Jim Corbett Trip : A fun filled weekend

On the weekend of 4th and 5th November, I went to Jim Corbett National Park with office colleagues, which turned out to be one of the best weekend trips, with unlimited fun and enjoyment. We were a group of 19 people, 5 couples and 9 bachelors. Only 3 of the original 9 members of leech band were present on this trip, and hence it was dormant. We hired a bus for the whole trip and started at about 12:30 am on 4th November from Noida. Everyone was in great spirits and we talked and joked for two hours after which gradually everyone fell asleep. The bus stopped at Gajraula Bharat Petroleum Company owned Petrol Pump at about 3:30 am, and we saw probably the best maintained highway rest area. The place had nicely maintained landscapes and a nice restaurant, and everything was spanking clean. We had tea and snacks there, and then boarded and fell back to sleep. Finally, we reached Wild Crest Resort near RamNagar at about 8 am. The resort is really good, and I would recommend it to everyone going to Jim Corbett Park.

After breakfast, we played cricket for about 2 hours, and then played some team building games like tug of war. It was during this time that few fellows convinced me to fall from a table backwards during one such team building exercise, with a promise to catch me midway. Needless to say, they had no intention of catching me; I fell, and hurt my back most convincingly. I was out of breath for next 1-2 hours, but fortunately did not sustain any lasting injury (did I tell you that my Guardian Angel has a full time job?), and have learnt an important lesson. I've promised myself to be more careful in trusting people in future. We went to Kosi River near resort sometime after noon time. The water there looked amazing and I had almost fully recovered by then. So I convinced a friend to jump in water with me. The current was quite rapid and cool, but it was not deep, and hence not dangerous. Within 10 minutes, 2 more friends joined, and 4 of us frolicked and enjoyed in river for long.

We had a sumptuous lunch after coming back to resort, and then sprawled in the resort lawn for about an hour. Then few of us went to trekking inside forest with a guide from resort, and had an enjoyable trek in the forest for more than 2 hours. Our guide explained that animals don't attack group of people, and hence it was pretty safe. We saw tiger footprints at several places during the trek, and some other animals, but no tiger. We also overlooked a water hole where animals frequent from a ridge. The original plan was to rest for some time after returning from walk, but what actually happened was that 3 of us went to my cottage, and somehow we started a discussion about latest movies. The discussion moved on to sports, world politics, Indian politics and we do not know how time flew and it was time for bonfire. At about 8 pm, we joined the bonfire, but 5 of the most enthusiastic ones (including yours truly) slipped for open jeep ride at about 8:30 pm. It was a cold full moon night, and we enjoyed an hour long ride standing in an open jeep. We returned at about 9:30, danced for about half hour, had a nice dinner, and went to cottage. Again started discussions about everything under the sun, but I fell asleep at about 11:15 pm, after which, the meeting dispersed, and woke up when my friend shook me at quarter to four on the morning of 5th November. We ran about, woke up everyone, and prodded everyone to get ready ASAP.

We started for the safari to Jim Corbett Park at 4:45 am, as early morning is the best time to see animals in the open, and the Jim Corbett entry gate was about at an hour's drive. We were in open jeeps, and the wind was extremely cold. So unlike the previous night's jeep ride, everyone sat from their standing positions within 5 minutes. We reached Jim Corbett park gate at about 5:45 am, and entered the park near 6 am. Had a nice jeep ride with good natural views, and saw deers, elephants, peacocks, wild boars etc. There was a big watch tower in the forest. It provided a great view of forest all around us, and we saw a pack of deers from the tower. Forest safari in open jeep is a nice experience, with beautiful view of forest. Near a resting place in the forest, there were few deers who have almost become domesticated, and everyone fed them leaves and grass. Returned to resort at 9:15 am, and had a nice breakfast.

After breakfast, we spent some time in our cottages, and then gossiped in lawn till noon (basically waiting for people to assemble), and then went to an old suspension bridge on river Kosi. Had a great time with adventure sports like rappelling and river crossing on rope. I was very excited by rappelling, and did it twice. After this, we prepared a raft from tyre tubes and wooden planks, using bamboo sticks as oars. Had a lot of fun crossing Kosi River in that raft, 2 people at a time. Everyone who tried got wet thoroughly, and it’s an experience worth cherishing. We returned to resort at about 4:15 pm, had a late lunch and started back for Noida at 5:30pm. As soon as the bus started, we started Antakshari, where the bachelor group held the couple's juggernaut for 3 hours, after which everyone settled to their seats. Road to Gajraula was blocked due to some festive occasion, and the bus had to stop at many police check posts, but there were few resourceful people on board, and we kept moving ahead, albeit a bit slowly. We reached Gajraula at 11 pm, had a late dinner, and started for Noida at midnight. Finally, we arrived back at 2:30 am on the morning of 6th November.

We did not see any tiger, but Adventure sports, open jeep travel at night, jungle trekking, frolicking in river, rafting with self made rafts from tyre tubes and wooden planks, bonfire and Antakshari more than made up for that. Another positive aspect is since many of my friends (leech band members :-) ) were not able to make it to the trip, I got a chance to interact more with other people in the office team, and forged some new friendships.