Tadoba Mini bus safari Details Booking

Tadoba Mini bus safari Details Booking 

The mini bus safari for common man was finally launched at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve's Moharli entry gate in Chandrapur district on Wednesday morning. The first ever safari was instant success as there were 19 tourists. Interestingly, the tourists who had paid only ` 150 per person for mini bus safari were delighted to have tiger sighting. 

The mini bus (MH34/AB8105) has been made available by Tadoba Andhari Tiger Conservation Foundation. The safari was inaugurated by field director of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve P K Garad. Assistant conservator of forests C S Reddy; range forest officer (wildlife) of Moharli Sachin Shinde; forester Satish Shende, and others were present on the occasion.

Field director P K Garad informed Lokmat Times on Wednesday that the mini bus service received good response by the tourists on opening day which has delighted park management. 

"The first safari of mini bus had full occupancy. This service will prove beneficial to those who cannot afford high rates of Gypsy vehicles. Similarly, those who don't get online booking can take advantage of this service as booking is available only on first come first served basis. First safari had tourists from distant places like Kolhapur and Nashik," Field director Garad. 

Garad also informed that a proposal to run similar mini bus safari from Kolara gate of TATR has been sent to the concerned authorities.

So far, tourists had only two options of entering TATR, that is, their own vehicles or Gypsies. Taking one safari to TATR was a costly affair so far as safari costs anywhere around ` 3,000. Visiting TATR was out of bounds for common people, who could only dream of visiting TATR to have a glimpse of tigers and other wild animals. For mini bus safari, tourists will just have to pay ` 150 per person from Monday to Friday and ` 200 per person on Saturday and Sunday. 

The decision to bring TATR safari within reach of common tourists was taken during tenure of former field director of TATR and chief conservator of forests Virendra Tiwari last year.

The mini bus will be operated from Moharli entry gate of TATR. The 20-seater bus would carry 19 tourists plus one guide. The entry fee for mini bus safari will be inclusive of guide fee. However, tourists in mini bus safari will have to pay existing camera fees as applicable to other tourists. 

A 40-km route for bus safari has been finalised. The bus would start from Moharli and would visit Telia, Khatoda, Jamni, Pandharpauni, Navegaon and return back to Moharli.

The timings of the bus safari will be 7.30 am in morning session and 3.30 pm in evening session. The booking for this safari will be strictly on first come first served basis. However, mini bus safari would be conducted if there are minimum 10 tourists. The executive director of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Conservation Foundation will have right to change entry fee and other aspects. Each round will have one guide, to whom the Foundation will make payment of charges of ` 300. 

If the response to the bus safari is satisfactory, the TATR administration may launch 4 to 5 more buses in future. The mini bus has been procured from the budget allocation to Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Conservation Foundation for the year 2013-14.