IRCTC Tiger Express

Here is an article with sneak preview intot the IRCTC Tiger Express Train service between Delhi and Kanha

IRCTC Tiger Express

Direct bus service between Delhi and Leh

Himachal road transport has annoucned re-introduction of a direct bus service between Delhi and Leh via Manali wef  6th June, 2016. This 33 hours, almost 3 days journey of almost 1050 is sure to make many heads spin. One way fare is Rs.1365/-. When I saw this Delhi-Leh bus at the Leh bus stand during my visit in 2011, I could not digest as to how one can travel non-stop in such an ordinary bus from Delhi. Or how can one drive a bus like a truck driver do. We were told it is one service, but two buses. Now it is confirmed that there is a change of bus, and hence crew at Keylong. However this is an ordinary bus service without any inclusion. There also is a Non-AC delux bus service between Manali and Leh that costs Rs.2700/- one way that includes one night stay, dinner and breakfast en-route. This service will start from July 1.

You can find more info at following links -

Delhi - Leh bus news (Hindustan Times)

HPTDC / HRTC bus services

Wild Escapades - Corbett Tiger Reserve

This is small package chronicling wildlife viewings from my last trip to the land of roar and trumpet - the Corbett Tiger Reserve. Hope you will like it.

'Tiger Express' to Bandhavgarh and Kanha

Indian Railways is planning to hit the popular tiger circuit of Bandhavgarh and Kanha in Madhya Pradesh with launch of its special train 'Tiger Express'. The services of the semi-luxury train  will commence from June 5, the World Environment Day, at Delhi’s Safdarjung railway station. This service is a collaboration between the Railways and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). Packages are available though IRCTC.

This is the first time that Indian Railways will operate a tour package on the wildlife circuit. Apart from luxury trains like Maharaja’s Express, the IRCTC also offers tours packages on the desert circuit, Buddhist circuit, Bharat Darshan , etc. 

The five-night-six-day tour will cover Bandhavgarh and Kanha national parks in Madhya Pradesh, apart from Dhuadhar Falls of Bhedaghat, Jabalpur. The “Tiger Express” will only have first and second AC accommodations, with fare starting from Rs.38,500. The parks in MP currently have the highset charges for safaris in the country. The fare includes train ticket, local AC transport, accommodation and food. “The tour will include two tiger safaris at Kanha national park and one at Bandhavgarh, apart from accommodation at three-star hotels. Our prices are affordable keeping in mind the services provided and there are no hidden charges,” said IRCTC spokesperson Sandip Dutta.

IRCTC Tiger Express package

Wildlife capital of India

Why Assam Is India's wildlife capital

TNN | Apr 30, 2016, 12.10 PM IST

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Why-Assam-Is-Indias-wildlife-capital/articleshow/52051670.cms

Malaysia launched e-Visa for Indian tourists

Indian tourists travelling to Malaysia can now avail the e-visa. The e-visa system was launched on April 15, 2016. The visa will be processed between 24-48 hours. The processing fee is $25 (approximately Rs 1660) with visa fee of Rs 1000 and transaction fee of Rs 50 online. The total estimated cost is Rs 2710, the payment for which can only be made online. The visa however will be single entry and valid for 30 days. This may be a problem for tourists going to Malaysia and Singapore together using Air Asia services. It should be noted that Kualalumpur is the hub of Air Aisa and hence if you are to change aircraft at KL, then you will have to go through immigration. Therefore you may need multiple entry visa. During my trip to Singapore, KL and Langkawi using Air Asia services from Delhi via KL, I needed multiple entry to Malaysia. I had obtained paper visa for around 1500 rupees. The paper visa was multiple entry with same 30 day validity.

Malaysia received as many as 722,141 tourists from India last year, making the country the 6th largest contributor in terms of tourist arrivals. More information can be gathered from http://www.imi.gov.my.

Sterling Holidays, Mussorie : From Pine Hill to Dancing leaves

Soon after acquiring a Sterling Holidays membership in 2014, I set out to explore its resorts in and around Delhi. While the experience of its leased resorts at Corbett and Sariska was mixed, we liked the Sterling owned facility at Mussorie. It was then named as Pine Hill, located 2.5 km off the mall road, along a pleasantly walkable road with a gentle slope. The 94 room resort is laid on a hill face with a stunning view of the Doon valley, specially at night. A lot of construction was going on at the site during our visit. Half of the resort was under renovation. Thomas Cook had acquired Sterling couple of months back prior to pur visit in 2014. The money being invested by the new owners to upgrade this facility was on display. We expected that Mussorie was probably on a path to be classified as a Gold Class resort. We had stayed for 3 nights in a spanking new room that year. There was something special about Pine Hill, exuding a kind of lazy charm to give you feel of home in the hills. We had planned to return here for a longer stay.

