TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM 37
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GETTING THERE
Jabalpur is the gateway
city for the parks of
Madhya Pradesh. Air
India (airindia.in) has
two-hour flights from
New Delhi, as does
SpiceJet (spicejet.com),
which also offers
connections from
Mum bai and other cities.WILDLIFE CAMPS
Brett stayed at Taj safari
camps: in Bandhavgarh
National Park, Mahua
Kothi (tajhotels.com;cottages from Rs17,200);
Banjaar Tola (tents from
Rs26,600), in Kanha; and
Pashan Garh (cottages
Rs34,000), in Panna.TRAVEL ADVISOR
T+L A-List India specialist
Carole Cambata
(ccambata@greavestvl.
com; 1-224/765-4545)
can plan a “tiger-safari”
itinerary, or integrate
Madhya Pradesh into a
larger central India trip.
Bonus: her agency has a
private plane.Trip Planner
WILD, WILD COUNTRY
“We also saw hornbills (left),
langurs and gaurs, the largest
wild bovine on earth.
And elephants being ridden by
mahouts, patrolling for
poachers. On one solo walk in
Panna, I spied a small jungle
cat sitting in the sun. I really
treasure having had that
sighting all to myself.”CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
“On any tiger safari, there is a
possibility that you won’t see one
up close. But one day, in
Bandhavgarh, there was a huge
male coming through the grass.
First, he roared—the fearsomeness
and beauty hits you somewhere
vestigial. Then he stretched up, two
meters tall, and started scratching
a tree, just like a little cat. The
whole trip revolved around those
ten minutes.”