Left the Pench Jungle Lodge after breakfast at 8:30 or so. The Manager Ajit Gale and the entire staff came out waved, and wished us well.

Our naturalist is going home to Delhi (Gaziabad) for the shutdown period. He drove with us to Nagpur and will be traveling by train to his hometown.

Arrived at Nagpur in good time, and went straight to the airport and checked in for the flight to Mumbai. It is a short 1.5 hour flight and we landed in Mumbai ahead of schedule.

The airport was quite empty, no surprise there.

The airport service from the hotel picked us up and drove us to the Lemon Tree hotel near the airport.

We had stayed at the Lemon Tree in Delhi and had liked it, so far this has been on par if not better yet.

We leave for our Mumbai to Dubai to Chicago flight tomorrow.

I usually do a conclusion on the trip but due to the circumstances the best I can describe it is “CRAZY”. I will be glad to get home without any more mishaps. As it turned out that didn’t happen smoothly but we did get to Chicago and then on to home.

End of trip

Well it looks like the rest of our trip is getting cut due to the Corona Virus or COVID 19.

All the Wildlife Parks will be closed for 2 weeks starting today and the international airlines will also be affected.

So we will be getting back one week earlier than planned.

We had one more day and 2 Safaris left here followed by Kanha and Bandhavgarh but everything was closed down as of today.

The resident naturalist Vishal Sharma took us birding on the 35 acre premises and we did see a lot of birds of which the Tickells Blue Fly Catcher is my favorite. Vishal has promised to take us out to a waterbody in the afternoon; very much looking forward to it.

The afternoon was cloudy and even though birds were sighted, it was too dark for photographs.

After birding, we sat outside and enjoyed snacks and drinks, then went back to the tent to do some packing followed by dinner.

Dinner was again excellent.

Retired for the night. Tomorrow we drive to Nagpur after breakfast and then catch the Mumbai flight from there.

We started early after the usual cookies and coffee and a packed breakfast.

The first sighting was a tigress family but only the oldest cub was visible. We waited for awhile but they were quite well hidden.

The next was a well camouflaged serpent eagle waiting quietly by a stream for his unsuspecting breakfast to come swimming by, I am guessing.

We proceeded on to a water body and were rewarded by sighting a number of different birds.

We had our picnic breakfast and comfort break nearby and then finished up the morning’s Safari, finding a roller bird posing for us in the process.

Returned to the Lodge where Mr. Ghale greeted us and said that the game parks may be closing from tomorrow due to COVID 19 and he will know for sure when we come back from the evening safari.

We were disheartened to hear this but it is beyond our or anybody else’s control.

After another tasty lunch, we walked around the premises a bit until it was time for the afternoon safari.

The travelers in all the other vehicles that we met in the jungle were talking about the closure and were quite depressed as expected.

We saw a sloth bear drinking water here as well but didn’t get good photos like the other one.

The two best photos of the afternoon were the Hawk Cuckoo and Green Bee Eater, both were just outside the lodge premises.

The Hawk Cuckoo has beautiful eyes which is quite unique for a predator.

I loved the green bee eater; it was gorgeous in such a tiny package.

Soon it was time to get back and as rumored, Mr. Ghale verified that this would the last day the safaris will take place for at least 2 weeks.

He also informed us that international flights may not be permitted to land after Sunday, today was Thursday.

We were in a panic to get our international flights moved up to Sunday and did manage to make the last Emirates flights out of Mumbai. It was a major hassle but I don’t want to bore anyone with the crazy details.

Mr. Ghale was a lot of help in getting hold of our travel agent in India and getting our Nagpur to Mumbai flight moved up accordingly.

I am so glad it happened here and not at Tadoba.

Shortly it was time for dinner, which of course was just as excellent as other meals have been.

Retired for the night, a bit scared about the unknown.

As mentioned there are no Safaris any more, so we could leave to go to the water body after a leisurely breakfast.

