People in the wild

A full week in Corbett gave me a very good insight on people visiting the wild.

Let me give you an idea what Corbett is. It's the largest and first wild life park in the country named after the legendary Jim Corbett. Its located in Uttarakhand and Ramnagar is the nearest rail head. There are two rivers, Kosi and Ramganga that flow around here. Nainital is a mere 90 kms away.

Most visitors stay in the luxury resorts that dot Ramnagar. Most staying in Ramnagar will make day safari's to Bhijrani or Jhirna. However, to really enjoy the park you must stay inside the park in one of the Forest Rest House (FRH) of which Dhikala is the best. Let me warn you, these are functional places and don't expect any thing but basic comforts.

Here is a compilation of the different people you find in the park, based on my observations during a week's stay

The "leave me alone" Professional
These are pro wildlife men and women who come here purely for the love of the wild and photography. You will most likely find them either alone or with a friend. They are easily identifiable using the following checklist

• They carry atleast 2 DSLR's with those large pro lenses attached.
• You will not see them with tripods, but they carry bean bags
• They are first out of the gate when the park opens and last in
• Tiger is just one of the animals for them and you will not see them running around behind it

They mostly keep to themselves, but make great conversations. They are typically booked for many days in the reserve. Some, like John, got married here and visits the park for upto a month every year (from the US). Others, like Radhika, are here to shoot birds for the bird book she is hoping to publish.

The wannabe naturalist

These are people like me, who love nature and photography. They are here because they love nature and want to photograph all parts of the park. They are very busy during the park visit, but have left a professional career behind for the duration of visit. They are easily identifiable using the following checklist

• They carry DSLR's with tele zoom lens
• You can see them hunting for phone signals to keep in touch with office
• Like the pro's they are out of the gate very early
• They love to photograph every animal and bird
• They are seen sharing their photo's and experience with anyone who listens

These group is either young <30 professional or experienced corporate person. They are passionate about nature and would probably plan to visit one nature park an year. They have the ambition of some day shooting publishing quality pictures

The vacationer

They come in many hues. There is the honey moon couple who are romancing in the wild. There are young families with toddlers and kids. And then there are whole families with aunties and uncles in tow. Unfortunately, these groups tend to be the largest and towards weekend the most dominant. They are easiliy identifiable using the following checklist

• They are loud and taking photos of themselves
• They are struggling to leave the gates 30 mins after gates are open as some of them are still in the bath room
• When everyone is waiting silently following tiger's call, you can hear them talk loudly
• They are the one's complaining about the food and service
• They are the ones complaining that there are not enough animals to see

Unfortunately, our system doesn't enable black listing such groups. Some of my experience were

• I was on the elephant safari. The mahout and I were whispering to each other on seeing tiger pugmarks (it could potentially have been very nearby). The honeymoon couple sharing the elephant thrust a pack of Kurkere at my face with a loud comment "uncle Kurkere"
• We were parked on the road near the waterhole photographing the elephant playing in the water. The naturalist with me was sure the elephant would walk up to the road and we will have a good shout. A new jeep came up and the elderly couple starting chatting loudly with another elderly couple in the next jeep about the previous night dinner. Not surprisingly, the elephant turned and walked into the forest
• A family of 5 had come and were complaining that they hadn't seen anything but a small herd of spotted deer. I told them it was surprising as that morning I had left at 6:20 and seen elephants, sambar, spotted deer and lots of birds. The response was funny; " oh, our daughter woke up at 8 and we went into the forest only at 10"

But then to the 3rd group, the first two probably look funny!