Most Inspirational Moment
For my wife, seeing tigers in the wild was a big thrill. On one occassion we were about 5 to 6 meters away from a pregnant tigress just lying amongst the bamboo. We also observed tigers drinking, bathing, using a tree as a scratch post and scent marking their territory.
For me, getting out into the local rural community was also a big highlight. You are up around 4:30 to 5am for an early morning game drive from 6 to 10am and then an afternoon one from 3 or 3:30pm to sunset. The middle part of the day is free or on days when you’re transferring to another park you have a bit of free time before breakfast. Two of the lodges (Pench and Kanha) had complimentary bikes for guest use, although working brakes were an optional extra. I’m sure the sight of a 52 year old white man dressed in lycra on a pink girls bike came as quite a surprise to the locals but they were very friendly and waved as I passed by and never once did I feel unsafe. At one point a local motorbike cop came alongside me, welcomed me to Kanha and wished me well before riding off. I even managed to keep on track with my training for the Edinburgh marathon and I’m sure that not many villagers had seen that sight before! It certainly raised eyebrows and a few laughs. Somehow I don’t think I’ll be running the Edinburgh marathon at the end of May in temperatures of 36 degrees.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Try to get the jeep drivers to slow down while in the National Parks. On our last of fifteen jeep safaris we had a young man driving us who was 18 or 19, although he looked about 14. What a brilliant driver! He drove normally outside the park but inside reduced his speed to around 20 kph. The journey was significantly less bumpy and more comfortable, and we all felt we had the best opportunity for trying to spot wildlife. We even had our one and only fleeting glimpse of a leopard before he or she ran off into the undergrowth. All the other drivers went too fast (40 to 60 kph) and trying to spot tigers when you’re going slowly is difficult enough without having to hold on because you’re being thrown around. I just wished we’d had this driver first so that we could have tried to impress this on the other rally drivers we had. I’m left wondering how many tiger and leopard sightings we missed simply through going too fast or making too much noise and spooking them, especially the leopards.
The government supplied park guides are assigned to each jeep when you arrive each morning and afternoon for your game drive. Neither the tour leader or Exodus have any influence over this, and out of 15 different park guides, our jeep of four (my wife and I and two independent women) only felt three were good – able to speak good English, able to understand and answer any questions and say much more than simply point and identify a bird or animal. Some barely spoke English and one or two seemed more interested in texting than providing a useful guiding service. Apparently you can hire an interpreter according to one park notice board, but that means another person taking up space in the jeep. Basically, just be aware that you may need to take the initiative in asking lots of questions to get some of the guides to be forthcoming with useful information. The three good guides we had were excellent and could tell us about the local wildlife, their habits as well as how the local people interacted with their environment and used the native trees and plants. It made for a much better game drive on those trips where you didn’t see much. All of the drivers and guides we had were happy to stop and accommodate any photo requests and waited until we had finished before continuing on.
The jeeps are not overly spacious so don’t take too much gear with you. On one of our daily game drives our tour leader would sit with us up front with the driver so that the park supplied guide would sit with the two on the back row with two of us sat in the middle row. On the other drive, our tour leader went with the other jeep leaving the park guide to sit up front with the driver. The two rows of seats for tourists can sit three people, but it is a bit tight. Basically just bring your camera/binoculars, water and rain jackets/extra layers for warmth.
Most of the time I used a Canon EOS 7D with a 100-400mm IS lens. Keep a large plastic bag or towel handy to cover the camera/lens while moving because it does get very dusty. First thing in the morning and toward sunrise I had UV filter on the lens but switched to a polarising filter when the light levels were sufficiently high enough to compensate for the loss of 2 stops. For most wildlife shots I was on aperture priority mode with an aperture of f/5.6 or f/8 for larger animals at close range, and simply changed the ISO to keep the shutter speeds at an appropriate value – most of the time ISO 200 or 400, sometimes 800 or even 1600 if necessary. The confined space in the jeep makes a tripod impractical, especially if the driver is practising for the India rally, and even a monopod could be a bit cumbersome.
