A Thrilling Experience at Corbett National Park

While leaving Delhi for my trip to Corbett, I was not aware that the experience would be cherishable. Well, I still remember how the sudden trip took place. It was Monday when I got to know that I was getting an off on Friday as well. As I have five days working so I jumped at the great opportunity that rarely befalls. With an urge to make the most of my leaves I shared with my husband about Jim Corbett Trip. He agreed and assured to accompany me for the trip but on Saturday. 

Jim Corbett National Park

As he left all the responsibility to manage this trip on me, I gathered information about Jim Corbett National Park. We decided to go by car and left for Ramnagar. Though that five hours journey proved bit tiresome yet it could not decrease our excitement to encounter the wildlife at Corbett.

On being reached  Corbett National Park, we took rest in our rooms in Camp Dhikala for a while. After filling our stomach with delicious vegetarian food, we started our adventure tour to Corbett. First, we had to make the mandatory formalities at the gate office at the Dhangari Gate.

The reserve remains open from 6 am to 11 am in the morning and reopens from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm in the evening. We drove from Dhangari gate to camp Dhikala, which was two-hours long safari. It took us through dense forest patches of Jim Corbett National Park.

The area along the gorgeous Ramganga River into the far-stretched Dhikala Forest Rest House enables you to pass through dried up rivers, steep climbs and dense forest. First a scared Barking Deer came into our sight and then a heard of monkeys who were little away from our Gypsy.

For almost half an hour, we were watching the path with bated breath to check if there might be a tiger around. The forested hillside was standstill and then we had to move on. After going ahead, we captured the sight of a Leopard who was slowly coming towards our Gypsy. Though Tigers were difficult to spot yet we did not lose hope. We took a halt at the Crocodile Point. It lies on the corner of a hilltop from where you can look into the blue waters of the Ramganga River. 

Elephant Safari in Corbett

Then we saw Deer, Sambhar, Cheetal and grazing Elephants. We rushed and enjoyed the buffet lunch at Canteen, which cost us 200 Rs per head. Indian and Chinese both foods were available and we had up to our fill. We spent afternoon sitting on the wall and gazing at the Ramganga with our binoculars. In the evening, we started our elephant safari and on going ahead, several tortoises came into our sight.

We were back to the camp and had tea with snacks. As there were no facilities like TV or internet, we had to fall off to sleep at around 10 pm.

Though we could not spot tigers yet the trip ended with highly exciting note.

Jim Corbett National Park: Unlimited Adventure & Thrill

Jim Corbett National Park

The roar of tigers is a fascinating element for almost all the wildlife lovers. Wildlife is one such factors that maintains an impressive collection of memories through years. The thrill, rarest of fauna, amazing creatures, colourful avifauna species and the best of divine nature – all the elements are simply incomparable. It was chilly cold in the first week of January in Delhi. I did my research on all the nearby wildlife destinations, and planned for a short weekend vacation to the Jim Corbett National Park. It was 0500 hrs of that foggy Saturday morning when I reached Ramnagar by train (240 km). I hired a taxi to Jim Corbett, and in next 20 minutes, I was at a cozy forest rent house situated amidst dense greens.

In winters, the morning safari starts at 0730 hrs, so I had a couple of hours to get freshed. On my breakfast table, I met a Russian tourist named Brook. Despite of being a foreigner, he knew a lot about the place. Brook told me that Jim Corbett not only boasts of being the oldest National Park of India, which was established in 1936, but also being the First Tiger Reserve in India. Quite impressive !! We decided to share the Jeep Safari in the park together.

The driver told us that we had three hours to explore the thrilling dense greens. The Jim Corbett tourism guide says that it is a home to more than 575 Species of Birds, 25 Species of Reptiles, 50 Species of Mammals and 7 Species of Amphibians. I found the park quite rich in vegetation also. From tall sal trees to shisham, khair, bakli, chir, gurail and bamboo trees, the park is blessed with over 110 species of trees and 51 species of shrubs.

Jeep Safari is undoubtedly the best way to feel the intense jungle but unluckily I did not spot any tiger there. The driver told us that animals like chital, sambar, chinkara, pada, muntjac, monkeys, dholes (wild dogs), jackals and ghorals (mountain goats) also inhabit the Park. And I spotted a few of them alongside the Ramganga river. We also saw a huge herd of elephants comprising tuskers, females and calves. As we were trying to capture them in our cameras, the driver told us not to get out of the jeep as this could be the most dangerous encounter in the wild. The reason behind is that elephants are very possessive of their young and do not hesitate to charge at intruding human beings.

I was tempted to go swimming in the Ramganga river as well, but I dropped the idea because of the crocodiles that are always hungry for humans flesh. My short tour to Jim Corbett National Park was actually action packed. All the activities there were a delight for my memories.