The absence of the rocking motion, which I was experiencing through the night, is what I noticed first as soon as I opened my eyes. Then I heard people talking loud. Yes; the train has halted and I have reached my stop. Though the sleep refused to leave my eyes I dragged myself out of the berth. After some yawning and stretching of my cramped limps I became fully awake finally!

Hauling my heavy luggage; I stepped down from the train on to a mostly deserted platform. The darkness refused to leave the platform and covered most part of it like a dark grey blanket. The eastern sky looked pale, an obvious sign of the approaching dawn. I could make out the silhouette of a Kite perched on the Silk Cotton tree outside the station. I have reached the Ramnagar railway station along with my group, on our way to the Jim Corbett National Park. This is my third visit to this, arguably one of the most pristine forests of India in as many years.

The Gipsy driver picked us from outside the station. The Ramnagar town lay on the way to the main entry gate of the forest. Ramnagar, a small, quintessential North Indian township, is the nearest township to Jim Corbett National Park.

Jim Corbett National Park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park to protect the endangered Bengal Tiger. It is located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand and was named after Jim Corbett, who played a key role in its establishment. Tourism activity is only allowed in selected areas of Corbett Tiger Reserve so that people get an opportunity to see its splendid landscape and the diverse wildlife. Dense moist deciduous forest mainly consists of sal, haldu, peepal, rohini and Jamun trees. Forest covers almost 73% of the park and 10% of the area consists of grasslands.

Ramnagar in the wee hours was mostly desolated, except for some long route buses passing through it and few tea shops. Our pit stop was such a tea shop from where we decided to not only have our tea but also to buy our basic supply for the next couple of days. The breeze, caressing us was cool even during this peak summer. While sipping hot tea I watched the sun slowly emerging from the horizon. Soon after we finished our tea and the supply loaded, we started off towards the Bijrani forest  gate. We were let in by the forest guards after checking and ensuring that we had the necessary permits to enter and stay inside.

The drive through the forest was simply breath taking! The narrow forest track was bordered with huge sal trees, some of them are of gigantic proportions. The forest was dotted with small streams, which were brimming with water from the recent rains in the area. The noise created by the splash of water by the Gypsy, while crossing such rivers, broke the crescendo of the calls by Indian Cockoo, brain fever bird, laughing thrush and many other unknown birds, which were reverberating in the forest.  A barking deer darted across the road before we could even stop. Disappointed, we continued; not too far before the driver spotted a pair of Crested Pied Kingfishers perched on a fallen tree next to a small stream. Cameras were out in a jiffy and trigger happy fingers were firing away the shutters to freeze some special moments. The birds flew away after obliging us with some nice photos.

By the time we reached the Bijrani Forest Rest house it was around 8 am. The sun was getting hotter by every passing minute. We learned that our rooms were not going to be ready before 12 noon. Rather than wasting time in waiting there we decided to continue with the safari with our luggages in the vehicle and come back to check-in later. As we were driving through the forest track, the driver mentioned that there could be a possibility that a tiger have been sighted somewhere as none of the other safari vehicles were seen on the tracks so far. Our excitement started building up on a possible tiger sighting. Our necks were straining from glancing side to side. Around a bend the Gypsy suddenly braked, kicking up a cloud of dust and obscuring everything around us. Slowly, as the cloud of dust settled, I saw a group of vehicles stationed few meters ahead of us and all the occupants animatedly looking ahead on a hill side. We strained our eyes to see through the dust at what they were looking at. Such is the camouflage of the animal that we could make out nothing, until the twitch of a tail broke its cover! There lay a beautiful tigress, so relaxed, that it hardly moved. We waited endlessly for the animal to move and to give us an opportunity to click a decent picture. The swamp of small bees, looking for moisture, settled all over our exposed body and ensured that we were not getting bored of the long wait! The sun too played its part by trying to burn us down! The sun was playing the same trick on the lazy tigress too! At last she got up, climbed the hill and disappeared in the undergrowth. It was time to return to the camp.

We reached back the camp and checked into the respective rooms. The sun was already overhead and the heat was unbearable. I switched on the fan but it just refused to move!  On realising that there is no power, I went to the caretaker to check with him. He looked at me with a pocker face and mumbled that the power will be available only for two hours from 7 p.m to 9 p.m! If that was not enough, he also mentioned that none of the charging points will work even during those two hours! However, we were provided with a solar lantern to manage the night. Yes it was hot outside but I am sure that it wasn’t hotter than the inside!