Sunrise view from Sterling Dancing Leaves, Mussorie

We did return to Mussorie in 2015 for a longer period of stay on the long weekend of Dusserah. Renovation is now about 90% complete. The renovated facility has got a new name. It is now called the Dancing Leaves. The view from refurbished restaurant is stunning. A new gym and spa is in place. A lift to cut the flight of 200 plus steps from reception to the bottom most level cottage by half was under testing. A swimming pool is also planned, though I doubt how many will use the pool at coolness of 6500 feet.

As I was familiar with the layout of the resort, we decided to take a room lower down the hill for an unhindered view of the valley. Some of the upper rooms, though easier to access, have almost no view. Though this involves climbing up and down the flight of steps many time, we took it as an opportunity to get ourselves some fitness. Once the lift becomes operational, commuting will be much easier.

Rooms are quite spacious and aesthetically done. A studio unit is meant for 3 adults. However the unit is large enough to accommodate a 4^th adult with an extra mattress.  Kitchenette is well equipped with microwave, fridge and utensils. One of the attendant told me that rooms are better than the JW Marriot resort, where he had worked earlier. JW Marriot’s Walnut Grove is one of the prime property in Mussorie with charges of 15k plus per night. Being a Sterling member, per night cost for me was coming to about 2500 for 3 adults. This cost is calculated after taking into account my membership cost for 80 years and Annual Maintenance Charges. As I had already paid the one time part, I had to shell out only 850 rupees per night for my stay.

A dazzling Dehradun as seen from from my room in Sterling, Mussorie

Sounds wonderful. But I will also like to tell you about the flip side of it. My stay was on a long weekend of Dusserah and therefore I expected a rush. I had to plan well and book exactly 3 months in advance. I could do it because I have a premium / red season membership. For someone having lower season membership, it would have been near impossible. This is the problem with all timeshare holidays, be it Sterling or Club Mahindra.  Don’t expect to holiday on short notice. These companies are selling memberships every day, but their room inventory expands at snail’s pace. So the demand for each unit of room is increasing every year. If there is 3 customer for a room today, it will soon become 5 or more. Though there is a worldwide norm for this, these Indian companies have not set in any upper limit.

I had wrote in detail in one of my earlier posts about pros and cons of Timeshare Holiday membership. One of my reasons to buy a timeshare is to spend few days in peace, cocooned in a remote place, devoid of constantly ringing telephone, incessant noise and pollution of cars. I have matured from a sightseeing tourist to a leisure traveller. Being a wildlife photographer, most of travel takes to me national parks, most of which has become noisy and crowded. Some of the jungles are peaceful, just because they are difficult to access. Most of these timeshare resorts are located away from town centres, and hence provides you that peaceful ambience where you can enjoy the silence and unwind. Dancing Leaves, Mussorie certainly provides that ambience, with the mall road just half an hour’s leisurely walk. Or just take a leisure walk by the resort along the curves of the hill every morning and evening. We certainly have returned fitter and rejuvenated from our five days stay. We are looking forward to our next holiday there.

eVisa effect : Jump in foreign tourist arrival in India

1.17L tourists came on e-visa in Feb 2016 - a jump of 369% over same period last year: 

As many as 1.17 lakh people arrived in India on online visa in February as compared to 24,985 during the same month last year, registering a growth of 369.1%. UK continues to occupy the top slot, followed by the US and France among the countries availing e-tourist visa facility, tourism ministry said in a statement on Friday .

With effect from February 26 this year, the e-tourist visa facility was extended for citizens of 37 more nations, taking the total to 150 countries. UK topped the list of countries availing e-tourist visa facilities in February this year with 27.86%, followed by US (13.85%), France (8.08%), Russia (6.21%), Germany (4.92%) and China (4.91%). The share of Canada was 4.21%, while that of Australia was 3.64%, Korea 2.15% and Ukraine 2%, it said.





