Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary,Chhattisgarh

'Seek the Tiger,Find the Jungle' So goes the catchphrase of a Jungle Resort advertisement along with a picture of a tiger which in turn is made up of pictures of a number of other animals.The first time I saw that ad I was totally enticed by it.I decided then itself that I would someday go on a jungle safari to spot a tiger.That was a year back and just three days back i visited the Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary near Bilaspur to try my luck at spotting a tiger.I did a lot of research,studied maps,dug out old info from the internet and carefully planned our trip.Here goes my trip report.

Trip Report

Day 1

Satya and myself started off from our hostel at 7 30am and arrived at raigarh by 9am.Then we boarded the azad hind express and reached bilaspur by 12 noon.Our car was waiting for us and after having breakfast and doing some shopping for the trip ahead of us we started at around 1 30pm.Midway we decided to skip lunch and head directly to achanakmar village and take the afternoon safari which starts at 2 30pm.The distance from bilaspur to achanakmar is around 60km and we reached achanakmar by 2 45pm.To our dismay we found that the Gypsys available with the Forest Dept were already booked and we had to take our own vehicle with us.The cost for private vehicle is Rs1300 and for the gypsy it is Rs2000.Diesel Vehicles are not encouraged here though they allow them.We completed the formalities at the gate and a guide was allotted to us.Every vehicle is allotted a guide and it is mandatory to take one.So with our guide we made our way inside.





The path inside is a kacha road with two distinct ways for the tyres on each side with some growth of grass in the middle.Half an hour into the forest we came acros a village called Sarasdol.It is a beautiful little village.A little ahead there is open area with knee length grass all around..Our guide tells us that this in this area there is high probability of spotting animals.We saw a whole bunch of monkeys lazily sitting in the grass.The animals come here to sit in the sunshine.This is the only time we got the opputunity to get down from our car. We stopped by an anti poaching unit shelter and our guide chatted with the guys inside and tried to get the latest info about the animal movements.After this little stop we moved ahead.Sometime later we saw bisons crossing the path ahead and we stopped.The guide told the driver to switch off the engine and the driver promptly complied.We stared at the animals and took some snaps.The bisons were huge.Our guide told us that one time a bison got annoyed with a car's presence and attacked,overthrowing the whole car.We started again as soon as the bisons were out of our path.




I was deeply immersed into this whole animal spotting thing and was thinking of the stories of Jim Corbett and the many other stories of man eating lions when suddenly something came underneath our tyres and gave a loud crackling sound.I jumped in excitement and fear at the same time.It was a fallen branch of a tree.I relaxed.The whole jungle atmosphere and the stories my mind was throwing up got to me and I reminded myself that I was fooling myself with all such thinking.One more hour passed and nothing showed up.It was getting dusk and light was slowly falling.Our guide then took us to the Majhidongri Watchtower.It is on a high altitude and we could see all around the forest from here.The view was spectacular.There are two watchtowers.This one and the other at

Kumhipani which is inaccessible by car.From here we moved to a lake.Just fours days back a tiger was spotted here drinking water.We stopped by here and scanned the whole perimeter of the lake.Again nothing.We started off.By now light had fallen considerably and our driver had to switch on his headlights.A little ahead we saw deers.Lots of them.We stopped,took some pics which didnt come out because of the fading light.After this we reached the starting point and thus ended out first safari.At the gate the attendant told us that a gypsy was available for use the next day and we could book it today itself.After a brief discussion amongst ourselves we decided to take the it and booked it.We then moved off to a nearby coffee center.We had coffee and some snacks and then went for our resort at Shivtarai.We

had some difficulty in finding it.What with the darkness all around.Green Valley Resort is located behind a High school.It offers nothing but the bare minimum.The rooms were bare.The Food was excellent though.We ordered dal,egg curry,rotis and rice.We sat outside,wearing our winter wear, in the open under the stars.The chill passed through our clothes and was making us uncomfortable.One mouthful of dal fry and roti later a comfortable warmth seeped inside.We finished our dinner and were soon fast asleep.I would suggest you book this resort as your last resort(no pun intended).Try the Forest Rest House first at shivtarai first.All the other FRHs(Lamni,Chaparwa,Achanakmar ,ataria) have been closed for tourists.The only stay options are at Shivtarai and next at Amarkantak.This is in view to protect the core zone.




