Most Inspirational Moment
Our first sighting of a tiger at Pench. The park was nearly closing and we had seen this tiger lying in the undergrowth a few hundred metres away for a number of hours when it decided to get up and walk towards us. It crossed the road in front of the jeep turned left alongside the jeep and sauntered of into the jungle. Magical. We had several other close encounters at the other parks both in jeeps and on elephants but the first was the most memorable.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Our group leader, Harish Kumar, was absolutely brilliant. His interest in wildlifeand photography along with his knowledge of the workings of the parks and his rapport with the staff enabled him to negotiate the best time slots and routes within the parks to maximise the potential for us to see tigers. His enthusiasm made the early starts worthwhile. When we were at Aggra my wife had a bad back and couldn't walk very fast and Harish made sure that she was ok and pointed out places where she could rest and wait for the other members of the group so that she didn't feel left out. His knowledge, experience, style, compassion, understanding and sense of humour made the trip.
Advice for Potential Travellers
You need to be aware of the number of additional game drives that are available at each reserve as these can add considerable cost to the trip. I would have taken twice as much money as I did had I known. ATMs are very thin on the ground and the one we stopped at refused to accept my debit card. My bank being overcautious more than the fault of the ATM but its something to think about. The other thing is if you don't go on the additional game drives there is nothing else to do. Two of the lodges we stayed at had swimming pools. My wife and I missed one of the drives and used the time to relax and read which was ok but not something we could do more than once. There is also time to relax between the morning an afternoon game drives. Also going on the additional drives increases your chances of seeing tigers which is, after all, the object of the trip.