Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, India

Tour to Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, India

About the Reserve

44 Km to the East of Chandrapur District, Tadoba Andhari is the largest Reserve of Maharashtra, Central India and is one of the 41 Indian forests reserved under “Project Tiger”. The reserve includes Tadoba National Park (28,400 Acres) and Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary (1,26,000 Acres).

Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharshtra, India

Details of Tour

Type: Custom (Not a Packaged Tour)

Period: 27-06-2013 to 29-06-2013

Duration: 03 days, 02 nights

Route: Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) to Chandrapur (Maharashtra) – 382 Km via Train; Chandrapur to Moharli Gate – 44 Km on road via Car. Total – 426 Km (8 Hours)

Members: 05 (Srihari, Jagannadha Raju, Varma, Padma Kumar and myself)

Expenditure: INR 4,000 per person

Accommodation: Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), Eco-tourism Cottages, Youth Hostel Dormitory, Moharli, Chandrapur. Standard rooms are also available.

Contact: Mr. Pankaj

Stay Tariff: Dormitory @ INR 250 per bed per day (All 20 beds should be booked in prior); Standard AC/Non-AC Double Bed Rooms @ INR 1,800 per day (INR 500 for extra person).

Entry Charge: INR 3,000/INR 3,250 per Safari for Weekdays/Weekend (Inclusive of INR 750/INR 1,000 Entrance fee for Forest Department, INR 200 for Guide, INR 1,800 for Safari vehicle and internal drop/pick-ups)

Safari: 20 vehicles per trip from 06:00 Hrs to 10:00 Hrs and 15:00 Hrs to 19:00 Hrs through the three entrance gates namely Moharli, Tadoba and Kolsa.

Best Season: Summer for adequate animal spotting; Monsoon, winter for beautiful greenery, nesting birds but less animal spotting. Park stays open in monsoon but weather determines. Off on every Tuesday and for a couple of festivals.

The Tour

It has been nine months since we went out on a tour and when every one of us were fervent for another outing, Jagannadha Raju and Varma came out with this trip plan. Initially, I opted out due to busy month-end work schedule but everything sorted out in the last moment and I was in. On 26^th night we started at Secunderabad and Raju joined us in Kazipet. We reached Chandrapur the other day morning, hired a cab and started to Moharli. We entered the buffer zone of the reserve through the coal mining outskirts of Chandrapur. The gorgeous green grass carpet on either side of the road, tall teak trees, bamboo plants, chirping birds made us get down at some places and we took some photographs and moved on. We reached the Moharli gate area, took MTDC dormitory rooms and got refreshed.

Myself at a stop in the Reserve's Buffer Zone

Varma near our Youth Hostel Dormitory, Moharli

We planned for evening safari on that day, morning safari for the next two days making a total of three safaris and on the third day’s afternoon we start back and reach home by night. To spot more animals and especially rare animals like tigers the ideal time of visit should be during summer near the water holes. In contrary to that, having our trip during monsoon amidst heavy downpour, we had least probability of spotting a tiger and we were mentally prepared for that.

Moharli Entrance Gate

First Safari

It started with us clearing the security and crossing the Moharli gate. The first thing we saw were a couple of Asian elephants, though not wild were an auspicious sign for our start and we moved inside. This rich deciduous forest consisted mainly of Teak trees, some fully grownup, some sprouts, some felled, burnt and dead. Bamboo plants and Jamun trees take the next place and occasionally we saw the Wood Apple tree, Bel tree and Ghost tree. Onset of pre-monsoon gave a splendid look to the forest in every direction. We reached Telia Lake which is one of the two major water sources, the other being Tadoba Lake.

Asian Elephant

Paradise Fly-catcher (Female) incubating her eggs

With varied diversity of aquatic birdlife and raptors, Tadoba is an Ornithologist’s Paradise and being accompanied by Jagannadha Raju, who has fair knowledge in bird watching, we identified upto 35 different bird species in our three visits and learned a lot about them. The most common bird we saw was a Red-wattled Lapwing which crossed our path every now and then. On the banks of the Telia Lake we spotted small groups of Whistling Teels, Open-billed Storks and Cormorants (Water Crow). The guide showed us the hammock nest of Paradise Fly-catcher where the female bird is incubating her eggs. That was one beautiful bird and its male counterpart is much more beautiful with a long white tail feather which we saw at the end of our third safari.

Open-billed Storks, Telia Lake

Monitor Lizard

Alongside the path there are stone masonry towers some twelve feet high, erected by a ruler of that place some centuries ago, to serve the purpose of torch-bearers, atop of which we spotted a Monitor Lizard which was the first reptile of our safari. Meanwhile, Padma Kumar spotted a group of around 20 to 25 Wild Boars crossing the road and vanishing into the bushes on the other side within seconds before everyone could see. Then we saw the Indian Pitta, the most rarely spotted bird. It has nine different colors on its feathers giving it a local name Navrang. On the dry branches of a teak tree we saw an Indian Roller (Pala Pitta). Its magnificent blue colored wings can only be seen during its flight.

Tree Pie, the cunning bird

Then the Tree Pie, though beautiful with a tail feather protruding a little bit farther from its tail is the most cunning bird, which tries to pest other birds’ nests for no reason. Whenever we saw it, there is always a Racket Tailed Drongo chasing it and trying to keep it away from its nest.

