Wild India! 2023 Blog
January 20th, 2023
Iain writes…
Arrived at New Delhi's magnificent Imperial hotel after the overnight flight from Nairobi. Flying with Middle Eastern airlines such as Qatar, Emirates, or Etihad is definitely the way to go these days; they leave American and European airlines in the shade.
We flew from Nairobi on Qatar, with a brief two hour transfer in Doha. Effortless.
We have been using The Imperial in Delhi now for the last ten years, and every time I walk into it I am literally stunned by its beauty. It is like stepping into the bygone world of the Raj. Every corner you turn unfolds another splendid corridor, with walls of 19th century paintings, murals and lithographs.
Our group of eight will be arriving during the next 48 hours, and one couple will head out first thing tomorrow morning on our Taj Mahal extension.
There is much to see...and buy...in Delhi, and it will be a full weekend. We are here until early Monday morning, when we depart on our Wild India safari, with a short flight to Bhopal.
January 21st, 2023
Iain writes…
While we wait for all the group members to arrive, today we headed to Old Delhi, and the frenzy of Chandni Chowk. I always tell visitors that in India there are two ways of doing things: you can stand apart from it and observe OR you can leap right into it, become a part of it, and enjoy the wild ride. We encourage the latter approach, and Chandni Chowk is a good way to start.
If you have a power cut in Chandni Chowk, you have a major problem to deal with.
But they seem to know where to start!
It is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, and it was built in the 17th century by the Mughal Emperor of India, Shah Jahan.
The fun lies in walking through it, and heading down occasional narrow lanes, each one of which, invariably, specializes in a particular item: gem stones, optical, shoes, toys, candy, vegetables or fabrics.
Once we’ve walked the length of Chandni Chowk, we head back on a rickshaw to where we left our taxi man.
We did this, and it was two hours of great fun. The mayhem continued back at the Imperial hotel where a big budget Bollywood movie is being filmed on the grounds: extras walking around with plastic machine guns, some in dark suits, others in military gear. The main star wasn't on site but he is staying in the hotel, I imagine a few floors further up the elevator from where we all are.
Bollywood film being made in the grounds of Imperial hotel.
To say India is a country of contrasts, doesn't get close.
January 22nd, 2023
Iain writes…
This is our last day in Delhi, and this morning we took in one of the city’s leading attractions, Humayan’s Tomb. This predates the Taj Mahal, and it is said that it provided the inspiration for it.
Great to have the British artist (lives in Nairobi), Sophie Walbeoffe, on this trip with us, and watching her work is amazing. She is using our Wild India trip to paint for a forthcoming exhibition in London, based on Kipling’s Just So Stories.
We will have our trip briefing in the early evening and depart for the airport at 3:00am (yes, they changed our flight departure from 9:00am)… but, this is India!
Onwards to Bhopal!
January 23rd, 2023
Iain writes…
We sailed through the airport at 3:30am, with no excess baggage - this group has done a fantastic job of keeping to the 15 kilogram requirement. We boarded the plane at 6:00am but sat on the ground for 45 minutes owing to fog in Bhopal. The 1.5 hour flight put us in Bhopal at 8:30am and we were in the fabulous Jehan Numam Palace one hour later where followed a huge breakfast. This hotel is a refurbished Maharaja's palace.
We rested through the day then in the late afternoon, with our guide, Reka, we hit the sites of Bhopal. It is great to be in a city so far off the tourist grid. We seemed like the only Westerners there.
We walked in the center of town, and through the colorful markets, then visited the spectacular Tajul Masashid mosque.
Bhopal is known as "the city of lakes" and is internationally known for the 1994 Union Carbide disaster in which over 3,000 people died in the city from the gas leak. Our guide Reka lived through it and gave us a detailed talk on this tragedy.
Tomorrow we head down to the Denwa River to prepare for the start of our three day walking safari. Signals will be intermittent for the next week.
