Bandavgarh National Park

Bandavgarh National Park is one of the smaller parks in India, but it has the advantage of having the highest density of tigers in the whole world, although this only actually translates to about 65 animals in a 200 sq km area. Bandavgarh is one of the parks sponsored by a government initiative called 'Project Tiger' which means it receives substantial subsidies and as such has a much better infrastructure for tourists and safaris. The safari costs are fixed, around forty pounds for 4 people for a morning or evening safari. There's lots of birdlife in the park, lots of big eagles and brightly coloured smaller birds, and a fair amount of peacocks. There isn't much in the way of bigger animals though apart from the main attractions- just lots of deer. Apparently there are also sloth bears and leopards but it think they generally only come out at night and we certainly didnt see any.

Anway, the safaris! Our first one was in the afternoon, with another couple who had already been on two safaris and seen tigers every time so we had high hopes. Our first sighting was about an hour in- over on a rise in the distance you could just make out the head and shoulders of a tiger lying down. While we were all standing on the jeep and straining to see, another one just walked around the corner on the road, trailed by a stream of jeeps and elephants! The tigers are so used to the jeeps that people can get really close. We drove around to a better vantage point and watched the tigers drinking, having a swim and stalking deer- we waited along time but they didn't seem to want to attack. The way they move is amazing- so big and powerful, but at the same time its easy to see that they're cats- the way they yawn, laze around in the sun and swish their tails is just like a house cat!

On the second day we went out in the morning and it wasn't long before we came upon a load of jeeps all stopped in the road. Apparently there was a tiger in the bushes and everyone was waiting for it to come out. And it did- a 3 year old female, which is fully grown but still young, i think they live for about 15yrs. She walked out into the long grass towards the jeep track- our car sped around, along with the others to cut her off. She walked towards the road and then turned to avoid the jeeps- our jeep was at the back of the line and she walked right past us, we could almost touch her. That was our closest sighting. We also saw one sleeping, lyng down int he sun with the carcass of a deer in front of her.

The park was amazing but it was more like a tiger spotting than a safari- the guides know why everyone's come and they make it mission to spot one, which is nice. However, there's not much else to see so after the tigers have moved on the drivers tend to just speed around the bumpy tracks, up and down hills all over the park, scattering monkeys, peacocks and deer in front of them as they power through the forest, which is a bit of an adventure in its own right. Interestingly, Indians still drive like Indians even in a national park- at one point we had another jeep right up our arse which ended up in an interesting, high speed power struggle until our jeep overheated and the engine cut out, when the car behind swerved violently around us and over a small bridge. We were shouting and cheering but the Indians in the other jeep seemed to regard it as normal (which it probably is).