Transfer to Kahna

14th February 2018 – Satpura to Kanha

Sid had been trying to persuade us that we need to get up and leave at 07:15 today. Tamsin pushed back and we agreed to a 30 minute lie-in. We met up with our driver, Naseem from Bhopal and the rep, also called Sid for the drive to Pipariya There was a degree of flexibility as we had to go back over the railway tracks we crossed on our way into Reni Pani. Fortunately the crossing time was much shorter this time as we arrived in Pipariya with almost an hour spare.

The train is very different from one we travelled on down to Bhopal and much more a local train. Needless to say it was full. The windows are yellow with curtains pulled so there’s nothing to see. The journey was unremarkable as we passed fields of wheat, lentils etc.. We arrived in Jalalpur on time and transferred to our car. Our driver for the 5 hour trip is Sandeep. I think they’re trained not to say too much. Most of the journey was on reasonable tarmac, but as we got within about 50kms it got worse as sections have just been dug up leaving a very rough surface. It looks like the road through will improve once the new surface has been made. We arrived at the lodge about on time despite Sandeep getting a bit lost with only a few kilometres to go.

After a warm welcome we settled in. The weather here also looks as if it has been unsettled although all the way here it was good.

We met our guide Parat and he introduced us to the lodge and explained how things worked. They don't give you much spare time here and there's lectures and documentaries in the evening. We've elected to pass on that.

Another 05:30 start and we have been warned that it is cold. Oh well, this is now the start of "Tiger Time"!