Staying at Bandhavgarh

There are 60 hotels in Bandhavgarh ranging from budget hotels to luxurious hotels. You can view Tripadvisor for more details of them. However I will go into details regarding my stay at Tree House Hideaway which is operated by Pugdundee Safaris.

Tree House Hideaway"(THH) is a wonderful place to spend a few days in wilderness. True to its name it has 5 tree houses,each placed on different trees from which they derive their names ( Banyan ,Mahua ,Tendu ,Peepal and Palash).

In a huge property of 25 acres these tree houses is an ultimate getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life. Each tree house has the comfort of a luxury hotel yet their NO TV policy gives you a chance to spend few quiet evenings with your near and dear ones. All tree houses have modern attached bathrooms with 24 hrs h/c water, living area, mini bar, split ACs with 100% power back up for summer and 2 room heaters for winter, mosquito netting, writing table and chair, and loungers in the balconies.

There is a common dining room available where you have to go and have your meals.There is no room service available here. This place is a 2 storeyed building which has a dining hall cum merchandise store and a bar cum library on the top. You can get hold of few good books on wildlife here.

Hospitality here is personal and the best i have witnessed. The manager Mr Ajit ensured that we spend each of the 3 days in absolute indulgence in terms of safaris,food and comfort. No matter what we demanded he would ensure that it was met with utmost urgency. In fact he ensured that he personally spend some quality during breakfast/lunch/dinner with us to ensure that we were enjoying our stay.Since it was our "Anniversary" trip so we were greeted to special breakfast and surprise cake after dinner on that day. It was such innumerable small gestures that made this trip memorable. 


Coming back to the trip. Our package consisted of 3 trips to Tala and Magadhi(Zones in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve)and Chaubey-ji(Naturalist) ensured that he shared his 25 years of experience in Bandhavgarh with us in each of these trips. We were lucky to spot lots of animals,birds,orchids all thanks to Chaubey-ji and his assistants. If you are comfortable with Hindi then it would be highly advisable to take Chaubey-ji with you on these trips. There is one more naturalist in THH,Kshitij. Although he was not with us on our trips, he would ensure that he shares his experience with us everyday whenever we crossed each other. It was very generous of him to lend me his camera lens for 2 days to ensure that i get some good shots. It was such small gestures that made us belong to this place.

The food in THH is lip smacking to say the least. Their chef prepared some awsome cusines and never repeated any dish throughout our stay. It was like a Master Chef Kitchen menus everyday in an obscure jungle. If you are a foodie then you will enjoy it here. All other staffs were equally friendly and courteous and ensured that we were comfortable during our stay.

So i would highly recommend a holiday with Tree House Hideway if you are planning to visit Bandhavgarh. I know many people complain about lack of room service / lack of mobile service etc here, but if you want to enjoy nature then get out of your rooms and comfort zone and switch off your gadgets and feel it in the right spirit. Yes there are some wild animals in THH property but they rarely get in your way. You might get lucky to see some civet cat in your room if you keep food items in open but then again without these small exchange with the wild your trip would remain incomplete. This place is one of the Unique and Unusual hotel i have ever stayed. I plan to come back here again whenever i can and recommend all as well.

Other properties of Pugdundee Safaries that i visited

1) Kings Lodge: Bandhavgarh





2)Ken River Lodge: Panna

About Bandhavgarh Forest

Madhya Pradesh has nine National Parks and twenty five Sanctuaries. It is known as the Tiger State of India and has the distinction of having the highest tiger population in the country. It has six tiger reserves which are fast developing into important destinations for tourists from all over the world. The most famous of them all are Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna and Pench.

Tala Entrance of Bandhavgarh

Bandhavgarh is a small National Park; compact, yet full of game. The density of the Tiger population at Bandhavgarh is the highest known in India. This is also White Tiger country. These have been found in the old state of Rewa(Rewa merged into Madhya Pradesh later) for many years. The last known was captured by Maharajah Martand Singh in 1951. This White Tiger, Mohan, is now stuffed and on display in the palace of the Maharajahs of Rewa. 

Flora and Fauna in Bandhavgarh

Covering 448 sq. km., Bandhavgarh is situated in Umaria district among the outlying hills of the Vindhya range. At the centre of the park is Bandhavgarh hill, rising 811 mt above MSL. Surrounding it are a large number of smaller hills separated by gently sloping valleys. These valleys end in small, swampy meadows, locally known as 'Bohera'. The lowest point in the park is at Tala (440 mt above MSL). The vegetation is chiefly of Sal forest in the valleys and on the lower slopes, gradually changing to mixed deciduous forest on the hills and in the hotter, drier areas of the park in the south and west. Bamboo is found throughout.

The remains of Bandhavgarh Fort

There is a fort present in Bandhavgarh.No records remain to show when Bandhavgarh Fort was constructed. It is thought, however, to be some 2,000 years old, and there are references to it in the ancient books, the Narad-Panch Ratra and the Siva Purana. Various dynasties have ruled this fort: for example, the Maghas from the 1st century AD, the Vakatakas from the 3rd century; the Sengars from the 5th century and the Kalchuris from the 10th century. In the 13th century AD, the Baghels took over, ruling from Bandhavgarh until 1617, when Maharajah Vikramaditya Singh moved his capital to Rewa. The last inhabitants deserted the fort in 1935.

The view of hills(back of Bandhavgarh Fort)
 and meadows in Bandhavgarh

These are some of the statistics associated with Bandhavgarh. Now the question is how to reach Bandhavgarh? The best possible way to reach Bandhavgarh is either to reach Satna, Jabalpur or Katni railway station. Since we went from Pune so we took a train from Pune to Kalyan Jn to avail the Muzzafarpur fast passenger which arrives in Katni the next day early morning. Bandhavgarh is about 90 Kms from Katni railway station. You can avail local transport or ask your hotel for a pickup service to reach Bandhavgarh. Just remember that roads near Bandhavgarh are very bad and it may take lot more time than you anticipate during your trip planning. 

Inside Tala Zone

Bandhavgarh Forest is divided into Tala , Magdhi, Khitauli and Panpatta zones. The maximum probability of Tiger viewing is there in Tala and Magdhi zones (Tale is the prime zone). So before you go there you must ensure that you have booked your slots for Safari’s in these zones. After the New Supreme Court order the number of safaris are reduced to 1/3rd and so there is lot of rush for this. The Safaris are mostly done by Jeep or Elephant. You can visit MP Forest Department site for more details about booking and tariff of such safari’s. You can also do the booking through your hotels.

Bloodline of Tigers in Bandhavgarh

When you visit Bandhavgarh. Your Naturalist will tell you various folklore on tigers in the forest. Here's a complete list of tiger bloodline as per wikipedia. 

In Memory of CHARGER

Charger was the first known male tiger of Bandhavgarh. Charger, an animal so named because of his habit of charging at elephants and tourists (whom he nonetheless did not harm), was the first healthy male known to be living in Bandhavgarh since the 1990s. A female known as Sita, who once appeared on the cover of National Geographic and is considered the most photographed tiger in the world was also to be found in Bandhavgarh for many years. Almost all the tigers of Bandhavgarh today are descendants of Sita and Charger. Their daughter Mohini, son Langru and B2 also maintained their tradition for frequent sighting and moving close to tourist jeeps. Charger died in 2000 and his body was buried at Charger Point where he was kept in a closed region at his old age. Between 2003 and 2006, many of his descendants met with a series of unfortunate ends. B1 was electrocuted and B3 was killed by poachers. Sita was killed by poachers. Mohini died of serious wounds to her body. After the death of Charger, the fully grown B2 survived as the dominant male in the forest between 2004 and 2007. He also became the strongest tiger in the world.

Pug Marks of Bamera

Mating with a female in the Siddhubaba region of Bandhavgarh, he became a father of three cubs. One of them was a male. He was named Bamera. Bamera was first sighted in 2008 and is now Bandhavgarh's dominant male. In November 2011, B2 died. Postmortem studies suggest that he died a natural death. But many other professional people, who know more than the officials, say that he was injured by the villagers of the village in the buffer area.Now, the most prominent tiger in Bandhavgarh National Park is Bamera, who has territory in all the four zones of the park. The females are Kankatti and Panpatti who both have three and two cubs respectively. Bilwa is now one of the rising male cub who is challenging Bamera these days.

Next part of the travelogue will deal with your Stay at Bandhavgarh

Travelogue for Bandhavgarh Trip

Merchandise at "Tree House Hideaway"

I don’t usually write travelogues but my recent trip to Bandhavgarh forest in MP has inspired me to take up this topic. This kind of natural resource is rare to find in India and we must ensure that we preserve them well for our next generation. MP has most of the forest reserves in India and Bandhavgarh happens to be the most promising ones in terms of tiger density. As a first time traveler i had to go through net to get most of the information regarding Bandhavgarh so after my visit i had decided to blog them down for future reference. All images used in these blogs are copyrighted to me and most of the statistical information are gathered from the net. 