(Source : TOI)
eVisa effect : Jump in foreign tourist arrival in India

Sarapduli FRH : A different night out at Corbett

As the sun goes down behind the hills turning the landscape into a canvas of myriad shades of orange, jungle folk leisurely walks back to their cocoons for roosting. And then darkness descends to engulf the forest in a think black blanket, enthusing a new lease of life into the nocturnal fauna. The generally quiet jungle suddenly springs to life with a cacophony of calls and sounds. Predators who rules the night are out on the prowl. Many will not survive the night to see the light of tomorrow. Being out there in the dark is certainly a frightening proposition, but watching this drama unfold from inside an electric fence to fend off the predators is an altogether a different experience. Imagine yourself sitting right in the midst of all these actions, feeling the pulse of the jungle nightlife and soak in the unforgettable experience. Welcome to the Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, the land of roar and trumpet.

Asitic wild elephants

The evergreen dense forest of Corbett NP with patches of saal trees, grasslands, hills and rivers is the ideal habitat for two of the giants of Indian forests – the Royal Bengal Tiger and the Asiatic Wild Elephants. Corbett is one of those rare places in India that offers feel of real jungle night stay if you can manage to get accommodation in one of its Forest Rest Houses (FRH). These are tourist facilities run by the forest department of Uttaranchal and can be booked online through Corbett’s official site corbettonline.uk.gov.in. Of all the FRHs located across various ranges of the park, the Dhikala FRH is the most sought after, followed by Gairal and Bijrani. All of them are basic facilities, yet any true wild lifer will gleefully trade his luxurious hotel room for a night at these FRH. The Dhikala FRH is the biggest of all the facilities, located 31km inside forest on the bank of Rāmgangā reservoir, has good facilities for food, almost 24 hr electricity and next door access to the famed chaur or grasslands of Corbett. Therefore Dhikala FRH generally stays full with tourists, nature lovers and wildlife photographers. Other rest houses too are alluring, each of them in its unique way. The Gairal FRH and Bijrani FRH too have canteen facilities, but have limited choice of food. They do not have electricity, but are solar powered upto 10pm only. In my last visit this summer, I could not manage booking at either at Dhikala or Gairal. So when I was offered a choice of Sarapduli FRH during my last visit, I thought why not. A different kind of jungle stay was waiting to be experienced.

The Sarapduli FRH is located almost halfway to the Dhikala FRH from the Dhanagiri gate entry point on NH121. Travelling from the Dhanagiri gate, you first reach Sultan FRH. This two room FRH is the only one without any electric fencing and canteen. Hence you need to be super adventurous to plan a night stay here under a small solar lantern in the midst of prime tiger and elephant habitat. Travelling further through large patches of saal forests, after climbing up and down hills, crossing rivulets and, on almost reaching the plains of Dhikala, you reach the Sarapduli FRH. The facility is almost similar to Sultan, but here you have the comfort of an electric fencing.

A tiger in Dhikala zone of Corbett

Entering the Sarapduli FRH campus, we went pass couple of staff quarters lined on both side of the road. At the end of the 200 odd mtr road, which is the other end of the campus, facing a river is the tourist hutment. The building is an old British era heritage. It has two rooms with attached bath. One of the rooms is meant for tourist booking online, and the other for officials or someone who manages booking though connections. As the official room generally remains vacant, you are expected to spend the night alone in that house. The dining hall with a fire place is common to both the rooms. The guest room was smaller as compared to those in Dhikala or Gairal. However the toilet was almost the same size as the room itself. There also is a veranda facing the river, lined with many chairs, in case you find time to relax. You do not get river view though, because of overgrown bushes. About fifty feet away is a 3 bed dormitory in a separate building. Their common toilet is outside, making it scarier.

A modern time extension has been added to the old building, to serve as the kitchen. Cooking gas cylinder is available along with utensils. Charges for using these items are already included in the room rent for the night. Guests are required to carry raw materials for meals. You should be meticulous to carry everything, from salt to sugar to tea to turmeric to spices. You will not get anything there. You may either cook yourselves or else the caretaker will cook. Most guests generally goes out for safari at the crack of dawn, only to return to Sarapduli in the evening. Thus one is likely to have only dinner at Sarapduli. Or a cup of tea in the morning and evening.

