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Eye of the tiger
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Our traveller goes into India's most famous territory for the big, striped cat
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The drive to Corbett from Delhi is a breeze provided you start early in the morning. A 5 am start will have you blitzing through Ghaziabad, Hapur and other small towns along the way. This highway (NH 24) is not as broad and hassle-free as other North Indian highways that run to Chandigarh, Amritsar or Agra. Cattle, pedestrians and slow- moving carts and tractors are commonplace here, so take care.
Also stop for breakfast at the famed Giani Dhaba at Gajraula, 100km from Delhi. Try the curd and parathas and if you're up to it, the kheer (rice pudding) it is simply divine. Also ask the gent there to specially make his famous `elaichi' tea for you.
Do not take the road into Moradabad city. Take the bypass instead. The bypass has a branch off on to the Kashipur road, which takes you to Ramnagar. The Moradabad-Kashipur road is now in a good state of repair but it just takes one heavy rain to turn it into Craterville. So exercise caution here. From Kashipur to Ramnagar, you have to tackle narrow roads and they do have a fair deal of congestion.
After Ramnagar to the resort, there are innumerable signs hinting at the chance of wildlife sighting on the road, but you have to be really very lucky to see any wild animal. The schoolchildren you might see cycling along are a very strong hint at the fact that tigers do not wander on to the road here. All this notwithstanding, this is the same road where we saw a leopard in 2001.
This drive should take you around six hours including a 45-minute breakfast halt.
An early morning start will yield good sunrise views over sugarcane fields around Gajraula. Then the good views arrive only after Ramnagar where the sanctuary starts. If you are immensely lucky, you might just about see wildlife on the road.
It's when you are inside the park bumping along in a jeep that has been abused beyond comprehension in its years of service, that you start appreciating the terrain of the forests that Jim Corbett called home. This is the land where he roamed fearlessly, his faithful dog in tow. From his books we learn that at times he would pass as less as 10 yards away from a tiger and neither would bother the other. It was a time when simple folk of the jungle and the king of the beasts lived in harmony.
The sad reality today is that you'll be immensely lucky to see a tiger, so go not with the single-minded desire to see one, but with the notion that you are going to enjoy the ambience of these magnificent forests in the foothills of the Himalayas. Seeing a tiger is, of course, a bonus.
We did jeep safaris and elephant rides and saw herbivores and even heard the tiger. The guides showed us trees where the lord had sharpened his claws, leaving behind a few lemon-coloured strands of chest hair. But that was as close as we got to the tiger in the two days that we were there.
On the third morning, we were ready to leave and the guide managed to entice us for just another small safari into the jungle and we struck gold - molten gold that simmered in the eyes of the 9-month year old cub we chanced upon just sitting in the shade of a sprawling tree, probably contemplating his future kingdom.
He stared at us as we went into a frenzy of tripping shutters and whirring autofocus lenses. After trying to stare us down, he decided we were harmless and inconsequential, lost interest in us and walked away... just like that. And let me tell you, those 15 minutes alone made visiting Corbett worthwhile.
RISHAD SAAM MEHTA
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