It took us about a 45 minute drive through rural countryside.

On the way we saw a Hoopoe on a tree top and a black-winged kite a little further down the road.

We soon reached the water body, we had a short walk through a small and tidy village to get to the water. Most of the migratory birds had already left but some of the locals were hanging around.

Of the locals the bronze-winged Jacana and the pheasant-tail Jacana were two of my favorites. The pheasant-tail had such a sweet and beautiful face.

We left to go back to the lodge, finish packing, have lunch, and move on to Pench.

Fortunately we didn’t have to endure yet another boring and bland thali lunch. A special thank you to Mr. Megnath Ghosh, the resident food manager for the great lunch.

The Manager never left his office, which is quite unusual in these forest lodges. In some of them the entire staff come out to bid departing guests a “Happy Journey”.

All in all it was mostly disappointing, looking forward to Pench.

After about a three hour drive we arrived at the Pench Jungle Camp. The first encouraging sign was a well kept lawn with tables set up for snacks and drinks.

We were welcomed and shown to our “tent” by Vishal, a nice energetic young person. As it turns out he is a trained naturalist and will be accompanying us.

We freshened up and appeared for the snacks and drinks as instructed and there we met the manager Mr. Ajit Ghale, his charming wife and their 4 well behaved and friendly German Shepherds. Everyone seems to be friendly, helpful and go out of their way to make us feel at home. This is such a welcome change and typical of a great forest lodge.

There were also two large guinea fowls roaming around. One of the naturalists had run over their mother with his Jeep when these two were very young. Apparently he had picked them up and hand fed them until they were mature enough to be on their own. All in all, it was so wonderful to sit outside and take everything in.

At dinner we were served excellent food with variety and Mr. Ghale came in to check that everything was going all right with his guests.

Retired early for the night in anticipation of tomorrow’s Safari.

The lodge had cookies and tea/coffee laid out so we could be at the Kolara gate at 5:30 am

This morning’s star was the sloth bear. It is pretty ugly but did give us a show, drinking water and hanging around for the longest time.

There was a male spotted deer at the drinking hole as well. Talk about the beast and the beauty.

Pretty soon it was time to stop for a picnic breakfast, a simple fare but it tasted really good.

After breakfast we spent some more time in the forest and then went back to the Lodge.

After freshening up it was lunch time. Lunch was served in the cafeteria whereas dinner was at the Teak House which is a remote building.

Lunch was mediocre like last nights dinner; I am afraid the quality of this place has really gone down. The grounds had a lot of potential but it’s all over grown. The only positive is that it is less than 5 mins from the gate. I really wouldn’t recommend this place if you don’t mind a little longer drive.

Walked along the premises a bit after lunch

Soon it was time to leave for the afternoon Safari at 2:30 pm.

We saw many interesting birds this time. The following are some of my favorites:

On the way back we heard rumblings that the safaris were going be stopped from tomorrow at least in the State of Maharashtra due an increase in the number of COVID 19 cases. This was verified to be true when we got back to the Lodge.

Our Naturalist guide Prasun said he would take us to water body where migratory birds still remained. Since this was outside the National Park, we wouldn’t be stopped from going there.

I guess we didn’t have any choice; neither did anyone else. At this time we were still hopeful that since the rest of our safaris were in the adjoining state of MP, they wouldn’t be affected.

Retired for the night after dinner, a bit worried about what happens next.

Today we had the luxury of sleeping in late.

After a hearty made-to-order breakfast we were on our way to tour Burhanpur, after which we will drive to Nagpur.

Burhanpur was a very pleasant surprise. I knew a little bit about its historical significance but had no idea how extensive it was.

Shajahan’s wife Mumtaz was born here and was buried here for about 6 months until the Taj Mahal was built in her memory by Shajahan.

Today Burhanpur is still a bustling township where Hindus, Moslems, and Sikhs, live in harmony side by side.

