Before the impending journey, I had read countless reviews stating how tiger sightings are so frequent in Tadoba and that Tadoba never disappoints. But to be honest I had very little faith in them. I had been to several other National Parks before in search of the elusive Bengal Tiger, but returned with no luck. Mind you I am a hardcore wildlife enthusiast and am equally happy seeing the other creatures roam in wild, but then seeing and photographing a big cat is every wildlifer’s dream.

Thus to try our luck once again, we (me along with my parents and brother) set off for our trip to Tadoba Andheri National Park.

We had booked at a local homestay (beside Mohurli Gate) in order to keep the budget low and also to get more of the inside information on animal movements. The host couple were closely associated with the forest and served our purpose well.

We reached on the afternoon of 25th June, had lunch and immediately left for our first safari in the Mohurli Buffer Zone.

We drove a long distance with no sign of any wildlife and reached a small man made pond, which was the favourite spot of one of Asia’s largest tigers, Wagdoh. My heart beat rate had tripled in anticipation but as luck would have it, the pond was empty. Many jeeps were already waiting there, hoping for a glimpse of his Royalty. We waited in silence as jeeps one after the other began to leave for the next spot. After waiting a little longer we also decided to move. By now I was convinced that lady luck once again was not on our side.

Our next spot was Kallad Talab, a large area dug and partly filled with water. I was desperately searching the waterbody for any sign of the tiger when suddenly the guide pointed out to the huge tiger sitting on the red soil surrounding the water, just a few meters from us. I quickly started clicking with my camera, unable to believe our sudden change in luck.

Wagdoh, also known as Scarface, was once a dominant male in the core. He was blinded in the right eye by a male gaur. He now resides in the buffer, is a proud father of many and is known to take great care of his cubs.

After posing for a few minutes he decided to get up and leave, followed by the jeeps. He laid down in a shade, away from paparazzi. We were left to see his shinning golden fur from little gaps among the trees.

Thrilled on seeing a tiger for the first time, that too in such close quarters, we decided to go ahead with the rest of our safari. We saw a pair of spotted deer on our way and came across a beautiful lake, surrounded by lush green grass. A large herd of gaurs (Indian Bison) were roaming about at a distance. The place was filled with birds and looked more out of a fairytale.

It started raining heavily and we headed back to the gate. We saw a relatively large sambar deer just beside the jeep.

After quick dinner we went to bed early, tired after the long safari. Sleep came immediately.

We started out by 5:15 the following morning for our next safari. We had booked two safaris in the core area from the Mohurli entry gate.

Unlike the buffer zone, the core was full of wild animals. We crossed the Telia Lake, which was tigress Sonam’s zone. The ground around the lake was filled with spotted dear and sambar deer. A herd of sambar deer crossed the road in front of our jeep, giving me plenty of opportunity to click pictures.

We saw gaurs at close distance, followed by peacocks and more deer. A barking deer ran inside the forest hearing the sound of our jeep. A group of langurs decided to block our way. I decided to make full use of this opportunity and clicked away.

We crossed the area of tigress Choti Tara and reached the zone of one of India’s most beautiful tigresses, Maya. We were informed by our hostess earlier that it was the mating season and Maya was being spotted with one of the dominant males, Gabbar.

A jeep ahead of us informed they had seen Gabbar and Maya take separate roads. We drove to Pandharpauni waterhole and waited for Maya to make her appearance. It was a long wait and some jeeps started moving out. Our guide was sure of Maya’s sighting there, hence we decided to wait. We saw a herd of deer run away at a distance and silence fell among the crowd. Soon Maya came out of the woods and my heart skipped a bit. She stood for a few seconds and went inside again to our disappointment.

The jeeps rushed to a road were Maya was expected to come out from. And Maya did come out, right in front of our jeep! It was a moment unforgettable, a dream come true.

Soon she crossed the road and disappeared into the woods. The jeeps again raced to a probable spot from where she was to reappear. But this time she crossed the road quite far from the jeeps and entered the wilderness again.

The guide informed us that she was looking for her cubs, whom she had not seen for a week during her mating period with Gabbar.

We waited at another spot for sometime hoping for her to come out. But then decided to move forward with the safari. We drove beside Tadoba Lake to see crocodiles floating. We saw herds of deer grazing by the surrounding area, followed by a group of wild boar.

We went on to Jamun Jhora waterhole, another part of Sonam’s area. But her sighting is not as frequent as Maya’s and we were not lucky this time.

We returned to the homestay, had lunch and came back for the afternoon safari. Our hostess had informed us that there were chances of seeing Maya with her cubs and we were super excited. But as luck would have it, most part of the evening safari rained heavily. Still we were lucky to spot wild dogs and a sloth bear this time, which were first timers for us. We also saw herds of spotted and sambar deer and peacocks.

The rain kept gaining momentum and we had to leave. We were dead tired, had quick dinner and went off to sleep. I dreamt the entire night of Tadoba tigers.

Next morning we left for Chandrapur by car, driving through a part of the buffer zone and listening to forest tales by our driver.

Tadoba has been our best jungle safari experience till date and we hope to return next year.

Some pointers to help you plan for your Tadoba trip:

• Nagpur is the nearest major railway station to Tadoba. AC buses ply at regular intervals between Nagpur and Chandrapur, charging Rs. 200 per head. A car from Chandrapur will cost you between Rs. 1000 to 1200 and drop you at your hotel in Tadoba.
• Book the core safaris online first and then book your hotel.
• Buffer safaris can be booked on spot. Or you can ask your hotel to book for you in advance.
• There are 6 entry gates for safaris in the core: Mohurli, Kolara, Navegaon, Khutvanda, Pangdi, Zhari(Kolsa region). Mohurli allows the most number of jeeps and has the best accommodations, followed by Kolara.
• Be careful to book from the gate nearest to your accommodation since the gates are quite far from each other. Whichever gate you choose, you will be driven across all zones inside.
• A safari in the buffer zone will cost you Rs. 2600, while a safari in the core will cost you around Rs. 3500.
• Accommodations:

1. There are a lot of homestays available if you want to go light on your pocket.
2. The medium budget options are the government run ones : MTDC and FDCM.
3. There are many resorts available from mid range to high ones. You can refer the below mentioned site for accomodation options:

 https://www.tourmyindia.com/blog/10-best-hotels-resorts-stay-tadoba-national-park/