My Days in Corbett

During the last week of April, I managed to fulfill one of my lifelong ambitions - to stay inside Jim Corbett National Park in Uttaranchal, India.

An Idea is hatched

They say that life is what you make of it. Sometime ago, I took an online personality test , the feedback was that I typify a conventional, insipid, risk averse individual and that my life is as normal as it could get. My recent past has been anything but that - It made me realize how unpredictable life is. I learnt that, from being easy and happy go lucky, life could get pretty complicated pretty quickly.

I was vexed, rueful and rationalizing. A combination that made me want to just get away to serenity.

Himalayas is usually my default choice when I think tranquility. But I was obsessed with the Tiger ever since my first wild encounter. So, I sacrificed a trip to the Himalayan region and was destined elsewhere.

Jim Corbett National Park

Jim was a hunter from England who lived in India during British rule; in the early 1930s he realised he had erred and turned to conservation. He fought for the cause of saving the Tiger and was instrumental in setting up protected areas. He avowed to hunt only man-eaters then on and became a legend.

In memoriam, the Indian government named the park after him. In 1973, the project tiger campaign began there as well, leading to what is now called as the 'Corbett Tiger Reserve' (CTR) - which at 1300 Sq KM is the largest & possibly the wildest reserve forest in India.

For me, it was not only the call of the wild but also the call of Corbett.

Gearing up for a Sojourn

After several inquires and information gathering. I wrote to the Project Tiger Office at Ramnagar and also booked train tickets to and from Delhi. Once the approvals and arrangements were done, I negotiated for my transport and accommodation within the Reserve.

Unpredictability - present continuous

On arrival at Delhi, I asked to go to the Delhi Railway station as per my ticket. The taxi driver assumed New Delhi station, dropped me off and left in a hurry. A few moments later, amidst people who swarm like bees in the busy, humid station, I realized that I was at the wrong station and that someone had slipped his hands into my pocket to rid me of my spanking new cell phone.

There was no time to do anything but hitch a ride to the old Delhi railway station where the train to Ramnagar was to leave within the hour. As luck would have it, I reached in time. Once at the platform,I noticed that my train ticket was also stolen. Several deliberations and explanations to the TC resulted in me shelling out a hundred to get on the train instead of the stipulated Rs. 50 if one does not carry a reserved ticket.

Fortunately, everything else I had carried was intact.

A Bright Monday - Day 1 at CTR

Tahil, my driver cum caretaker for the coming days was enthused on arrival of the train from Delhi and had gone looking for me. In the meanwhile, I was enthused about finding him and located the 4WD jeep which I would use. We finally met a few minutes later and proceeded towards Corbett. After completing formalities at the forest office, I started what is easily the best wildlife outing to date.

We took 5 hours to cover the 30 km stretch to Dhikala camp stopping en route on every sighting. Tahil narrated several incidents of tiger spotting and also the information he had on the local tiger population and habitat. The highlight of the first safari in Corbett was the sighting of the Crested Serpent Eagle in close quarters.

On reaching Dhikala and settling down, I was ready for my first trip into the core areas of the jungle. Not too long into the safari, all vehicles roaming the forest converged and stopped in anticipation of a tiger coming out of the bushes for water. Nothing happened for 45 minutes and we decided to move on. I heard on my return to the camp that the tiger had indeed come out in the open. I was just philosophical about not seeing it and wondered whether I would see another during my stay at all.

However, the evening trip was extremely fruitful, I got a chance to observe elephants in the grasslands and spotted many other mammals and rare birds.

A Sultry Tuesday - Day 2 at CTR

Tuesday was extremely hot. I got a chance to explore deeper areas of the fantastic natural forest. All through the morning and evening rides, all I saw was pug marks and all I heard on my return to the camp was stories of a glimpse of a tiger here and a spotting there.

There was no shortage of other wildlife though, the opportunities I got to observe various animals and birds in their natural habitat was exhilarating. The elephants were godsend at the grasslands, I could spot about a hundred! I kept telling myself and also mentioned to Tahil - "I'm here to see Corbett and not the tiger". Although, this was true to an extent, it was always in the back of my mind that I had kept my fingers crossed about the tiger ever since I dreamt of going to Corbett.

Later, I chanced to walk around the camp after sunset and noticed that the horizon beyond the Dhikala grasslands had lit up. The forest was on fire! At that time, it looked more like an aura. Forest fires during summers are common - I stopped worrying and retired for the day as the extreme heat had completely drained me.

That sinking feeling - Day 3 at CTR


I woke up with thoughts of my missed opportunity on Monday and was starting to get worried about my chances. I guess Tahil was worried as well, the first thing he mentioned to me that morning was, "Sir, aaj sirf tiger specific safari karange" ( let us look only for tigers today).

We roamed the forests for about 3 hours that morning before entering the paar region of the forest, even there, it was only a case of fresh pug marks but no tiger. But there was something else to greet us, the fires were raging beyond the mountains which resulted in thick smog cover in the area. We had no choice but to turn back. On our way out of the paar region, which involves crossing the ramganga river a couple of times - trouble was waiting.

Corbett is unique in some respects, for instance, it has patches of elephant grass between wooded forests. As we were making our way back through the track between these grasslands, I noticed the grass moving and immediately signalled Tahil to stop.

Just a few meters ahead a giant tusker popped out of the grass!! we expected him to crossover and disappear in to the grass on the other side. But that was wishful thinking - He looked at us for a few seconds and started walking towards us. He looked agitated by our intrusion into his home.

