Jungle Safari Booking Open for 2013-14

It is to inform you that jungle safari booking form popular tiger reserves like Kanha national park, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Panna national park, Tadoba national park in now open.  You may proceed to book your jungle safari tickets as per your plan for the safari season 2013-14. Due to limited entry tickets, it is better to secure your permits as soon as possible. Since opening of online booking, in first 3 hours, premium zone tickets for some peak season dates have been fully sold out. At present some close dates are fully sold out. You may look for newly added add-on option for safari on those dates. Here Madhya Pradesh forest department has introduced some new changes in ticket system to curb ticket-hoarding practices. Some of the prominent features for current season jungle safari booking are:

• Park will open from 16/Oct/2013 to 30/June/2014. 
• Evening safari closed on every Wednesday.
• Their is minor hike in safari tickets fee.
• Guide fee has also been hiked. It is very nominal, nothing to worry.
• 10% Tickets available throughout season, 70% tickets open for 120 days and 20% tickets will be available on booking counter for walkin visitors.
• All online cancelled tickets will not be available online for re-sale but will be available at booking counter for walkin guests.
• Add-on facility is the newly introduced option to get added on existing safari tickets. It means, if in any ticket, member are less than maximum limit, a new person can join them by purchasing his safari ticket using the details of existing tickets. Cancellation is not allowed on add-on tickets.
• Few safari tickets are retained for counter booking. It is very beneficial for those walk-in visitors who reached park without booking safari tickets. It will be on first-come first-serve basis.
• Fee for elephant ride, has been hiked as 500 INR. Per Indian and 1500 INR. Per Foreigner. Duration is 01:00 hours.
• It is mandatory for all the visitors to carry their valid original ID-document with them during all the safari rides. It will be checked at entrance gate for verification.
• No separate fee for camera or photography till you are visiting as a visitor during regular safari round. But if you are doing photography or filmography for commercial cause, then written permission and prescribed fee submission is necessary.
• Safari round duration will be decided by officer-incharge so it may vary from park to park and time to time.
• Usually safari begins 30mins. before sunrise in morning round and goes till 30 mins. after sunset in evening round.
• If safari ticket is not cancelled and guest get delayed by 01 hour from opening time, ticket may to provided for waiting visitors.
• Fee for ticket cancellation has been increased.
• Jungle safari tickets are non-transferable. Alternations are not allowed.

Similarly their are many other rules mentioned. If we study them correctly, we may find some positive outcomes from a normal tourist point of view as:

1. Safari tickets hoarding practice will be minimized which will in turn creates better scope to get safari tickets, even in peak season. If not on online then at entrance gate.
2. Increase in cancellation fee will also reduce ticket hoarding practice.
3. Vehicle limit for most demanded Tala zone has been increased. Now vehicles count for evening round will be equal to morning round. Earlier it was less than morning count.
4. Add-on facility is another innovative step that make better visitors management and increases probability to visit park in a situation when online tickets sold out. Similarly it will reduce per person safari fee cost if divided equally. Multiple add on are allowed on single tickets.
5. Ticket-less visitors have chance to seek ticket from booking counter as some tickets retained for walkin visitors. Similarly, in any ticket party get delayed by 01:00hrs, his ticket will be cancelled and provided to waiting party.

Indus Excursion organizes safari tours for all popular tiger reserves of India. You may give us chance to realize your safari tour plan.

Kaziranga Camera Patrolling

Assam's popular national park Kaziranga who usually remains in news for rhino poaching, will soon come under camera surveillance. Central government of India have approved Dispur's  ambitious project to install thermal cameras at different locations of core area in Kaziranga national park which covers 430 sq.kms. This will help park authority to maintain eye on different locations to check any poaching activity or movement of any suspicious activity so that they can respond quickly. This will reduce their response time due to which, some unprecedented incidents can be avoided.

This approval has come at a time when Kaziranga is passing through its worst time and relentless poaching activities are going on. All the efforts of park authority have proved insufficient to curb rhino killings. Assam state government is facing massive protests by different NGO and wildlife organizations due to their failure to control poaching activities.

Forest and environment minister Rakibul Hussain informed the reports that National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has sanctioned  rupee 3 Crore to install 12 electronic surveillance devices in the park in phased manner. In first phase 8 such devices will be installed in current financial year 2013-14.  These devices will be installed in towers of height 30 to 45 meters maintaining the distance of 20kms from each other. At present such devices have  It will be used to monitor the movements inside the park from 3 central control rooms. One will be at head office in Bokhakhat range, laying in Golaghat district, second in the office of principal chief conservator of forest in Guwahati and third will be at NTCA office in New Delhi. Control room will coordinate with staff of anti-poaching team to initiate prompt action as and when required..

It is the important and welcome move of government as recently it has turned down proposal of using UAV's for aerial surveillance, by giving security reasons.  In addition to this, a rapid action team will also be deployed

Kaziranga Swamp Deer Radio Collared

In a milestone project, Assam Forest Department and Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) is working on radio collaring rare Eastern Swamp Deers found only in Kaziranga National Park. This project is sponsored by ONGC (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation). Idea behind radio collaring them is to collect and organize their data to study their behavior and day-to-day activities. Study results will be used to making plan for their better conservation and increase their population so that later they may to shifted to nearby wildlife sanctuaries also. Swamp deer is a main prey of Kaziranga tigers so their conservation will indirectly result in better conservation of tigers also. So far no study was carried out on life of Eastern Swamp Deers.

