Have just returned from Tiger Trail tour and almost caught up on my sleep.
This tour does involve a lot of coach travel and a number of early starts, so here's a run down of the tour we did.
9 of us set out from the UK arriving in Delhi on 28 February and met up with our tour manager Kim Clark and 7 other members of the group who were doing the Tiger Trail as a follow on from the Invitation to India tour. In total there were 16 of us in the group, 8 men and 8 women which meant shorter queues when we stopped for comfort breaks.
Day 1 - given the packed itinerary, Kim made a change so once we'd had a chance to freshen up, we did the trip to the step well and Ghandi's house in teh afternoon before our welcome dinner in teh evening.
Day 2 - we headed to Dholpur, after a lunch stop near Agra fort we visited the fort and then headed to the Taj Mahal, for those who had done the Invitation to India immediately before the Tiger trail this was a chance to revisit the fort and Taj Mahal and explore areas they hadn't had the chance to see on their first visit. We arrived at the hotel after 7pm and went straight to dinner. Most of us rooms with their own walled courtyard and private pool, while a couple had presidential suites.
Day 3 - our only chance for a lie in before heading off mid morning for the optional river cruise in search of wildlife. We had an afternoon at leisure and Kim organised a tour of the palace and a trip to the local market where we got to experience the packed streets and mad traffic as well as meeting the locals.
Day 4 - we set out at 8:00 for Orchha stopping en route to visit Gwalior eventually arriving at our hotel in time for a late lunch. After checking into our rooms we were out again to visit the palace of Jahangir Mahal, then back to the hotel before walking to the Ram Raja temple.
Day 5 - Another 8:00 departure as we headed to Khajuraho arriving aroung 13:00 for lunch before heading to our nearby hotel. After a free afternoon we went to the local dance show before heading back for dinner and an early night.
Day 6 - A 5:15 start as we set out for our first game drive at Panna National Park, at that time of morning it was pretty cold and most of the group remembered to wear something warm. After several hours including a breakfast stop in the park we were rewarded with our first tiger sighting albeit a brief sighting that most of of got to see before heading back to the hotel late morning. After lunch we headed to the Khajaraho temples to see the erotic carvings, although rain meant none of us were keen to explore further
Day 7 - Another 8:00 start as we drove to Bandhavgarth National Park, this was a long journey along bumpy roads, although the rum and coke provided by Kim and our local guide was gratefully received, eventually arriving at our next hotel mid afternoon, wifi here was only available in the reception and even then it was a bit patchy. One thing we discoverd early on was no bar! but luckily Kim arranged for the hotel staff to go to the local town to buy supplies to keep us going during out 2 day stay here.
Day 8 - A 5:45 departure for our next game drive, we were spread over 4 jeeps and by the time we stopped for breakfast in the park only one group had been lucky enough to see a tiger, this time she walked across the road right in front of us allowing us time to get a few photos. We arrived back at the hotel late morning, after lunch we set off for an afternoon game drive, the rain started to pour down but we were reluctant to have the roof covers down as we wouldn't get to see much. After problems getting into the park because of mistakes on the lists of who was on what jeep (some were in 2 jeeps, one was missed off and one of the group forgot his passport) we eventually got into the park an hour late. This time all 4 jeeps were together and we got to see a tiger almost straight away spending the next 2 hours watching and trying to predict where they would go so we could continue to follow them.
Day 9 - Another early start, 6:30 departure as we started the long drive to Kanha National Park, once again rum and coke helped us get through the final stages of the journey, arriving mid afternoon with a chance to enjoy a swim or chance to relax before dinner.
Day 10 - A 5:30 departure for our first game drive of the day, this park is bigger than those we had previously visited and once again we were on 4 jeeps all heading off in different directions, but luckily all of the group got to see tigers as well as the other wildlife in the park. After a late morning return to the lodge for lunch we headed back to the park for 15:00 for our final game drive of the tour; by 17:30 none of us has spotted a tiger and then finally one group got to see the final tiger of the tour wandering past a group of deer who were very wary of the tiger, but she kept on going.
Day 11 - After an early breakfast we left at 6:30 for the long journey to Mumbai, about 8 hours on the coach, helped with a final cup of rum and coke followed by a couple of hours waiting for our flight eventually arriving at the hotel at 19:30 for our farewell dinner.
Day 12 - We were leaving at 9:30, but as it was the Holi festival a couple of us went for a stroll along the beach to experience the festival and arrived back at the hotel with our faces smeared with powder paint, only to be told by the hotel we had to wash it off befor going inside. 13 of us left today, leaving 3 behind, one doing an extra day in Mumbai and 2 going on to Kerela to combine 3 tours into a 28 day experience of India.
All in all I really enjoyed this tour despite all of the early starts and long coach trips, my one regreat is that the tour planners didn't think to make this a festival special and add an extra day so that we could properly experience the Holi festival, so maybe they will take note if this tour is running in later years and coincides with the festival.
We were lucky with just 16 on the group in that the number was not too big to make comfort stops a long drawn our process. Kim was an excellent tour manager and having done many tours in India was able to sort out any problems that arose.
If you are considering this tour, please bear in mind there are long coach trips on bumpy roads and on many occassions comfort breaks were a stop by a bush or tree at the side of the road or a smelly loo at a petrol station, so if thats not your cup of tea do think carefully before booking.
Tim
