Wednesday March 21 - Udaipur to Raipur via Delhi
After breakfast we said farewell to the most wonderful Oberoi hotel and headed to the airport for our flight(s) to Raipur via Delhi on Jet Airways. All went well and we arrived in Raipur on time around 6:30pm and were met by a car/driver for the 30 minute trip to the Hyatt Hotel for a quick overnighter.
On the way to the hotel the driver (who only spoke limited English) had been requested (by Vivak, our travel agent) to stop at a wine store as the next 2 camps were not licensed but you could BYO. The lack of a licence is due to a recently introduced law prohibiting the sale of liquor within 500 meters of a national or state highway.
The “wine” shop was more like a bikie hangout - it was totally dark and very scary - I waited in the car while Dieter and the driver went to buy some wine and beer. They did not have any red wine at all and only 2 types of white and some beer.
The hotel was fine and we had dinner (this hotel was in fact licensed in spite of the driver telling us it was not) and hit the sack.
Thursday March 22 - Raipur to Kanha
We left the Hyatt at Raipur and set out for the 4+ hour drive to Kanha National Park and our Taj Camp - the Banjaar Tola. We arrived in time for lunch and the afternoon game drive alas no tigers were sighted.
Thursday-Sunday March 23-26 - Kanha - Banjaar Tola Taj Camp
The next two days followed the same routine - up in time for the 5:30 am start to the morning game drive getting back to the camp around 11am. We saw 2 tigers up close and personal - lazing right on the side of the road. The male moved away but we spotted him again in a water hole - the tigress had 2 or 3 cubs but they were not spotted. Back at the camp we had lunch, a rest and an afternoon game drive from 3pm-6:30pm. The afternoon drive was void of tigers. Back at the camp we had a quick shower then dinner.
The next morning we “saw" (sort of, a glimpse of some cubs in the bamboo forest) but later we saw the mother and 2 cubs frolicking in the water. On the afternoon drive we saw the large male lounging in the water.
For our final night in the camp they served a private dinner on our terrace - which was great as the camp was observing Earth Hour (8:30-9:30pm) which would have made dinner in the restaurant a real rush.
Monday-Wednesday March 26-28 - Bandavgarh - Mahua Kothi Taj Camp
We set out early (8:30am) for the 5 hour drive to Bandavgarh National Park and the Mahua Kothi Camp. We arrived in time for a late lunch then set out for our afternoon game drive at 2:30pm. Alas there were no sightings. On return to the camp we were advised that dinner would be outdoors with a cultural dance troop - making the whole thing a major rush - we let the camp management know we were not pleased with this.
We had 4 more game drives and never saw a tiger - lot of birds and other minor wildlife - such is luck.
On the last night we had a private dinner on our terrace.
Wednesday March 28 - Bandavgarh to Delhi via Jabalpur
After a late breakfast we departed our camp around 11am for the 3+ hour drive to Jabalpur airport. The drive was a bit hair-raising with a couple of near misses - we both agreed this driver was not as safe a driver as Dev (from the initial 13 days). Since we were early, our driver’s boss (Deepak Rai) invited us to his office / home for refreshments - we had a nice chat with him, his wife and daughter. Our flight home on Spice Jet was amazing - we got the VIP treatment - escorted through security, front row seats and priority luggage (our luggage actually reached the belt before we did).
On arrival in Delhi we were met by our JW Marriott driver and were all checked in and sitting in the club lounge by 7:15pm. The lounge was excellent - free flowing drinks and lots of canapés. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and hit the sack.
Thursday March 29 - Delhi to Sydney via Singapore
It was a bit of a long day - idling about waiting for our 10pm flight - fortunately we got a late checkout to 6pm. We finished off with an hour in the Marriott’s Club Lounge then went to the airport - smooth check-in etc - the Kris Flyer lounge was certainly not their flagship. It was 5.5 hours to Singapore, a one hour layover then 7.5 to Sydney - we walked in the door around 7pm - ready for bed.