Day 2





The next day we woke up at 5am and were off by 6am.Everything was still dark and light was slowing approaching.We reached the gate and after completing the formalities a gypsy was alotted to us.Our driver excited by the previous days experiance joined us.So the five of us the gypsy driver,the guide,our driver,satya and myself started off in our gypsy.Three of us satya,the guide and myself stood on the back.This was thrilling ! It felt like those discovery shows where they go on safaris in the plains of africa. The engine hummed quietly,twigs got crushed underneath the gypsys tyres,somewhere far birds chirped and I kept my eyes glued to the path ahead of us in



the hope of spotting something. On our second attempt I was hoping to catch a glimpse of a predator.

I imagined myself to be a famous hunter out in the jungles on the trail of a tiger.I had watched ghost and the darkness a long time ago and the story kept revolving in my mind.This time our route was a different one we started off from where we ended the previous day.We reached Majhidongri Watchtower again and the views were even better than before.The mist in the mountains added more charm to the already spectacular view.Next on the route was tha lake at Sivahalsagar.Our guide told us if lucky we could watch crocodiles sunbathing.But we had no such luck.We saw a tame elephant


though.There are four elephants in the sanctuary.One of them was very angry.It was pacing to and forth and one of the mahouts kept saying that there was lot of 'heat' inside him.Whatever that meant.There was a shelter here and we spent half an hour talking with the mahouts.They entertained us by telling stories of how they catch elephants and tame them.After spending some time here we moved on.On this tour also we saw nothing new.Again we saw bisons,deers,wild hens and langurs.Though a tad bit dissipointed we were satisfied at having experienced our first jungle safari.Our tour ended by 10 30am.From here we went back to bilaspur,did some shopping,had lunch and by 5pm we were on our way back to raigarh.Thus ended one of my best trips in chhatissgarh.

In Brief

->Achanakmar Village is around 55km from Bilaspur.

->Shivtarai comes in between and is around 15km form Achanakmar WS Gate.

->We hired a scorpio from Saigal Travels from Bilaspur(9039631630).Rs1200 for One day plus Rs 8 per KM.They also offer a Gypsy with a package.Rs 6000 including 150km.Maa Travels(9827888704) are also good.I had good experience with them on my previous trip to Ratanpur.

->The only Stay options are FRH(Forest Office,Bilaspur,9752458999)(Co st is Rs600/day) at Shivtarai and Green Valley Resort at Shivtarai(Rs1200/day and Rs1500 per day.Both negotiable)

->Bring a SUV.Sedans and Hatchbacks can't negotiate the path inside the jungle.Also a Diesel Vehicle is preferable.

->Inside tell the guide to cover the open wide area near Sarasdol,the Majhidongri Watchtower and the lake at Siwahalsagar.

River Mahanadi at Chandrapur,Chhattisgarh

As I laid down on my back on the sun baked sands of the River Mahanadi,there was stillness all around,the sky was crystal clear with not a speck of cloud visible anywhere,and the only sound I could hear was the low murmur made by the water.The stillness was ocassionally broken by the squeal of a bird or the sound of children playing at the river bank in the distance.I covered up my legs with the sand for that warm,intoxicating feeling that comes with sand exposed to sunlight.I looked up at the sky,at the vast blue clear expanse and with the stillness in the background,I felt like I was in a different world,detached from the world, I felt at peace.

   That was my best experience of the trip me and my friends made to the River Mahanadi last Sunday.

  The plan developed when me and satya were having a casual talk about going somewhere near for timepass the day before.I suggested Mahanadi and because of a lack of interest from abhishek and raviteja we decided only me and satya will go.The next morning my room-mate sanket asked me to find out if other people were interested to come so that he could arrange a car if enough people were ready to come.

 I went out to the mess where people were having breakfast and told one of them about the plan.Slowly the news spread and at the end 12 of us were ready to go including Sanket,Abhishek,Satya,Rajesh,Pruthvi,Amit,Sai,Shashank,Siddharta,Poornesh,Anush and myself. Sanket arranged a tavera for us.we departed at around 11am.we reached Chandrapur 45mins later.

 Chandrapur is a small town 30km south of Raigarh with the famous temple,Chandrahasini being its most famous attraction,the river Mahanadi being the other.

Except Abhishek,Amit and myself everyone left for the temple.We strolled around and walked on the nearby bridge over the Mahanadi. In the middle of the river there is an island  which has another temple and the bridge continues from here to the other side.

