India Wildlife and Medieval Tour for Mr. Aladdin
Mumbai – Rajkot - Sasan Gir – Alang - Ahmedabad – Delhi – Corbett – Delhi - Neemrana – Jaipur - Ranthambhore – Fatehpur Sikri – Agra – Delhi - Bandhavgarh – Kanha– Pench – Nagpur – Mumbai
34 Nights – 35 Days Cut short to 30 days due to VISA issues
Day 28: Arriving to Pench
On arrival to Pench transfer to the resort, after refreshment enjoy Jeep safari to at Touria zone and Jamthara zone. The main vegetation of the park is the Kullu and Teak trees and a wide variety of deciduous trees some of which are rare and endangered as well. Enjoy dinner & overnight stay at resort.
Monday 1stof February 2016I got a shock when I got out of the car. I told my driver that we were at the wrong place. A girl came out and she asked for my passport to check my name. - Yes, you are at the right place - No, I'm booked at a luxury place with lush foliage. This looks like shit! - The rooms are not here, they are further down
She turned from kind of happy to sullen. And it was not getting better when we got in to the reception. Wooden floor with several of the wooden pieces missing. I asked if there was internet in the room. No, this was not allowed. But I was welcome to the reception to use the internet.
I looked around, where to sit? There were the bean bag styled pillows to sit on and a few cane chair, is this their meaning of neo-ethnic interiors? This was for sure a scam and it is like it is the same owners as the Ranthanbhore Palace & Jungle Camp. Yeah, who can forget their reception? The music video Norman Bates sprung in to mind as soon as I stepped inside.
There are always some hotels reminding me of the classic music video
Let's have a look on how Pench Jungle Camp is trying to sell themselves on the internet. Then have a look at my pictures and then you can decide if I have the right to complain.
The Pench Jungle Camp, nestling among 12 acres of lush foliage, sprawling lawns, and untouched landscape is a perfect getaway for nature lovers!
It is aptly named as a Jungle Camp.... that provides an unqualified jungle experience! Although the resort is unparalleled in its luxury and comforts.
Reception as per their web page. Yes, I shat myself stepping in to the reality
After this introduction on internet I expected fine dining, for sure, more than cottage cheese and cow milk
13 deluxe safari tents equipped with all the modern facilities like Air Conditioning, Tea coffee maker, refrigerator, luxurious bathroom, Sit-out verandah. Tents are spacious and tastefully done up with neo-ethnic interiors.
Deluxe
dɪˈlʌks,ˈlʊks/ adjective 1. luxurious or sumptuous; of a superior kind. "a deluxe hotel" synonyms: luxurious, luxury, sumptuous, palatial, opulent, splendid, magnificent, lavish, grand, rich, superior, high-class, quality, exclusive, choice, select, elegant, well appointed, fancy
Outside my tent
A lush foliage, sprawling lawns, and untouched landscape is a perfect getaway for nature lovers!
A cottage (luxury) next to my tent
A lush foliage, sprawling lawns, and untouched landscape is a perfect getaway for nature lovers!
A lush foliage, sprawling lawns, and untouched landscape is a perfect getaway for nature lovers!
A lush foliage, sprawling lawns, and untouched landscape is a perfect getaway for nature lovers!
A lush foliage, sprawling lawns, and untouched landscape is a perfect getaway for nature lovers!
A lush foliage, sprawling lawns, and untouched landscape is a perfect getaway for nature lovers!
A lush foliage, sprawling lawns, and untouched landscape is a perfect getaway for nature lovers!
A lush foliage, sprawling lawns, and untouched landscape is a perfect getaway for nature lovers!
My tent
My tent
My tent
Neo-ethnic interiors
Here I live in unparalleled luxury and comforts.
Cane furniture - Is this neo-ethnic enough for you
And the prize winner - Stool or some kind of table. Or two stools and a table?
Never mind, this was neo-ethnic enough for me to last for a life time
Yes, describing your property in the best way is a fine line between the truth and a lie. But what the duck is neo-ethnic? Shitty cane furniture?
I was not happy and when I left the reception. I stopped at a fur rug at the entrance to the reception. - This looks like it is ready for the garbage bin A guy looking like a pirate came out from the shadows and he told me that it was for his pets. 2 German Shepard’s and they use the rug in the reception as their favourite chewing blanket.
