JungleTrail

How to plan a Safari and Select Zones at Tadoba ?

Safari Zones in Tadoba

The Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve also famous as the “Land of Tigers”, is one of the finest places to see Royal Bengal Tigers in India. It can be explored through Jeep Safari, also known in India as tiger safari.

The reserve is divided into three zones;

Moharli Range, Tadoba Range and Kolsa Range.

Further for Safari there are different entry gates. These gates are divided into Core Zones and Buffer Zones.

The Core Entry Gates are;

Moharli Gate

Kolara Gate

Kutvanda Gate

Navegaon Gate

Kolsa – Zari

Pangdi

Out of these 6 Core Gates, except for the Kolsa and Pangdi, whichever among the other four gates you enter from, you have access to the same forest area for tourism and tiger sighting. These four gates allow you to explore the 2 Core zones of Moharli and Tadoba.

Few Famous tiger spotting areas in these zones are;

Moharli Zone – areas like Telia, Jamunzora, Aswalhira and

Tadoba Zone – areas like Tadoba Lake, Pandharpauni, Jamni, Kolara road

While the other 2 Core entry gates that is Zari and Pangdi are located on the other side of the tiger reserve and have an exclusive access into the tourism area which is less visited and comparatively less explored. While planning your trip, you have to keep in mind that this is a huge tiger reserve with an area approx. 650 sq km and therefore the gates are located at considerable distances from each other!

It is very important to choose the gate for safari based on your accommodation. Always plan your safari and book the permits through the gates which are close to your resorts. It has been observed that people book the resorts online and then book the permits as per the availability without checking the distance of the gate from their resort.

Apart from the Core there are many buffer zones and these are close to the Core entry gates.

Location of Buffer Gates with respect to the Core Gates;

The Agarzari, Devada and Junona zones are located around the Moharli entry gate.

The Ramdegi-Navegaon zone is located around the Navegaon Core Safari entry gate.

The Kolara zone (buffer), Madnapur zone, Alizanza zone, Sirkada zone are located around the Kolara Core Safari entry gate

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Further it is also important to know that following buffer zones allows you to have access to the same forest area;

Devada and Junona

Ramdegi Navegaon and Alizanza

Kolara Buffer and Madnapur

The Core zone is basically the central area originally demarcated area of the national park with no villages or settlements. Here the natural resources and wildlife are highly conserved and human activity is extremely limited.

The Buffer zone is the area of forest surrounding or adjoining the core. In the buffer zones conservation takes place along with limited human settlement.

The main object of the buffer forest is to protect the Core forest and ensure the safe passage for animals to migrate. Buffer forests also connect the National Parks to other sanctuaries and adjacent Tiger Reserves through ‘Tiger Corridors’.

When (Season) to visit the Forest ?

Todaba forest like any other wildlife reserve is open for tourism from October to June. During Monsoon (July, August and September) forest remains closed for the Tourism.

Generally, this the most common question to decide the forest trips. Its Winters when the climate is quite cool and pleasant, there is plenty of water around and forest is lush green or its Summer when there is shortage of water and tigers to move towards the artificial water bodies in the forest making high probability of tiger sightings.

The fact is that the tigers are sighted throughout the year. Post Monsoon the forest is lush green and roads inside the forest are quite soft. Tigers during this period prefer walking on the soft roads and marking its territory. Though there would be less of alarm calls and may be tracking a tiger little difficult as compared to the summer. If you enjoy the thrill in tracking a tiger winters would be the best to explore the forest i.e. from October to early March.

Summer are quite dry and hot. The temperature is quite high and raises to 45 degrees or even more. Most of the water dries up and therefore water for the animals is only available at the man-made waterholes. Most of the tigers have a regular habit of visiting these waterholes as a result the probability of tiger being sighted is quite high during the summers.

Planning and Booking the right Safari Zones.

It is very important to plan your safari gates and book the permits quite in advance. Once you decide the place for accommodation you should check for the Safari gates close to the resort you choose to stay. Also you should plan and book permits for the core and buffer zones both. At Tadoba it is always advisable to have a combination of core and buffer safaris.

For Tadoba it is most ideal to plan a safari and book the permits at least  120 days in advance. Safari permits are limited and available online. The booking opens 4 months or 120 days in advance and therefore most of the permits gets booked quite in advance. So before you book the resort you should ensure that the permits are available for those entry gates close to your resorts.

It is always recommended to book the tadoba safari packages thorough an expert travel agents or a tour operator.

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Famous Tigers at Tadoba and its Territory

At Moharli Zones:

Sonam is the daughter of Tigress Madhuri along with her three sibling Mona, Lara and Seeta. They are the four tiger siblings of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve grown up living in the Telia Lake area. Tiger Sisters of Telia was the most famous wildlife documentaries present by Discovery Channel on the gang of four tigresses.

Currently Tigress Sonam is the most famous tiger at the Moharli Zone of the forest. Teliya Lake and around is the area dominated by Sonam and her cubs.

Male Tiger named, Bajrang is supposed to be the dominant male in this zone. It is not so tourist-friendly like other tigers around. Sighting Bajrang is actually a very rare tiger sighting and If any safari tourist spots him, they can consider themselves most lucky.

Sonam’s sister Lara is often seen currently in this zone, close to the Kutwanda Gate.

At Tadoba Zone:

Matkasur,  Around 2016 to 2019, He was the dominant male tiger of Tadoba. He was known because of his repetitive wins against other dominant male tigers. He was named ‘Matkasur’ because of his huge size and ‘pot-belly’ body frame. He is said to be the father of ChotiTara’s cub ChotaMatka. He did not fear the tourist vehicles and is reported to appear frequently in front of the tourist vehicles. Most of his sightings were considered to be a road show.

Since 2020, two other male tigers have entered and successfully captured his territory. Presently Male Tigers Tala and Rudra are the dominant male tigers of the Tadoba Zones. Tala is mostly sighted around the Tadoba Lake and Padharpauni water bodies. Whereas Rudra is sighted around Jamni Lake and surrounding areas.

Choti Tara is the daughter of famous Tara tigress. She is one of the few tigresses with a radio collar around her neck used to track her movements. She reigns a large territory and is gradually becoming a famous attraction of TATR. Jamani lake and around is Chhoti Tara’s current territory. Choti Tara is currently radio collared and has 3 cubs.

Chota Matka is the active male cub of Choti Tara and Matkasur.

Maya, This elegant beauty is known as the “Queen of Tadoba”. She is one of the most famous tigers in India. She currently seems to be the ruling a considerable area of this real land of the tigers. Tadoba Lake and surrounding areas right upto Panderpauni are currently dominated by Tigress Maya & her cubs.  This is also the area where black leopard has been frequently sighted.