My Trip to Kanha Wildlife Sanctuary
By Manasvi Sharma
Class 3 Student, Bangalore
Foreword by Venkat
Things do not always turn the way we expect them to. Yet a disappointing outcome can become a relishing experience of being together, of gaining a new perspective and of understanding oneself better through the act of narrative writing. Young Manasvi did just that, with her beautiful recollection of the travel and experience in an expressive style! Congratulations to Manasvi for such a love for writing at a very young age. Best wishes for a wonderful life and future.
Explore what to (not) expect at Kanha Wildlife Sanctuary in Manasvi’s easy-to-read style, baking her disappointment into a sweet experience!
Manasvi is studying in 3rd grade and sooner going to be 4th grader. She is happy, curious, energetic go getter. In her free time, she likes to do painting, arts and crafts and reading lots of books. She enjoys cleaning and organizing her room, home, classwork and talking and playing with her friends. She loves writing her personal journal. Enjoys chocolates and binge watching.
My Trip to Kanha Wildlife Sanctuary
I was so excited that I think I didn’t sleep in the night. You know why? For the first time, I was travelling in an airplane with my 3 childhood buddies whom I am very close. We sat down next to each other and had a blast!! (I wasn’t irritating my mom for the first time and she was happy chatting with her friends too). The flight from Bangalore to Raipur was 2 hours long . After we got down, we had to travel another 4 hours in a car on the last seat having all 4 of us. We were squished but boys played Minecraft on the iPad and we girls played games like “I spy with little eye”. See, Company makes a difference.
We reached by evening and ran to our rooms. After having some refreshment, we started exploring new place. Next day we saw Open Copper Mines . We actually saw how they dig earth in layers, how do they explode the short portion of the place that geologist advised for good concentration of the ore. Also, we saw how the boulders (big stones having lots of copper) goes through concentration process. The mines people gave us the stones that had lots of copper on it. Really glad to see it where my Nana Ji worked. He explained us all the processes in detail.
Finally after 2 days, my wait to meet the tiger in Kanha, came to an end. Next morning, at 4:30 am, we were in the jeeps that were taking us for Safari. We reached Mukhi gate (entry place to the sanctuary) . They gave us the guide. We started looking all excited. On the way to the core forest, we saw Languor, lots of spotted dears, few Sambhar (tallest among deer family). All my family members clicked pictures, but since I didn’t have phone, I looked through my binoculars. The guide told us lot about the big Sal trees, how they keep the moisture intact in Jungle and keep the environment cold. He talked about the Ghost tree (as its bark is pure white and in night it looks like a ghost).
We saw Barah Singha (only found in Kanha and nowhere else in India). But so far no luck with any big cats. We saw pug marks, and also stopped in jeeps waiting to see the glimpse of tiger that was sitting very far in a small mountain. I was disappointed. But again, as soon as I met my friends at the jungle canteen, we explored the museums (largest in India) and ran around freely after got stuck in a jeep for 3 hrs. (you know what I felt it was a torture going in open jeep and cant talk. My brother didn’t allow me asking for a biscuit. Grr……I love talking, you know.)
After having snacks, we started but with less hope as the sun had come up and as per the guide, all the big cats either rest or go near the water bodies to cool their body (skin). Since it became hot, I too wanted to go back to the resort and chill out in the resort with my friends.
Next day, again with the same hope to see Tiger, we started early at 5:30 AM. Our guide told us that today we would either find a tiger or a leopard. As soon as we reached some hill, the guide got up from his seat and asked the driver to stop the jeep. We all got excited . I was sooo… happy!
He started hearing the noises that languor and deer’s were making. They were shouting and we too heard it. He explained that how the forest people trace big cats by learning these noises from languor, wild boars and many animals. They shout when big cats are around in order to tell their folks that there is danger. I was scared and also happy that my moment is coming. Unfortunately the noises came closer, as if the leopard will jump on to the road where we were standing. But, after hunting, it went inside the jungle. I still had hopes as we just started the 5 hour jeep safari. But our luck didn’t favor us that day too. My friends saw the tiger clearly but we didn’t see any. We all were disappointed, but are hopeful that there is always next time. Next day we flew back to Bangalore.
This is how our trip came to an end.
By Manasvi Sharma
Nice little story from nice little girl. For a third grader her expressions are good. At her age I couldn’t even talk freely!
Thank you so much for the kind words, to motivate Manasvi to keep writing. She was very happy to see the first comment for her writing. Thank you.
Thank you sir for your kind words. Manasvi is thrilled and is motivated to write more. Thank you.