The majority of the ancient places of interest are within Shahi Qila. The paintings are beautiful and well preserved. The following is a sampling and my favorite.

Our guide for Burhanpur was a young and knowledgeable person named Shahazada Wasim. His family has lived within the confines of the Shahi Qila ever since and his first name means “emperor”. He is descended from the royal family but of course a very long time back.

The drive to Nagpur from Burhanpur was long and tiring, a good 6 hours with no place to stop for lunch or bathroom break.

We finally made it and checked into the Radisson Bleu.

A nice hotel, good service and free WiFi. The food however was nowhere as good as the Rama International in Aurangabad.

We had a quick dinner and crashed for the night.

Today we will be seeing the Ajanta Caves and then proceed on to Burhanpur where we will be staying for the night.

I have heard a lot about the Ajanta Caves; they are a World Heritage Site as well and I’m looking forward to seeing them.

The Ajanta Caves are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE. The caves include paintings and rock cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive paintings that present emotion through gesture, pose and form. According to UNESCO, these are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art that influenced Indian art that followed.

The drive to Ajanta was almost 4 hours on very bad roads with no usable rest stops. Now it makes sense why we had to leave so early.

We finally arrived. One cannot see the caves from the parking area; they are behind the mountains and we have to take the eco-friendly bus provided.

The first view from the parking area was all the various colors of the flame of the forest in bloom.

We took the bus over as instructed to the caves. The caves were as expected and more. We didn’t see all 29 but some of the rest are unfinished. Cave numbers 1 and 2 have the most beautiful paintings. I took way too many photos and the one below is one of my favorites because of the expression on Buddha’s face which appear to change depending on the viewing angle.

The outside was rugged but very beautiful as well and I could hear different birds singing all around me.

We stopped for lunch before boarding the bus. The food was basic but excellent and the servers were pleasant and helpful.

Web parted company with our guide Thomas and were soon on our way to our next stop Burhanpur.

So far we have traveling within the State of Maharashtra. Maharashtra translates to the “Great State”. We noticed the friendliness and the above normal customer service and enjoyed both of course.

The roads continued to be bad for another couple of hours. We finally entered the State of Madhya Pradesh, which means the Middle State and is smack in the middle of India.

Made it to Burhanpur on the banks of the Tapti River shortly. We will be staying at Tapti Retreat, a hotel owned by MP Tourism.

Usually these are basic hotels, clean, and tasty home style cooking. The service is typically excellent as this one is.

Dinner and then retired for the night.

After a good hearty breakfast we met Mr. Thomas Bansod, our guide for today and tomorrow. He was waiting for us in the hotel lobby.

Thomas appeared to be a pleasant, knowledgeable, and soft spoken person. We are looking forward to the day.

Our first stop was the Ellora Caves. This was a good hour or so away and located in the Western Ghats, the mountain range separating the land mass from the Arabian Sea. On the way to Ellora we made brief stops to photograph the Daulatabagh fort.

Ellora is one of the largest rock-cut monastery-temple caves complexes in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Maharashtra, India. The site presents monuments and artwork of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism from the 600-1000 CE period. Cave 16 of Ellora features the largest single monolithic rock excavation in the world, the Kailasha temple, a chariot shaped monument dedicated to Shiva.

It was a lot of walking but definitely worth it.

After Ellora we stopped at the local restaurant called Kailash for a simple but tasty lunch of chicken muglai and roti. It was good to sit down.

Next stop was Bibi ka Maqbara. Built in 1668 the Tomb of Rabia Durani or Bibi Ka Maqbara was erected by Azam Shah, the son of Aurangzeb to commemorate his mother Dilras Begum who was titled Rabia Durani after her death.

The final stop was the ancient water wheel, which was quite impressive but nothing much to photograph.

We then went to the hotel, freshened up and went in for dinner. They have special dinner Friday – Sunday and today was Muglai.

The cooking was fabulous and I ate way too much.

Back to the room to retire; there will be an early start tomorrow.