June 12, 2011
Rudrapur is a big industrial city. There are several major companies like Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Nestle and many other FMCG companies who have their plants located here. There is also the presence of some five star hotels like Radison and budget hotel chains like Ginger.
We left the guest house at Rudrapur after a good breakfast at about 10:00 hrs. The road to Ramnagar, the closest town to Jim Corbett NP, passes through the industrial development area.
We reached Haldwani in about 45 minutes. Here I drew some cash from a HDFC bank ATM and then we proceeded towards Kaladungi. It rained very heavily on the way but the downpour receded as we approached Ramnagar via Kaladungi.
Just on the outskirts of Ramnagar there is a dam on River Kosi. This Kosi is different from the one that flows from Nepal into Bihar and causes havoc there due to floods in the rainy season.
We reached Ramnagar at about 12:00 / 13:00 hrs and checked into the KMVN guest house. Raju & Phadke went and did the booking for the morning jungle safari in an open mini bus designed for this purpose.
There is nothing more to write home about today.
Bye for now and see you here again tomorrow.
June 13, 2011
We woke up at 04:15 hrs, brushed and then reached the jungle safari terminal at 05:15 hrs. The bus left dot on time that is at 05:30 hrs, picked up a big family with kids at their resort and we were on with our drive through the NP starting from the Dhela gate.
The bus moves very slowly through the jungle so that there is sufficient time for citing animals, birds or such wild life. It is all a question of luck as to what one gets to see. The driver said that since it had rained yesterday, the weather was cool and the animals go deep inside the forest. This is a huge NP with an area of over 1200 square Km!
We got to see some birds, giant lizard, spotted deer, and sambar but nothing else other than that.
The bus took us to a small restaurant / hotel complex inside the jungle where we had buffet breakfast and then returned. We were back by about 12:00 hrs. We had asked for a booking for another ride through the forest in a Gypsy for this evening. This too was confirmed and the tour was to start at 15:30 hrs.
We took bath had our lunch and slept for a while. The Gypsy arrived at 15:15 hrs. Phadke decided not to come for this trip so only Raka, Raju and I went for this round of the jungle. Mr. Pathak was our guide. It is mandatory to take a guide here. We went through a different gate, Zirna Gate, than the morning one to a different area of the jungle but did not get to see anything and returned to the guest house at about 19:00 hrs.
We had our dinner and off to bed now. Tomorrow is going to be a long drive up to Badrinath.
Good night and cheers!
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