‘A visit to Tadoba’: Short Note by  Ananya Ambrit, Apeejay School Nerul

It was on the onset of the Christmas spirit that we started our journey. Boarding the train on the 22December, excitement visibly flushed on our faces, as we said goodbye to Mumbai.

The next morning rose bright and calm. We admired the lush green fields of paddy from the window. Finally, it was time, we saw Nagpur with heaps of oranges neatly arranged at every street corner. We made our way to a restaurant amidst the city to have breakfast.

After that we did some delightful local sightseeing. We decided to have our lunch early in the afternoon. We tried the regional speciality ‘Souji Mutton’. It was delicious.  We then started going towards Tadoba – the land of tigers. We reached our hotel ‘Gondwana jungle resort’ late, had dinner and fell asleep.

The next morning at 5 AM we got ready for our morning safari. We boarded the jeep at 6AM. The weather was very chilly. I even got frostbite. We arrived at the Palasgaon area of the Alizanza gate. We saw a Wild Boar first. Then Nilgai, Sambar deer and even two spotted deer. As we travelled ahead, looking for a tiger, we saw some leopard footprints. We went ahead but to no avail. Suddenly, the jeep stopped. We heard some rustling between the dead bamboo trees. It was something big and orange. My heart was pounding with thrill.

A tiger crossed the road right in front of us. We were just 5 – 6 feet away. Our guide later told us that the tiger was called ‘Joga Moga’ as he first used to reside near a waterbody called Joga Moga. It has a flower shaped print on its cheek. It looked majestic.

We then took a detour to see if we could find the tiger again. But the tiger must have felt uncomfortable by human presence and gone further inside the forest. We then saw plenty of peacocks and had our breakfast in the forest itself and then returned to our hotel.

In the afternoon, we went to the Kolara gate for the afternoon safari. Within five minutes, we saw a lake which had a tiger named Zylo bathing in it. He was fully immersed in the water, with only his face visible. Slowly he got out of the water and started coming towards our jeep. I was not scared at all. He looked bigger and older than Joga Moga. He was about to pounce on us. But our jeep moved backward steadily. He roared loudly and it partially numbed my ear drums. 

Just then from the other end, another tiger arrived. He looked young and tender. We later learnt that he was Zylo’s and a tigress named Veera’s son ‘Veer’. He was only 22 months old. Zylo saw him and went near the grass. Veer approached Zylo cautiously. Apparently, he was scared of his father.

Zylo then went near some thick bamboo branches lying on the ground and broke them, possibly to show Veer his strength. The father-son duo kept staring at each other and probably discussing something very crucial. Then, they went inside the jungle.

All the jeeps who saw the scene, animatedly searched for them till the last moment. But they didn’t make an appearance again. Later, we saw plenty of herbivores, flying peacocks and lots of lakes and ponds, both small and big.

It was a mind – boggling experience. It was 5:30 PM when we came back. We played badminton for some time at the hotel. Our hotel manager told us that last night some tigers were roaming outside the gate of the hotel. It petrified us to the core. She said that tigers here often eat people’s cattle but people are so accustomed to it, that they simply ignore it.

The next day, we made our way to the ‘Balasaheb Gorewada International Zoo’. I was not very fond of the idea of seeing the animals locked up in cages but I reluctantly agreed. We started our trip with some popcorn and ice cream. Then I found out that the animals were not held captive but they were allowed to roam freely over an enormous area.

We first entered the leopard safari in a bus and saw 4 leopards. The last two apparently wanted to fight each other. But, they restrained themselves. We went for the sloth bear next. It was twirling itself in a lake and playing joyfully. It even caught some fish for itself. It was a charming sight. We saw countless herbivores next. The glamorous albino black buck, the agile spotted deer and the vibrant peacocks were a pretty sight.

We saw two tigers, Rajkumar & Lea. Lea was fast asleep. Rajkumar got up, stretched a little and posed perfectly for us with his glowing amber eyes and tearing muscles. It was an amazing experience.

We had noodles for lunch and returned to the railway station. Time was ticking by fast and I was extremely saddened to leave, but also relieved at the prospect of finally not checking if a tiger was under my bed every time I wanted to sleep. We then boarded the train with oranges juggling in our hands. The next morning, we were back where we started.