Merchandise at "Tree House Hideaway"

This blog gives an account of my experience so it may appear to be biased towards certain Hotel/People or places.The intention of this blog is non commercial and its written to help people to plan their trip to Bandhavgarh.

This travelogue will be divided into the following parts:

1) About Bandhavgarh Forest 
2) Staying at Bandhavgarh

50 years of BONDing

Never in the history of modern cinema have a man who is 50 years and 23 films old have appealed to people across generation like James Bond. Sitting and watching the latest James Bond movie ‘Skyfall’ along with an octogenarian couple reminded me of the charisma of the man who had defined ‘adventure with class & style’ genre of movies. I am pretty sure the couple sitting behind me must have watched Sir Sean Connery bringing out Ian Flemings character from books to silver screen with the funding of Albert R. Broccoli. They must have witnessed Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan & Daniel Craig pass on the mantle of 007 serving Her Majesty’s secret service as a part of MI6. It’s indeed a long journey of a successful franchise. Barring Harry Potter no other franchise has survived this long.

My early memories of James Bond rovers around Pierce Brosnan. We grew up seeing him revitalize this franchise after not so memorable Timothy Dalton who has succeeded in withering away the fan following of 007.

James Bond has always personified a character with conflicting attitudes and yet he remained as the ultimate personification of male ego. Right from his shoes, glasses, watch and even his car had become a statement of style across generations. His womanizing skills have been tried and tested by generations. I will not go into the success rate of this method but I am sure that the fairer sex has borne the brunt of it. Every guy at some point of his life ordered ‘Vodka with Martini, shaken not stirred’ to the bartender. Such was the charisma of this secret service agent that people copied his way of introduction – ‘My name is Bond, James bond’. It’s another matter that it did not work out too well in some parts of India where the middle name tends to overshadow the first and last name by its sheer length.

Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have been the two Bond actors whom I have seen in the short span of my life so far. Undoubtedly Pierce Brosnan was better but in an uncanny way Daniel Craig portrayed a more Humane Bond. A Bond that feels pain bleeds when hurt, gets over powered physically. I think both these talented actors have done justice to the character of 007

After seeing ‘Skyfall’ the only question that I had in my mind was “What Next?” . We have seen Department Q Change, Money Penny Change, M Change, So is it time for Daniel Craig to go? It would be rather interesting to see how this franchise reboots itself? The succession of Daniel Craig from Pierce Brosnan wouldn’t have been easy if the directors did not decide to change the character of James Bond.

"Skyfall” marks the 50^th year of for the man who lived life on edge. I am sure all the fans want to see more of Bond in the coming years. This is one man who gives me a chance to talk to my dad regarding movies, lifestyle and adventure and compare the same across both generations

I can’t but leave this chance to punch in a few lines on the review of “Skyfall”. Overall it’s a better movie than ‘Quantum of Solace’ but I guess ‘Casino Royale’ was just a few notches above it. The director(Sam Mendes) tries to give the villain more of ‘Joker’ like  characteristic but that just adds to the melodrama and since his cause for revenge is not well elaborated so the audiences does not feel connected to his pathos. The central storyline lacks the thrill which is a characteristic of Bond movies. This Bond movie plays with finer human emotions running across each character. Their vulnerability and inner conflicts forms the driving force with keeps the audience rolling. Yes the set piece actions are good but I guess that’s what we expect from 007.

An Inspiration from a Cricketer

There are people who are legends, there are people for whom the statistics speak and then there are people who inspires. These people are not role model but they silently prove their point through sheer determination and performance. As I was watching the recent WI vs Nz one day cricket tournament, the performance of Christopher Henry "Chris" Gayle inspired me beyond reason.

This man is probably one of the finest and most destructive player after Viv Richards that Jamaica have produced. Brian Lara certainly enjoys the title of "Legend" but Chris Gayle through his performance has lifted his status to a level where he is a sure match winner on his day. His performance in T20 over the past 3 years is nothing short of legendary folklore. In the 2011 IPL he scored more IPL runs than any other batsman – 608 at an average of 67.55 and strike-rate of 183.13 – and in 2012 did better with 733 runs at a strike-rate of 160.74, scoring eight 50-plus scores, the most in IPL 5. After lighting up the past two IPL seasons with some tremendous hitting, and treating fans in Bangladesh, Australia and Zimbabwe to some audacious Twenty20 innings. His Test and One day records are also envying by any standard. This has not only made him richest cricketer in his country but also has compelled his corrupt cricket board to reconsider their decision to drop him from National squad.

