Melghat and Umred and south

12th March 2025

Heading to Tiger territory again.

Up and out of the hotel by 0545.

And what happens, the maps app malfunctions. No map. 

Fortunately, I was aware of where I was headed.

Asked the security guy the direction for Dewas. The route was Dewas to Indore, and then turn East.

Somewhere during the run, maps corrected itself. Came back to showing me the roads, confusing me with all the shit.

Post Indore, the roads went bad. At times were just not there. 

Not complaining, as most of that was due to to the new highways getting built.

Reached Melghat Reserve by 1230. This was the lower gate.

Had another 25 kilometers to do to reach VRK Resorts at Chikladara. There was another safari gate there. The resort was a MTDC location.

The road is a single vehicle forest road. Top speed 20 kmph. Broken in most parts. Winding, climbing.

Got to the resort by 1330. Checked in. 

Had the pleasure of being asked what I wanted for lunch by the resident cook. Took him 20 minutes to cook it up.

Went to the Forest office to book my safari for the next day. Got that done. The counter had only me. Was informed that this was off season. Made sure the animals had not been informed. Got a laugh from the forest staff.

If any good, will do the afternoon also. Else, do nothing !!

Got back to the hotel. Slept.

Up by 1700. Had decided to wash the vehicle. Got that done at a place about 10 minutes away. Sure the vehicle has lost loads of weight in dirt.

Walked around the property.

That's the VIP room. One double bed. Plus two single beds, Buggers were aghast that I had not taken the kutti room.

 

Huge property. Am the one single guest here.

13th March 2025

Was at the forest office by 0530. Not a guy in sight.

By 0545, the office had multiple people - the staff to make out the receipt, guides, drivers.

Left the office by 0600.

It was dark when we entered the forest.

Melghat is hilly terrain. And, hard stony soil.

But looks beautiful.

The first hour was just admiring the beauty of the place. As the sun came up, and surroundings got visible, this is what I saw.

There are two types of terrain. There is the forest till a certain height. Then there is the grassland on the mountain flat tops.

On the slopes, it is all wooded forest. Looks beautiful.

Gets hot, seriously hot.

 

We went along the road. Saw pug marks headed the opposite way. Kept going.

Once we reached the grassland altitude, around 1000 meters, it was loads and loads of Sambhar deer.

Never seen so many together. This is a so Spotted Deer thing.

 

Apologies to the Sambhar, but just did not keep taking pictures of them.

This was more fun

 

Had been in the forest for an hour and a half. All the animals I had seen were a few Barking deer, and hordes of Sambhar.

As we turned from the last point, I saw movement.

 The Golden Jackal.

There were three of them, quite a distance between them

 

On the way out saw this Black Shouldered Kite.

 

Had decided to do the afternoon safari, but start as late as possible.

Got back to the room for a shower and lunch.

Was back at the forest office by 1445.

Started at 1545.

The forest looked different, as the sun was setting.

Enjoyed the changing scenery.

At the same grassland where I had seen the Jackals, the driver asked me to look carefully.

All I could see were two barking deer, Saw no reason for his excitement.

But then, he was looking right. I was looking left.

Here is what I got.

 

It so wanted to cross the road and go at the deer on the other side.

A gypsy full of loud mouths came up. Stopped. And screamed "Leopard".

This is what happened.

Guy got disgusted and walked off. 

Over the hillside.

Drove on. Satisfied with the day. 

On the way back the Sambhar must have seen something. Maybe the same Leopard. Heard continuous alarm calls. The calls were from the side of a heavily wooded mountain. Could see one of the Sambhar making the call. Saw the way he was pointing. But, we had no access in that direction.

Waited till time allowed us. Then headed out.

Just settled down to this.
 

Saw a Jungle Cat on the way out. Taller than most cats. Length is less. He stopped and looked at us for a short while. He got away before I could take out the camera which was packed away from dust.

Great day.

Tomorrow to Umred. 

14th March 2025 ( written 16th March 2025 ) 

The drive out of Melghat was great. Winding road, descending the 1000 meters. Some sharp bends, but, comfortable.

Headed south and east towards Nagpur. 

Got to KP Woods, the resort at Karhandla near Umred.

Nice sprawling place. Had a good chat with the person incharge about getting the cook make non spicy food for me. Explained that only additive could be salt - no spices of any colour, no powders. He stayed with that for the food I was served.

