Lions And Tigers & Chital (Lots And Lots Of Chital), Oh My!MOVING OUT OF AFRICA’S SHADOW, INDIA IS EMERGING AS THE COUNTRYTO HEAD TO FOR THE DREAM SAFARI.

OutofIndia

byKevin Raub

affluent adventures

158 159

EMBARK ON THE

ULTIMATE WILDLIFE

EXPERIENCE IN INDIA

WITH CC AFRICA AND

TAJ HOTELS RESORTS

AND PALACES...

INDIA • MADHYA PRADESH • BANDHAVGARH NATIONAL PARK • PENCH NATIONAL PARK

To some, a wildlifesafari in India mayseem a tad ironic.After all, any tripto India is a safariin and of itself,given the variedwildlife that roamsthe streets here— in the large metropolitan areas ofNew Delhi as well as in the tiniest ofvillages. On two different multi-hourdrives through the central Indian stateof Madhya Pradesh, we have countlesssightings of langur and rhesus monkeys,peacocks, cattle egrets, donkeys, goats,cows, wild boars, eagles, camels, and wildhorses. We even spot an elephant — andall this before entering Bandhavgarh andPench National Parks, where two newsafari lodges are changing the way safarisgo down on the Indian subcontinent. Imean, it’s a jungle out there.

Indian safaris have always played secondfiddle to African ones, with the allureof the latter continent’s big-five gamedominating Hollywood movies as well asnumerous novels the world over. Africa’svaried wildlife, luxurious lodges, andprivate game reserves have historicallyproved too much competition for India,which traditionally has lacked neithera comparative infrastructure nor anequivalent level of sophistication. But ina new joint venture between Conservation

Corporation Africa (CC Africa) — one ofthe continent’s leading conservation andsafari specialists, and which runs morethan 40 luxury game lodges in sixAfrican countries — and Taj HotelsResorts and Palaces, India’s most recog-nizable hotel chain, $3 million (andcounting) has been plunked down tomake over the Indian safari.

For those who may not know, India ishome to more than half of the world’s

endangered tigers, though its numbersare declining fast. Poaching and otherenvironmental concerns have contributedto the Indian tiger population’s plummetfrom 40,000 at the turn of the twentieth

century to a downright shameful figurethat today is estimated to hover between2,500 and 4,000. And India holds thedistinction of being the only country inthe world in which both lions and tigersreside. Intrepid travelers, bear that in mindwhen you come here and go on safari.

I soon learn, though, that India’s nationalparks are also home to a slew of fascinatinganimals that I’ve never heard of (and notjust because some of them are referred to

only by their Hindi names). Do you knowwhat a gaur is? I thought not.

Because of that, Taj and CC Africa haveplanned five new luxury game lodges in

five national parks in India. The first one,Mahua Kothi, just opened in Bandhav-garh National Park, in the central Indianstate of Madhya Pradesh. Bandhavgarhis home to the highest concentration ofRoyal Bengal tigers in the world; anestimated 55 of them make their homewithin the 450-square-mile preserve.Visiting here is all about seeing themajestic beasts, though the lodge itselfain’t too shabby, either. Taj and CC Africatook over the former Churhat KothiLodge, let loose Johannesburg-baseddesigner Chris Brown on the propertyto transform it from a $300-a-nightlodge into a $600-a-night lodge, andvoilà! the first luxe Indian safari wasup-and-running.

After a one-hour flight south from NewDelhi, it’s time to take a white-knuckle,six-hour car ride from Khajuraho, thenearest village with an airport and hometo one of India’s most stunning sets ofpreserved temples (and not much else),across Madhya Pradesh. As my co-safarist and I enter through the gates atMahua Kothi, we are relieved by the180-degree turn in the landscape.The madness that is India’s streets andhighways gives way to 12 tranquil claybungalows, called kutiyas, swathed ina forest of bamboo.

Inside, katni stone floors and sol-wood-beamed ceilings bookend a cozy retreatfull of indigenous arts and crafts fromFabindia, one of India’s most tastefulhome-furnishings stores — and there’san inviting king-size bed that begs foranything but safaris. It’s the kind of placewhere you could sleep forever.

