The Best National Park in USA, Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone Park is the first and oldest national park in the world and covers 8,987 km, mostly in the northwest corner of Wyoming. The park is famous for its various geysers, hot springs, and other geothermal features and is home to grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk. Yellowstone park is a United States National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What to see in Yellowstone park
Yellowstone is world-famous for its natural heritage and beauty. Yellowstone park holds half the world's geothermal features. The wildlife of Yellowstone Park is tempting as well, with grizzly bears, wolves, bison and elk, all while standing on the surface of the Earth's largest known "super-volcano".

• Mammoth 
• Norris 
• Madison
• Geyser basins 
• Lone Star geyser
• Grant Village 
• Lake Area 
• Canyon 
• Tower-Roosevelt 

What to do in Yellowstone

• Hiking
• Wildlife Viewing
• Horse Riding
• Photography
• Fishing
• Swimming
  

Dangers in Yellowstone
Important, stay away from cute looking animals, they can be dangerous and potentially kill any human within minutes.


Weather in Yellowstone

The weather in Yellowstone National Park can change very rapidly from sunny and warm to cold and rainy, so it's important to bring along extra layers of clothing which can be used as needed. Usual Summer temperature varies from 25°C to 30°C and Winter temperatures often range from zero to -20°C. The record low temperature is -54°C.


Fees/Permits

All vehicles and individuals entering the park must pay an entrance fee that is valid for seven days. The entrance fee provides entry to both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Fees are $25 for non-commercial vehicles, $12 for hikers and cyclists, and $20 for motorcycles and snowmobiles.

One year passes are available as an alternative to the seven day fee. The Park Annual Pass is $50 and provides entrance to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. The Interagency Annual Pass is $80 and provides entrance to most federal recreation sites across the country including Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park.

Continue Reading more on Yellowstone Park:

• What to Do in Yellowstone Park
• What to See in Yellowstone National Park
• Tips on Visiting Yellowstone Park.

What to Do in Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is the oldest national park of USA. The following things a tourist in Yellowstone park can do:



Hiking
Taking a few 3-4 hour day hikes on established hiking trails will make you feel the real beauty of the Yellowstone park.

Wildlife Viewing
There is a lot of wildlife to view within the park limits. Birds (osprey, bald eagles, and many, many other species,) bison, big cats, deer, wolves, fox, bears, big-horn sheep, elk, and other animals can all be seen within the park over a short period of time. The more time that you spend in the park, the more wildlife that you will see. Some animals, such as the wolves, bears, and the big-horn sheep are generally not viewable from the park roads. The spaces within the park are grand, so make sure to bring binoculars and/or a spotting scope to best view animals safely.

Horseback Riding

Horseback is a favorite way to explore the Yellowstone National Park.

Photography
Yellowstone park is a haven for landscape photographers. The natural environments, beautiful hydrothermal features, wild animals to be found throughout the park, the colors of the hot springs ranging from bland white to yellows and blues, greens and oranges, all are great subject for every photographer.

Fishing and Swimming
These are allowed (but not encouraged) at a certain section of the Firehole River.

Continue Reading more on Yellowstone Park:

• Travel plans to Yellowstone National Park
• What to See in Yellowstone National Park
• Tips on Visiting Yellowstone Park.

Best National Parks in India: Indian Wildlife Sanctuaries

Kanha (Madya Pradesh): Tiger, deer, most species. Best months: from February to June (closed July to November).


Corbett (Uttar Pradesh): Tiger, mugger, gharial, deer, most species. Best months: from February to May.


Namdapha (Arunachal Pradesh): Tiger, clouded leopard, snow leopard, panther, red panther, gibbon, loris. Best months: from Oc¬tober to March.

Unplanned North Bengal

We, two friends, were planning for a trip to Jayanti in North Bengal from the day we had seen the film 'Abar Aranye'. Ultimately we decided to start last week.

The Kanchankanya Express started on time. Next morning we woke up at New Jalpaiguri Station, the railway track goes inside deep elephant infested forest after Siliguri station. This journey is no less than a safari itself. We saw 3 peacocks, quite few elephant footprints, and some elephant corridor sign beside the railway track. It should be noted that on this track the train speed is limited to 20kmph to avoid accident with the with animals. At noon we reached Alipurduar Jn. Station. We had a very good Bengali lunch there in a nearby small hotel, and then after some bargaining took an auto to Jayanti. After just 20 minutes we are again inside a forest. The road is in pretty good condition compared to other forest roads.

We reached Jayanti in an hour, and dropping the luggages inside the hotel room (not that a luxury arrangement, but clean rooms and toilets) we rushed to the bank of the river. But what we found was big lorrys/cars taking the stones of the river, plastic scattered everywhere, a totally polluted river bank, added to that there were some tourists playing loud music, disturbing nature in every respect. The February river looked dead, and only things that we could enjoy were many birds and the landscape of forests in every direction. But those were very common in the whole Dooars.