I had a few hours before it was time to leave for the afternoon safari and I spent them in bed updating my web page. The neo-ethnic interiors does obviously not include a desk in the room. A desk is not any luxury, it is darn ducking standard in a hotel room!
It knocked on the door and it was from the restaurant - The lunch is ready! - What’s for lunch? - Cottage cheese and cow milk - No thanks
15 minutes later another guy came by and asked if I wanted lunch - What’s for lunch? - Cottage cheese and cow milk - No thanks - There is also rice and egg curry - EGG CURRY!! That's what the Salvation Army is handing out in the street corners to people with no money. So no thanks, I go to buy some biscuits!
Anyway, it was soon time to leave for my afternoon safari. They had told me in the reception that my jeep would leave at 3 o'clock. But I went to the jeep quarter to 3 and we arrived to the gate a few minutes later, and as I had suspected. The gate opened at 3 so I would have lost quality safari time following the directions from the reception.
OK, let's forget about the Pench Jungle Camp for a while, or my holiday gets ducked up. But it is annoying when you have got scammed. I wrote to Meruka India and they will remove this hotel from their list. I told them to check out Pench Jungle Camp's web page and to compare with mypictures. Well, it is for two nights and I'm of to ibis in Mumbai and Diet Pepsi.
Now let's get excited about the Jungle Book. Kanha was said to have inspired Kipling to write the Jungle Book. So is also the wordsabout Pench “Pench forest reserve, is the setting for Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book”
We are surrounded by places like Mowgli’s Den and Kipling's place so this park is obviously more associated with Kipling and the Jungle Book. I never saw any business logo with anything about theJungle Book in it in Kanha. Here is seems like many are trying to make profit from Kipling's Jungle Book
On the way to the gate we passed a few trees with berries and the trees were full of Indian Grey Hornbills. This hornbill is very shy and it is hard to see them in the trees.So getting pictures are not easy.
We reached the gate and there were quite a few jeeps waiting. I was hungry and I bought some potato chips and mango drinks in the souvenirshop. I also bought a few of the smallest Kit Kats I have ever seen. Of course, a disaster for my diet. But cottage cheese and cow milk just doesn’t make it for me.
Same procedures we have got use to by now. I handed my passport to the driver and he left to register us. And I finished my Kit Kats while he was away. I had no plans on opening the potato chips until I was back in my tent.
Well, I opened one bag and the content was gone in a jiff. Yeah, I really want to go back home so I can have my fruit and tuna again.
This Indian adventure have for sure not been any good for my diet. Not because the food hasbeen so good, quite the opposite so I have had naan most of the times when I have been out of the big cities with big hotels and restaurants that goes with the nice hotels.
OK, I can't say that I had very much fruit and tuna at the hotels with real restaurants and a menu. But there will be changes as soon as I set foot on Thai soil again.
I will not have any more potato chips from now on, except of course my remaining three bags that I will have for dinner tonight in my room. Well, anyway, wedrove up to the gate where an old guy opened a boom and closed the boom again by means of a rope.
One car at the time and they picked up the Guide on the other side of the gate. When the jeep had the guide on board and had left the guy opened the boom again and next jeep could enter the park.
We got out guide and now I had one Driver/ Guide/ Naturalist and the extra compulsory Guide with me and they really had to struggle to understand the simplest English. And they started to chat right on and I told them to be quiet so we could enjoy the birds and the sounds of the nature. And below there is a few pictures from the afternoon game drive.
Passing a beautiful water hole
Indian Scops Owl
Indian Scops Owl
Indian Gum Tree - Indian Ghost Tree
Sterculia urens
is a species of plant in the family Malvaceae. It is native to India and has been introduced into Burma. A small to medium-sized tree with a pale-coloured trunk, it is commonly known as the भुत्या in Marathi (meaning ghost tree), kulu, Indian tragacanth, gum karaya, katira, sterculia gum or kateera gum. The specific name urens refers to the stinging hairs present on the flowers.
