[CrankShaft05]

Originally Posted by SILVERWOOD

Hi Crankshaft05,

A nice way to begin this TL.

Keep the rest coming and post as many pics as possible.

Thank you Silverwood, I will surely post as many pictures as possible.

Originally Posted by Wanderer78

Great pictures crankshaft !!! Hope you had great fun. MP is really ajab/Gajab Looking forward to more pictures

Thanks a lot Wanderer!! We really had great fun and every moment of the trip is still fresh in my mind

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Nice start and good pictures.
So how did you go from Hyderabad.

Thanks gajadonga. We drove in 2 cars. It was real fun!!

[CrankShaft05]

As the D-day is nearing, we are getting ready with the necessities for the trip. Shopping, packing, car checking, washing etc. Its funny that I even had a dream of being in the wild the day before the trip.
Finally, the day arrived and we head to the office early to make sure can leave early from the office. As always, printouts of google maps with route information is prepared by Arun. Right after lunch, we started from office at 2PM and reach Arun's home around 3PM. It took an hour for us to make sure everything is in place(including luggage, eatables and shining cars) and finally left around 4PM. Everybody in great moods and looking forward for a great trip.
The gang : Satish, Mithun, Prashant, Arun, Nidhi, Meena
Cars : Hyundai Accent and i10 (The Hyundai Family)

We take the Bowenpally route and hit the NH7 via Kompally and Medchal. After couple of bio breaks, we halt for dinner at a dhaba in Hinganghat. The food is above average but our hungry tummies found it very tasty. With our tummies filled, our cars started actively and head towards Nagpur. We reach nagpur around 12:30 midnight and halt for a "chai break". The Hot coffee during a cold winter night is soothing for all of us. After some enquiries about the distance and route to Pench, we vroom towards Pench.

The mighty Lord Venkatesa


The Hyundai Family




The Leader


At the Dhaba


Roti, Subzi, Dal


Full Moon Night

[ExtremeTorque]

Great stuff Prashant, keep em coming. I will also try and contribute from my side as well.
While we did Hyd-Nagpur in 8.5 hours (including 1 hr break for dinner), this is one stretch that can be done easily in 7 hours. Most of the route about 60% is 4 laned and the single lane is also quite a breeze. I have recorded manually the 4 laned stretchs and will share the logs shortly.

[NetfreakBombay]

What was the condition of roads from Nagpur to Pench?

[ExtremeTorque]

Nagpur to Pench is pretty decent but not 4 laned. There were a few patches (about 5KM) that were broken due to the recent monsoon. The last turn near Khwasa where you take a left to get into Pench (Turia gate) we were badly stuck for 1.5 hours due to trucks double parked and coming from the wrong side of the road. Upon nearing the turn we realized that there is a toll 'naka' there and hence the jam.
I would recommend you do this particular route in the day to avoid the traffic jam and enjoy the scenery as you are passing through the thick jungles.

[CrankShaft05]