Tour plan of Bandhavgarh National Park

A short tour plan to Bandhavgarh from Kolkata

Day1: Train(both the trains Upasana express and Mumbai mail departs from Howrah in the evening).
Day2: Reach Katni in the afternoon and go to the resort(my preference, White Tiger Forest Lodge, the forest jeep  driver Yadavji is very good).
Day3: Early morning forest trip; return to resort and take lunch, after some rest the afternoon forest trip.
Day4: Early morning forest trip; take train from Katni railway station in the afternoon.
Day5: Reach Kolkata in the noon.

Since on Day1 you will start in the evening and on Day5 you reach kolkata in the noon, you can well think of the tour as 4.5 days journey. If you get time, you can alter the tour and add Bedhaghat, the boatride thorugh the marble rock at Bedhaghat near Jabalpur is fabulous.

Read other articles on Bandhavgarh:

• Travel to Bandhavgarh National Park 
• Forest of Bandhavgarh 
• Flora and Fauna of Bandhavgarh 
• Inside the Land of Tigers
• How to reach Bandhavgarh National Park 
• Accommodation at Bandhavgarh 
• Tour Plan of Bandhavgarh 
• My Trip to Bandhavgarh 

  

Travel Bandhavgarh National Park

The Bandhavgarh National Park is located in the Sahdol district of Madhya Pradesh. Together with the high faunal density Bandhavgarh has a rich history and mythology in its own. There is a fort up on the hill of the forest. It is said that the monkeys who created the "setu", between India and Lanka to enable Rama to cross over and kill Ravana, were also the architects of the Bandhavgarh fort. This is still belong to the maharaja of Rewa, whereas the forest was handed over to the Govt for protection. And after the formation of Project Tiger the wild life here is very much safe from the poachers.

The Forest at Bandhavgarh National Park

Forest Zones at Bandhavgarh

There are four zones or entrances to the forest of Bandhavgarh, namely,

1. TALA,
2. MAGDHI,
3. KHETAWLI,
4. PANPATHA

Tala zone in Bandhavgarh is the best place for spotting a tiger, you will have better chance to photograph wild animals in this zone, as they are more used to with cars and humans but if you find a tiger in the other 3 zones, you can have a better and prolonged sighting, as there is only a few car, no disturbance for the tiger. A big problem is the last three zones has less number of chitals, in a whole morning I heard alarm only once, so locating a tiger is very difficult there. The guides mainly track a tiger by the alarm calls chitals make when they find a tiger.

Flora and Fauna of Bandhavgarh National Park

Fauna  of Bandhavgarh

Bandhavgarh has got a huge variety of wildlife - both animals and birds. There are tigers, the main attraction of the forest, leopards, gaur (Indian Bison-although some say this is no longer seen), chital (spotted deer), Sambar deer, Barking deers(quite rare, but I manage to find and photograph one), Dholes, nilgais, wild boars, chinkaras, sloth bears, rhesus macaques, black faced langurs, jungle cats, hyenas(very rare), porcupines, jackals, foxes, chausinghas and ratels, among others. It is the density of it's big cat population that has made Bandhavgarh really famous across the globe.

Inside Bandhavgarh National Park

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.

How to reach Bandhavgarh National Park

How to reach Bandhavgarh National Park

There is good transport system from all over India to Bandhavgarh, this includes rail, road and air as well. For the people coming from Delhi to Bandhavgarh, there is a direct train(Utkal Express) which gets you to the railway station nearest to Bandhavgarh National Park, Umaria(30km from Tala, the main forest gate of Bandhavgarh) early in the morning. The train takes 19 hours to reach from Delhi to Bandhavgarh. There is good Bus transport from Umaria to Tala, taking about 1hr 30mins, the road from Umaria to Tala is not in a very good condition and they do not usually take proper maintenance of of it. The reason behind is if roads are smooth, the vehicle will not obey the speed limit which is 20kms per hr, and some animals might be crossed over accidentally. 

Accommodation at Bandhavgarh

Accommodation at Bandhavgarh

At Bandhavgarh, there are accommodation facilities to suit almost all budgets. Ranging from lavish hotels and luxury camps to budget hotels to rooms let out by locals - all can be found at Tala. The quality of hotels and the facilities provided by them are of a generally good standard. Some of the camps offer tented accommodation with excellent facilities.

All in all, accommodation facilities are not a problem at Bandhavgarh but to avoid possible disappointments, always book in advance before reaching there.
I must recommend White Tiger Forest Lodge of MPTDC, as I loved to be there the couple of times I visited the place.