Jim Corbett National Park

I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days for a retreat near the Jim Corbett National Park.

It takes 7 hours of uneven road travel to reach the Park area in the Uttaranchal State. The road from Delhi is part highway, part dusty tracks by the side - lots of dust I should say. Infrastructure cries for redemption all over India, and this area is no exception. Except I expected a better infrastructure around Delhi than in any other part of the country ! With heavy trucks, lorries, buses, cars, vans, tractors, bullock carts, and cycles (apart from the occasional pedestrians trying to cross the road risking their lives), it requires heavy concentration and ability to brake rather very quickly to manoeuvre the highway.

Nevertheless, Jim Corbett is worth a trip. Though it is rare to sight any tigers (I didn’t), or elephants, I managed to see deers and monkeys. I guess one has to spend considerable time within the forest area in order to be able to see anything more significant. There are procedures to be complied with while gaining admittance into the park. Like most publicly maintained facilities in India, there is confusion while going in - they ask a lot of questions and delay the entry while checking a series of documents, including driving licenses ! It is never smooth, coordinated, easy entry for tourists who have taken the trouble to come all the way.

However, finally one gets in on a four-wheel drive - the Maruti Gypsy. It’s a rough ride all the way, and people with back problems better be careful. The ride can’t be made smoother, there is no proper road inside - it is a dirt track all the way. The drivers are quite rough and push the vehicles to extreme performance while ensuring a rocky ride to the passengers. But, you tend to ignore all that, in the hope of seeing some wild animals.

Suddenly, the driver stops the vehicle and shuts down the ignition, and cautions all of us to be silent. We look around carefully, holding our breath. Voila, there comes a deer ! We raise the cameras, and it appears frightened. However, we manage to capture some shots……the driver now explains it would be better to go along the river stream to see the elephants, but alas, no such luck.

Here are some photos, some more in the next post :

DSC08394.JPG, originally uploaded by vjsri99.

Jim Corbett National Park

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Road leading to Jim Corbett National Park

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A poor shot of the deer…….from a moving vehicle

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Gypsies at the parking lot

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A view of the river stream

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River Stream at Jim Corbett

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A dirt track in Jim Corbett - one can see the big pebbles on both sides of the track

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Lunch with the Tigers, anyone ?

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Periphery of the Park

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A view of the dirt track inside the National Park

Hope you relished the pics, though nothing great. Make the Jim Corbett National Park as one of your “must-see” places.

Some of the relevant links for your further read on Jim Corbett are as follows :

“Corbett Park”

“Jim Corbett (hunter) - Wikipedia”

“Jim Corbett National Park - Spectrum Tours”

Have a great weekend

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
12 April 2008
Mumbai

Abode of Purity

I went to Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani over the last couple of days.

This is the best place I have yet visited in Maharashtra State. It took approximately 6 hours (with some half-hour break on the way) to reach the place from Mumbai. You spend almost 90 minutes of it trying to get out of Mumbai, which is always messed up on the way out via Powai, Chembur, Panvel, Vashi, etc., All these big lorries create chaos on the road, and headaches for the drivers forced to follow them. Apart from these, one has to contend with real bad driving habits of young drivers with mini cars whizzing past from left and right. Then you have those tourist buses who refuse to move out of the right most lane. Well, I can go on and on…….

Once we hit the Pune Expressway, it was good, and even beyond…..the roads were in pretty decent condition towards Satara and even up the hill towards Panchgani. After a long time, it was a winding road experience but not for too long. I was amazed at the speed at which we gained height - all of 4,000 Ft !

The air and water are still pure in Mahabaleshwar, despite commercialization. The place is not as confusing or poorly maintained as Matheran, the other hill station which I visited several months ago - see my earlier post - “Matheran Visit”

Mahabaleshwar is known for its several fantastic “view” points on the various hills of the Sahyadri Mountain Range. There is a lot to write about the experience, but since I am out of time, I thought I will quickly put up some pictures for your enjoyment. More prose sometime later !

DSC08163, originally uploaded by vjsri99.

Elephant Head Point

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Sahyadri Mountains - a Fabulous View

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The Venna Lake near Mahabaleshwar - good for rowing

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On top of the Elephant Head Point

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Another very captivating view of the mountain range……..

DSC08099, originally uploaded by vjsri99.

There is a fort on top of this mountain - the famed Pratapgarh Fort

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The serrated ridges of the mountain range

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View of a dam on the Krishna River basin

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Beautiful View of the Krishna basin from 4,000 feet high

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The “Elephant Head” clearly visible

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Lodwick Point with inscription of the story of the man who made it to this spot in 1824 (see next pic)

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The inscription on General Peter Lodwick

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A bit unsafe - better not get excited about the view too much !

There are many more nice photos, but one had to make choices !

Have a great week ahead,

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
10th Feb 2008
Mumbai