Trip to Corbett National Park

News of great regular sighting of a tigress with three cubs and a tigress with a single cub was enough to make us restive to make an impromptu trip to Bijhrani forest of the Park. Used all the contacts to manage two seats for overnight journey in the Corbett Express on 21.12.2008. Arrived at about 5.20 am. After refreshing ourselves we headed for the park on a full day safari.
The morning trip yielded nothing except a few good shots of the birds and spotted deer. We could see and feel presence of tiger in the Bijhrani wilderness but the stripes continued to elude us.
After a hearty breakfast, we moved on again to Waterhole No 4 and the Batia where Ghora, the ferocious male tiger had been seen last evening. We did not leave any part of the forest open to us, but the "gentleman', Corbett likened tiger to a gentleman, did not oblige.
After lunch we could see fresh pugmarks of a female but no sighting. Around 4 pm our hopes and those of 29 more Gypsies rose after hearing regular alarm calls. We all positioned ourselves at different vantage points to spot the tiger.
It was not to be. All of us returned dejected.
I am sharing some of my observations about the park:

• The Watch Tower area is badly littered with no effort on the part of Park officials to clean it. There was a time when garbage bags were given to visitors and collected at the time they left the park.
• Park officials charge hefty fees for entrance and all services like cars and guides. They need to spend a portion of it on the cleanliness of the park. It is not enough to chastise the visitors for littering.
• The park officials are rude because they are pampered by some influential people. They openly threaten Gypsy drivers with fines for arriving late after the safari even when they stick to park timings.
• Safari vehicles are charged a fee for entering the park. It is ridiculous that the visitor is made to pay entry fee for the driver of the safari vehicle!
• Guides are compulsory in the park. For full day safari, we paid Rs. 750.00 to the guide! It is steep for the service the guide provides. In fact some of the drivers are more knowledgeable than the guides. Forest officials have to consider multi-tasking of the drivers and train them as guides so that visitors are not fleeced.

Overall, it was my first visit to Corbett without sighting a tiger. The visit was made more painful by the dirty conditions of the park and the rudeness of the staff on duty.