Given the surroundings, we were excited at the prospect of spending the night at Sarapduli. It was almost dusk when we hit the campus after safari. Electric fencing were activated soon after we had entered. As we were the only guests for that night, we pulled out chairs in the open while the caretaker served us evening tea. The campus was dimly lit by few solar lights placed along the pathway. As the night fell, the staff quarters, though inside the campus, appeared too far away for comfort. The darkness and silence of the forest was overpowering. It started to engulf all of us, including the driver of my gypsy. He is a local guy, often goes to forest, yet he was scarred to sleep alone in the driver’s room. He cooked up haunting stories. Finally he managed to stay with the caretaker in his quarter. We too had become anxious. Despite being a regular to Corbett, being alone was unique experience.  We had to make a polite query as to how far help is available if we call someone at night. I estimated the caretaker’s room was about 200 feet away. We could see a light in a room about 100 feet away. We were told that a staff sleeps in that room. We were assured somewhat but was not sure how will someone react if we really need help at night.

Discussions on tiger sightings and other incidences accompanied our tea. I always enjoy such discussions with men who spends most of their days and nights in the forest. A storm was building up. Flashes of lightning were illuminating the surroundings occasionally. A cool breeze started blowing bringing in some relief from the heat. As we were enjoying the moments, we felt a sudden commotion along the fence and then a panic call from a scarred Sambhar deer. The source of the call was so close that all of us stood up instinctively. The electric fencing on the side from where the call came is about 100 feet from where we were sitting. Call of Sambher deer is a certainty about presence of a tiger or leopard. It was almost certain that a tiger was walking by the fence, probably to to the adjoining riverbed. We pulled out torches to scan for any sign of animal close to the fence, but without any success. My family made anxious query about safety of the electric fencing. The caretaker did his bit to assure them that bigger animals cannot trespass. There has not been any incident of tiger or leopard straying into the campus. To me a tiger may be too big for the fencing hole, but a leopard can come climbing any of the tree, if it wants to do so.

The mystic Corbett mornings

It was a long day for us and lights were to go off at 10pm. So we went for an early dinner. While waiting for food to be served, my eyes spotted something under a chair in the dining hall. The chair was directly under the only light glowing in the room and hence insects were converging onto it. Smaller insects, that had died, fell to the floor under the chair. Among those dead insects, there was something longer than any insect. So I went to inspect. I got excited to see a small white scorpion about 3 inches long, feasting on the dead insects. What we should have worried is that this scorpion was inside the house, and barely couple of 4-5 feet from the door of the room where we were supposed to spend the night without any electricity. Scary, isn’t it. But this is the thrill of spending a night in a jungle. And where do one get to stay in such a place in these times where humans have not rarely left any space unoccupied. This is Corbett, the real jungle. And this is Sarapduli, providing much better feel of jungle than Dhikala. When I brought it to the notice of the caretaker, he immediately arranged to remove the scorpion. He informed that it is more poisonous than the black scorpion.

The night passed of well. We were provided a small solar lantern for use after lights went off. Though the cacophony of sound had stopped before we went to bed, few Nightjar birds, with its terrible high pitch calls, kept waking us up from time to time. Being peak of summer in May, it was quite hot to spend the night without a fan. We stayed at Sarapduli for one more night. Second night was better with bit of rain and cool breeze. We felt confident to keep the door between bedroom and dining hall open that night. It provided much needed cross ventilation. We slept peacefully that night. Rains kept the nightjars away. I have been to Corbett so many times, generally staying at Dhikala and Gairal. This first time stay at Sarapduli was unique in its own way. We will remember the events of those two nights for a long time. It was a true jungle night stay in all sense. If you are looking for adventure, then you should certainly give it a try. You are sure to be back with treasure trove of memories from these places.

How to reach there:

There are multitudes of options to travel from Delhi to Ramnagar. You can use the Ranikhet Express that leaves every night from Old Delhi. Buses are available from Anand Vihar ISBT. Always travel by Govt Buses in Delhi NCR for safety. We typically hire  a cab which drops us and returns. The cab returns to pick us up on day of retun. By road it is about 240 km and takes 5 hours.

Where to stay:

Forest Rest Houses (FRH) can be booked through forest department's website only, though some agents arranges for your booking for a hefty charge. But no one can arrange a trip for you on short notice. You need to plan in advance. Typically FRH booking use to open 45 days in advance. Rooms are limited and hence gets sold out within minutes of opening. Rules keep chnaging. Pl check the offcial site for recent guideleines at corbettonline.uk.gov.in and select Book Tickets --> Night Stay. There are hundreds of resorts outside the park. You can do day visit Jeep safari only if you stay outside. Even for day safaris, you need to book in adavnce. Else you will end of beeing fleeced by doing safari in buffer zone like Sitabani.

