2017 Mahindra Wild Escape – Spotting Tigers!

2017 Mahindra Wild Escape

The Scorpio 4WD took us from Nagpur to Tadoba to Pench to Kanha and back!

Mahindra has an adventure arm called Mahindra Adventure and they organise a lot of long expeditions and short off-road events across India. I had earlier gone for the Mahindra Royal Escape in 2015 which took us through a 1 week trip through Rajasthan. This time around, I went for the Mahindra Wild Escape which is again a week long event taking place in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. As the name suggests, they take you on a trip to the wild where you can enjoy nature in its full glory.

The Wild Escape is organised by Himalayan Explorers and the aim of this is to create an awareness about tigers in the country. There have been instances of tiger poaching in India and Himalayan Explorer aims to generate an interest for the animal among citizens of the country. They take you through Tadoba, Pench and Kanha tiger reserves so that you get a chance to spot not only tigers but various other animals too. All in all, sounds fun right?

We started off from Nagpur and the convoy consisted of roughly 22 cars out of which most were Scorpio 4×4 models while a bunch of them were XUV500s. On the first day, we had a quick orientation session where the dos and don’ts were pointed out and we were also given instructions on how to drive in a convoy safely. We were also explained the route that we would be taking in the coming days. The best part about Mahindra Adventure is that there is a lead car which is leading the convoy while they also have a spare car as well as a service car which is loaded with a variety of spare parts since there is a lot of driving involved and things can go a bit wrong without warning.

On the first day we went to Tadoba from Nagpur which was a good drive consisting roughly 160 kms. There was some traffic in the interiors of Nagpur but once we crossed that, the roads were almost completely empty. It was also good to see everyone in the convoy following rules and driving safely. We reached Tadoba at lunch time and checked in to Tiger Valley Resort. After a quick lunch, we headed towards our respective Gypsys to head out in the jungle for the afternoon safari.

The afternoon safari happens between 2-6 PM where the driver and guide take you inside the jungle with the hope of spotting a tiger. So did we spot one? Well, we did come really close to a tigress who had just made her kill but unfortunately she chose to sit inside the bushes and didn’t really venture out. It was getting dark and we headed back to our resort for dinner. We had to wake up early the next day for another safari.

On day 2, we had an early morning wake up call and headed for our Gypsys at around 6 AM! The morning safari usually takes place from 6-10 AM. The weather was chilly and it was actually fun going in the wild. The air feels extremely pure and there is just no pollution. The best part is that there’s no mobile network and you can fully immerse yourself into the nature and real world rather than being in touch with the virtual world.

The joy of such trips is that you get to see some really beautiful sights

We roamed around in the jungle for more than 3 hours and spotted a lot of animals like Deer, Sambar, Langurs, Bisons and quite a lot of birds but were unlucky in spotting a tiger. Headed back to our resort for lunch and all the participants were excitedly discussing with each other about who spotted what. After lunch, people started gearing up for the afternoon safari but some of us were a bit tired and decided to have a nice siesta in our respective rooms.

On the third day, we again had an early start and packed all the luggage in our vehicles since we would be driving down to Pench which is 150 kms away. We took a lot of stops in between for snacks and lunch and had a good time at Ali’s Arcadia just before Pench. They had organised a sumptuous lunch with some really tasty sweets. Post lunch, we continued our drive and reached Pench by 2 PM, just in time for the afternoon safari. We hopped into the cars and started off, again hoping for a glance of a tiger!

While we again couldn’t really spot a tiger, I was grateful enough to spot the other animals closely and also got to enjoy nature in its full glory. Once the safari was done, we started driving again, to our resort which was roughly an hour’s drive. The roads were in a pretty bad shape but both the Scorpio and XUV500 have a tough suspension which tackled these bad roads well. Since it was quite a tiring and long day, a good night’s sleep ensued.

If you are interested in wildlife and driving, then this expedition is a must try

The first half of day 4 was spent in the tiger safari at the Pench reserve where again we got to spot a lot of different animals and birds. This time around, we went deep inside the jungle and saw some really beautiful locales and greenery. Such places make you wonder how much dirt and pollution exists in our cities. We had a quick breakfast right in the jungle and headed back to our resort for lunch and check out. Tiger spotted? Nope, still unlucky.

We explored both Maharashtra as well as Madhya Pradesh sides of the Pench jungle. Once we checked out from Pench, we started driving to Kanha which is a 250 kms drive. The road to Kanha was terribly bad in the initial stage and had extremely large and nasty craters and bumps. The Scorpio managed to handle the bumps pretty well despite me driving quite spiritedly. We then encountered some ghats and it was fun to attack the twisties in the Scorpio. Body roll and under steer are inevitable but otherwise it was indeed an involving driving experience. All the cars were running on CEAT tyres and Valvoline lubricants since they are the sponsors for Mahindra Adventure. We reached Kanha late in the evening and it was dinner time by the time we checked in to Club Mahindra.

The next day, after a sumptuous breakfast, we all were set to visit the tiger safari. There were two safaris lined up for the day and I decided to skip the morning one and went only for the second one. My bad luck, but the others managed to get a pretty good spotting of a tiger and got some really nice photos and videos. Not wanting to miss it, I quickly got ready for the afternoon safari and as my luck would have it, there was no spotting! At least not for us! However, I quite enjoyed soaking in the greenery and freshness of the nature. The next day there was another safari which would be our last safari for this trip and I was really hopeful of spotting a tiger this time!

We were roaming inside the jungle and suddenly there were calls made by deers and langurs. These animals make such calls whenever a tiger is making movement, to warn other animals of danger. Our Gypsy driver and guide got in to action and we managed to reach the spot just in the nick of time. There it was, a large female tiger sitting on the grass and chilling. Since so many people were looking at it enthusiastically, it did let out a small roar. Making eye contact with a tiger was an extremely surreal experience for me at least.

More than spotting tigers, it’s all about appreciating nature’s beauty

Now that I was content, it was time to pack our bags to leave for Nagpur from Kanha which is a 330 kms drive. The drive was pretty long and we reached Le Meridien at around 6 PM. Exactly 6 days back, we had started off from the same hotel and it was a really good feeling to have completed a nice trip safely and successfully with happy faces all around. There were some quick photos taken and we headed for dinner after a quick round of freshening up. The next day, we bid farewell to everyone and departed for the airport to catch our flights back home.

In all these days, we drove a total of close to 950 kms and the Scorpio 4WD performed well without giving any major issues. The 2.2-litre mHawk diesel engine has enough grunt and the SUV is a true mile-muncher. The suspension is a bit bouncy but handles bad surfaces well. The Scorpio is involving to drive and even after me driving aggressively, we easily extracted a fuel efficiency of 13-14 km/l on the highways which is pretty decent. We spoke to other people driving the XUV500 AWD and even they seemed pretty happy with the SUV’s performance throughout the trip.

All in all, the 2017 Mahindra Wild Escape was a really enjoyable experience and I totally recommend this to everyone out there who wants to explore the wild. It’s just not about spotting tigers but also other animals and birds which you are unlikely to spot in the city otherwise. Also, full marks go to the teams of Mahindra Adventure and Himalayan Explorers for organising this trip in a meticulous manner and a special mention to Mr. Vinod Thakur and Mrs. Avril Thakur for the extremely splendid hospitality!

Further Reading –

2016 Mahindra Himalayan Spiti Escape
2015 Mahindra Royal Escape