Indian Roller

Indian Pitta

We saw big herds of Spotted Deer (Chital) grazing in the plush green lands, a huge herd of above 100 Spotted Deer crossing our path, Grey Langurs (Hanuman Langurs) eating plant leaves and grooming, beautiful tiny Button Quails frolicking along the roadside. A shy Barking Deer suddenly crossed our path and as soon as Srihari spotted it and tried to capture its photo, it swiftly vanished into the thick and dark bamboo bushes. Then we saw a White-eyed Buzzard sitting on a top branch of a tree and couple of Indian Gaurs (Bison) grazing below. With this our first safari ended and we returned back to our dormitory, had dinner and went to bed.

Spotted Deer

Grey Langur (Hanuman Langur)

Button Quails

Indian Gaur (Bison)

Padma Kumar near our dormitory

During the night a lot of huge beetles, insects, stick bugs, mantis, mosquitoes and blood sucking giant flies spread all over the dormitory caused a lot of trouble. It is a very important to carry mosquito repellents or creams when you plan to visit in monsoons.

Huge Beetle

Remains of a hunted Gaur

Second Safari

We woke up at 5’o clock and by 6’o clock we entered the gate and once again we visited the Telia Lake. To our surprise we spotted the Mugger Crocodile resting peacefully on the banks making it the rarest reptile we have ever watched in the wild. We saw a young Shikra on a teak tree, nesting grounds of a Little Blue Kingfisher, a female Magpie Robin building nest while the male is watching over from the tree top, Common Myna, Starling, Robin, Pied Bush Chat, Bul-Bul, White Throated Kingfisher, Black Shoulder Kite, Grey Hornbill, a lot of Doves, Peahens and Peacocks, Cuckoo, Jungle Fowls, Chess Necked Munia, Ashy Prinia and many others.

Mugger Crocodile, Whistling Teels, Red Wattled Lapwing

Magpie Robin (Female) building her nest

Red Wattled Lapwing

Shikra

Our second safari also ended without any glimpse of tiger. We returned to our rooms, had lunch and took rest as we lacked proper sleep last night due to bugs. We spotted a Brahminy Myna at our dormitory. Raju and Srihari took macro shots of a beautiful Red Velvet Mite.

Common Rat Snake

Striped Keel back Snake

Paper Kite Butterfly

Scare Copper Butterfly

Brimstone Butterfly

While we were resting, Varma went out looking for birds and he spotted Egrets, White Eagles, Green Bee Eaters and Jacanas near our dormitory and also a Common Rat Snake. Raju and I spotted a Striped Keel back Snake, Purple Heron, Purple Moorhen, Paper Kite Butterfly, Scare Copper Butterfly, Brimstone Butterfly and a variety of Flora around our dormitory.

Red Velvet Mite

Common Myna

Purple Moorhens

Green Bee Eater

At times when we enjoyed Fear

We tried to go safari in the evening but as all slots were booked, we planned to walk around for some time and went out. Thinking that it is a nature trail we went inside taking pictures and group photos and later realized that we went deep into the core area. Raju and Varma were still advancing into the thickest part when we stopped them and everybody returned back. Walking further would have made us enter in to the tiger prone Telia Lake.

Varma, Raju, Srihari and Kumar

Swamp inside the Reserve

Padma Kumar sitting on a spillway

Myself inside core area

Varma, Srihari, Kumar and myself

Monsoon sky

Final Safari

Next day morning we entered the forest and it is our last chance to spot a tiger. Though we knew that it was not the correct time to spot a tiger, we felt that we would be a little downhearted if we did not see it by the end of this safari. As usual we went first to the Telia Lake and by the time we reached, there were already around ten safari vehicles waiting for the tiger. They told that they saw the tiger and it is resting on the bank which is about a meter deep from our level and further told that it may come up at any time. We waited for around 15 to 20 minutes. 

Waiting for His Excellency

There are many ways for it to get out of that place without getting watched and so we kept looking at all corners of the lake. Some 30 minutes later it came up and through the tall grass it came towards our fleet of vehicles. Everyone were amazed and tried to capture every possible glimpse of this majestic 2 year old healthy Royal Bengal Tiger.

Coming out of tall grass

The Royal Bengal Tiger

His Majestic looks

Crossing the Road

It stopped, looked at us, looked around, walked slowly about 10 feet from our vehicle, marked its territory, crossed the road and vanished into the adjoining bushes. No words can describe the feeling we had at that time and we felt very satisfied as this viewing experience is much more than that we had at Kanha National Park. 

Pug marks of a tiger

Crested Serpent Eagle

A young Wild Boar

Happily we moved forward, found pug marks of the tiger in the wet sandy track around the Lake, spotted a Huge Crested Serpent Eagle preying on a snake, Wild Boars, bunch of young and playful Langurs, a species of a lizard with Radiant Red and Black colors and finally the male Paradise Fly-catcher.

Playful young Grey Langurs (Hanuman Langurs)

A species of lizard with radiant red and black colors

Paradise Fly-catcher (Male) incubating eggs in hammock nest

While returning we saw a Common Hoopoe, Eurasian Golden Oriole and very noisy Jungle Babblers. With full satisfaction, we returned to our dormitories got refreshed and packed our luggage.

Mr Pankaj, the Manager of the accommodation, is very enthusiastic in developing the Eco-tourism complex and he had the same ideas as we had suggested him for improving the stay experience of the visitor. Upon his insistence, we gave our feedback, which he studied and told that he will send it along with his own proposal to the higher authorities.

Ghost tree inside the Reserve

A typical tree near our dormitory

We booked a cab to Chandrapur rail station. Raju planned to go directly to Kakinada and we headed back to Hyderabad. As usual the trains ran late and we had to wait at the station for about 1.5 hours during which we shared each other's tour experiences and views. Raju and I listed out the species we have spotted that helped me in writing this blog. First came Raju's train and we bid him farewell and next we got on ours. At around 23:00 hrs we reached Hyderabad and went home.