The arrangements for entering the Tiger Reserve were pretty complicated. We needed an entry permit, a jeep permit, and a jeep with driver, accomodation arrangements, safari permits, and a guide. In total it cost us around 80 quid for all 3 of us for an overnight stay in the park and two safari's. If you look at the park on a map, you can se how enormous this place is, easily comparable to the size of Yorkshire! It holds all sorts of wildlife, including over 600 kinds of birds, elephants, crocodiles, boars, 4 species of deer, monkeys and of course Bengal Tigers. There are only 164 Tigers within the park so our chances didn't seem that great for seeing one. We teamed up with an American couple, Erik and Joanne, for our visit to the park to save on the spondoolies. On our drive towards the accommodation within the park, our driver, Sammi, noticed some claw marks in a tree bark, and also some fairly fresh tiger paw marks on the sandy roadside. We all got real excited and were looking hard for the tiger that was hopefully nearby, but after a few minutes it looked like it wasn't going to be. We began to drive onwards, when the Sammi (God only knows how) spotted the orange and black markings less than 10 meters away from the jeep, but through very thick trees and bushes. We moved for a better view, and had clear vision of a great bengal tiger. It looked proper powerfull in comparison to those you see in the zoo, definately the biggest I've seen. We got a few picks (none clear enough for the blog, but heres a few dear for ya) and moved on still underestimating how lucky we had just been.
The accomodation area was surrounded by an electric fence (think Jurrassic Park) because there had been known tiger attacks in the night (It would be a good photo opportunity at least). We had a meal of dhal and rice and spinach and potatoes at the reserve. We also struck up a conversation with some Indian fellas's who have been coming to the park for the last 4 years at this time and they told us how they have not yet seen a Tiger. They were amazed that we had seen one on our first day (I say amazed, I think it was more on the lines of jealous to be honest though, haha). We woke at 6am for our first Safari and saw a great deal of wildlife including the majority mentioned earlier.
On our second safari we were lucky again, as there was a herd of elephants marching through the grasslands, this was my favourite part of the safari as they got really close to us. Nothing to fear from these guys at least (just like the elephant parade in the Jungle Book). We drove around the Savannah area, and through the forest like jungles still trying to spot another Tiger, but to no avail. This increased the fact that we were just incredibly lucky to have seen one the previous day, and I'm sure its a moment in our life that none of us will ever forget.
Corbett Tiger Reserve Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2248023011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
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