4. Bandhavgarh

A  knock on the door.  A man with a flashlight waited to escort us to the dining hall.  He carried my camera gear.  We walked around a Mehndi painted on the sidewalk.  Cups of hot tea and biscuits awaited us in the dining hall.  A more substantial breakfast would be served mid-morning.

Soon we were off to the parking lot where the 4x4 jeeps were parked.  Who was going with whom?  We were told which photographer we would go with, but not in which of the four vehicles? We knew the first in line would be the first into the park.

Bandhavgarh National Park is set among the Vindhya Hills and consists of 168 square miles of Sal and a mix of bamboo, grasslands, and a complex of deciduous forests. There were 21 different kinds of vines in those woods.  The park is divided in two—two entrances and two series of trails in each section.

I had some bad memories from the trip four years ago because of our struggles with the bureaucracy.  Eight single trails and one-way traffic.  For example, one of our drivers parked his jeep off the road once because he knew no tigers were around there.  He played with his new cell-phone and conversed in Hindi with the guide.  We, who were paying for their services, could take only photos of skinny trees and a langur tail that morning.  Thankfully, some major improvements were made during those four years.  Now after starting out according to plan, we would be free to change trails and reverse direction as needed.

At the control center we picked up our local guides who would change with each trip.  Previously those guides were trash police more than our guides—as if we wildlife photographers would litter any animal’s habitat.  This time, our drivers did most of the guiding with fewer restrictions about where they could go.

Barking Deer, a small deer
by Phil Haffley