January 24th, 2023
Iain writes…
Shortly after leaving Bhopal today, we pulled into Bimbhetka rock dwellings. This is a World Heritage site, and contains rock paintings done by ‘early man’ between 10,000-30,000 years ago. It is a very atmospheric spot, and few outside tourists visit it.
We then drove to Tala dam, which is where the Denwa River ends. We took a boat up the river to our eco-lodge. Great day
Tomorrow morning we begin our three day walking safari across Satpura Tiger Reserve, no signal, so we’ll be back again on Saturday.
January 26th, 20230
Iain writes…
Our walking safari is going very well, everyone is enjoying it. Bird lists are upwards of 70 species, and we haven’t reached the main birding areas yet.
One more day of walking and then ‘tiger fever’ begins!
29th January, 2023
Iain writes…
We’ve never seen a tiger on our walk across the Satpura hills but it’s only a matter of time until we do. Every year it seems that we are getting closer.
On our final walk today, the tiger tracks were frequent, and leopard were too.
One of our group members, Tonya, chose to drive today, and saw two leopards in the jungle.
This afternoon we went for a game drive and had some wonderful wildlife sightings.
Sambur deer
Nilgi (Blue Bull)
Spotted deer
Sloth bear
Today we leave Satpura and head towards Kanha Tiger Reserve. First, the train to Jabalpur. Trains are synonymous with India, it has to be experienced.
India is a country (that word somehow doesn't quite do it justice; is it really a country, or does 'civilization' describe it better?), where trains are used extensively by the people. They are the arteries of the place.
We will arrive at the beautiful Kanha Earth Lodge later this afternoon, and we'll be based here for three nights. We'll undertake 4 game drives, searching for a tiger, starting the day at 5:00am and returning to the lodge for a three hour rest in the middle of the day. There are no guarantees. Tigers are elusive, and lady luck will play a huge role.
30th January, 2023
Iain writes…
The train pulled into Jabalpur, and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the Indian Coffee House, the home of ‘dosa’.
This legendary restaurant has been serving dosa’s for over 70 years. It was packed with Indians - in fact, we haven’t seen another Western face since we left the hotel in Bhopal a week ago.
31st January, 2023
Iain writes…
No other animal in the wild is as elusive as the tiger. These days if you visit the Arctic you are going to see a polar bear; no one goes to Rwanda and returns without having seen the gorillas. As far as their movements are concerned, the modern world has assessed them, worked them out, and the tourists arrive, pay their money, and leave with satisfied smiles on their faces. It is, therefore gratifying that we haven't managed to pull this off with the tiger; where human interference is concerned, you might even say that they have us licked.
India is the only place where you can access Bengal tigers in their natural habitat, but before you try you are made painfully aware that there are no guarantees that you will see one. On Wild India we have 9 game drives as we search for a tiger, which amounts to about 36 hours in the jeeps, spread over 7 days, bouncing around on tracks of middling quality. In the eleven years we've been visiting India, we have been lucky to have seen tigers on every trip, but on several occasions it was during the 35th hour of game driving. It requires stamina. Many visitors leave disappointed.
We rise each day at 4:15am, and we are out for the morning, returning to the lodge for a 3 hour rest before heading out again at 3:00pm.
Clients tell us "oh, we don't care if we don't see a tiger, there's so much more to the trip than that," which is true...but we know that they are just being nice. If they didn't see a tiger, we know that they would be terribly disappointed.
When that tiger emerges from the jungle beside the jeeps, you are witnessing one of nature's greatest offerings. It is simply breathtaking.
So, when this huge male tiger walked out of the forest, only one hour after we began our first game drive, we couldn't believe our good fortune. Two hours later a solitary female tiger approached us from an open plain, and today we saw a second female emerge from the jungle and walk the grassy verge beside our jeeps.
Three tigers in two days, Kanha produced big time...now onwards to Bandhavgarh.