In India there are few cricketers who have stood against the BCCI and yet made progress in their career. Their careers have been cut short and most of them have faded away. The same thing could have happened to Chris Gayle. But he never gave up. He played with such a fearless cricket that bowlers across the world were nervous to bowl against him. The people who once wrote him off were forced to re-consider his talent. If you take a look at Wikipedia for Chris Gayle and go through the section "Controversies" you will realize that all the charges points to one fact that he has spoken out against the Organization that control the fate of cricket players in his country. The result was the loss of 2 years of his international career. But his love and dedication of for the game actually forced these people to take him back. This is called the power of performance.

We often find that in our day to day lives, decision made by organizations around us may not be always in favor of our well being. We try and raise our voice, sometimes as individual & sometimes as group but when the organization turns around to fight most of us leaves the ground. This brings us to the most important question "Is it necessary that the Organization has to be correct, always"? Organizations are made of people and it’s the level of commitment and integrity of the people that defines the stature of the organization. Yes the guidelines of the organizations are good to follow but it’s never too bad to question them. If Pythagoras & Aristotle did not stand against the social notion that the earth is flat then we would have done centuries of research based on a wrong social concept. Similarly if Raja Rammohan Ray did not stand against the social norm of ‘Sati’ then we would have lost many souls to this practice. Even today there are decisions taken by the government or the housing society in which you live or in the company where you work, which may not always be in the best interest of people. In these situations what should we do?

There is no right answer to this question. But if you look at what Chris Gayle have done, you will realize that he has stood his ground and have displayed a passion for his the game which allowed him to sail through the turbulence. If you stand for a cause which is right and will benefit the well being of people then you should stand your ground. Giving up is not an option but sailing forward is the way ahead but the important thing is that one should be true and honest to ones work. The key lesson here is "the power of performance". If you perform well in your field then one way or the other you will be recognized or forced to be recognized.

Hirok Rajar Deshe....

The title of this blog might not be familiar with many of my friends but just for them, this is the same title as the movie directed by Satyajit Ray. It literally means "In the land of diamond king". When we were growing up this movie appealed to us in a way like any other fairly tale had. Now that we are able to see and conceive the world around us this movie had unfolded a new meaning and dimension before us. The greatness of Satyajit Ray was that his movies transcended the boundary of time and today when we look around the political scenario it looks like the movie being played in front of our eyes.

The story is set in a fairy land which is known to be rich and famous as it has diamond mines called Hirak Rajya (Land of Diamonds). The main protagonist of the movie Goopy and Bagha are bored with their lives as crown prince’s of Shundi and Halla gets a chance to visit Hirak Rajya. On reaching there they realize that the king is a tyrant. Diamonds and riches get pent up in his treasuries, while his subjects starve and suffer. Those who protest are taken care of in the 'Jantarmantar', a chamber for brainwashing devised by a famous scientist who is sponsored by the King. The only enemy the king has in his land is Udayan Pandit. He is a school teacher and, more than that, he is a believer of values and who speaks his mind freely in public. Now through various struggles Udayan along with Goopy and Bagha manages to dethrone the kind and brainwash him to such an extent that in the last scene he is seen to bring his own statue down.

We as Indians harp about our erstwhile culture, history and growth story but inside the story is same, rich becoming richer, poor becoming poorer. Citizens can’t raise their voice. Those who protest are either killed or silenced with muscle power. May be there is few people who gather strength to protect against the government but that never bulges into a movement to dethrone the ruler. People are brainwashed during election time and then for the next five year they pay heavy price for that brain washing.
The past three years when the country was trying to prevent itself from economic collapse it came across the biggest scams of the millennium. If that wasn’t enough,the decision of the central government on key issues were so lame duck that now the country is liming towards self destruction.
A few of the decisions in the last few months were so baffling that I am yet to find any logical explanation to them:

1) A cameraman caught few ministers watching porn in assembly - Result: media is now banned from entering assembly.

2) There is a rise of crime against women in Gurgaon - Result: Women are advised not to venture out after 8:00pm

3) Indian railways needs fund to modernize and improve its infrastructure and the obvious choice is raising the fare - Result: The coalition partner destabilize the government.

