We left the Jungle Retreat next morning and drove to the Dudwha national park. Quite a long drive that took us most of the day. Evening was closing in when we arrived. Jaagir Manor is a similar setup to Jim’s. Accommodation is in several lodges spread around a site with a pool and restaurant complex at the centre. Our lodge was bigger than many houses I have lived in. As well as a large bedroom and bathroom there were also three other rooms. Each one a sort of lounge although we never worked what to do in them. One had a kettle which was nice for making tea. The other two we just looked at and walked through occasionally.
Dudhwa National Park is 490 km2 of reserve in the Terai belt of marshy grasslands of northern Uttar Pradesh where it borders Nepal. Established in 1958 as a wildlife sanctuary for swamp deer it is now home to a wide range of creatures including tiger, leopard, sloth bear, elephant and rhino. Our introduction began, as was becoming normal, at 5:30am with a chilly drive down to the nearest park entrance. Our driver and guide was attached to Jaagir Manor but we still needed to take a local guide on board when we entered the park. Once in the park, our driver explained that we needed get to a certain place for the best chance to see tigers. We would have to hurry. With this he shot off at break-neck speed along the dusty, bumpy track.
You cannot hear very well when charging along a dirt road. We needed to stop regularly to listen for alarm calls. One stop was by a lake where we spotted a mugger crocodile. In the morning, they haul out onto land to warm up with the sun. Crocodiles are cold blooded. They need to warm up to be able to move and hunt effectively.
A little further on, our car crunched to halt by a seldom used and roped off track. There, in the far distance was a tiger. We could barely see it. Just then, two other vehicles arrived. The tiger looked around and then vanished into the forest.
The vehicles all split up and we continued the search. Following another vehicle is not nice because you get covered with dust and cannot see anything. Much of the reserve, possibly most of it, is not accessible. It is genuinely reserved for the animals. Only limited numbers of vehicle are allowed each day and only in specified areas.
Looking to the right, up a side track, we spotted two other safari vehicles. They were stopped and the occupants were standing up looking at something in roughly our direction. Our driver stopped the car and we waited quietly for a while. Then a full-grown Bengal Tiger simply stepped out of the undergrowth by the side of the road between us and the other vehicles. There was no rustling of bushes or squawking of birds. He was just there. Quiet and deadly. Apparently without a care, he turned and started walking down the road towards us. This was a magnificent thing to behold and I was torn between looking through my camera and just enjoying the experience. He only walked a short distance before stepping across to the other side of the road, strolling through some grass and vanishing into the bushes again. Then our driver explained that we were late for leaving the park in the morning so we would have to drive very fast. If we got to the gate after it had been closed there would be a fine.
After lunch, we set off in the hope of seeing rhinos. Rhinos are even older than crocodiles. 5 million years or more. There were rhinos when dinosaurs roamed the earth. They survived the asteroid and many cycles of glaciation and warming. Man has pushed them to them to the brink of extinction in a mere century. To see them we would need to access a smaller area within the main reserve. Our driver was very keen that we should be one of the first car into the park. We set off early and were, in fact, the first in the queue. When the gate was opened for the afternoon we then needed to rush to the second gate to get into the rhino area where only two cars were allowed. This was on a first come, first served basis. It was oddly reminiscent of a Bruce Springsteen concert I attended several years ago. Queue up early at the main gate and then dash across the arena to be one of the first into the mosh pit. This for a close-up view of an ancient animal doing the same thing it has done for endless years. Pole position at the gate and some furious off-road driving was rewarded with prime access to the rhino enclosure. Our driver waved at the unlucky latecomers with a distinct “eat my dust” expression on his face.
Inside the enclosure we still had to find the rhinos. This proved to be much easier than chasing tigers. Rhinos are bigger, and slower and much easier to spot. We found a mother with a youngster. They took no notice of us at all. We left after a few photographs and went to see what else we could find.
Late afternoon is a good time for spotting birds. Heading back to the main reserve, we spotted two more rhino in a lake but far in the distance. We stopped off to see some working elephants. It was feeding time.
Further along the road we climbed a watchtower to look at a herd of deer in some wetlands. The light was beginning to fade. This makes photography difficult. My camera is pretty good in low light but at a certain point the images start to become very grainy.