We are scheduled for our first game drivein the afternoon with our naturalist,Kartikeya. We go over some of thedistinct differences between Africanand Indian safaris. For one, nationalparks in India are public — there are no

private game reserves — and thereforeare open to anyone and everyone. Foranother, the local guides, whom everyoneentering the park must hire, do not carryweapons. (The local guides should not beconfused with the naturalists, who aretrained and educated by CC Africa, butwho still cannot enter the park withouta local guide.)

As far as landscapes go, Africa is knownfor its vast, open savannas and grass-lands, while India’s parks are more jungly.(Though the word jungle actually derivesfrom Hindi, a jungle is really more of a

158

BANDHAVGARH IS

HOME TO THE HIGHEST

CONCENTRATION OF

ROYAL BENGAL TIGERS

IN THE WORLD;AN ESTIMATED 55

OF THEM MAKE

THEIR HOME WITHIN

THE 450-SQUARE-MILE PRESERVE.

159

affluent adventureswildlife viewing:

India’s hilly open terrain includes many largegrassland meadows that offer good chances

of Royal Bengal tiger sightings.

mahua kothi:Each of Mahua Kothi’s twelve charming suitesor kutiyas (jungle village huts) are built in the

vernacular style of Central India.

forest than what we normally think ofas a lush jungle. But Rudyard Kipling’sfamous The Jungle Book was partly basedhere, so who am I to argue?) It’s the lastmajor difference, though, that strikes usas the most surprising: There are no fencesalong the park’s boundaries.

Okay, I’ll bite. “So how do you keep thetigers in the park?” I inquire, thinkingof the nearby villages our driver leftin a trail of dust only minutes before.Kartikeya smiles. “We don’t,” he says. Hetells us that just last month, two localcattle herders were killed by a tiger. Withthat, we enter the park.

The first thing we see is a herd of chital,a kind of spotted deer that is by far themost common animal in Indian parks.Now, I realize that flying all the way toIndia to go on safari to see an animalwhose cousin can be found in headlightsfrom Connecticut to California might seemsilly, but there is one important caveat:Tigers feed on chital. Their warning call,a sort of high-pitched coo, is the first signthat a tiger is nearby. Within the first 15minutes of the safari, we see about 100chital. They are everywhere. “I have afeeling I’m going to get very sick of chital,”I say to my friend. “I already am,” he snaps.

We also start spotting wild boars, whichKartikeya enthusiastically points out.This is especially amusing to us, sincewild boars pretty much roam free all overIndian cities. It’s like going to a zoo in theStates and gawking at pigeons. It’s at thispoint, though, that things quickly getmore interesting. Normally, I couldn’tcare less about birds, with the exceptionof ones that talk, but an Indian safaricould make a birder out of anyone.We spot plum-headed parakeets,black-hooded orioles, and Tickell’s blueflycatchers within the first few moments.We riffle through the field guide tofind out what we’re seeing. It’s endlesslyfascinating — I’m actually shocked atmy own level of interest — but a tigerit ain’t.

Then, just as I find myself contemplatingmembership in the American BirdingAssociation, there’s a sudden commotionin our jeep. “Tiger on the road!” is allI hear from Kartikeya as he steps onthe accelerator. We’re there in seconds,along with about six other jeeps linedup like paparazzi. We were alone onlyseconds before, and I do a double taketo make sure it’s actually a tiger and notthe future queen of England. “Some ofthe local guides carry cell phones, even

though it’s forbidden,” Kartikeya latersays in explanation of the surreal UsWeekly moment.

Nonetheless, we have a prime spot. Thetiger is a nearly two-year-old cub, which isinteresting because he is as full grown asany tiger I have ever seen in a zoo. He’sabout 15 feet away and completely obliv-ious to the gaping mouths and clickingshutters all around him. As he rounds atree, he haunches up and begins to slowlycreep — gracefully, gorgeously — towardsome unforeseen victim. He’s stalking.

Suddenly, he springs forward for a chital,though it turns out he is merely toyingwith it, as his hunting skills are not yethoned. The whole thing leaves us all quitejazzed. “Your first tiger in the wild?” asksKartikeya. “Oh yes!” we say in unison.“Congratulations,” he says. We wouldsee two more by the next day (one fromthe vantage point of the back of a four-

ton elephant), along with somethingcalled a sambar, whose clever namesimply means “animal” in Hindi. I’ll raise

the ante here on specificity and say itlooks a lot like a moose.

