Naini Tal

[postoak]

I'm making my first trip to India in March. I am a HUGE fan of Jim Corbett (he's my favorite of all the hunter/writers of that great period from 1875-1950), and was thinking about a side trip over to see his old stomping grounds. Has anyone been there? Was it worth it?

[postoak]

I guess no one has been there and done that. I've gone ahead and booked a really great 5 day optional excursion! First, I go to Jim Corbett National Park to see tiger, etc. Then, I spend two nights in Naini Tal itself, and visit Corbett's house. Finally, we go up into the Kumaon Hills to a bird Sanctuary. It should be great! I'll get to hear those barking deer Herne has talked about. Seeing a tiger at this park isn't a certainty, but with any luck! :cool:

[Indy]

Let us know how it goes. I always wanted to go there. I have red, and re-read, Corbett's books since I was 12 years of age.

[postoak]

Hello gang,

I'm currently in Corbett National Park. Yesterday, I visited Naini Tal and Kaladhungi the site of Corbett's summer and winter homes. I toured the winter home, which is a museum. The park is about 30 miles from where Corbett lived. It's at the very beginning of the Kumaon Hills. Here, they are about 300 feet high (as measured from the top down the face of one. The forest is considerably more open than our Gulf Coast forests, and there are fields and glades, too. It is currently well into dry season so the streams are not flowing and some are entirely dry. The beds of the streams are always lined with rounded rock varying in size from a fist to a bushel basket. I was driven around all day in an open jeep, to look at game. Although you don't see game continuously, it's far more interesting than a stroll thru the East Texas Piney woods where you normally would only see crows and vultures, and maybe a squirrel. My visiual "bag" was:

1 tiger
1 group of 10 elephants
12 or so barking deer
2 sambars
100s of spotted deer
2 mongooses
several dozen langurs
several dozen rhesus macaques (monkeys)
6 of another sort of macaque
about 3 dozen pea-fowl
about a half-dozen eagles of various kinds
1 owl
many colorful small birds
2 jackals

Seeing a tiger is by no means a given. Some people go around 10 days and don't see one and others have 2 encounters in 1 day. I strongly recommend my bungalow hotel "The Corbett Hideaway" to any who come here. It is surrounded by the park. A local woman was taken by a leopard about 300 yards down the road, and one of the women who go in groups into the forest to gather firewood was taken by a tiger, both last year.