This escape was planned in a very short notice with Sanjay Thampi and my family.
Sanjay & family reached Nagpur on 7th April 2023 by afternoon flight from Bangalore to Nagpur. They were suppose to land at Nagpur airport at 1510 hrs, but due to extreme bad weather at Nagpur the flight was diverted to Bhopal and after brief halt and refueling at Bhopal, they landed at around 1800hrs at Nagpur. Avril and I received them at Mother Teresa square and drove them to our home at Fetri. After early dinner we went off to sleep, to get up early next morning to embark on our wild life trail post breakfast at home.
8th morning was very pleasant with slight grizzle as if it is onset of rainy season. Believe me; I had no inclination to leave the comfort of my home in such heavenly weather. We set out on our journey by 0930 hrs and reached Mauli Resort Pandrakawda by 1230hrs (170 kms) from our home at Fetri. After lunch at the resort, we drove in our safari to Sunna gate for evening safari. As we entered the forest in a gypsy we were informed by the guide about the area of the Tipeshwar wild life sanctuary, which is just170 sq. Kms. The jungle is beautiful, most of it is planted. But the terrain is beautiful. Avril and me were only thinking that how beautiful will be the Jungle during rainy season or during winter. We could see lot of wild herbivores especially the healthy Blue Bulls. It was here that we could really see blue bull’s dark blue in colour. But the lady luck was not in our side and we could not sight a tiger. We came back to the resort and after having hot water bath and delicious food; we were walking and thinking about the fate waiting for us the next morning. The Mauli resort is only selling tiger, with huge pictures captured by the tourist staying with him, who clicked tigers during their safari.
9th morning Avril didn’t joined us for safari. As soon as we entered the Jungle, we came across a big flock of wild dogs. It was a sight which I really cherished and was happy with the pictures I could click of the wild dogs. For me I had the quota of my safari. But there was something more in our fate and we saw a tigress walking through the parked gypsy’s and made her way to the waterhole to quench her thirst. She passed as close as 20 meters from our gypsy and Sanjay’s son could make a beautiful video in his mobile. Sanjay and me got some real good pictures.
After the safari we reached back to the Mauli resort and after our breakfast embarked on our journey to Tadoba Andhari Tiger Resort.
Avril and I promised to ourselves, to return back to Tipeshwar Wild Life Sanctuary and do some plantation at the resort, because it has lot of land lying barren.
Dr. Vinod L Thakur,
Commandant/Vet, ITBPF, MHA, GOI
