Wadāla Tukm

We had a very early start with an alarm call at 5.15am! By 5:45, we were having a coffee in the reception area and met up with our naturalist guide for the day. The little Jeep arrived at 6:00 a.m. and we set off for the park.

Our lodge is situated just outside the buffer zone of the park and so it took us about 15 minutes to drive to the entrance through the buffer zone. The buffer zone has people living in it, whereas the central park doesn't have any people who live there now as they've all been moved over the years into the buffer zone.

It was still dark when we entered the park at 6:30 a.m. and almost immediately our guide spotted some fresh pug marks in the dirt track that we were driving on. Thankfully, we had blankets provided by the lodge as the sun didn't really get above the trees until after 9:00 a.m. and so it was chilly until then.

We spent the next 3 1/2 hours trying to track or find a tiger and in doing so we saw a whole range of flora and fauna including:

Nightjar
Jungle fowl
Samba
Peacocks
Rufus pie tail bird
Indian Gaur
Spotted deer
Monkeys
Cattle egrets
A ghost tree
And crocodile skin tree.

Sadly the closest we got to a tiger was spending about 15 minutes listening to it eat a kill, and hearing the crunching bones.

At around 10:00 a.m. we write back at an inner gate and stopped to have some breakfast consisting of boiled egg some homemade pastries,a type of Indian pancake and coffee for me. It was now time to head back to the accommodation as the park closes over the lunchtime period.

When we arrived back the staff were waiting with a warm towel and a lemongrass tea served in a goblet which was just what we needed. We had a couple of hours to kill before our afternoon safari and so we came back to the room and had a fresh coffee sitting on the veranda.

All freshened up We headed for our lunch which was a regional thali dish, and a beer to wash it down with.

At 1:30 p.m. We met up with our guide again and went off Tiger hunting to the same region. Once again the tiger proved elusive but at least by now it was warm and sunny. We spotted some similar animals to the morning including some more samba deer And we also were shown the axle tree and the tamarind tree. We also spotted some mugger crocodiles basking in the sun by the lake.

By the time we left the park at around 5:45 it was getting chilly again and we spent the ride home wrapped in a blanket. Once again, when we arrived back the staff were waiting with a hot towel and a warm drink.

After a shower and change we had a sundowner beer whilst watching a documentary about Tadoba national park and then it was time for dinner. By 9.30 we were shattered and headed for an early night in readiness for another early start.Read more