   We got down to the river bank from a ghat built near the island mentioned above.We searched around for a clean place and after finding one,we got into the water.We played around and did all the things people generally people do in water,splash it around,hold breath and go underwater etc.  The speed of the water was very high and at spots where the water reached upto our chests we had difficulty in standing properly.After some time we spotted some rocks jutting out towards the river on the other side and abhishek and myself  made our way towards it so that we could do some diving or in our terms just jumping in the water from some height.The water reached as high as our necks at the deepest point and that scared us a bit but that was only for a moment and the water level dropped immediately after.Soon we reached the area and to our surprise there was a small lagoon shaped water body there.

The water was green and was shining in the sunshine.It was very tempting and inviting but we resisted going in as it looked deep.We looked around,climbed on the rocks,ran on the sand and as the place was too good we decided to go back,get our camera and come back again.So we did just that and took some great pics and videos of us jumping in the river.At around 3pm the rest came back from the temple,so we went back to our place.Here the 12 of us had lots of fun.But One thing that annoyed me was that everyone was too busy in taking pics than enjoying the pure bliss of an experience in a river.This led me to jokingly remark that we need to ban cameras the next time we go on a trip.But then somebody reminded me that everyone has his/her own idea of enjoyment .

That was true of course and I kept quiet.At around 5pm we wound up and slowly ,wearily made our way back to our car.while going back we stopped at a popular dhaba named,surprise surprise,'Popular Dhaba' where we had some delicious dishes made even more delicious by our own hunger.And that ended our second trip since we came to Chhattisgarh.

Location-Chandrapur
Distance- 30km from Raigarh
Car fare- Rs 1200 to and fro ( for a Chevrolet Tavera)

Singhanpur Caves,Raigarh,Chhattisgarh

Last Tuesday we visited the Singhanpur caves and Ram Jharna picnic spot.Let me tell you upfront Singhanpur caves is not for the casual tourist.You need determination and interest to see it.I had done my research on it before I came to Raigarh and imagined it to be something like the Borra caves near Vishakapatnam (the only other caves I ever visited) But this far from it.The approach to singhanpur caves is quite difficult.On the internet there are only three lines about this caves.
''Singhanpur is most popular for its ancient caves..
Singhanpur is situated 20 kms. away from Raigarh and has the distinction of hosting the oldest scupltures on earth. These sculptures are claimed to have been created in 30000 B.C. and look very similar to Mexican and Spanish sculptures''
What nobody mentions is the difficulty in reaching these caves.Let me give an account of the trip we made.
It was on Tuesday that we made the decision to go.My friends Abhishek,Satya,Ravi Teja,Mangesh,Sanket,Ashwin and myself completed the group.
Since we had no information on how to reach the place we had a little chat with a pan wala and he told us that it was better to hire an auto.So we hired an auto rickshaw for the whole trip.It cost us Rs 500, to and fro the hostel including the waiting charges.It is about 20km from our hostel, so around 23 km from Raigarh  on the Raigarh-Bilaspur highway.The Ram Jharna Picnic spot is on the right side.We got down here and went inside.The ticket cost is Rs5. It is an Eco park and we need to walk for about 1km inside.Mid way there is a Swimming 'tank'.Most of the time it is occupied by 'parivars'(families). So we weren't allowed to go inside. We skipped this part and proceeded ahead to reach the actual Jharna which isn't natural at all.There is a pipe bringing in the water from the mountain tops and a cement block has been constructed from where the water drops off creating a small stream of water fall.Here some boys were bathing complete with soap lather all over them.The place here was crowded with people and the smell of soap was in the air. Polythene bags and cups were strewn around making the place look somewhat dirty.Unless you are spiritually inclined it is better to skip this part.

Ram Jharna Picnic Spot

The only good thing that came out from the Ram Jharna part is that we found a local villager who agreed to take us to the caves.Yes,that right you need a guide to take you there.He warned us to be careful near the caves stressing that the honey bees,which are present in large numbers, get agitated easily and recalled an incident in the past when a youth disregarded his warning and that eventually led to this death.Anyway we took him with us and moved ahead.It was 2km more towards the champa side on the Raigarh-Bilaspur highway and then we reached a curve.(Upto this point a 4 wheeler can come but from here one has to walk) Here a small trail went in to the jungle and to the mountain above.We took this path with the guide at the lead. After a short leisurely walk on a green carpet of grass the actual rocky climb started.

