A couple of weeks back, we visited Corbett National Park on a team outing. We started in Hyderabad on a Thursday night, reached Delhi by flight and then a bus journey to Corbett. Corbett is around 300 KMs from Delhi.
We were put up at Tree Top Inn – a wonderful resort. Good ambience/food/facilities. Immediately after breakfast, most of the guys hit the swimming pool to play water polo. We really enjoyed the game - and I played striker (as usual) and was scoring at good pace. After lunch, some of us wanted to stroll - but hail storm hit us and we had to run back to shelter. Rain did not last for long. The organizers had arranged for a walk to the nearby river (which was very rocky). Some started crossing the river and others soon joined. We continued our journey (on the other side of the river) to a Kali temple by walk, gossiping all the way. In the evening, 'Pahadi (Hill) dance' was performed by the some local folks. After a few songs and with some encouragement from the organizers and fellow beings, four of us started dancing with local folks – trying to imitate their steps. A litter later, everyone else joined to dance – and what a fun!!!. After dinner, a guitarist played solos and believe me, he was excellent!!! We pushed ourselves to retire to bed – so that we can wake up at 4:30 AM for the jungle safari.
Next day morning, after some cookies and tea, we headed towards the entrance of the forest. There, we all boarded into 6 jeeps and everyone was anxious about sighting a tiger. I rented a pair of binoculars just in case if I had to get a glimpse of a tiger if it is at a distance. After a few minutes travel, all the jeeps stopped at a forest registration office. There were a few shops selling T-shirts, caps, hats and few other 'Corbett' branded items. I purchased a 'jungle' cap - to suit the journey. Each jeep took a different trail and started searching for a tiger. We saw peacocks, 4 -5 varieties of deer, a jungle fowl, monkeys, turtle and one tamed elephant – but couldn’t sight a tiger even after a couple of hours of search. Disappointed, we had to head back to resort.
After lunch, we decided to have some fun in the swimming pool again. Everything went well – till I got injured - when my knee hit a step inside water resulting in a deep cut. Couple of my colleagues helped me rush to the hospital in Ramnagar (11 kms away). I had a very interesting experience with the doctor. Initially the doctor suggested a ‘Band Aid’. My friend got furious and said that band-aid would not even cover the full wound. Doctor thought for a while and suggested 2 band-aids [J]. After my friends insisted on Tetanus shot, the doctor agreed. At 3 PM, we started for adventure activities. I could participate in River Crossing (crossing the river over a rope – dragging to the other side) but couldn’t join rappling and bungee jump into water coz of knee injury. We played badminton in the evening – I played a ‘limping badminton’ game with another guy (who was also injured and limping). Evening was again fun – initially with light music (old hindi romantic songs) – and when we started dancing, the singer gave up on us and started with some fast numbers. It was good fun again. We were all tired by the time we retired to bed.
Nature walk was arranged the next day morning – but I preferred Space walk in my dreams! After breakfast, we started our return journey to Delhi. We had good fun watching “Dhoom 2” and teasing people relating characters to them! We took a short break in Gateway of India – but I was too tired to notice anything. Added to it, the Delhi heat was unbearable. Return flight was delayed by a couple of hours – but the trip was all-in-all a great experience!!!
We were put up at Tree Top Inn – a wonderful resort. Good ambience/food/facilities. Immediately after breakfast, most of the guys hit the swimming pool to play water polo. We really enjoyed the game - and I played striker (as usual) and was scoring at good pace. After lunch, some of us wanted to stroll - but hail storm hit us and we had to run back to shelter. Rain did not last for long. The organizers had arranged for a walk to the nearby river (which was very rocky). Some started crossing the river and others soon joined. We continued our journey (on the other side of the river) to a Kali temple by walk, gossiping all the way. In the evening, 'Pahadi (Hill) dance' was performed by the some local folks. After a few songs and with some encouragement from the organizers and fellow beings, four of us started dancing with local folks – trying to imitate their steps. A litter later, everyone else joined to dance – and what a fun!!!. After dinner, a guitarist played solos and believe me, he was excellent!!! We pushed ourselves to retire to bed – so that we can wake up at 4:30 AM for the jungle safari.
Next day morning, after some cookies and tea, we headed towards the entrance of the forest. There, we all boarded into 6 jeeps and everyone was anxious about sighting a tiger. I rented a pair of binoculars just in case if I had to get a glimpse of a tiger if it is at a distance. After a few minutes travel, all the jeeps stopped at a forest registration office. There were a few shops selling T-shirts, caps, hats and few other 'Corbett' branded items. I purchased a 'jungle' cap - to suit the journey. Each jeep took a different trail and started searching for a tiger. We saw peacocks, 4 -5 varieties of deer, a jungle fowl, monkeys, turtle and one tamed elephant – but couldn’t sight a tiger even after a couple of hours of search. Disappointed, we had to head back to resort.
After lunch, we decided to have some fun in the swimming pool again. Everything went well – till I got injured - when my knee hit a step inside water resulting in a deep cut. Couple of my colleagues helped me rush to the hospital in Ramnagar (11 kms away). I had a very interesting experience with the doctor. Initially the doctor suggested a ‘Band Aid’. My friend got furious and said that band-aid would not even cover the full wound. Doctor thought for a while and suggested 2 band-aids [J]. After my friends insisted on Tetanus shot, the doctor agreed. At 3 PM, we started for adventure activities. I could participate in River Crossing (crossing the river over a rope – dragging to the other side) but couldn’t join rappling and bungee jump into water coz of knee injury. We played badminton in the evening – I played a ‘limping badminton’ game with another guy (who was also injured and limping). Evening was again fun – initially with light music (old hindi romantic songs) – and when we started dancing, the singer gave up on us and started with some fast numbers. It was good fun again. We were all tired by the time we retired to bed.
Nature walk was arranged the next day morning – but I preferred Space walk in my dreams! After breakfast, we started our return journey to Delhi. We had good fun watching “Dhoom 2” and teasing people relating characters to them! We took a short break in Gateway of India – but I was too tired to notice anything. Added to it, the Delhi heat was unbearable. Return flight was delayed by a couple of hours – but the trip was all-in-all a great experience!!!
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