Corbett - A Heaven On Earth
If not read my first blog , no problem go onn..there is not much connection except that the whole experience was gradually built up and hence written in two parts.
So with our high hopes because of our very first safari of Jhirna was successful (by sighting a tiger ) we all were on the cloud nine. After the safari it was time to purchase all groceries and vegetables and much more.. So to those who don't know the concept of staying in FRH of Jim Corbett specifically in (Sultan and Sarpaduli) you have to carry your own groceries including salt, rice, dal, aata, spices everything, and vegetables you would like to have while your stay. Then you take it along with you and hand it over to the care taker of the FRH. These super helpful guys will prepare mouthwatering food, with a rural touch for you.
After 2 hours of shopping, we headed to our much awaited trip. Around 1:30 pm we checked in at Sultan, the daroga ji there greeted us and humbly asked about our lunch plan. Our friend Azim had a bumper surprise for us. He specially brought Home Made Biryani for us. The day was getting better and better and we were awaiting for another great wildlife experience.
After getting freshen up, the table was set and steaming hot Biryani was served to us. Enjoying each and every bit of it and blessing Azim and his family😀 we gulped down 2.5 kg of Biryani in few minutes. With our satisfied belly it was time to start our second safari of Jim Corbett and first of Dhikala zone. Sharp at 2:45 pm we left from Sultan and proceed towards Dhikala FRH. As it was our first Safari in the zone we were totally dependent on Azims experience and calculations of recent sighting.
Before reaching to Jim Corbett or say even before planning for it I had some dream frames which I wished to capture it in my tour. For example : I wanted to capture a Wild Elephant with its calf besides a water body, then a Tiger crossing the river etc etc..there is a long list of it.. I'm sure every photographer has a list of dream sighting and capturing the perfect frame. So I told about my aspirations to Azim and he very positively replied "Sir ye sab frames aapko mil jayegi bus aap sabr rakho" 😀.
As this discussion was going on we were looking at Every possible direction, water body, river bank and searching for pug marks, going through the big sal trees canopy. I roughly remembered a saying of a guide in Bandhavgarh he said there is a old saying for Sal Trees - " Sau saal Badha, Sau saal khada, Sau saal Jaga, fir bhi na Mara"..In about 45 mins we reached near Dhikala FRH area commonly called by wildlifers Grassland area. It was a drastic change in the landscape. Those big Sal trees were gone and infront of us was a huge patch of grass cover over the horizon. I was wondering how in the heaven did this happen!!! The grass was all yellow and the soil slowly was changing as we got near it and was more of a sandy texture now. Now Azim was in his pro mode and was looking for any particular sign and there he goes... He asked us to sit tight and cruised us deep into the grassland and I again noticed the scenery changing gradually infront of me as we moved further. The grassland seem to end and ahead was a crystal like shining water spread across some miles, It is a back water of Kalagarh Dam. He noticed something wrong and started moving from there, we asked him to wait , we need to click some pictures of the scenery and also saw a herd of Elephants at a distance. I was seeing the Indian wild elephants for the first time. He denied and said that we have 6 Safaris here and the Elephants have no plan to move from here, you can click pictures of them tomorrow as well. We need to go, look there are some vehicles standing still. I guess what I was wondering is really happening now". We were confused and thought that if there are vehicles standing means there is a movement happening so we quickly turned vehicle in the same direction. While we were reaching close to the spot Azim excitedly said to us " Sir aap jo frame bol rhe the na usase 1000 guna jada behtar frame aapko abhi milegi..hum jaha ja rahe hai waha aage dekhiye ek elephant dikh rha hai leta hua aapko.?..vo actually mar gaya tha 2 din pehle" he stopped for a second and in that long 1-2 seconds I imagined a hell lot of things, that other elephants would be mourning around it or the scavengers would be enjoying the feast, or the jackals would be busy having their fill.... And after a second or two he said that in the morning the tiger had crossed Modi high bank and was moving in the same direction..
Before he completed his sentence we were like what.?.. really.?..what we are thinking is really going to happen or say is happening over there.?
Goosebumps sprang up all over my arms and neck. We slowed down our vehicle, and what we saw was mesmerizing. I don't know how to put it in words that how lucky we were to see it . Just for info - 70000 people visit Jim Corbett every year from India and abroad. Out of them 0.1% people has a chance to encounter something like this.
So what we witnessed there was A Tiger Sitting Just Beside Elephant Carcass. It was a famous tigress of the park named on the area itself called "Grassland Wali". For several minutes I was stunned and forgot that I had a camera and need to click the pictures. After getting my senses back I took my camera and tried to capture each and every moment of it. I also would like to confess that I cant show you in the picture that what I saw and I cant write in words , but what I experienced was surely once in a lifetime moment.{ It is literally the same coz Elephants live more than 100 years 😀 and not everyday the elephant dies of some reason. (I have all the respect for the Deceased animal)}
Let's meet up with new stories and awesome experience very soon..
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