The road from Nagpur to Pench is good. We got delayed due to the lorry traffic before Khwasa. The temperature is less than 5 degrees and its freezing cold. We had to turn on the heater and sit inside the car. After 1.5 hours, finally we took a left towards Pench and within 10 mins we were in the resort. The scenic beauty on either sides of the road is super. We can enjoy more duing day time. As the time is 3:30AM, we had to wake up the guy at the reception. He was very curteous and helped us with the check-in formalities and informed that we need to start for the morning safari by 6AM. We booked a dormitory with 6 beds and it was pretty decent. We got into the room and fell asleep within minutes.
Our alarms woked us up sharp at 5:30AM. Everybody got ready with excitement within and reached the designated jeep by 6AM. It was freezing cold outside but it was the jungle that created the warmth within us.
We met our driver "Shiv Shankar" and I cant stop myself praising his attitude. He was one amazing guy and I thank him for all his help during our three safaris at Pench. We headed towards the Turia gate with loads of excitement!!
As there are around 7 to 8 jeeps already lined up infront of the gate, Arun had to rush to complete the park entry formalities and a guide has been assigned to us. Its 6:30 and we are all set to enter the park. The gates opened for us and the first sight of the park is truly mesmerizing!!
As we entered the park, the cool breeze hit us and we are ready with our cameras to capture everything we sight. We came across some deers and spent some time taking pictures of them. As we moved ahead deep into the jungle, suddenly I saw some animal far away inside the woods. I thought it was a wild cat but the guide immediately shouted "Its a leopard". There are around 4 to 5 jeeps behind us and everybody started clicking. But before we take any nice pictures, it disappeared into the jungle. We could have a look at it for around 10 seconds. Although we cant take nice pictures of it, we were really happy to sight a leopord in the wild. We heard from the guide and others that certain photographers have been trying for more than 5 years to sight a leopard in the wild. We were more excited after hearing this. After waiting there for sometime, we moved ahead dreaming about the "Big Cat".

The main gate at MPTDC's Kipling's court


The dormitory


Turia gate


First sight of the park


Deer


Leopard far away


The wilderness at its best


Sambar


Bison


The fire line


Two deers fighting


Herd of deers

[ExtremeTorque]

Avinash (Mobike008), Abheek and other Team BHPians, thanks for the pointers on route query. They worked to the T.

A little bit on the road conditions:

Hyderabad - Nagpur: 485 KM, Mostly 4 laned, but watch out for 4 laning work intermittantly. Doable in 7-8 Hrs.

Google map link



Nagpur - Pench: 92 KM, Standard 2 laned, good condition. Watch out for truckers traffic jams at Khawasa. Doable in 1.5 - 2 Hrs

Google map link



Pench - Bedaghat: 201 KM, Ghat section after Khawasa is in bad shape with craters for about 5-6 KM, stretch between Rukhad, Seoni is excellent 4 laned (about 80 odd KM). After the turn off after the Narmada bridge near Jabalpur, it is completly narrow rural road with broken surface intermittantly. Doable in 4-4.5 Hrs

Google map link



Bedaghat - Bandhavgarh: 192 KM. One can bypass Jabalpur completly but single lane and heavy traffic will slow you down upto Katni. Make sure you take the Katni by-pass and head to Bandhavgarh via Umariya. Only the Jabalpur by-pass is 4 laned. Doable in 4.5-5 Hrs.

Google map link

[ramkya1]

There is a road from Bedaghat to Bandhavgarh, take a right from Saleemnabad through one of the lonliest roads I have ever driven through thick forests, but worth a try, 205 Kms. Lave a look see at my T-Log of MP for more details.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...c-statues.html


Attaching herewith the trip log for your ready reference.

--Ramky
======

A'bad-Madhyapradesh-A'bad2008.pdf

Originally Posted by ExtremeTorque

Avinash ........

Bedaghat - Bandhavgarh: 192 KM. One can bypass Jabalpur completly but single lane and heavy traffic will slow you down upto Katni. Make sure you take the Katni by-pass and head to Bandhavgarh via Umariya. Only the Jabalpur by-pass is 4 laned. Doable in 4.5-5 Hrs.

Google map link

Attachment 490486

[ExtremeTorque]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

There is a road from Bedaghat to Bandhavgarh, Attachment 490736

Ramky, thats a pretty detailed trip log. Will surely try this route next time around.

Continuing our safari of day1

While we were not very lucky spotting any Tigers, just 15 mins into the safari we spotted a Leapord. Later, many a tourist we met and most regulars to the park said that they had spent years to spot a Leapord in the wild but with no luck.

Post the Leapord sighting, we did spot a plethora of wild life. There were deer fights all around and sporadic bursts of mating calls.

