A full on day today with the usual 2 drives, plus we had a arranged a trek in the park itself to Bandhavgarh Fort, 800m up atop a hill in the middle of the park. The morning drive again failed to bear any fruit in term of tigers. We had a lead just inside the Mughdi Zone with the deer indicating there was a tiger in the patch of jungle we were next to, but after waiting for 1/2 an hour it wasn’t going to come out. We had breakfast in the gypsy and the drove straight to Tala gate to enter the park again to start the trek to the top of the hill.
Rishi arranged a couple of extra members of staff to come along for safety in number in case we did come face to face with the Tigeress, who currently lays claim to territory around the fort. After an uneventful walk up we came to the large main gate – along with a bat infested gatehouse. The fort hasn’t been used in 300 years when the Maharaja moved to Rewa, it was built around the 10th century so nature has been able to take its course and everything is overgrown, it looks a bit like Ankor Wat. At the top are the old fort remains, the Maharajas old treasury building and a functioning temple manned by a single priest and a radio (he also works as a rely for the park, passing on messages from one side park to the other if the NP’s communications systems fail). The view from the top is stunning with a panoramic of the whole park and far beyond. The boys at the resort had prepared a packed lunch for us which we were able to enjoy with on of the best views in India.
After lunch we started the walk back down. The wildlife is normally quiet in the midday heat but a couple of warning calls from a Spotted Deer in the distance had Rishi reaching for a stick for the journey down, accompanied by tiger jokes when we lost sight of someone. Safe to say we survived and sadly no more sightings were made there, or in the drive we had following the trek. Again a fab dinner followed by an early, deep sleep – all day outside had taken it out of us. Plus tomorrow it will be a 5:25 start for a bit of different and exciting drive.
