Best National Park & Accommodation?

Hey there. We are definately planning on visiting national parks as it would be my dream to see the Indian wildlife! However we're torn on where to go, or indeed where is best to go. And also where it a good place to stay. Ive seen the luxery campsites, which look amazing, but I'm afraid out of our budget! Is there a similar alternative? If you could reccommend a good national park, perhaps in central India? (Bandhavgarh Park) and cities/towns close by where there would be reasonable priced hotels?
Thankyou IM you are truely wonderful!x

Bandavgarh National Park
Golbro Tiger View Resort
Near Petrol Pump, Tala,
Bandhavgarh (M.P.),Pincode 484661, India,
E mail- info@gtvresort.com Web site-www.gtvresort.com
Phone No- +91 7627 265314, Mobile No.+91 9424 722414
Park Entry Fees for Foreigners
INR 2000.00 Per Trip/Gypsy For maximum 6 Persons
Guide fees- INR 150.00 Per Trip
Booking Charge - INR 30.00 Per Trip/Gypsy
Gypsy hiring charges for Jungle safari for Tala Zone - INR 1000.00 per trip
Gypsy hiring charges for Jungle safari for Maghdhi and Khitauli Zone - INR 1500.00 per trip
Gypsy hiring charges for Fort visit - INR 2500.00 per trip
[edit] Wildlife
There are more than 22 species of mammals and 250 species of birds. Common langures (Monkey) include the Asiatic Jackal, Bangal Fox, sloth bear, ratel gray mongoose, stiped hyena, junglecat, leopard and TIGER. Frequently sight are wild bore, spotted dear, sambar, barkingdear, Nilgai, Chausingha, chinkara, Indian biason. Mammals such as dhole, the small Indian civet, palam, squirrel and lesser bondicoot rat are seen occasionally.
Gypsy Safari of Bandhavgarh Visitors to Bandhavgarh are allowed into the park twice each day for 3-hour Jeep safaris, once at dawn, and again in late afternoon. These are times when animal activity is most visible. The commonly used safari vehicles are open 4WD Gypsy's, which provide the exhilaration of being one with the forests & wildlife. Driving slowly on the dirt tracks is the best way of getting around and observing the animals without alarming them. Coming across one, two and possibly more tigers on these drives, is an unforgettable moment - already enjoyed by so many satiated visitors from all over the worlD.
Birding at Bandhavgarh The vegetation along streams and morasses is rich in bird Life. The common ones are little grabe, egret, lesser teal, white eyed byzzard, black Kite, creasted serpent eagles, black volture, Egyption valture, common peafow, red jungle fowl, dove, parakeet, king-fisher, Indian roller and the Indian National bird Indian peacock. Reptition fauna include cobra, krait, viper, ratsnake, python, turtle and number of Lizard varieties including varanus.
Wildlife Viewing. There are two main ways of getting about in the park either in a motore vechile or on the elephant back. Jeeps safari are best under taken from the down about 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. until dusk as the animals are most active during this period. Elephant are used every morning by the forest department for Tiger - tracking. If a Tiger is found then the elephant will take you directly to the Tiger from a near by reached by jeep/car. A forest department guide must always acompany you with a naturalist from our side (optional). This guide/naturalist will be able to direct you and point out wildlife.


Ranthambhore National Park
Ranthambore National Park located in Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan is one of the most visited wildlife parks in India. The main attractions of Ranthambore National Park are its tiger and bird population. The main faunas of Ranthambore are Tigers, Leopards, Striped Hyenas, Sambar deer, Chital, Nilgai, Common or Hanuman langurs, Macaques, Jackals, Jungle cats, Caracals, Sloth bears, Black bucks, Rufoustailed Hare, Indian Wild Boar, Chinkara, Common Palm Civets or Toddy cat, Coomon Yellow Bats, Desert Cats, Fivestriped Palm Squirrels, Indian False Vampires, Indian Flying Foxes, Indian Foxes, Indian Gerbilles, Indian Mole Rats, Indian Porcupines, Longeared Hedgehogs, Ratels, Small Indian Mongoose, Small Indian Civets and Common mongoose. Various species of reptiles are also found in this park.
A good time to visit is between November and May when the nature of the dry deciduous forests makes sightings common.
Take all the safaris you can (in the morning at 6:30 and in the afternoon at 14:30). You need a certain amount of luck to see a tiger (about 1 in 4 chance), but there are plenty of other wonderful sights. It is better to book the safaris while booking your hotel.
You can go to the safari in wheel drive jeeps called "Gypsys" (which seat up to 6 visitors) and 20 seater safari buses called "Canters". Jeep safaris cost a bit more, but jeeps are more mobile and everything is better seen from them.
At the entrance to the Park your guide goes to the drawing procedure in order to get one of several roads you will be allowed to drive (since the park is a nature reserve only a limited number of cars can enter it and they are obliged to follow only one route). A good guide asks also a representative of the tourist group to be present at this procedure.

Hammir Wildlife Resort, (Economy Resort), Ranthambhore Road, Sawai Madhopur - 322001, Rajasthan (India)
Room Type Plan Single Occupancy Double Occupancy
Non AC Standard Room EP 1000 1200
AC Deluxe Room EP 1600 1800
AC Cottage EP 2000 2400
Extra Bed EP 400
http://www.hotelsranthambhore.com/ha...nthambhore.htm
Check out time 12 Noon
Rates are inclusive of applicable taxes.
Rates may change during the fairs & festivals time.
Rates are in Indian Rupees.

