Corbett Reviews

Food, sight-seeing and shopping
Where to stay in CTR? - We had seen a lot many reviews of HIQ and a lot of net surfing, enquiries four months before actual tour to Kumaon. After all, we decided to go for KMVN. KMVN offers packages starting from Delhi for various places. They give ?Dhikala forest rest house? in the package to Corbett. We insisted on three night instead of two nights offered by them. Mr. Vinod Negi of KMVN Mumbai, happily altered this package, tailored it to our likes and dislikes. Yes, Dhikala is the only place worth staying if you are a serious wildlife tourist. Other luxurious resorts have nothing but bar, swimming pool etc. etc. EXCEPT wilderness. Facts about Dhikala and CTR - The Corbett tiger reserve has many forest rest houses, thoughtfully built by the Englishmen like Jim Corbett et al. They are all located nicely. Dhikala is the only place with a restaurant and a dhaba and nice dwelling units. The location is unbeatable, bang on the riverside, at a vantage point. From the premises itself you can watch the movement of many wild animals in the bed of Ramganga river. We were stunned on the very arrival at this place, never imagined to see herds of wild elephants having a bath in the river, drinking water and taking ?dust bath? the whole day. You can also see many chitals, sambars also; while sitting on the compound wall, on the machan or from the restaurant itself. Other forest rest houses like ?Khinanauli? are also beautiful, but don?t have food facility. If you are prepared to ?do it yourself?, this is the place for the real nature lover. You have to book this from the forest dept. at Ramnagar or from Nainital. Khinanauli FRH is the paradise for bird watchers. We have heard about the Jhirna FRH and the Jhirna route for the safaris, but haven?t been there, I?m sure this also must be worthwhile. Really three nights is not enough to have real fun of Corbett. Your Day1 is spent completely in just arriving to Dhikala. If one has an imagination that one can be here from Delhi in just 5 hours, forget it! The time lost at Ramnagar forest office is phenomenal. (This is in the best interests of the forests, because young maniac enthus would otherwise just flood inside the forest area). We were forced to have lunch here till the entry passes could be done in a matter of two full hours. Of course, you can enjoy these hours moving around the KMVN tourist rest house, not a bad at all for staying and having vegetarian food. The surroundings of this are full of bird watching opportunities. After having spent nearly three hours at Ramnagar we started our journey to Dhikala. This itself is a ?Safari? as rightly told to us by Mr. Pandey (or Mr. Bhatt or Mr. Pant or Mr. Negi) at the KMVN. Wildlife sighting begins the moment you enter inside the ?Dhangari Gate?. You can see many spotted deers, a few solitary barking deers, sambars, wild boars en route to Dhikala. If you are watchful birder you can spot some eagles, hornbills etc. in the thick trees, one must have a vision of wildlife, eyes can?t see what the mind doesn?t have. The Dhikala FRH - Located at the core of the CTR, is a wonderful place to stay. It?s all surrounded by power-fence. Tourists are not supposed go cross the premises on feet. The old forest bungalow has all rooms facing the Ramganga River. There is also an annex building (of which Room 1 is the best located), some log huts and a dormitory. The whole surrounding is just maddening, Dense forest on three sides and the river and the mountain ranges beyond on the fourth side.

Activities & things to do
Activities at Dhikala - Jeep Safari - Jeep Safaris - The jeep safaris that are included in the package can be a bad experience if your accompanying tourists are noisy. They can spoil the whole safari. Spend some 800 rupees and go for independent safaris. Then the guides will be happier to show you many more things in the forest, they will also furnish good information about the jungle. One ?Mr. Pandey? who happened to guide us in our safaris was really a knowledgeable person. We could see a ?Stag Party? in its literal sense. Yes this word is actually borrowed from the jungle life. The chitals really are having ?stag parties? and this was a new piece of information for me. The numbers of photographs uploaded are in proof of the good safaris we had. There is a majestic bird around here, this is ?Paradise Flycatchers? the male is a very handsome bird but difficult to catch in the camera. We were about to see a tiger near ?Khinanauli FRH?. The signal given by a langoor was quite interesting, there was a tiger around us, sadly it went away and the langoor stopped its peculiar signals. Every safari, we spend a lot of time in the Khinanauli campus and could see jackals and a large variety of birds around this FRH. Indeed this FRH is located in a very thick forest. En route, one can see ample activities of Sambars, Chitals, Wild Boar, Peacocks and Elephants. You have a choice of taking additional safaris in jeep, which although costly, are a value for the money. The guides who charge a little extra for this safari, will tell you lot many things about the wildlife and their behavior, and can make your safari really paying. Elephant Safari - One elephant safari, of course included in the package is worth doing. The elephants will cross the river, walk in the roughs of the land and can be really useful in sighting of wildlife. The safari elephants are all females, the Mahout will not take you in the deep if a herd of wild elephants is seen since the tuskers in the herd may go real ?wild? after seeing your female elephant, consequently the safari might return back. You may face this disappointment; keep persistent, you can go to elephant safari the next day, and it?s worth it. It is in the elephant safari that we sighted the tiger, in the riverbed, sleepy after the ?party night?. The place where we spotted him was not at all approachable by jeeps. Dhikala Watch Tower - Beautifully located. We must have patience and spending time on the watchtower is not a boring experience if your guide and you are bird-watchers. Till your guide tries to locate tiger movement, by observing the movements of the deer, particularly the ?Sambar Calls?, you will see many birds like ?dollar bird?, ?blue jay? ?kingfishers? and ?hornbills?. Yes, from this watchtower we saw the handsome ?kaleej pheasant? near the water hole. (We also witnessed some ?urban wild activities? going on the tower, these were a tout of Ramnagar, and a couple who was drinking and smoking on the tower. Obviously they were staying in a private resort outside the reserve area. Why the forest personnel are not kicking such personnel out?) The Library at the Dhikala FRH - Activities in the afternoon are not a problem if you decide to spend ample time to read here. The library is full of interesting wild life books, particularly the literature of ?Dr. Salim Ali? the eminent ornithologist. If you look out from the windows of this library, you will be amused by the activities of the little rhesus monkeys in the campus, relieving your eyestrain of reading for hours together. Food and Activities - Remember booze is prohibited at Dhikala. So evening activities can be a problem for party maniacs. The restaurant is strategically located and offers a good food. Food is included in the KMVN packages. Its strictly vegetarian, the breakfast, however, can be eggitarian. There is a Dhaba with general store in the campus, which is a good alternative for the restaurant. In between the morning and evening safaris you can have a good time in the campus, bird watching, relaxing on the ?machan?, taking photos of the elephant-herds in the river etc etc.

Travel tips, How to reach, travel warnings etc.
Best Experience - There were many great experiences like seeing beautiful avifauna of CTR and all these species of animals. Observing a Stag Party was the greatest moment for me. The most thrilling moment was sighting the tiger in the riverbed during our elephant safari. Yes, my daughter could take nearly a dozen snaps of him; we could see him for such a long time, in its natural habitat. A mountain rain following a thunderstorm delayed our departure. It was such a thrilling experience. This had created havoc in the forest and our departure, consequently was delayed by full five hours since fallen trees blocked the route to Dhanagari Gate. Yes, the travel to and from Dhangari Gate itself is a ?Safari?. Worst Experience/s - Noisy fellow passengers and their crying kids spoiling one of our jeep safari. Drunken romance of a city couple in front of their dead drunk tout, seen on the watchtower of Dhikala.