In a track that is as wide as the jeep we were travelling in, going in reverse gear is a difficult proposition. It gets tougher if the road is curvy. But, when the road is surrounded by grass that can hide elephants - It was a case of nowhere to run.

Nevertheless, we braved our way backwards in the hope that the tusker would feel less agitated and let go if we maintain a respectable distance. With great difficulty, Tahil started to work his way backwards, I was in part guiding him and mostly keeping an eye on the now charging Tusker.

After about 50-60 meters of going backwards during this rather uncomfortable time. We decided to stop and see what happens; apparently, the Tusker had made up his mind and was unrelenting. He started to close in and we negotiated another 50 meters doing two things at a time. Fear gripped us, I wondered why I ever ventured into his territory. I suspect Tahil must have had similar thoughts.

After several such stop and tread back jeep tricks, our hopes of the tusker letting go faded. To add to our vows, we were soon faced with the prospect of crossing a timber bridge that was as wide as the jeep and had no railings on either side. It was one of those moments when you get that sinking feeling. But adrenaline also makes one brave I suppose - after all, it is all about fight or flee when adrenaline flows. At this time, the chances of fleeing were rather grim, we decided to fight.

It was the final go backwards, stop & watch if the tusker recedes step before we had to hit the river. We decided to stop and wait. And thankfully, the giant finally decided that he had done enough and started walking into the grass. I guess watching him go away itself was cause for another adrenaline rush. We thanked our stars and moved on.

The evening safari provided great sightings and photography opportunities. On our return to the camp, I noticed that the fire had crossed several mountains over the course of a day and was now clearly visible. Each and everyone of the forest department staff was fighting it, to no anvil. All said, everything is so well balanced in nature that, there was a natural boundary beyond which the fire could not rage, the ramganga river.





At the end of the day, I had the stark realization that I would be on the train to Delhi the next evening - that sinking feeling got to me again, but, I did not let myself down - "Tomorrow is another day".


Corbett's Personality Test - Day 4 at Corbett

Talim was grim-faced when we started the final safari to the core areas of Dhikala. Both of us kept our fingers crossed and hopes alive - we also did our part to give ourselves the best chance to spot the elusive tiger by leaving the gates at 5:45 AM sharp. As usual, we went through sambhar road and climbed back to the main road without much luck.

Talim then drove in to a cul-de-sac known as Ram Singh road that ends near a river bed . This jungle path is infamously named after Ram singh, a forest guard who was killed by a tiger in the region. As we approached the river bed, we saw two sets of pug marks. One was of a huge tiger and another was of a relatively younger, smaller one. As was the case with hundreds of other pugmark sightings, we were speculating the directions in which the two tigers could have gone when Talim pointed me towards yellow streaked bushes about 100 meters ahead of where we stood and asked me to look through my camera lens.

Human emotion is a strange phenomenon. What makes one happy makes the other sad; what one likes the other dislikes, what one loves the other may hate. The state of being emotional too is similar.

To me however, what I saw through the looking glass churned out feelings like butter is extracted from milk. I whispered to talim, "Haan, yea tiger hain" (yes, that is a tiger) with tear filled eyes. He looked up to the skies and thanked god for what we had just set our eyes on.

After more than thirty hours of searching with a unrelenting resolve and after every effort I had put to make this trip possible, I was finally face to face with one of 1300 or so tigers left in the wild today. It was one of those moments when emotional spikes cannot be contained.

I quickly wiped my eyes, and got to work, through the lens I studied this magnificent specimen for about 15 minutes before the jungle king decided to cross the river and head into the grass on the other side. His walk was phenomenal, every living thing in the vicinity screamed their lungs out to warn others that the king was on the move. It was amazing to experience what was going on.

As the prowler disappeared into the grass, we heard an alarm call from a deer behind us, we rushed to where the calls were coming from and within minutes of my first tiger sighting in Corbett, I was just a few meters away from a crouching tiger who waited no more than a minute before stealthily disappearing in to the bushes.

No more than 15 minutes later, there were more calls further down, a huge sambhar deer sprung out of the bushes and ran for its life. The calls were deafening for there was a third huge tiger in the vicinity which calmly walked around in the grasslands and lay down in the grass.

Thus, within the span of an hour on this eventful day, I had spotted and studied three wild tigers. Others who were on safari picked up the cues very quickly and started rushing to the spot - which forced me to recluse into a quieter part of the jungle as I continued my day long study of the Corbett forest.

It was exactly 6:30 PM, the park's closing time when we reached the main gate of the park after having spent hours in water holes and observing various wild phenomena. I found the first telephone booth and thus was back to civilization.

Talim then drove me to the local barber who ecstatically worked and dressed me up for urban society so to speak. very soon, it was dinner time and sooner still, it was time for the train to leave. I bade farewell to the humble nature lover and boarded the train back to seeming normalcy.

Epilogue

Although it was my personal ambition to spot wild tigers in corbett, it was by no means the only reason for my visit there. I was there appreciating the ecology and spotted tigers by pure chance. Every wildlife enthusiast must visit corbett for its ecology of which tigers are a part.

In retrospect, my days in Corbett was fascinating and unforgettable, every corner I turned had something to offer and the action was non-stop. I'm sure I will remember May 1st, Ram singh road for years to come.

And finally the Photos. Your feedback is much appreciated.