  We climbed up holding onto rocks and bushes and overhanging branches.We crawled on all fours ,we stretched and jumped and hopped around and kept moving.The path offered some nice views of the Monnet Steel Plant below.The path juts along the side of the mountain offering some awesome views.It has a zig zag nature to it, leading me to think that there was a stone path here long ago.We skipped that part and climbed on a straight line as suggested by the guide.The sun was shining overhead and by the time we reached the top we were drenched with sweat.Slowly, as we emerged from the trees the sight of the imposing mountain top met us.The rocky mountain side with huge rocks jutting out presented an awe inspiring sight.

Cave 1

 The first cave was nothing much to talk about.There were two small caves of about 2 feet diameter. After some distance nothing was visible with darkness engulfing the rest.We moved on to the next cave.

Cave 2

This was bigger with a diameter of about 1.5m. A person could go in on his all fours.The place reeked of bat shit and we turned back in disgust after taking a look inside.The third cave was much better and here I had the most fun.This cave's opening was much bigger and a person could easily enter inside.The guide who was with us bade us to enter it with our mobiles flash light. I turned on mine but it didn't illuminate anything. I then took sanket's xperia and turned on its flash light and slowly went inside. I was the only one who was willing to go inside first.There was another group of people already there and some among them,seeing me going inside followed me. Satya also, soon joined in. I slowly and carefully swept the mobile all around the cave looking at the walls.The guide kept telling me that this particular cave has three sections more(thats why the better circulation of air) and told me to find them. I found the first to my right.
This was very small and I could hear the screeching of bats inside.Also the whole floor was now lined with bat shit and I was standing on it barefoot(eeeew!) because the guide told me that it had religious values and ordered me to remove my shoes.Straight ahead lay the second section.

Cave 3

This was a bit bigger and the guide encouraged me to go ahead. I declined saying there were bats ahead.He ignored that and chided me, asking me if I was afraid to go any further.This annoyed me and I moved ahead further and stopped just at the entrance of the second section.I was at the deepest section where one could go standing upright and without disturbing the bats.The sound of the bats was now very sharp and shrill and I knew going ahead any further would be foolish.(I thought to myself that if I ever want to become batman this would be the best way to overcome the fear of bats) From where I stood,I could see the third section of cave starting from my left.The floor of this cave was covered with water and bat shit mixed. I was the only person here at this point and I felt like in some kind of an adventure movie ,shining my mobile into the dark, looking for something.It felt great! and I was satisfied that all the hard work of climbing up was worthwhile.We spent some time here and since the auto wala, whom we hired was getting angry since we exceeded the time we agreed upon,We started back on our return journey.The climb down was a bit tricky as any slip would result in rolling down the slope.Eventually we reached down and made our way back to the auto. I looked back at the mountain and smiled in satisfaction that my travelling journey in Chhattisgarh has well and truly started.
      While returning to the hostel we made a stop at JSPL Hotel Amantran and had a good and hearty lunch.


In Brief
Singhanpur Caves
23km from Raigarh on Raigarh-Bilaspur Highway.
How to Reach- the last 2km have be covered on foot the rest can be covered with a vehicle.Hire a Guide at the local village or better ask the security guard at the Ram Jharna Eco Park.
Discovered by-C.W.Anderson in 1913
Also heres something from www.cgculture.in
''The first discovery of rock art in Chhattisgarh was made in 1910 by C.W. Anderson, an engineer in the Bengal/Nagpur Railways, ably assisted by C.J. Wellington (from 1910 to 1913). Mention of such work, especially at Singhanpur in Raigarh Dist., was made in 1918 (Anderson, 1918) and subsequently in a few publications. It was followed by the works of P. Brown (1923 a, b; 1953), A.N. Dutta (1927), M. Ghosh (1932), L.P. Pandey (1933), D.H. Gordon (1939), J.P. Gupta (1960, 1967), P. Mitra (1961) and S.K Pandey, (1969) and V.S. Wakankar (1973), adding considerably to our knowledge about rock art in this area''

Restuarants review of Raigarh (Non Veg)