Male deers fighting for mating dominance



Another very rare sighting, the Jackal. It gave us just enough time to click a couple of pictures before disappearing back into the bushes



Langurs basking in the sun





Peeping through



The hyderabadi contingent at center point, a resting place within the core area



The indian roller (neelkanth)



Sambars up close





One for the road



This horn seemed to be from a kill or lost by the deer in a fight. Our guide was kind enough to pick it up and have us look at it up close

[gd1418]

Following the thread with great interest. After having visited almost all Tiger reserves of the North - Corbett, Sariska, Dudhwa, Rajaji and Ranthambhore, now it is the turn of MP - Kanha & Bandhavgarh.

[ExtremeTorque]

Day1, Safari2 - Pench:

I started to discover that the Pench WLS has much more beyond Tigers and other terrestrial wild life - the birds

A changable hawk eagle





Serpant eagle







Owl very well camaflouged





Storks



Another Neelkanth or Indian roller



A famalier face in the forest - Abheek and his team, we met yet again







Tracking a tiger



The forest has a serene effect on you that you tend to fall asleep, at times



Listening to the alarm calls



Sunset in the forest





testing prashants new 500d



Cuppa at Lallans: Prashant and me

[abheekg]

Thank you Arun (Extreme Torque) for the great pics of me and my group.
Here are some pics of you from my camera and some pics from the same drive. You may have already seen these on Facebook.

Uploading them here for the benefit of the others.
I must say that you have been really lucky to have spotted and photographed a Leopard during your drive. A leopard is more rare than a Tiger to spot and more so to photograph in this park. Hats off to you and your team.

There were a few mistakes in your planning which I have already mentioned to you. I will enumerate them here.

1. Never select a random, unknown driver and guide during your wildlife visits.
2. You always end up paying more and getting less when you take a package in a Jungle trip.
3. Never take random routes and always research on animal movements from previous day's drives before selecting routes for the next day.

These are just a few pointers to ensure a greater and better experience during your wildlife visits.

Anyway, enough sermoning, Enjoy this visual feast for the time being ;-)

Starting off with 2 teasers - Notice the level of the head


While you guys were elsewhere, Varun (whom you met during your Python sighting) was checking this guy out at Ghorademon

What look's more thick ....???


Responsible conservation minded tourists from Hyderabad





You guys rock !!

Green Bee eater - maiden shot of my new lens - Canon 300mm f4 L IS


River tern habitat shot


River tern habitat shot



River tern habitat shot


Peek-a-boo (Collared scoops owl) Notice the superb background bokeh of the new lens. Open this in a new window, blow up and see the details of the face



Deccan soft shelled turtles being devoured by a wooden crocodile at Beejamatta water hole



Crested serpent eagle - habitat shot


Stork-billed kingfisher - record flight shot


The flight of the Black drongo - Thats what i call a sharp lens



Butterfly mating


Discussions and digressions by the fireside


X-men at Lallan's


Deerscape


Sambhar deer habitat shot


Jackal head on


Black stork - fly past



Greater egret - habitat shot



Checkered Keelback (snake) - habitat shot



Green heron in habitat. super lens sharpness, superb colours



Grey headed fish eagle with kill



Leopard in habitat - watch out for the video of this encounter soon



regards,
Dr. A Ghosh
09960332228

p.s:

By the way, the first teaser shot from this trip adorns the poster for our next Bandhavgad expedition.

Let me know if anyone is interested in joining us.

[mayankjha1806]

Hey guys, awesome pictures. My home town being Jabalpur, now i am thinking of planning a trip. Only problem i need to start from Bangalore.

[fazalaliadil]

Dr. Ghosh,
Awesome shots there. Your 300 L prime shows in each photograph.
Will join you at Nagpur tomorrow and catch up with live action.

Friends on the forum, see you all after Tuesday hopefully with something to meet up to your expectations.
Regards,

[ampere]

Amazing snaps!

And to add to it, @ET no snap of yours is complete without a loaded plate!
Great going there guys!