since the tigress will always be in protecting mood !

Although we were lucky to get a glance of tiger due to skill of Neeraj to detect monkey call in the last minute of our safari ride .. our other group members could not get this fortune. … but never the less .. the views of jungle for them were fascinating …

Our journey started from Pune at ~6.30 pm reaching Gondia at ~12 noon (second day) … this time i wanted to have snaps around the journey so selected to travel through normal sleeper class .. which prove to be a big mistake … through out the night people were coming in wrong sleeper class .. searching their places … shouting .. fighting … and so as our miserable night went on … fortunately the train was in time at all the stations (this prove wrong in the return journey by having ~12 hours of delay !! so my satisfaction for the timing blown off the air !! )
lessons learnt :-  No point in getting yourself screwed for the photography by traveling in normal  sleeper class .. its best to travel in A/C class which will give u clam and quiet sleep .. having this in mind i shall plan my next tour for sure !

From Goindia after having a lunch we moved on to Mogali resort at Kanha …
Thanks to Mandar (our FONA tour lead) for  choosing such fascinating resort .. sending me back to the memories of school .. where stone bricks bungalows were there for our stay .. so as to food was simple and tasty…. so as the punctuality of the staff of resort… if someone is going for this safari again i strongly recommend this resort ..

Second day morning 5.30 am was the time to be in Gypsy and be in cue to enter the jungle.
point to be noted here is that before u get the entry pass, the forest officers do check ID proofs of each member of the group, so do not forget to carry the valid original ID proof that u hv submitted at the time of booking the jungle safari .. no excuses are allowed there  and they simply deny the permission !

previously one used to choose his own guide and driver .. however now a days allocation is done in serial numbers hence it is mere luck to get good guide and driver…. in our all 4 safari rides we could get good once .. but out of these Neeraj was the best guide …

Also it depends upon ur inters in questioning the guide to get more and more information about the jungle and the animals / birds ..
morning ride lasts from 6 am to 12 noon and the afternoon ride from 3 pm to 5 pm (approx)
u can choose zones (at the time of booking) called as Kanha, Kisli, Serai, Mukki … zones need to be pre booked .. since then entries per day are limited one must ensure the pre-booking of the rides.

now a days due to court orders Elephant rides are called off. not sure upto what durations ..

Tipsfor the winter safari rides at Kanha –
– During morning ride, its pretty cold, best to have proper thermal wear including protection for the face, so as to ensure that u r concentrated on the animal/bird watching and not shivering due to cold
– by the time  u leave the resort at 5.30 am and enter the jungle ,, its about one hour .. so make sure once u enter from the second gate .. inform the guide if u want to goto toilet .. since once u go forward there is no toilet available as well as u r not allowed to get down for such reasons .. so u need to turn back in case someone has to go to toilet .. that can  be time consuming .. and u may loose chance to see the tiger … so inform about toilet immediately once u enter the second gate ..
– jungle roads are not good for old age people .. so better avoid the rides .. in extreme case old age people can sit at the co-driver side where one gets low impacts due to roads ..
– breakfast is available during ur kanha ride at the museum and rest house  .. mostly ur resort provides u bk fast .. but u may like to buy hot poha at this outlet …
– during kisli ride .bk fast point is official MP tourism one .. that is too costly .. coffee is served for 40 rs ! which is not worth the taste !!! so be careful during ur kisli safari …get ur own bk fast is best choice …
– half jackets one can buy at around 600~700 rupees .,,, u can buy it inside jungle or outside in Khatiya village there are 2~3 shops …i got one for me 🙂 having multi pockets ..

needless to say that when I am with my FONA group I enjoy it very much .. things are light .. jokes are cracking .. all are in time for safari … discipline for respecting each other and nature is inherent …

** see timetable at the end of this post, if you are interested in pune back to pune details **