Typed up at: Internet Cafe in Hong Kong, USA Hotel in Hong Kong Posted from: Internet Cafe in Hong Kong
Corbett is supposedly a great place to see tigers, and even offers the opportunity of doing so while riding an elephant. At least, that’s what the guidebook says. The elephant rides were canceled due to a recent tiger attack, and as for seeing tigers… If you want to see tiger prints in soft sand, then India is definitely the place to go. No question about that. If you want to see tigers, I recommend going to your local zoo.
But it wasn’t all bad. We’d booked a package which included 2 safaris and 2 nights stay at a resort. The resort (Tiger Camp, haha) was really beautiful. The food was paid for and excellent. We got our own spacious cottage with a nice bed, bathroom, and seating area. It was the best place we’ve been to in India to relax. We only relaxed for one afternoon, because we had to go see tigers.
Twice we went in a private jeep with a driver who spoke English, riding through the park which was mostly forest and some grassland. The most exciting thing we saw was a group of Indian elephants, quite close. It was in the forest so we didn’t get a full view of any elephant, but at varying times we saw trunks, tails, eyes, legs, and bodies. All the while the elephant made a lot of noise, ripping sizable branches from the trees and stripping them off their leaves.
Other things we saw were a stork-billed kingfisher catching and eating a fish, a mongoose, a green bee-eater (bright-green bird) very close, spotted deer locking horns, a peacock display its feathers, and langur monkeys monkeying around. Of course we saw tiger prints every day, too. We were sad to leave Tiger Camp as soon as we did, but we had a hotel booking in Binsar.
Through some cell-phone confusion we’d booked a taxi to Bimthar, but the cab driver was willing to take us to Binsar instead, for more money. The drive up there was amazingly beautiful. We mostly drove on the side of a canyon along twisty (but well maintained) roads. There were spectacular views of the surrounding landscape. A lot of the hills we saw were terraced making everything feel a bit more oriental. There was a river. We passed a few small lakes. It was great.