The greatest difference between movies and real life is that, in movies the ending always makes the audience happy. We see the Hirok Raja after being brainwashed in his own machine bringing down his own statue and ending the tyrant rule. When will this happen in real life? A country with so much potential is being slowly consumed in the smoke of the fire which is self ignited. I have merely found some striking similarity between my childhood fairy tale story and the rule that we are witnessing now. And like that fairy tale story I want the tyrant rule to end. When will this happen?

Evolution - Men and Heroes

It’s often argued that cinema acts as a mirror of the society. No matter how blurred the image, the mirror shows, it succeeds to portray a generic sketches of the society of the prevailing time. Taking this argument forward does it mean that the hero’s portrayed in today’s Hindi movie reflect the general psychology of Indian male. The reason for bringing out this argument is that many of the old movies are remade recently and you can see the difference in the on screen character across the generation.

Movies like Umrao Jaan, Don, Agneepath etc. has been remade in recent time and the characters of Nawab Sultan Khan, Vijay(aka Don) or Vijay Dinanath Chauhan have undergone drastic change. Can this change be attributed to the change in masculinity over the ages?  

Why only stick to Hero’s alone..even villains have undergone transformation. They are no longer the bad guys who get beaten up in the end. They are cleaver and suave and stylish. The heroes on the other hand are more health conscious and come clean shaven irrespective of the scene. If he is not going to college or spending his dad’s money he may be seen romancing the heroine on some exotic locales. The heroes are now born in well to do families and no longer struggles to stay alive (At least in most cases). This fact seems to highlight the rise of the middle class in urban India. It’s no longer the days where old spice is a luxury but Hugo Boss is a part of most wardrobes these days. The urbanization and rise of multiplexes in India means that people are not interested to see the poor guy and rich girl story nor are they interested to see the angry young man. People are more willing to see an understanding man who loves and loves to be loved. He is non violent and would go to any extent to please the lady love but since there is no villain so his physical ability is never questioned.

The hero of yester years were not too keen to tear their shirt or show his martial art skills and in pretext show off his sculpted body. His appeal was the raw kick and punch that he would use to overpower the villain to rescue his lady love. The victory of good over evil would come at the cost of death and destruction around him. Today the struggle is more against the system or ones inner self. The good old days of bad villain is gone now.

The modern hero does not have to deal with widow mother and an unmarried sister who is always the target of the villain or his sidekick. He is brought up well and not much time is given to his family. If required then only a sister or uncle or dad is put in the movie. Yes the nucleated family is very well reflected in the screen play and the selfishness and individualism is very well reflected in his mannerism. This is a social change which we can’t deny.

The Vinay, Vijay, Vishwanath is replaced by Raj, Sid, Chulbul Pandey ‘s in the movie. Not to forget the importance of item number in the script. In the earlier movies if and only if there is a Don or a Gabbar Singh in the movie one could expect Helen aunty to dance to keep him happy. The set up now has changed to urban India but the mindset of audience has not changed hence the need for item number has gone up. Today the publicity of a movie depends on the peppy numbers that are used in the disc & night clubs across the country so the producers have no choice but to hire a Munni or Sheila.

Gone are the days of poetic lyrics and soulful voices, today’s hero can sing songs in different voices and he is not too bothered behind the poetry behind it. So long as he can lip sync it properly the girl standing in front would be impressed. This is because today the world runs on quantity and not quality. No one cares if your movie has become silver jubilee or golden jubilee. If they can recover the producer money in the first week shows then the project is successful. Yes movies are a project now and executed with precision and planning. You don’t get a year to complete your project. It must be done at max 180 days with 30 days to top it up with publicity. The PR team earns more than the singers of the movie so I guess we should restrict our expectation regarding the emotional aspect of movie making.

The story of the movie always appeals to the movie goers. This one common factor ties all the generations together. But the star appeal today and help the producer to recover his money in the 1^st weekend even the movie is a complete trash. Hence the star sometimes becomes bigger than the movie which is acceptable so long as the product is good. Yes movie is an entertainment product for us, the consumers. I guess this mentality stems from the economic environment around us. The consumer chooses the product based on reviews and word of mouth publicity.

So cinema is undergoing an evolution from becoming a piece of art to a FMCG product. There is no harm with this change so long as people get the value of the money they spent. Heroes and villains are also under going change to suit the demands of the people. The evolution of Indian men and his masculinity is a similar process. We all welcome this change. The evolution of humans is always accompanied by change and so this process is one of the most natural manifestations of nature.