Thankyou for the quick reply - a lot of information!!

Hi Sophia,

Best national park will depend on your personal taste, timing of your visit, your budget, duration of the visit etc. In central India, you have Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench. All great places and all will give you a different experience.

Bandhavgarh is a well known NP and attracts a lot of people from all over the world. :-). But then it is almost ensured that you will get an audience with the king (key word is almost). It can get crowded at times and from what I have seen around it has a reputation for mis-management.

Kanha and Pench will give you a less crowded experience and have good hotels to cater for all budgets. Both are beautiful

Ranthambhore is in Rajansthan, so you will have to check if your itinerary has provision for it. It is a huge park with a variety of animals. Tiger sighting here needs some patience and in winters you may need 4-5 days to see one though it is not a guarantee.

Bharatpur, bird paradise is in Rajasthan but you will like it if you like birding.

Corbett is another heaven but is in north India. IF north is a part of your plan, do go there. You will have a great experience with Birds and animals.

So, you will have to indicate

1. What kind of wildlife you like?
2. What is your schedule?
3. How many days you are going to spare for wildlife?
4. What kind of budget per day you are looking for?

Wherever you choose to go, do not concentrate on tigers, go slow and enjoy all the wildlife that comes your way. There can be some amazing things you will see when you are not running after the big cat :-)

Cheers,
Kartik

I agree!! Go to the forest for all the wildlife - not only the tiger.

1. Corbett is very nice....tigers are all elusive but you can see other wild animal including Gavials at the Ramganga banks. But it's always crowded.

2. Bharatpur is very very good, but only for birdlovers.

3. Ranthambore has a unique charm, as it's in hills and has a fort also. It has some very good stay facilities also.

Hi,

Could anyone tell me how I can book for a day's Lion Safari online? Or any contact numbers I could make use of? I'm not looking to stay there. Its gonna be just a day's visit to Gir National Park. I'm planning to go there with 2 others by the second week of May, 09.

Thanks!
Bravo.

I've just returned from here and loved the six safaris that I did. Only saw one tiger but the whole experience was great and we saw loads of birds and animals. The habitat is pretty spectacular too.

Not sure this is correct.
I booked my safaris way in advance on the net. I paid my hotel Rs100 per day to origanise getting the jeeps to pick us up.

Not sure about this either.
Each time we were picked up from the hotel we were told which zone we were going to visit. At no point did any of my party need to leave our hotel to sort anything out.

I almost went here, it's quite close to the park.
But we stayed at the Raj Palace Resort and throughly enjoyed it. We paid Rs4500 for bed and all meals (but not drinks).
The food was good and started to make me better.
The swimming pool there is just lovely and a real break from the 45 degrees afternoon safaris we had.
The staff there are very friendly and helpful, Abhi in the restaurant especially.
Ashok, the hotel manager, was very helpful and responds to emails very quickly.
Only downside is they don't take credit cards.

Dear, I don't want to disappoint you ! But don't go to Gir for Lion Sighting......we saw lions only in the the Gir Interpretation Zone which is nothing but a zoo..........

Second week of May will be Burning Hot !! No Lions will be out there.............

Thankyou for replies. We leave in 10 days! And still no idea what to do about safari. Think we will just see where India takes us!

We are visiting India in December with the kids (both 8 years). Will be in Pachmarhi from 13 to 19th and then had planned to head for Agra/Fatehpur Sikri and Delhi. Fly out of Delhi on 28 Dec so will still have time between 19 and 28 as don't really want to spend more than a day in Agra area.

Would like to find a national park/wildlife sanctuary to visit but trying to work out which would be easiest, travel-wise, and also where would best be for the kids. Options I can think of are:

Bharatpur: advantage is it will fit in nicely between Agra and Delhi. Also I understand you can walk/cycle around the park. Disadvantage is I understand the rains didn't come this year or were very late, so there is not much left to see in terms of fauna. Is there much here besides birds?

Kanha or Bandavgarh: don't know a lot about these, but clearly there is fauna to be seen and we may be lucky to see tiger. Is we were to stay near one of these for a few days would there be anywhere nice we could be outside with the kids, without having to be in a jeep, etc. I am assuming there will be no where within the park, just not sure what the area outside is like or if there is any nice place to stay that would have lovely grounds to spend time in. (that's what we did a few years ago when we stayed at Jungle Hut, in the Nilgiris). Which would be easier to travel to, preferably as much by train. Coming from Pachmarhi, the nearest station will be Pipariya, on the Bombay Howrah mainline.

Or is there somewhere else we should consider?
Any advice appreciated.

My kids (girls aged 11 and 8) loved Keoladeo, especially as we hired a tonga for the 8 hours we spent there at the end of March this year. Originally we only thought we'd spend a few hours there but loved it so much. We only went in at 10am and left at 6pm; if you believed everything you'd read you'd think we wouldn't have seen anything but on top of birds there were other interesting animals. Walking about was lovely, so relaxing.

Other than that we did Ranthambhore too as it's so close. We all think Ranthambhore was the highlight of our trip and we were sad to leave. Not sure about which line it's on but there's a direct train from Sawai Madhopur (near Ranthambhore) to Mumbai.

My trip blog (see below) may be of interest as there's details about the kids and the wildlife sanctuaries on it.

In comparison to Kanha/Bandhavgarh, Ranthambore will fit more nicely....