Yet another beautiful view in Pench National Park
Sambar Deer and a Jackal
Ruddy shelduck, Brahminy duck
Ruddy shelduck, Brahminy duck
Ruddy shelduck, Brahminy duck
Ruddy shelduck, Brahminy duck
Ruddy shelduck, Brahminy duck
Ruddy shelduck, Brahminy duck
SA Jackal is crossing the road
Woodpecker enjoy the evening
A beautiful evening in Pench National Park
The dhole
The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is a canid native to Central, South and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red wolf (not to be confused with Canis rufus), red dog, and mountain wolf. It is genetically close to species within the genus Canis, though its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third lower molar, and the upper molars sport only a single cusp as opposed to 2–4. During the Pleistocene, the dhole ranged throughout Asia, Europe and North America, but became restricted to its historical range 12,000–18,000 years ago.
The dhole is a highly social animal, living in large clans without rigid dominance hierarchies and containing multiple breeding females.] Such clans usually consist of 12 individuals, but groups of over 40 are known. It is a diurnal pack hunter which preferentially targets medium and large sized ungulates. In tropical forests, the dhole competes with tigers and leopards, targeting somewhat different prey species, but still with substantial dietary overlap.
It is listed as Endangered by the IUCN, as populations are decreasing and estimated at less than 2,500 adults. Factors contributing to this decline include habitat loss, loss of prey, competition with other species, persecution, and disease transfer from domestic dogs.
Dhole range
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The dhole- Asiatic wild dog - Indian wild dog
The dhole- Asiatic wild dog - Indian wild dog
The dhole- Asiatic wild dog - Indian wild dog
The dhole- Asiatic wild dog - Indian wild dog
Among others I have used Peter Ericsson's web pageBirds of ThailandThese galleries contain 668 species of the Birds of Thailand and have been of a great help to identify some of the birds as the birds in Thailand and India are, well, many of them are the same.
I have had most help from my friend, the bird pal I met at Suan Rot Fai. Sending pictures of birds I have not been able to identify to him via Line. 3 minutes later he and he have managed to identify most of the birds I have had problems with. THANKS! Visit his web pagem☥leverfor his beautiful pictures.
And my new aid, maybe, and I say maybe the best aid. I brought my mobile phone as my SIM card have stopped working and I tried to get it to work again so I can use the internet. Thus I had my phone in my pocket on my first game drive in Jim Corbett National Park.
We saw a bird and I asked my Guide and the driver if they had a pen and a paper as I had forgot my pen and paper in my room. I remembered my LG phone and I recorded the name. And thus I will always bring my phone. Writing the name in the car and I have found more than once that it can be hard to read what I had wrote when I'm back in my room.
So now I always have my mobile in my pocket and it has been a great help.
Of course, all bird pictures available on my Indian bird checklist of bird I have seen by clickingHERE
Of course, I have seen many many more, but this list is for birds I managed to get on picture
Some of the pictures are OK, and some of them are straight up in a very poor quality
It was time to leave the park. We saw the wild dog and I was very happy for that as the wild dog as in Africa are very rare to see. But while we watched the dogs we could hear a tiger roaring.My driver took off to se if we could see the tiger, but we had just missed the tiger.
So I missed both the wild dogs and the tiger. I was not happy about this, I told him to stay until I told him to go next time.
I have paid TOP DOLLARS for this trip and I would really have loved to watch the wild dogs. Yeah, we remember how I was looking for them in Africa. I have seen plenty tigers but no wild dogs. I was really disapointed with this. Anyway, we left the park and I told the driver to go to a shop to buy some biscuits for me to keep in my room as I dont think I will spend much time in the mess hall at Pench Jungle Camp So we drove to the village and we stopped at a Indian styled convenient store.
Indian styled convenient store
I got my biscuits and I bought some Kit Kat as well. Darn, Kanha Jungle Lodge, they gave me KitKat and I got hooked on the Kit Kats
The evening was spent in my tent and I felt asleep early with my alarm set to 6 thirty. I will meet my driver at 7 thirty for departure for the gate and a new safari adventure. Will we see any beautiful birds? Any tigers? Find out by cklickingHERE
But hold on, there is obviously something happening at m☥lever. My birding friend have been busy in Bangkok and Chiang Mai so check it out here:☮ fly away (new)
OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can itbe? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.
Jiffy (also jiff)
noun[in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.
ORIGINlate 18th cent.: of unknown origin.
So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.
So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!