I don’t know whether this deserves a blogpost by itself. But in my very very short visit to Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), the thing that made the biggest impression was the road leading to it.
Perhaps that was natural in case of any rodie. Or maybe because in those couple of hours, we (naturally) did not get to see any tigers!
The road begins from Chandrapur and at the outset, has a nasty surprise in store in form of a horrendous coal mine threatening to gobble up everything. Finding your way throught the dug-up stretch of land, through ugly mounds of excavated earth in a job by itself. The sight has the potential of draining away all your enthusiasm to an extent that you start mulling over whether to call off the trip.
But once you are out of the wasteland, the road assumes a captivating beauty.
The road is flanked by pretty decent growth of thick forest on both sides. It actually looks as if it is spilling over any moment.
Although the distance is just about 30 Km or so, do remember to stop and switch off the car engine once, to soak in the blissful silence that pervades all around.
Occassionally, the countryside opens up to show the horizon, but the forest takes over soon.
Moharli village breaks the monotony in between.
The potholes, though present, are relatively fewer and in any case, do not take away from the experience.
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Inside the reserve, we moved on dirt tracks which passed through even denser greenery that ACTUALLY sppilled over !
We could not see the big cat. Perhaps, in the insulting two hours that we spared for this majestic animal, we did not deserve a siting! All we saw were an antelope, a wild cat and a croc.
We should have given TATR at least two days. It is magnificent.
Chalat Musafir 