D1 fully knew he was being watched, he seemed pretty used to it, like a celebrity that couldn't care less about being photographed by the paparazzi. The farther the tiger walked, the more excited the tourists became, some of them getting too loud with their appreciation for the big cat.
Next, D1 stretched and flaunted all its muscles in front of the gathered crowd, even marking its territory, as if telling the people 'dare cross this line, you weaklings'. The jeeps followed the tiger further till as long as the animal walked. Soon, it crossed the road and padded to the other side of the forest.
Meet D1. (Photo: Author)
We knew we're in for a ride once we left from the Jabalpur Airport to get to Brij Sone Bagh, a luxury retreat surrounded by sal trees and the tallest of tall bamboo grass set in the heart of the Bandhavgarh National Park.
We reached this luxury resort that champions sustainability and empowers locals within a three-hour thirty-minute car ride after travelling for 175 km from the Jabalpur Airport. The road was bumpy, but we avoided the city traffic, only to follow the cattle for about a good 10 minutes.
Brij Sone Bagh is set in the heart of the Bandhavgarh National Park. (Photo: Brij Sone Bagh)
Before we even got down from the car, the staff at Brij Sone Bagh had climbed down the steps of the reception to receive us, with Akshay Bhende, the camp manager, already well versed with our names.
The staff sprinkled the water from the Charan Ganga river, a perennial river in Bandhavgarh National Park. The river originates from a spring at the feet of a 10th-century reclining statue of Lord Vishnu, known as "Shesh Shaiya".
Inside Brij Sone Bagh: Sustainability Meets Serenity
Set across 32 acres of natural forest in the Vindhya Hills, Brij Sone Bagh houses only five villas, namely Bagh, Hiranya, Vaanar, Mayur, and Gaj. The luxury resort was ready by June but the management decided to wait until October 2 as it was off season.
The decor of these private and secluded villas, designed by Atelier15, is done on the basis of their very names, paying tribute to the wildlife and featuring art and textiles rooted in Madhya Pradesh's tribal culture.
NDTV stayed at the Mayur Villa, situated in the middle of tall bamboo grass. The villa boasts of a swing, a living room, a cosy master bedroom, and a bathroom.
Way to Mayur Villa. (Photo: Author)
Climb a flight of stairs and we found an attached pool with temperature control. After one dip in the pool after an entire day's journey and all the city grime and troubles melted away. Lucky, as we were, we spotted a family of wild boars ravaging a paddy field and a couple of peacocks dancing while we were in the pool.
Interestingly, we found no landlines in the villa. Why? The Langurs are notorious for ripping off the telephone lines and that's why the resort management decided not to have any landlines.
The view. (Photo: Brij Sone Bagh)
What about the Internet connectivity? Each villa has its personal Wifi system whose cables are laid underground to keep them safe from the monkeys. The rooms too open with an old-school key and not a key card. How will the rooms open if the connection goes bad?
As a sustainability and biodiversity model, this luxury resort makes the best possible use of bamboo and related products, such as doors of the bathing area in the washroom, toilet paper, napkins, and dustbins lined with black biodegradable cover. Even the toiletries provided by the resort were covered with packets made from wheat grass extracts.
The one place we hung out regularly at Brij Sone Bagh was the Planters Room, the restaurant. Don't miss the local mahua liquor as the welcome drink, the healthy and tasty breakfast platter, lentil carrot soup, hing daal tadka, and bamboo chicken.
No sugar, only spice: Chutney making workshop at Planters Room. (Photo: Author)
The chutney making demonstration on a silbatta was another highlight.
The Tiger Safari
Satish, the naturalist, greeted us outside The Planters Room and we hopped into the open jeep. With high spirits, high hopes, and a little fear, we left from Brij Sone Bagh around 2.30 pm for our tiger safari into the Bandhavgarh National Reserve which is around 8 km away from the luxury jungle retreat. On our way, we picked up our forest guide, Ram Lakhan Singh, who has been in the business since the early 1990s.
We entered the tiger reserve, famous for its large population of Royal Bengal Tigers (165 tigers as of now), from the Khitauli gate around 3 pm. Khitauli is one of the three core zones in the Bandhavgarh National Reserve, the other two being Tala, the oldest, and Magadhi.
Metres away from the jeep, we felt something move, while our IDs were being verified. As we adjusted our posture, we saw a spotted doe was busy grazing on the bamboo grass. It was a good start to our safari. Moving into the interiors of the tiger reserve, Satish asked us, "What are your hopes from this safari?" "A good tiger sighting," was the answer.
Spotted. (Photo: Author)
From there on, we saw a herd of spotted deer and one of Sambar deer (in two different places). Several birds, including hoopoe, white-throated kingfisher, and spotted dove, were in full glory in the reserve.
