VISIT TO NAGZIRA

Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary which is now a well known tiger reserve is located between Bhandara and

Gondia districts of Maharashtra. It is about 122km away from Nagpur. The sanctuary initially covered only 152 sq km. But later it was expanded to cover more than 300 sq km and in Dec 2013 it was merged with the Navegaon National Park and declared as a Tiger Reserve. The Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve is the fifth tiger reserve in Maharashtra.

The dense forest here is rich in wildlife. It is said to have 166 odd species of birds and about 34 species of mammals. There are also many species of reptiles and amphibians and a variety of insect and ant species. The various wild animals spotted here are tiger, bison/ Indian gaur, sambar, nilgai, spotted deer/ chital, wild boar, sloth bear and wild dog.

My mom and I are both avid bird watchers. We decided to go to the the Nagzira sanctuary during my summer vacations. We joined a group from Pune known as Kika’s Bird Club founded by the famous naturalist, birder, environmentalist Mr. Kiran Purandare. He too accompanied us during this trip. Kiran Purandare is fondly called as “Kika”, which is the short form for Kiran Kaka. So everyone, young and old, lovingly call him Kika. Kika had actually stayed at Nagzira for 400 days and studied the place in detail. So you could call Nagzira as his domain!

We set out late in the evening from Mumbai by train in the Mumbai-Nagpur Duronto Express. We reached Nagpur the next morning. After reaching Nagpur we went to a place called Shubhamangal Karyalay which was about 10-15 minutes from Nagpur Station. We refreshed ourselves and waited for the group from Pune to join us. After they arrived, there was a round of introduction. Together we were a group of 28 people! I was glad to know that there were many girls and boys of my age. I looked forward to make new friends. We had a hearty breakfast consisting of vada, sambaar and chutney.

After having breakfast we left for Nagzira Sanctuary in 5 non-AC sumos. It was a 2 hours drive in the scorching heat of the sun. The temperature at Nagpur was around 45*C. We were told to cover our head, ears, mouth and neck properly. We had worn our headgears to protect ourselves from the heat. It was a new experience since we had never done such a thing in Mumbai before.

       

LOOK AT US!!

We arrived at a village called Pitezari which is near one of the entry gates of Nagzira. This is where Kika’s close friend Roopchand, who is an official guide of Nagzira, resides. We had lunch at his house. It was a simple lunch cooked by Roopchand Kaka’s wife and her neighbours. All of us ate the delicious food to our heart’s content. We rested there for a while and then got into open gypsies which were to take us inside the sanctary. We entered the gates of the sanctuary at 3 pm which is the official entry time in the afternoon. We then proceeded to our lodging which was inside Nagzira Sanctuary about 10-12 km from the gate. There we quickly put our luggage in a room and set out for a safari at 3:30 pm in five gypsies.

THE ENTRY GATE

The forest was beautiful. Unlike the cities, it was a silent journey where we could hear nothing but the chirping of birds and the clicks of cameras. The guides were very knowledgeable and provided a lot of useful information which was not known to us earlier. They even showed us footprints of tiger, sloth bear, Indian gaur, langur and the peacock. They could easily tell which animal had been there a short while ago. Totally there were five guides. Their names were: Roopchand, Eshwar, Ramchandra and there were two others whose names I don’t know as I never travelled in their gypsies.

THE GARDEN AND OUR ROOMS IN THE BACKGROUND

THE CANTEEN WHERE WE HAD OUR MEALS

Our schedule for the next two days was more or less the same. 

Wake up at 5 am.  Assemble for tea by 5:30 am near the canteen. 

Set out for a Safari at 6 am and return at 9:30 am

Breakfast at 9:30 am. Freshen up and relax in your room. 

Gather at 11 am for nature games and talk with Kika

Lunch at 1:00 pm. Rest till 2:30 pm

Set out for a Safari at 3 pm and return at 6:30 pm

Have tea. Freshen up in your room.
Assemble around 7:30 or 8:00 pm for sharing the day's experience and learn new facts from Kika.
Dinner at 9pm
Listen to Guides sharing their hair-raising experiences in the forest
Lights off at 10pm

PLAYING GAMES UNDER THE KUSUM TREE NEAR THE NAGZIRA LAKE

We enjoyed 5 safari tours in all and saw innumerable animals and birds.

Click below to see and enjoy the photographs and know more about all that we saw.

                               

         Animals we saw                      Birds we saw

On Day 5, we all woke up at 5am and gathered at 5:30pm to have tea. But unlike the other days , we went on a walking trail near Nagzira lake. It is an artificial lake which was built by the local tribals many many years ao. There too we saw many birds. Then at 8am we had breakfast. After breakfast, we loaded all the packed bags in the Sumos which had come to pick us. Again, we had to wrap our face, back of our neck and mouth. We had a lot of fun playing games in the Sumo. On reaching Nagpur, we went to Shubhamangal Karyalay. There we had a mouth-watering lunch which was liked by everyone. The rabadi and chaas were too good. After that we played Dumb charades till 5pm. Then we went to the railway station in the Sumo and bid everyone farewell. After that we all boarded our respective trains and reached home the next morning.

This was indeed a memorable trip which will remain fresh in our minds for a long long time.

BACCHA PARTY WITH KIKA AND NITEEN KAKA

We were 12 children in all. You can see Vedavati, Sajal, Ananya, Aman, Aneesh, Rohan, Ishita, Iravati, Sanika, Alia and myself with Kika and Niteen Kaka. (Devdatta however refused to join us for the photo.)

ALL OF US TOGETHER

A big THANK YOU to Neeraj Kaka, Rama Kaku, Devdatta, Ambar Dada and Sanika for sharing their photos which I have used in my blog.