Lunch was served around 1 p.m. The food was simple but very tasty; may be I was too hungry! Soon my sleep deprived brain started feeling lethargic and the eyes droopy. Going back to the room was no less than getting inside an oven! I didn’t have the courage to get roasted alive! There was a huge tree, with a wooden platform around it, just outside the dining area. I climbed on to the platform to relax. There was a  gentle breeze and the breeze was soothing. Soothing to a point that I could not keep my eyes open for long!

I don’t remember who woke me up. Somebody woke me up  to inform that it was time for the afternoon safari. I quickly gathered my equipments and got in the vehicle to join the rest of the group. As the vehicle moved into the densly wooded area the air became cooler. The cool air caressed us and soothed our burning skin.  Jungle was more or less silent, except the noise created by the rustling of the wind swept leaves. Suddenly the silences was broken by a piercing alarm call of a Pea Fowl. The intensity of the call was a tell tale sign of a predator on the move. We rushed towards the direction from where the alarm calls were coming. The first thing came to the notice was a long tail of a Peacock in flight. Towards our front stood a huge banyan tree, overlooking a waterhole on its left side. Lantana grew dense around the tree and the waterhole. The Peacock, now settled on the same banyan tree, was frantically looking to its right side. We were all looking to the same spot as we expected a tiger there. To our surprise a tigress walked out from the left side of the bird! The tigress, undoubtedly in its intention to surprise the Peacock, has circled back the tree and came out from the other direction! She came head-on for a while and then turned diagonal towards its left and disappeared  into the dense lantana.

Leaving her behind we went forward and crossed a dry river bed. The path was narrow and deep. Around the bend we hit a road block! A road block of a herd of elephants! A herd with females and many babies of varying ages and sizes. We switched off the engine to take some photographs. The matriarch elephant looked upset with the uninvited visitors. She decided to let us know her intention by menacingly moving towards us. Our driver fired the engine and all the hell broke loose! The elephant let out a shrill war cry and charged head-on. We managed to get scot-free as there was that just enough gap between us and the elephant.

We continued our journey and circled back towards from where we started. We were still approximately 5-6 km away from the camp. The narrow forest track was very straight and we could see far ahead. At a distance, on the track, something moved. Slowly, as we were getting closer, the shape of a Red-walted Lapwing materialised in front of us. A little more closer and we realised that it was not one, but three Lapwings. A mother and her two tiny chicks were wandering on the forest track. The alarmed babies ran to the mother and sneaked under her wings.

We left them behind and moved ahead. We would have hardly traveled another 2 km when we noticed a cloud of dust rolling towards us very fast! The cloud neared us and as anticipated it turned out to be another vehicle, racing from the opposite direction. The driver slowed down, before speeding up again, just to inform us that a few meters ahed, close to the forest track, they came across a tiger. Wow! another potential tiger sighting! We drove forward at a slow speed in anticipation of a tiger sighting. The breeze which was blowing through out the day had already died down. The light was fading fast. The Cicadas (insect similar to cricket) were at the top of their concert!  Somewhere in the distance mating call of a lone Spotted Deer stag echoed.  The driver carefully negotiated a sharp turn. As soon as the vehicle straightened a black and yellow object, laying in the dried grass close to the track came to our notice. In the fading light it took few seconds for us to realise that what we were staring at is actually a tigress! A tigress, a few feet from us, without caring a damn about our presence! We were really scared to be that close to a tigress. Once we overcame the initial shock good sense prevailed and we decided to move away quickly, but not before clicking few pictures of her. What an eventful day! We couldn’t have asked for anything more!

The sun was turning red and the evening sky was getting darker. It was time for us to return to the camp.

The night came quickly and covered everything around us with its dark blanket. After a quick dinner we retreated to our rooms. But the sleep refused to embrace our eyes in the hot and sultry room. The mosquitos tried their level best to entertain us by singing relentlessly in our ears! What a night! But all those damn mosquitos and the heat couldn’t beat me in my quest for sleep!

Morning was cool and pleasant. After the breakfast we bid farewell to the Bijrani forest camp.