We had heard a male tiger named D1 was sighted earlier in the day in the same area where we were scouting. Ram Lakhan Singh and Satish told us a tigress called Ra (named after the mark on her head which resembles the Hindi letter) was also said to be around along with her three cubs.
Suddenly, someone whispered, "Leopard."
Our forest guides asked us to hold fast to the bars on the jeep and drove through the uneven jungle roads, almost racing to the area where other guides pointed us to. After a few moments, through the foliage of the trees, we saw something move. It was, indeed, a leopard. After a quick darshan, the leopard simply vanished through the tall grass.
"You are very lucky. It's a good sign," our naturalist said, adding that a tiger sighting is a regular feature in Bandhavgarh, a leopard one is a rarity.
We, then, moved to another spot on the jungle trail and remained there stationed taking in the fresh forest air, listening to the jungle babbler and sounds of the crickets. We traded stories and water, but everyone in the vehicle knew we were just biding time. We were distracting ourselves while our eyes and ears were on the lookout of the tiger. Exhaustion started to creep in and we almost started to doze off.
The next minute, the vehicle roared into action and we almost leaped from our seats. We understood that fellow seasoned forest guides had given us a call, signalling that the animal was here, somewhere pretty near.
Sleep went out of the window, we were super charged with excitement and a teensy bit of fear, after it was a wild animal. The forest roads almost became the F1 track, albeit a very muddy and uneven one, where one jeep chased after the other, trying to get ahead so that they each got their guests the best vantage point to gaze upon the tiger.
Tiger, Tiger. (Photo: Author)
Eventually, the vehicles stopped for a while and out of the trees came D1, sauntering near the Central Point of the tiger reserve. It was worth the wait. Weighing at least 200 kg, the three-year-old male tiger's belly was full and wet (we were told he must have been lazing around in some stream nearby) when he decided to take a walk through his home.
We knew we had 'captured' the tiger in our memory and on smartphones, our big smiles were a dead giveaway for those just entering the forest for a safari. Satisfied, we turned around to explore new parts of the forest, perhaps spotting Ra and her cubs too.
Soon, one of us saw some animal's head in the bushes across. Soon, a shy leopard (a female one, we were told) stepped out on the road to test the waters. She looked left and then right, analysed the situation, and scrammed towards the other part of the forest. By 6 pm, we moved out of the core zone before darkness set in.
Out And About Near Brij Sone Bagh
One of the days we were staying at Brij Sone Bagh, we visited the house of a family belonging to the local Baiga tribe in the nearby village of Rakhi Amodar. The members of the Baiga tribe are primarily involved in farming and crafting beautiful items using bamboo, including the bulb covers in the Planters Room.
The camp manager drove us to what was the nearest house to the core area through a very thin and bumpy forest road that accommodates only one vehicle at a time.
When we reached the house, the family was out tending to their paddy fields. But we met someone who alerted the family from afar. It was Mithhoo, their 18-year-old parrot.
House of a Baiga family. (Photo: Author)
When we asked if we could call one of the family members so that they could show us around the house, the camp manager said they don't carry phones to the fields. "Apni marzi ke maalik hain," he added.
The experience would have remained incomplete without a Baiga tribal song and dance performance by the bonfire in the woods. A very colourful character Sudhakar Prasad Yadav, a flautist, led the group that sang songs in the Bagheli dialect to the beats of mridangams, sticks, and jhanjh.
"In these songs we invoked Lord Krishna and his adventures with cows and sang of how a new bride walks gingerly in her new home," said Sudhakar Prasad Yadav, who revealed his entire family history when asked for his name.
Besides farming and craftwork, the Baiga tribe is holding on to their roots while also making an earning out of the dance form that dates back generations.
Tribal dance performance by members of the local Baiga tribe. (Photo: Author)
It was pitch dark at 5.30 am next morning when we said our goodbyes to the staff at Brij Sone Bagh with a trunk full of memories. We must have been barely 1-2 km away from the property where our car skidded on the road and the driver said, "Tiger hai".
That woke us up from the sweet sleep that we had almost drifted into. And then we saw a tiger in the bushes. The wild cat was about to cross the road when it was disturbed by the headlights of an open jeep on a morning safari right ahead of us. Irritated, the tiger retreated into the darkness of the forest, leaving the tourists and us passers-by asking for more.
Suyash, another naturalist who works with Brij Sone Bagh, later told us that it was Mahamana Bachhi, an 8-year-old tiger who was out on a kill. "She charges a lot. You are really lucky," he said.
Two tiger and two leopard sightings in less than 24 hours? We indeed were lucky.