The different safari gates in Tadoba Reserve Forest
The different safari gates in Tadoba Reserve forest
Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) is a beautiful and biodiverse wildlife reserve located about 110 kms from the nearest Well connected city of Nagpur, in the district of Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India. The reserve is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, including the Royal Bengal Tiger, which was, can be said now, one of the most endangered species in the world. India has really done great for conservation of their’s and tourism, in a way, plays a good part. TATR is one such forest which has shown healthy growth and continues to do so.
In order to protect the wildlife and preserve the natural ecosystem of the reserve, there are several entry gates that visitors can use to enter the reserve. Each gate has its own unique advantages, disadvantages and significance, which we will explore in this TATR article.
TATR is a huge area and has two Major entry points, though inside they have some common terrains and some unique. Its divided into two parts Moharli (Chandrapur) and Kolara (Chimur),both of course in Chandrapur district, with total of 4 zones.
While Moharli, is in Chandrapur, and Kolara in Chimur, the latter is closer from Nagpur, the nearest airport.
The forest are marked as Core and Buffer, the former being a no human habitation area, and the latter cohabitated.
There are four zone with distribution of Core and buffer is as below (we can add a map too):
1. MOHARLI
* Core Gate - Moharli & Khutwanda
* Buffer Gate : Devada, Adegaon, Agarzari, Junona & Mamla
2. KOLARA ZONE
* Core Gate - Kolara
* Buffer Gate - Alizanza, Madnapur, Sirkheda, Kolara Chauradeo, Palasgaon & Belara
3. NAVEGAON ZONE
* Core Gate - Navegaon
* Buffer Gate - Navegaon Ramdegi & Nimdela
4. PANGADI & ZARI Zone
* Core Gate - Pangdi and Zari
* Buffer Gate - Pangdi Aswal Chuha, Keslaghat & Zari Peth
Pros and Cons of each Zone:
Moharli
While is the oldest entry to TATR, others being comparatively new, is a well crafted and designed forest area. The entry to the forest through the Padmapur gate itself gives one the feel of the jungle. This zone, has the maximum number of activities along with the safari, like the agarbatti (incense stick) factory, artefacts in bamboo, several walking trails, butterfly garden, training for upcoming villagers. Access to Moharli - Air - Nagpur 160 kms away, Railway - chandrapur has its own station.This gate has the advantage of its ambience and also diverse flora and fauna, but being a bit distance from the nearest airport takes a bit of toll. The other advantage of this zone is the presence of Two Core gates but only 5 buffer gates (which is opened 12 months).There are good very good accommodation around Moharli, and that’s a plus too.
Kolara
This area, as mentioned is comparatively new to Moharli, but has been bubbling with tiger population. The core area of Kolara and Moharli is almost the same, and so not much difference there. This Zone has its entry from a Village called Chimur, and is closure to Nagpur, the nearest airport, 100 kms, and also has a less well defined railway station. Advantages of this being thick population of tigers, variety of different terrains from different gates, and of course more accessibility to the number of gates. While Kolara by itself has one core and six buffer gates, BUT as the ZONE 3 is very close to this Zone, it enjoys the luxury of 2 core gates and 8 buffer gates (which is opened for 12 months). The places of stay are varied from home stays to good to very good to choose from.The major disadvantage is lack of extra activities like local manufacturing units, not well defines walking trail, no butterfly garden.
Navegaon
It's more or less the same as KOLARA as its close and they can ideally be clubbed together to be one zone. The accommodation is mostly at Kolara side, though Navegaon itself also has a couple of good resorts or home stays.
Pangdi and Zari
It's the farthest from connectivity point of view and it has 2 core gates and 3 buffer, which is comparatively new and even the number of safaris are less. But the big advantage is the forest’s beauty is amazing, and as the number of safari vehicles permitted are lesser the animals are more at ease and the sighting is better. The birds species are also good, as its less disturbed its more peace. The places of stay are more home stay and a couple of resorts, but mostly people park at Kolara, inspire of it being a 2/3 hours drive, as the other safaris become easy for them.
Why 98 Stripes
Nagpur by road is 110 kms from 98S and enters Kolara through Chimur, and Nagpur is the first big city well connected with Air, Road and Railways, while Chandrapur is approx 160kms from Nagpur.
Kolara Zone (zone 2) is the closest to 98 Stripes (2.5kms) and Navegaon, Zone 3, would be approx 7 to 10kms.
Kolara which is Zone 2, also is so close to zone 3, Navegaon that its kind of considered as one zone. Which means 98S has 2 Core and 8 Buffer and the place is bubbling tigers, and more to it two more gates are on the verge of opening up.
The reason why the number of gates are important for a visit are:
- the number of safari vehicles in each gate is restricted and so the number of guests. So the more the number of gates the better the chance of getting a ride and having fun.
- the more the number of gates the more the chance of sighting the Big Boy, as they have their own territory and each gate would have at least 3 to 4 tigers/ tigress and hence more the number of gates the more the population in that zone, and hence better chances of having a glimpse.