Entry to the Bandhavgarh National Park
Park entry times vary according to season, depending mainly on the time of sunrise and sunset. You can visit with your own vehicle, which must be a 4-wheel petrol vehicle. It is mandatory to take along an authorized guide. Another option is to take an authorised 4-wheel drives run by the locals, which are available from the hotels and rest houses. The third is an elephant ride, available only in the morning. These should be booked in advance to avoid disappointments.
Early morning jeep rides are excellent opportunities for tiger spotting. The elephant rides in most parks of Madhya Pradesh differ from those of the rest of the country. There are two distinct types of rides possible. The first is the same procedure as is followed across the rest of the country. You pay for a ride into the forest and all wildlife spotting is dependent on the tracking skills of the mahout and obviously your luck. The second, and slightly controvercial method, is what are called "Tiger Shows". For these shows, the mahouts head out in the wee hours of the morning and track down a tiger. Once the tiger settles down in a spot, all visitors are taken for short rides from the nearest point on a jungle track. This, although it ensures that almost all visitors to the park go back with happy memories of a "sighting", is never as exciting as a sudden glimpse of the tiger. Fortunately or unfortunately, now a days in the park the elephant rides are meant to be for the tiger shows only.
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