Nagpur to Tadoba
The Shortest Tadoba Plan
It was on going Christmas holidays; the year was coming to end. Me and my friends were still working in offices having no leaves but dreaming to have a jungle tour, which is our passion and love
After trying till end we were ending our hopes due to work pressure and no safari bookings available as it was high time, at last after finishing our Saturday office around 7 PM on 30 Dec, we firm our plan and thought just give it a try and LETS GOO!!! Where?
Tadoba!!!
After visiting Mamla Gate Near Chandrapur few months back, we were looking some close Gate from Nagpur to Tadoba, and doing a small research we found that Kolara Zone which is near chimur will be the shortest and quick way to reach, By 8 PM we were ready with no resort booking nor any safari permits!!
Taking the Pardi Flyover we reached Umred road and had the food from our picked place Ajju Ka Dhaba, the simple food with a proper “dhaba wali” feeling is always our love. We reached Chimur by 12 AM night and started looking for hotels.
Hotel Safari At Chimur is a very pocket friendly and good option near Kolara Gate of Tadoba Sleeping for just 3 hours by 5 AM we reached the gate and started looking for some JUGAD!!
Either sharing a safari or getting Canter bus ticket was our aim now, we reached the FDCM resort where Canter bus ticket are booked, it was SUNDAY and 31st DEC still we were high in our hopes, and the expected miracle happen 3 tickets which were cancelled by some tourist was available
The Canter bus which accommodates 22 Persons + a driver and guide costs only 500Rs to person who stays at FDCM resort and 700(Weekdays) & 900(Weekends) to others, so basically if you book FDCM Kolara gate your seat is reserved else on-spot booking is available subject to availability.
We quickly grabbed 3 seats and moved on for our safari ride, it was quite cold and foggy weather, just moving for 10 mins we found a giant sloth bear beside the trees and later it crossed the road giving a close sighting, it was my first experience to see such a big bear at Tadoba jungle.
Moving ahead on the road we saw some animal moving on but due to fog and distance it was not clear but in a minute it was Clean & Clear sub-adult leopard ready to attack a deer near by, the leopard was trying to hide in small turf keeping his eyes on the deer, it stood calmly while the deer too kept his eyes open on the leopard, later the leopard gave its hopes and moved without attacking the deer, this might be due to distance and the speed of both animals, staring this from my eyes was literally a thrilling experience
After travelling more we found nilgay, sambhar and wild boars but giving them our time cost us badly, we reached a spot where more than 25 Gypsys were standing still telling our guide that just a minute ago the famous tigress of Kolara gate i.e. Roma crossed the road with her 2 cubs, we were quite dis-hearten to hear that but still was satisfied by our leopard sighting
Lastly we saw the large water body with crocodile swimming in it and ended our safari its beautiful views.
We were done with safari by 10:30 and having enough time of the day, we breakfast in Chimur and on returning, we visited Godazari Lake, a beauty full of flora and fauna.
Returning back via Nagbhid road we discovered a GEM, truely!! Friends Dhaba Food was fresh light and full of flavours that we will never forget.
So if you are planning a trip from Nagpur to Tadoba you can opt for Kolara gate which is very close gate of Tadoba from Nagpur and have good stay and sightings.