Shantanu Roy
Well-Known Member
Dear All
I have been fortunate enough to visit some great National Parks/Wildlife Sanctuaries/Tiger reserves of our country for the last few years. And always been mesmerized by the beauty of nature with occasional blessings in the form of sighting of fauna (that includes insects, to Big Cats to Elephants and so on) , avifauna and the Flora of course . The sounds of forests kept generating splendor in me and the fragrance of Mother Nature has been filling my heart whenever I am close to her.
Surprisingly, as a tourist to these places I also come across fellow tourists who are utterly disgusted with their forest experience (mostly first timers to forests). I am giving some examples through some reviews posted by tourists as I came across in some travel forums:-
A review on Kanha
Spent 4 days here in March 2013, going on 7 game drives (4 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon, there was no game drives on wednesday afternoons). Our group went in 4 jeeps. No one in our group saw a tiger (ie. thus 0 tiger sightings out of 28 drives). We did see a sloth bear and a leopard. Those planning on coming should also be aware that at this time there are no "tiger shows" (in the past this was considered the best way to see a tiger however these have been eliminated at this time). So if you are looking to see a tiger in the wild, be aware that the chances of seeing one in Kanha are quite low. Good luck!
(This person probably has no idea that how rare is a leopard or sloth bear sighting in wild and how lucky he is.)
Another one
Seeing a Tiger is on my bucket list. And unfortunately after 3.5 days in Kanha, it is still on my bucket list. First, getting to Kanha from any of the nearest airports is ABSOLUTELY a headache. The roads (I use that term loosely) are in terrible condition and most are one lane dirt roads. We even crossed through a couple of streams/shallow rivers. If the Indian government wants more tourism, improving the roads or building a small airstrip nearby should be at the top of the list.
The naturalists/guides are just okay and a little difficult to understand. You are not allowed to go off road at all and are not allowed to use your mobile phone camera. Huh? The only way you will see a tiger is if it walks across the road in front of your jeep.
The last line is too good. God knows what else does this tourist want from the tiger. May be an item number or something???
One from Ranthambhore
The fact that our guide in the jeep had no gun should have told me that we unlikely to see a tiger!
The sheer number of jeeps and lorry/buses going up and down the well worn tracks would put any form of wildlife form showing its face - in fact we saw more entertaining things on the journey from our hotel through the town to the reserve.
I don't know of anyone who saw a tiger!!! You are better off going to Whipsnade Zoo or Woburn Safari park in the UK!
One more from RTR
Roads, connectivity is not good if you are travelling from jaipur.
We got route number 10, forget a tiger we could not locate any animal.
Very disappointing experience.
I can go on with examples like this but in most of the cases it’s us- the tourists, who ruins our own and sometimes each other’s experiences.
For example-you never know - the place where you are waiting for a sighting, may have had another tourist five minute earlier who was discussing his business loudly over his cell phone and thus have driven away all fauna from that area(I specially had this experience in Dooars, West Bengal).
However I strongly feel -with little bit of guidance and education from the experienced nature lovers of this forum, the newbies/first timers to national parks and sanctuaries will be able to do justice to their own and other fellow tourist’s experiences in the parks.
I would hence request all to please add to the list of Dos and Don’ts in the forests. In doing so, may I also request you to kindly also remember the aspects of ecology , conservation legality and ethics as well.
Here are few additions from my side:
1. Do wear clothes of color shades close to naturals.
2. Don’t litter the forest with your snack packets(specially plastic)
3. Don’t talk much. Do listen more.
4. Do talk in a low voice if needed.
5. Don’t wear strong perfumes.
Waiting for other nature lovers to kindly add on to the list….
Thanks
Shantanu Roy
I have been fortunate enough to visit some great National Parks/Wildlife Sanctuaries/Tiger reserves of our country for the last few years. And always been mesmerized by the beauty of nature with occasional blessings in the form of sighting of fauna (that includes insects, to Big Cats to Elephants and so on) , avifauna and the Flora of course . The sounds of forests kept generating splendor in me and the fragrance of Mother Nature has been filling my heart whenever I am close to her.
Surprisingly, as a tourist to these places I also come across fellow tourists who are utterly disgusted with their forest experience (mostly first timers to forests). I am giving some examples through some reviews posted by tourists as I came across in some travel forums:-
A review on Kanha
Spent 4 days here in March 2013, going on 7 game drives (4 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon, there was no game drives on wednesday afternoons). Our group went in 4 jeeps. No one in our group saw a tiger (ie. thus 0 tiger sightings out of 28 drives). We did see a sloth bear and a leopard. Those planning on coming should also be aware that at this time there are no "tiger shows" (in the past this was considered the best way to see a tiger however these have been eliminated at this time). So if you are looking to see a tiger in the wild, be aware that the chances of seeing one in Kanha are quite low. Good luck!
(This person probably has no idea that how rare is a leopard or sloth bear sighting in wild and how lucky he is.)
Another one
Seeing a Tiger is on my bucket list. And unfortunately after 3.5 days in Kanha, it is still on my bucket list. First, getting to Kanha from any of the nearest airports is ABSOLUTELY a headache. The roads (I use that term loosely) are in terrible condition and most are one lane dirt roads. We even crossed through a couple of streams/shallow rivers. If the Indian government wants more tourism, improving the roads or building a small airstrip nearby should be at the top of the list.
The naturalists/guides are just okay and a little difficult to understand. You are not allowed to go off road at all and are not allowed to use your mobile phone camera. Huh? The only way you will see a tiger is if it walks across the road in front of your jeep.
The last line is too good. God knows what else does this tourist want from the tiger. May be an item number or something???
One from Ranthambhore
The fact that our guide in the jeep had no gun should have told me that we unlikely to see a tiger!
The sheer number of jeeps and lorry/buses going up and down the well worn tracks would put any form of wildlife form showing its face - in fact we saw more entertaining things on the journey from our hotel through the town to the reserve.
I don't know of anyone who saw a tiger!!! You are better off going to Whipsnade Zoo or Woburn Safari park in the UK!
One more from RTR
Roads, connectivity is not good if you are travelling from jaipur.
We got route number 10, forget a tiger we could not locate any animal.
Very disappointing experience.
I can go on with examples like this but in most of the cases it’s us- the tourists, who ruins our own and sometimes each other’s experiences.
For example-you never know - the place where you are waiting for a sighting, may have had another tourist five minute earlier who was discussing his business loudly over his cell phone and thus have driven away all fauna from that area(I specially had this experience in Dooars, West Bengal).
However I strongly feel -with little bit of guidance and education from the experienced nature lovers of this forum, the newbies/first timers to national parks and sanctuaries will be able to do justice to their own and other fellow tourist’s experiences in the parks.
I would hence request all to please add to the list of Dos and Don’ts in the forests. In doing so, may I also request you to kindly also remember the aspects of ecology , conservation legality and ethics as well.
Here are few additions from my side:
1. Do wear clothes of color shades close to naturals.
2. Don’t litter the forest with your snack packets(specially plastic)
3. Don’t talk much. Do listen more.
4. Do talk in a low voice if needed.
5. Don’t wear strong perfumes.
Waiting for other nature lovers to kindly add on to the list….
Thanks
Shantanu Roy
Last edited: