For our next trip we decided to visit Jim Corbett National Park – A Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand district of India. I had never visited a wildlife reserve before and I was always against watching Animals in Zoo so watching animals in an actual jungle was really an exciting and adventurous experience to gain. I believe that as we humans always fight for our freedom so it is our duty to respect the freedom of other animals as well.

I was going with my three other friends and we decided to drive overnight and after covering approximately 430 Km we reached our resort, Corbett De Floresta, where we were going to stay during our trip. The Resort was situated beside a river and inside a dense forest which in itself was very thrilling. After resting for a while and after having a very delicious lunch at the resort we left for our first day safari which was a Jeep safari in the Bijrani Zone of the Reserve, very famous for Tiger sightseeing.

The Jeep picked us from our resort and as we were nearing the Reserve the jungle was getting denser. After getting the required permit we entered the Bijrani gate and started looking around to spot animals. There was complete silence inside and one can very clearly hear the different sounds made by animals. We saw Barking Deer, Langur, Bear and many other animals and were also able to spot tiger footprints and tried to track down the tiger but were not successful in our effort. But this experience of trying to track down a tiger was very exciting,  we were told by our guide not to make even a bit of noise as according to him tiger was somewhere inside the bushes surrounding us. Even imagining oneself inside a dense jungle and close to a Tiger gives an adrenaline rush and we were actually experiencing that in real time. After roaming inside for a long time inside the jungle it was time to go back as it was getting dark and it is not allowed for anyone to stay inside after dark.

At night we had a bonfire in the hotel and we all sat there and talked about the first time wildlife experience. Our next day plan was to go on a Canter safari to the Dhikala Zone of the Reserve, the zone with the highest density of animals.

We left early morning and entered the Dhikala zone at around 6 am. The terrain for this part was totally different and forest was much more dense than what we saw last day. It was hilly in the beginning and plain afterwards. The Dhikala zone is famous for its vast grasslands and when we first reached there we were totally amazed by the beauty of these grasslands. On one side was a crystal clear river and on the other two sides were mountains which provided a very beautiful scenery. We saw a herd of Elephants in these grasslands and our guide drove us to all the parts of these grasslands to have a closer look at the beauty of nature. We saw many other animals and closely experienced the wildlife and after spending some more time inside the reserve we pushed back to our resort. We spent some more time in the resort and though none of us wanted to go back we heavy-heartedly left for our home.

This was a very new, different and thrilling experience for me and I have decided to visit more and more wildlife reserves and would love to cover at least all those in India. I know that some people gets disappointed when they do not see a Tiger but for me it was a wildlife tour and watching a Tiger would only have been a bonus. Visiting a wildlife reserve gives one a very good opportunity to connect with the nature. The air inside felt very pure and also there was almost zero cellular connectivity which gives one a chance to left all the worries behind and to just live in the moment. When we were coming back and approaching big cities we realized how much we have degraded our environment in our quest for development. We have left behind the simplicity and have only made our lives complicated. I am not at all against technology or development but I always believe that technology should make our life simple and easy and not complicate and development should always be sustainable and never at the expense of degrading our environment. After my trip I realized that we all have responsibility  and must act to protect our environment and the flora and fauna associated with it if we want to save our planet Earth.