Day 2

Bandhavgarh National Park

Bandhavgarh National Park is set amongst the Vindhya Hills in Madhya Pradesh (a central Indian state). It is 168sq miles and is a mixture of bamboo, grassland, and a complex of deciduous forests. The dominant forest type is sal. The whole area is renowned for its bird life and there are at least 150 species of birds in the park, along with a wealth of mammals such as tigers, sloth bear, langur monkeys, wild boar, mongoose, 3 kinds of deer – chital, sambar and Indian muntjac, to name a few. In fact Bandhavgarh National Park has the highest density of tigers in the world. In the morning we will be woken up early with tea and coffee and then head into the park for our first jeep safari. The jeep safari will be conducted by one of the park’s own naturalists a local driver and your zoologist guide so you can be assured of having the right people to help you spot and understand the animals and their behaviours. After around four hours we will have breakfast at the accommodation and possibly enjoy some bird watching in and around the resort or you can go back to bed and rest so your ready for another safari after lunch. The afternoon safari will run until the sunset and after the sun sets we return to the lodge and have evening tea. We will enjoy our evening meal back at the accommodation, level – government resort (White Tiger Lodge), after dinner we will get ready to do it all again tomorrow.

Day 3

Bandhavgarh National Park

Today will follow the same plan as yesterday with two jeep safaris and all meals at the accommodation; level – government resort (White Tiger Resort); with optional birdwatching and a trip to the local museum and photography gallery.

Day 4

Bandhavgarh National Park

This morning will follow the same pattern as yesterday with two jeep safaris and our meals being in the same locations. As we are driving around the park you may notice the Bandhavgarh Fort, on top of the cliffs which dominate the park. Besides offering breath taking views, it houses a 35 ft reclining statue of Lord Vishnu and 10th Century Rock Images of the incarnation of the Lord. Dinner at our accommodation, level – government resort (White Tiger Lodge). After the sun sets the peace and tranquillity of the night is temporarily broken by various animal calls – an alarm-call of the deer or the howling of jackals, or an occasional roar of the tiger.

Day 5

Bandhavgarh National Park

Once again today will be the same as yesterday as we enter the park for a sixth and seventh time in hope of seeing the elusive tigers, sloth bears, leopards, jungle cats, golden jackals and dhole which make up the major carnivores here. To help us every morning the park authorities send elephants with their mahouts out into jungle in search of tigers. When a tiger is spotted by the elephants and their mahouts, a message is passed on to park rangers through walky-talky which is further onward passed onto guests in the jeeps. Dinner at our accommodation, level – government resort (White Tiger Lodge).

Day 6

Bandhavgarh National Park

Today will follow the same pattern once again of two jeep safaris into the Bandhavgarh National Park and three meals at our accommodation, level – government resort (White Tiger Lodge) with bird watching in between.

Day 7

Bandhavgarh National Park

Today is a little different from the last few days because we will only have one safari, a morning one. This is our last trip into the park and as we will almost certainly have seen lots of tigers by now if you would like we can spend the time searching out the smaller animals in the park such as the mongooses, snakes, lizards, birds, black-naped hares, mouse deer and flying squirrels. Once we return to the resort we will eat breakfast before packing up and getting ready to leave for Khajuraho. Khajuraho is an ancient city and is well known for its magnificent temples, which were built between 950 and 1050 A.D. Khajuraho derives its name from the Khajur tree (the date palm tree), which can be found in abundance in the area. The divine sculptures in these temples are a tribute to Life itself, embodying everything that is sublime and spontaneous about it. The murals depict the life and times of the Chandelas, and celebrate the erotic state of being. They not only testify to the mastery of the craftsman, but also to the extraordinary breadth of vision of the Chandela Rajputs under whose reign, these temples were constructed. If we have time we will explore some of these temples after checking into our accommodation, level – (Indian) 3* (Hotel Harmony). We will grab some lunch on the way to Khajuraho and our dinner will be at our accommodation.

Day 8

Home

Today after breakfast we will be transferred from the accommodation to the airport so you can catch our return flight home.

The National Parks Authority for Madhya Pradesh have announced that with effect from 1st April 2011, all National Parks within the State will remain closed to public access on Wednesday afternoons until further notice. This order will affect Pench, Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Satpura and Panna Reserves. The inconvenience caused to Royle Safaris tour participants is regretted but unfortunately there is nothing we can do to facilitate entry during these closures. On occasions when our tour itinerary would normally include entry to one of these reserves on a Wednesday afternoon we will try arrange alternative natural history activities either around the periphery of the park. In the event that this is not possible we will offer the opportunity to watch a Tiger related documentary during this time.

Please note that the itinerary stated above is correct as our planned intentions for the tour. However adverse weather conditions and other local considerations can necessitate some modifications of the itinerary during the course of the tour; any changes will be made to make the best of the time and weather conditions available to us.

This tour is available on different date (subject to availability) please contact us for more details about running this tour on a date which suits you more.