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Well, for my last post on this trip. This piece is for those people who are interested in making the trip to Corbett and intends to make life a little bit easier for them. Hope you like it and is as informative as I intended. 

As I informed you all earlier, Corbett is divided into 4 main tourist zones – Dhikala, Bijrani, Jirna and Durgadevi in the order of preference by tourists. Dhikala and Bijrani have perennial water sources and hence the chances of sighting the tiger are more. Jirna, on the other hand has water during the monsoon while dry during the summer. Durgadevi has both hilly terrain and is far and hence is least preferred by both tourists and gypsy drivers alike. Bijrani is nearest to Ramnagar town while Durgadevi is farthest.Entry to the Dhikala zone is through the Dhangadi gate which also houses a pretty good museum. Day Safaris are allowed at all zones except the Dhikala zone. A conducted day tour by a canter van is allowed to the Dhikala zone. Alternatively safaris and private vehicles are allowed into this zone only if one has overnight stay bookings/permits for the forest rest houses in the park. 

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My trip to Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve began on a bad note. I nearly missed the train (Taj Express from Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin station); the compartment was stinking and the food awful. The resident rats of the train had worked on the carpets diligently (the designs were a little abstract though) and the seat covers, it seemed, had not been washed for years. And to top it all, the train reached Jhansi three hours late.

My luck started improving, thereafter. The four-hour drive from Jhansi (UP) to Panna (MP) was smooth and pleasant and it was nearly 7.30 pm when I reached Panna. I had booked a room at the Ken River Lodge, a charming getaway on the bank of river Ken, next to the reserve. It was pitch dark and when the driver took the dust-tracks (with wild grasses all around) to reach the hotel, I seriously thought that I was in trouble.

“Hotel yaha hain?” I asked the driver sternly. “Jungle hain aas pass, thoda ped poudhe to hoga hi,” he replied. I gathered he understood that I was tensed.

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Last year Jan, we were in Prague (Capital of Czech Republic). On a typical Friday evening when we were making plans on what to do on this weekend (Prague not so big city, all the see-able places are covered pretty soon). There were not many suggestions coming over besides sitting in hotel room drinking beer and roaming around city center in the evening that too if there is a stop to snow fall. Our SPOC from client side, a jolly good fellow came to our rescue. Though there was some problem in the communication as we don’t know a word of Czech and he is tight at English, but since we hit it well with this guy we could make up for all the missed words or expressions.
He told us about a church in a small town called Kutna Hora called Kostnice (Church of bones) which is about 2 hrs journey from Prague by train. We decided to take this journey. I along with Ashutosh, Piyush, Arif and Soumen (dada) were all set to go to Kutna Hora. It was to be a day long trip only so it did not take much of to get ready besides keeping some money and making up our mind.
I got up early on Saturday and opened curtains for morning dose of sutta and there was a big disappointment. A heavy snow fall was visible and everything was so white. We waited till noon and than gave up all the time drinking and smoking and waiting for snow fall to stop and allowing us to venture out. Snow fall went on till early evening, so we thought let’s see what is in store on Sunday.
Sunday was perfect, no sunshine but no snow either. We started out by taking the ?eské dráhy (Czech Railways) train from Prague station to Kutna Hora.
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Corbett National Park is located just 71 km from Nainital and the drive is just wonderful both for driving and visually. The park is divided into 4 main tourist zones – Dhikala, Bijrani, Jirna and Durgadevi in the order of preference by tourists. Dhikala and Bijrani have perennial water sources and hence the chances of sighting the tiger are more. Jirna, on the other hand has water during the monsoon while dry during the summer. Durgadevi has both hilly terrain and is far and hence is least preferred by both tourists and gypsy drivers alike. Bijrani is nearest to Rampur town while Durgadevi is farthest. Entry to the Dhikala zone is though the Dhangadi gate which also houses a pretty good museum. Day Safaris are allowed at all zones except the Dhikala zone. A conducted day tour by a canter van is allowed to the Dhikala zone. Alternatively safaris and private vehicles are allowed into this zone only if one has overnight stay bookings/permits for the forest rest houses in the park.

Corbett Featuring the Ram Ganga Reservoir
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