Jim Corbett Park: Call of the wild
There we were, a good two hundred of us, lip smacking for a taste of the "call of the wild".
Our itinerary was well chalked out: everything to make it eventful, enjoyable and worthwhile! On the face of it, it looked good.
In reality, while there were a smattering of well organized events, the jungle trip was only a packaged deal of a whirlwind tour for three-hours packed in safari jeeps. We saw little. They had told us that in the 1288 square kilometers of forests there were only around 200 tigers: the odds of seeing a tiger was always against us.
Hanging somewhere between excitement and dismay, we met the man. We met him in two unassuming places; a cottage where he once lived and at the bookshop!
As I got to know him better, I began liking him. He was everything I knew him not to be! I knew him as a hunter, whose call to fame were a score of man-eating tigers he shot and killed. Instead, he was a friend of the wild. The vast tracts of remaining forests, the surviving tigers and the model villages rich with their well endowed share of fruit orchards were all Jim's contribution. Known fondly as Carpet sahib, Jim had transformed trigger-happy-tiger-hunters into conservationists and tiger ravaged villages into refreshing destinations for city-weary travelers!
My mementos from this trip was an "Amar Chitra Katha" (India's best read comic series) for my daughter on Jim's life, a new camera with a small collection of photographs and a deep admiration for the man: Jim Corbett.
Our itinerary was well chalked out: everything to make it eventful, enjoyable and worthwhile! On the face of it, it looked good.
In reality, while there were a smattering of well organized events, the jungle trip was only a packaged deal of a whirlwind tour for three-hours packed in safari jeeps. We saw little. They had told us that in the 1288 square kilometers of forests there were only around 200 tigers: the odds of seeing a tiger was always against us.
Hanging somewhere between excitement and dismay, we met the man. We met him in two unassuming places; a cottage where he once lived and at the bookshop!
As I got to know him better, I began liking him. He was everything I knew him not to be! I knew him as a hunter, whose call to fame were a score of man-eating tigers he shot and killed. Instead, he was a friend of the wild. The vast tracts of remaining forests, the surviving tigers and the model villages rich with their well endowed share of fruit orchards were all Jim's contribution. Known fondly as Carpet sahib, Jim had transformed trigger-happy-tiger-hunters into conservationists and tiger ravaged villages into refreshing destinations for city-weary travelers!
My mementos from this trip was an "Amar Chitra Katha" (India's best read comic series) for my daughter on Jim's life, a new camera with a small collection of photographs and a deep admiration for the man: Jim Corbett.
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| An "Amar Chitra Katha" on Jim Corbett: Cover page. |
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| The river Kosi in the Jim Corbett Park |
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| Another view of the river |
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| A waterfall in the forest |
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| A tourist destination near the Park |
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| Souvenirs for visitors: Candles from Nainital |
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| The cottage where Jim once lived |
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| Jim's bust for a statue |
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| Displaying Jim's achivements |
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| The fruits in Jim's orchard |
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| Jim's room |
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| A view of the forest |
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| Hair raising true adventure! |
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| More Children's tales of Jim Corbett |
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| A view of Jim's cottaage and its surroundings |
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| A page from the comic book |
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