As my last post mentioned I will be spending the next 1 year in Raigarh.Coming from Hyderabad,naturally i miss biryanis.So the first thing I did in raigarh was to check out the non veg 'scene' here.So my friends and me checked out some hotels and I am going to write about them here.Before I do let me point out a few things.The hotels I am going to talk about are all non vegetarian ones and I will be talking about the dishes me and my friends checked out,so even if what we ate was good or bad I am not talking about the whole restaurant in general.With that let me begin with:

1-Hotel Amantran
Location-Chakradhar Marg,near Kelo Bridge.
As far as word of mouth goes I heard that this hotel is the best one in Raigarh.We went there and as for the ambience it is average with a large rectangular dining hall separated with a small waist high wall in the centre splitting the area into two parts.There is an aquarium in the middle.The table and the chairs are bare with somewhat stained tablecloths.
    As I eat only Halal food and it wasn't available here abhishek and myself ordered Fish Masala to go with some plain rice.Satya and Ashwin ordered chilly chicken and Raviteja and praveen ordered Chicken Biryani.
So heres the verdict.The fish masala was excellent and so was the fish curry we ordered later.The chicken Biryani was good and much better than other places we tried it.As for the chilly chicken, satya described it as putting chicken in water mixed with some pepper.That pretty much sums it up.And let me remind you we haven't tried the other items.

2-Tandoori Club
 Location-This hotel is nearby my hostel i.e. at Dhimrapur chowk .
The ambience of this hotel is bare minimum with some standard chairs and tables.As halal meat wasn't available here too, abhishek and myself ordered egg fried rice.It was good. Satya and others tried chicken biryani which was acceptable but not exactly good.There is no seafood available here.Also Veg items are quite good.

3-Hotel Mezbaan
Location-Chandini Chowk
 Some friends of mine recommended this hotel and I had a lot of expectations on this one.The other day we had dinner here.We had something called Chicken chaap and it was quite good but the same coundn't be said about the Chicken Biryani.It was more like pulao with some pieces of chicken thrown in.Half a plate cost Rs 70 and a full plate costs Rs140.Having eaten the Biryanis of Hyderabad,I must say I found rather disappointing.We haven't tried the other dishes but since the main dish which I wanted to be good wasn't so, I had no desire to taste the others.

Bonus-
Hotel Shaheen
Location- Dhimrapur Chowk
This is a small hotel with only a small area available for sitting.This place is always crowded and most of the time one has to stand and eat outside.This hotel is very famous for its sheek,A stick pierced through small pieces of marinated chicken.One stick costs Rs10.Personally I found it to be good but not exactly great.We also ate biryanis but they weren't up to the mark so better avoid it unless you are desperately craving for halal non veg.There are other items on the menu which we haven't tried but I heard are great.Will try it out sometime in the future.

Raigarh(Chhattisgarh) My abode for the next 1 year.

Its been 12 days since I moved to raigarh,Chhattisgarh and things are settling down a bit here in my hostel in Vrindavan Complex near Dhimrapur chowk.I am here to purse a PG program in Thermal Power Plant Engineering at Jindal Institute of Power Technology at Tamnar which is 40 km from my hostel.And I will be staying here for the next one year.
          Before I came,I did my homework on Raigarh and found it be a medium sized city but as seasoned travellers will tell you reading about something can be so different from what you actually see.I was underwhelmed to see the state of the city for the first time.From hyderabad to raigarh was quite a downward junp for me.I am yet to see the whole city but from what I have seen I am disspointed.There are no malls here and not many places of entertainment but anyway heres what I gathered in the last 12 days.
           Raigarh was a princely state before Independance as can be seen from the number of old buildings on the streets.I havent seen the listed buildings yet,will see them at my leisure as I have a whole year at my disposal.And maybe post something about them as i used to do in my
heritage hyderabad blog.The city itself looks small time with very few nice restuarants and Getting Non veg stuff is a bit difficult.Theres a central park built and maintained by Jindal Industries.Thats the area where a lot of street food is available including Kolkatta Rolls,kababs,pani puri etc.The river Kelo flows through the city and the bridge over it ,the Kelo Bridge provides some scope for leisurely walking and timepass.There are two theaters in the city,one of them screens movies from Bollywood and the other screens local movies.Subhash chowk is another area where one can buy stuff ranging from electronics to groceries.This is all I could gather from my initial visits around the city.I plan to make some systematic visits to the city and also to the surrounding areas.More posts to follow.