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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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Pages from the Gangtok trip diary

We boarded the Darjeeling Mail from Sealdah at 10.30 pm. As the train began its journey to the foothills, we pored over whatever information we had about Gangtok and chalked out a plan for the next three days.

Day 1

We reached Siliguri next day around 9.30 am. Fresh after a good night’s sleep and raring to go,

we booked two tickets in a Gangtok-bound Mahindra Max, which started off around 11.30 am. The four-hour drive was scenic. The river Teesta, emerald in colour, kept us company almost till the end. The driver, a sprightly man in his 30s, started playing Nepali numbers. We did not mind because it gelled so well with the region we were traveling through.

The first stop was Rangpo, the Bengal-Sikkim border. A huge, ornate gate welcomed us to Sikkim. “Dus minat,” the driver yelled at us as we got out the jeep. Rangpo is a busy little stopover. We checked out the shops and found nothing interesting.

We reached Gangtok around 4 pm. We checked into Hotel Delamare. After a quick wash and tea, we decided to explore the town. We checked out the shops and walked till Raj Bhavan, which is located at one end of the town. The estate is huge and beautiful and we cajoled the guard to let us in. He called his superior, checked our ID cards and then impressed on us the importance of official procedure. By that time it was already pitch-dark and we decided to head back to the main town. The main thoroughfare, M.G. Road, is dotted with souvenir shops and eating joints. We booked a car for the next day’s sightseeing.

A friend had told me a lot about the local fare served Hotel Tibet. So, Hotel Tibet was the destination for dinner. After walking so much (almost two hours), we were famished. The cocktails were good (though the alcohol content was very low) but the ‘momos’ and ‘thupka’ pretty bad. They serve better ‘momos’ in Chanakyapuri or Delhi Haat.

Day 2

We knew Day 2 would be hectic because we had to cover Tsongmo Lake, Baba Mandir and Rumtek. We started around 8 am. We could not go to Nathula because it was closed for tourists on that particular day.

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I never win freebies that are advertised tantalizingly with magazine subscriptions. But, as they say, there is always a first time. So, when I won a trip to the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, we (me and hubby) decided to hit the tiger trail, even though we knew summer months could be very uncomfortable in those areas.

We reached Umariya, the district headquarters, early one morning in May. After a refreshing cup of tea at a roadside , we managed to squeeze into an overcrowded jeep that was going towards the Bandhavgarh. We got talking to the co-passengers and the discussion started veering towards the political situation in ‘bada shaher’ (Delhi). Instinctively, I knew I had to find out a more engaging topic if I wanted to survive the bumpy 32-km drive. I steered the conversation towards tigers and their plight in the country. Suddenly politics took the backseat and our co-passengers filled us with details about the park and tiger stories. Unknowingly, we got sucked into a race with destiny: Would we be lucky enough to see at least one tiger? As my mind swung like a pendulum between expectation and probability, the jeep screeched to a halt before our hotel.

Set among the Vindhya Hills, covering 437 square kilometres, the Bandhavgarh National Park is home to a wide variety of habitats. Sal trees cover the forest interspersed with stretches of bamboo and grassland. Within the park is the ancient Bandhavgarh fort. The Maharaja of Rewa occupied the fort until it was designated as a National Park in 1968. In addition to tigers, there are chousingha (small four horned) antelope, chinkara (Indian) gazelle, nilgai (blue bull) antelope, wild boar, jackal, muntjak (barking) deer, sambar deer, chital (spotted) deer, jungle cat, striped hyena, porcupine, ratel, rheses macaque, black-faced langur monkey and more.

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The clouds moved in by late afternoon. I looked out of the window, wondering how to spend the rest of the day: go out for a walk or laze around. Undecided, I strolled out of the room. A draft of crisp, cool wind greeted me. I trudged to the lawn, sidestepping the wildflowers. The other guests at the hotel were soaking in the atmosphere, sipping tea, reading books or chatting. The resident dog was curled up cozily under a chair. Everything was picture-perfect but soon enough the alarm clock played spoilsport. Time to get ready for office. Outside, Delhi was sizzling at 44 degrees Celsius.

Later in the day as the hot summer wind slowly peeled my skin, I knew it was time for a weekend break. Things moved pretty fast from then on: leave was okayed, friends were told to scout for places. A week later, we found ourselves cruising to Kotdwar, the foothill town from where you start your climb to Lansdowne, our destination.The national highway to Lansdowne was smooth. But since you can’t always take such things for granted, a friend was forced to play the navigator. In course of the day, she kept a watch on the route, potholes and bumps while others relaxed, gossiped or simply dozed off. Thankfully, she warmed up to the job pretty soon and kept us on course.

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