We head out the next morning for PenchNational Park, which is about an eight-hour drive to the southwest and the site ofthe second Taj and CC Africa lodge. Penchdoesn’t have near the tiger population of

Bandhavgarh, but it is home to a healthyleopard population, 350 species of birds,and a whole slew of other animals that,again, none of us have ever heard of.

Pench differs from Bandhavgarh in thatit is a teak forest (as opposed to sol) and,overall, much more dense and far lesscrowded. It’s also India’s only interstatetiger reserve, as its collective space crossesthe border with the neighboring stateof Maharashtra. The lodge here, called

Baghvan, is scheduled to open a fewweeks after our visit, so we stay at anearby lodge, where we meet Saruth,who is not only our naturalist but alsothe head naturalist for all of CC Africa’sIndian operations. We pick up our localguide and hit the park. Again, thereare chital. Lots of chital. We tell Saruthnot to bother, as we saw roughly 5,000in Bandhavgarh.

Thus, the first spotting at Pench thatshocks and awes us is of the Indian roller,a gorgeous bird whose dynamic turquoisewingspan looks Photoshopped — it’s thatvibrant. At this point, I begin to see myfuture as a birder. It pains me to thinkabout it, but I assume that will ease withtime. Next is our first spotting of theaforementioned gaur, an endangeredspecies that, as it turns out, is the largestbovine in the world. Basically, it’s a big,bad bull that has an average weight ofone ton. Seeing it is the highlight of ourmorning drive, which otherwise leaves a lotto be desired from a wildlife standpoint.

The afternoon, however, proves radicallydifferent. Things immediately start well:Right after entering the park, we spot ajungle cat, one of the more uncommon catspecies in this park. Notoriously shy, hewaddles on down the road at a slighthustle when he sees us and eventuallydisappears into the high grass. Thenanother curious fellow appears, the nilgai,which is an antelope but looks more likewhat might result if a horse and a deerhad a few too many cocktails one nighton spring break. Where do all these oddanimals come from?

Just a few minutes later, we glimpse oneof the rarest sights in Pench: a rusty-

spotted cat. Only slightly larger than adomestic cat, it darts across the road afew hundred feet in front of us. Saruthhits the gas to catch up, while our localguide says only one word: “Eagle.” At first,the significance of that doesn’t registerwith us. We’ve seen eagles. Big whoop.We continue to track the cat, but he insists:“Eagle,” he says, pointing high above,into the trees. Then we realize what ishappening. A crested hawk-eagle, a fiercebird of prey, is stalking the cat and is onlymoments away from pouncing on it withDiscovery Channel brutality. Secondslater, he does just that.

He dives straight down, kamikaze-style, and ambushes the cat from above.Luckily, the knee-high grass blocks ourview of the initial blow, but as we pullup alongside the kill zone, we see whatlikely is every bit as haunting. The eaglehas a relentless grip on the cat’s neck,and the cat is no longer moving. Throughbinoculars, we see the eagle’s menacing,otherworldly eyes — full of sheer,unadulterated yellow terror — as itstares right at us in a motionless trance.I’m horrified yet fascinated.

The standoff — the eagle with the cat,us with the eagle — lasts 15 minutes.The eagle’s stare never once strays fromus, as if sending a very, very seriouswarning through the most sinister setof eyes I have ever seen in my life. Nohorror movie could ever do the momentjustice. Is this what bird-watching isall about? If so, I’m out. Were it anon-traceable sack of a million dollarsin this bird’s death grip, I wouldn’tdare make a move toward it. (Sad, Iknow, but true.) “Shall we go?” asksSaruth. Yes, please.

affluent adventures

158 159

the setting:Nestled in the vicinity of the breathtaking

Bandhavgarh National Park, Mahua Kothi blendscharmingly into the quaint and rustic surroundings.

...THERE’S A SUDDEN

COMMOTION IN OUR JEEP.“TIGER ON THE ROAD!”

IS ALL I HEAR FROM

KARTIKEYA AS HE STEPS

ON THE ACCELERATOR.WE’RE THERE IN

SECONDS, ALONG WITH

ABOUT SIX OTHER JEEPS

LINED UP LIKE PAPARAZZI.

baghvan:Baghvan’s spacious, rustic standalone suites

and airy guest areas make a wondrous startingpoint for your journey into the wild.