Scuba diving at Havelock : A beginners journey into the sea

Jumping into a bottomless body of water, with nothing to cling onto, had been a dreadful thought for me. I am sure that I shared this feeling with many of you. It is said that the best way to overcome your fear is to face it. But, it is easier said than done. The longer you let the fear rule, the harder the resolution to overcome it becomes.

My abilities in swimming is limited to crossing the width of an average size swimming pool. Yet the thought of going scuba diving was toying in my mind. I had explored the wilderness of the hills through trekking to a maximum height of 16700 feet in Ladakah and Sikkim. But when it comes to water, I was stopped on my tracks by an unknown fear. I could not do it the first time I went to Andamans. Though couple of snorkelling trips boosted my confidence. It also stroked the desire to scale the next level – scuba diving. On my next island trip in Phi Phi Island, Thailand, I almost jumped into the sea, retracting the steps from the diving board of the boat.

Then came a second trip to Andaman early this year. Well before reaching the shores of Havelock, I was determined to dive this time. It was kind of now or never situation. I felt being guided by a strong inner voice. I was all set to explore the underwater world – both physically and mentally. After checking in at the resort, I called up my old contact Sanika and requested him to come over to discuss my plans for next couple of days.

Sanika had grown his business of renting cars and bikes in these intervening years. He is a full-fledged tour operator now. Knowing about my interest in diving, he took me to the office of Ocean Tribe, a dive centre next door and bargained a good price for me. The rate offered was lower than what was available on the net and my research. We were offered a product named Introductory Diving that would last about 45 min. I filled up the forms telling me about dangers and that I was aware of the risks etc. This is the point where 20-30% tourists drops out. Some drops out even after paying up. The fact that each one of us would have an individual instructor boasted my confidence.

Getting ready for the dive

Finally the day of reckoning arrived with lovely sunshine. We reported at the dive centre at our specified time. We slipped into the diving suit. Mr Farhan, our lead instructor led us to the boat that was to take us to the dive site. With few excited souls on board, the boat sped off tearing into the turquoise water of the Andaman Sea. When we reached the dive spot, we could see a few more boats already moored. The dive team helped us to wear the oxygen cylinder belts and weights. I realised that it is difficult to go under sea water without the weight belt and cylinder kit, forget about drowning. Another confidence booster realisation. With the kit belted to my body, the training of about 15 min started in shallow waters. The first thing asked by my dive instructor was whether I know swimming. I said a little bit. The instructor told me to forget that I know swimming, adding that I should not try to swim during the dive session. Whoa! I could not believe it. To prevent you from going astray, the instructor will control your movement and buoyancy. Hence you are not supposed to swim during the dive. All of us successfully cleared the training session. Excitement was at its zenith. Final equipment and breathing check was done. I signalled to indicate all OK. Next I found myself under the sea!

All OK....lets explore

The journey into the sea bed was like a game of computer. Level 1 of the entertainment. Max depth may be 15 feet. A magnificent world started unfolding before me. Colourful fishes was swimming across and over me. Corals of myriad colours were welcoming me to their world. After spending a few minutes, the instructor asked me whether I was comfortable and want to go further down. I signalled the OK sign and then thumb down to indicate that I was ready to go further down.

Level 2 was another 10 feet deeper. It was kind of cascading bowls of corals. From a bowl in level 1, you swim to a new bowl further down. Corals and fishes increased in number and variety with depth. They seem more beautiful and colourful here. I was enjoying every moment of it. So was my family, whom I could see occasionally. After spending few minutes at this level, the question of whether I was comfortable and want to go further down was thrown at me again. Except for the fact that the ever increasing pressure of seabed blocking my ears, I was not having any problem. We were taught how to clear the blocked feeling in ears during training. I signalled thumb down go further deep.

the world of fishes

Level 3 is the final frontier for introductory diving. It was another 10 feet or deeper into another bowl. It was more beautiful. I felt like a small fish swimming in a giant aquarium. There were colourful fishes and more colourful fishes. Occasionally a fellow diver would cross your path. We were under water for more than 30 minutes by now. Besides choking of ears, I had to encounter a new problem. The throat was drying up due to prolonged breathing through mouth. It was getting increasingly difficult to keep the throat wet. But the thrill of the moment kept me going. I thanked god for giving me courage and opportunity to explore this world.

Swathi observing the world of Nemo

We were awestruck even as we slowly emerged out of the sea. It was simply a wow experience. Those 45 minutes of life had been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life till date. I explored a new world – the underwater. I overcame a fear for life. A desire to explore it further waits.