Eastern Swamp Deer is a rare deer species now found only in a limited area of North-East India. Now they are found only in Kaziranga national park of Assam. Experts have a view that these swamp deers are more vulnerable than one-horned rhinos and tigers so their conservation efforts in a immediate need. One more species of Swamp deer is available in Kanha National Park also but is different from Kaziranga’s one. Kanha swamp deers are rare Hard-ground swamp deers which can be seen in Kanha forest only and will recently shifted to nearby national park to spread their population.

Recently 02 swamp deers (01 male & 01 female) were tranquillized and fitted with radio-collar but after a day female Swamp deer found dead in Mihumukh area of Kohora range in Kaziranga Tiger Reserve. Postmortem was carried out and veterinarian suggested haemorrhagic enteritis as cause of death which has nothing to do with radio-collaring. Second radio-collared male swamp deer is doing well. Team has planned to radio collar at least 10 swamp deer in first step.

We hope this joint operation will be successfully carried out and their results will help the authorities to do better conservation of rare swamp deers in Kaziranga so that in future they will be translocated to nearby national park like Manas national park, Nameri tiger reserve, Dibru-Saikhowa wildlife sanctuary etc. It is a good effort by Assam Forest Department and is in benefit for Assam wildlife tourism also. In coming days, few more swamp deers will be radio collared.

Rhinos population increased in Assam

Recently concluded one-horned rhinos census-2012 have revealed the fact of 2505 rhinos present in Assam region. Last rhinos census was conducted in year 2009 shows count of 2201 rhinos which is 304 less in compare to current figure. Increase in one-horned rhinos by 304 is a good sign and derives appreciation to the efforts of all the authorities engaged in rhino-conservation.
As per current report, among 2505 rhinos, Kaziranga have 2290 rhinos, Orang National Park have 100 and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary have 93 and World Heritage Manas National Park have 22 rhinos. Currently prevailing rhinos in Manas National Park was result of translocations from Kaziranga and Pobitora forest areas under the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 programme. Among 2290 rhinos, 508 are mother rhinos and calves are also in equal number.
Current increase in Kaziranga is of 242 rhinos as in year 2009 rhinos it was 2048 rhions. Similarly increase in Orang National Park is of 36 rhinos, 17 rhinos in Pobitora wildlife sanctuary. Prinicipal Chief Conservator of Forest comments on this report as “The growth is satisfactory. We will be able to achieve the target of 3000 rhinos as IRV 2020 target”.

Rhino Translocation from Kaziranga to Manas National Park

Following the path of "Indian Rhino Vision 2020" program, 04 more rhinoceros have been translocated from World Heritage site Kaziranga National Park to another World Heritage site Manas National Park. These rhinos belongs to the endangered great Indian one-horned rhinos species. Among them 03 of them are females and 01 was male. Translocation took place on 20/Feb/2012 in which rhinos were releasedin Buraburijhar range of Manas National Park. With this latest rhinos shifting, total reaches 16 to Manas National Park. In addition to Kaziranga, some rhinos will be taken from Pobitora wildlife sanctuary also for Manas.

Indian Rhino Vision 2020 is a joint collaboration with WWF, International Rhino foundation, Us Fish & Wildlife Service & Bodoland Territorial Council. Its objective is to raise rhino population about 2000 to 3000 by the year 2020 and also to ensure their healthy distribution among 7 protected areas. Since 1905, when hardly 20-30 rhinos were left in Kaziranga, conservation project was undertaken and agencies achieved major success in it. But now conservation authorities aiming to do it more seriously and better way. At present rhinos population is mainly concentrated in Kaziranga and Pobitora wildlife sanctuary. Their increasing population is creating stress in biodiversity of parks and resources. Similarly poaching is also another threat due to which Laokhowa forest lost its rhino population where about 50 rhinos were present in past. Same is the case with Orang National Park.
So here it is needed to improve security in rhino areas, ensure better distribution of rhinos to reduce risk of stochastic catastrophes, reduce population pressure in Pobitora to maintain ecological balance. So current translocation is one of many steps to achieve long term goals.

We wish them all the very best and our sincere support.
The four one-horned endangered rhinos, of which three are females, were translocated from Kaziranga National Park and later released in the Buraburijhar range of Manas yesterday. With the latest translocation, a total of 16 rhinos have been released into the wild in Manas National Park, under the Rhino Vision programme. Apart from Kaziranga, rhinos from Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary, an area which has the highest density of the animals' population, have been taken to Manas. The Rhino vision programme is a joint collaboration with WWF, the International Rhino Foundation, US Fish and Wildlife Service and Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in which Manas reserve exists. Manas national park, also a tiger reserve, and Kaziranga National Park are two world heritage sites in Assam.

Tiger B2 died outside Bandhavgarh

In latest development, famous Bandhavgarh tiger B2 died far away from Bandhavgarh. Death of B2 was confirmed by Field Director of Bandhavgarh. He was found near Churi Village of Shahdol district in Madhya Pradesh. He was discovered in injured state and was tranquillized for treatment but later he passed away. He was about 16years old and has achieved life time achievement award in past. B2 as pushed out from his territory by young male tiger and was not seen since long time. Old age is clumsy face of royal life of tiger. It is the painful time of their life from which every aged tiger have to pass. Death of B2 tiger is a closure of an important chapter of Bandhavgarh Tigers.

Rest in peace B2. We pay our homage to legend B2.

Air-taxi from Jabalpur to Kanha & Bandhavgarh

From 01/Dec/2011, visitors can have air-taxi facility between Jabalpur - Kanha & Jabalpur-Bandhavgarh. This will be Cessna Grand Caravan Aircraft manufactured in USA.