There are three gates to the Umred reserve - Karhandla, Puoni, and Gothangaon.

Talk around gave me this input. Tourists had increased massively. There had been sightings of a Tigress and her five cubs in the Gothangaon gate range. And, a tigress with her three cubs in the Karhandla range.

Did nothing the day I drove in.

The difference in temperatures between Melghat and Umred was not too much. Between Umred and the earlier places was massive. Had used the vehicle cooling system for a while on the way in. Now had to use the air conditioning on thru the day.

At dinner, gave a bag of peda I had picked up in Mathura to be kept in the fridge. The room had a key switch. All power went off when I left the room. Didn't have this problem in the earlier places.

15th March 2025 ( written 16th March 2025 )

Got into the forest in a hurry. No gentle driving, easy introduction into the ecosystem. The driver was in a hurry to get us somewhere, or so I thought. Hung on.

The high speed drive to the water holes did not show up anything. There were no pug marks to see, and hope a Tiger would pop out of the forest in front, no alarm calls.

Got these pictures.

 

The rest of the 3 hours that morning was spent as it was in the Dudhwa range, with a highly intelligent, but lazy driver.

18 gypsies were there.

The intel - the tigress is on the left. The kill is on the right. There is water where the tigress is. She will cross with her cubs.

My question - have anyone seen the kill ? Reply was negative.

Only reply was that she crossed yesterday.

We sat 2 and a half hours.

Nothing moved the buggers.

Went back dissatisfied, hoping the afternoon did not have the same driver.

Problem, as in Dudhwa or elsewhere was not in the lack of seeing wildlife or birds, it was in the lack of effort.

Got back inside by 1430. Heat of the afternoon. Temperatures around 37 degrees C.

Got the same guide, different driver. Laid out the rules. Was okay to stop for reasonable doubt of sightings. Else, try hard.

And, try they did. Till 1730. We got a lot of other wildlife.

Honey Buzzard. First for the journey. Some good from this location.

 

That is a lone male gaur. My driver is shit scared. Idiot. Have seen so many of these gentle powerhouses. Revving your engine is the worst thing you can do. Sit quiet, they will ignore you.

Lovely bird.

Guide and driver had not stopped for a breath. They were doing what they could for a Cat. But, nature is what it is. 

 

So, that's it.

Have not given up on Umred.

Need to come here for 3 days. One for each gate. 

The rage I went to had SIX tigers, two male and four female. Believe gypsy traffic plays a massive role. Will go off season.

16th March 2025

Into Parnika Palace in Kamareddy, Telengana.

looking forward to some good food.

What do I get offered ? Daal, sabhji, roti.

Ordered Hakka noodles for lunch.

It came laced with haldi and mirchi powder !!!!

Will have sandwiches for dinner. Safe.

Unfortunately the buggers only have chapatti and paneer butter masala.

Tomorrow will have authentic idli on roadside. Hopefully.

17th March 2025

Departed by 0545. Stop for the night was at Ongole. 450 kilometers. The rule for me was no driving insane distances anymore, unless unavoidable.

Chennai was another 300 from there. Could be done. But made no sense reaching Monday evening rush hour. 

Reached the Hyderabad bypass. Heaved a sigh of relief at being now able to legally increase speed to 110 kmph. Had been sitting well behaved at 80 kmph.

Connected with the road to Vijayawada. Traffic was heavy and crazy.

Turned off towards Ongole after an hour or so.

Stopped immediately for breakfast.

Asked for idlis and this is how they came. Four idlis, each in a donnai. The sambar could have been better. The chutney was not bad. The dark powder was a bomb. Had been hungry for this.

Checked in a Comfort Inn by 1230. They have an underground parking. Great.

But, no kitchen. so had to head out for lunch. Was told that the next building had a popular dining space. I could order stuff to the room.

On being asked, was told that there was a place not far called Panthulu Gari Mess serving meals. Walked out after a wash. Took me 10 minutes to get there.

Place was not too crowded as I bought a coupon for lunch and sat at one of the benches. Food was excellent. Two vegetables, one Keerai Sambar, Curds, appalam, sambar, rasam. Good tasty food. All for INR120/=. Not as spicy as I expected it to be.

By the time I was leaving, this was the crowd.

Maybe I will take a look at the place next door for dinner. Incentive is that it has a bar.

Tomorrow I head home.