Gaur
Sambur deer
1st February, 2023
Iain writes…
We departed Kanha this morning with a great tally of wildlife under our belts: three tigers, a group of wild dogs, Indian civit cat, sambur deer, gaur, boar, barasingha deer, and sloth bear.
A four hour drive then followed as we made our way to Bandhavgarh National Park, for another two days of looking for more tigers. We are staying at the fabulous Tree House Hideaway, and our group of eight have taken up the whole place.
5th February, 2023
Iain writes…
Our first day in Bandhavgarh began slowly, with a long morning in the forest, which yielded very little. Lots of tiger pug marks were evident along the road, but they were hidden. Finally, in the afternoon, one jeep with half the group in it had a wonderful sighting when a tigress came out of the forest and drank from a stream.
Yesterday we were in the park early for our last day of tiger searching, but once again the morning proved to be a disappointment. In the afternoon we visited the sleeping Vishnu on the side of Bandhavgarh mountain, and as we were driving away we all had an amazing experience of watching a tigress with her three cubs playing in the long grass near the road. The cubs were leaping out of the grass as they attempted to catch swooping birds. We were with them for half an hour.
Our final tiger count is 9, which is not bad at all.
Tomorrow we will take the train to the Kalka at the base of the Himalaya foothills, and then we’ll spend several hours on the 1905 built Toy Train as we climb up towards Shimla. Tomorow night we’ll be at the gorgeous Wildflower Hall, one of my top 5 hotels in the world!
6th February, 2023
Iain writes…
We left Delhi early, and we were soon moving northwards in the train towards the foothills of the Himalayas. We then spent two hours in the Toy Train as it wound its way up through the hills.
Moving through train stations in India has to be seen to be believed.
Dharampur train station, built in 1903
The views from the Toy Train are stunning
Our journey ends at Wildflower Hall, which stands above the small town of Mashobra near Shimla. It was the official residence of Lord Kitchener in the early 1900s, and has now been renovated into one of India’s top hotels.
Today we completed a lovely 12 kilometre hike through the surrounding deodar forests.
8th February, 2023
Iain writes…
We awoke to a brilliant, clear morning, with the Himalayas dominating the view from the bedroom window.
After breakfast, we drove into Shimla town to visit the the Viceregal Lodge, walk the distance of The Mall, and see the neo-Gothic architecture of British rule. Between 1860 and 1947, the British ruled one-fifth of the world from Shimla for five months every year, when the searing heat from the plains forced the Viceroy and his governing body to cooler altitudes.
Viceregal Lodge, built between 1884 and 1888, the symbol of a ruling Empire.
The lawns were laid out by Lady Curzon, wife of the Viceroy, in 1901. Himalayas can be seen as a line in the distance.
Along The Mall we entered the Gaiety Theatre, now a World Heritage site, which was built in the late 1800s, and was the entertainment centre of Shimla, where plays by Rudyard Kipling (based in Shimla for several years) were regularly seen. We were fortunate to arrive when a local dramatics group was rehearsing on stage.
It was a fabulous day. We experienced the full spectrum of Shimla weather, from snowfall to clear sunny skies.
All that was left for us to do was have a final, private dinner under the glowing chandelier in Wildflower Hall.
Today, we drove down to Chandigarh Airport, and flew to New Delhi.
It’s the end of another fabulous Wild India safari. I’ll now wait for our second group of 9, who are arriving in Delhi as I write.
9th February, 2023
Iain writes…
Final hours in Delhi as we squeeze in a visit to the 238ft minaret, Qutub Minar.
Since Tropical Ice first started its Wild India safari in 2011, we’ve been operating two trips each year (with the exception of 2021 and 2022 when India was closed.) We have seen tigers on every one of our trips.
This year our first group saw 9, and the second group has so far seen 7. The quality of the sightings has been extraordinary.
We are taking bookings now for our two departures of Wild India, scheduled for 2024.
Dates
January 21 - February 08
February 11 - 29
