Dear Neeraj and Arti,

Thank you for such a wonderful welcome to your home at Bagh Sari. We had an excellent holiday in Bandhvgarh and could not have wished for better place to stay while we enjoyed our tigers. It was so good to stay in the edge of the forest and see jackals, chinkara and many beautiful birds with in the resort itself. We will always remember your wonder hospitality, delicious food from your own gardens and the suberb, ever-attentive sevice from your 'tiger team '.

Bandhvgarh exceeded all of our expectations and we were so excited to see nine different tigers over our eight days, with many repeat viewings of these marvellous animals. the elephants were a joy and the resevre and the camp. Please convey our thanks and best regards to jannu, who we thought was a master mahout. We have some of our most memorable photographs as a result of his special skills.

After our exciting game drives, We looks forward to warm welcome back to Bagh Sarai, Where we relaxed with a cold beer and re-lived the adventures of the day. It was so enjoyable to share our mutual love of tigers & elephants. Ous days were completed with a superb dinner surrounded by sounds of forest.

We would like to extend our thanks & best wishes to our excellent team;Tashi & Ali for the delicious food, and chultim, jaiswal and Soren for looking after us so well throughtout our stay. Special thanks also to Rishi for being such as excellent guide .

Thanks to you once again neeraj and Arti, for being wonderful host and making our stay at Bagh Sarai so enjoyable. We look forward to seening you again and wish you good luck with all your plans for the resort. We hope you have a full Ganesh blessing to guide you through the mansoon. It would be great to see you in the U.K., So please let us know if you are coming over and we can break out the Roger Uncle Mother!

kindest regards

Rosemary and Dave Roach

Bill Gilmour
14/14 East Pilton Rarm Rigg
Edinburgh
EH5 2GE
February 11, 2007

Neeraj Pathania
Bagh Sarai, Bandhavgarh
Umaria, Madhya Pradesh

Dear Neeraj,
It was an honour and a pleasure to be your first guest at Bagh Sarai.

During the seven days I was in Bandhavgarh in 2007, I saw fifteen tigers and some of those two or three times. I had about twenty-two sightings. That is about average for my five visits to Bandhavgarh. However, averages can be misleading; on two days in my eight, I did not see a tiger, this year the most I saw in one day was five; a female with two cubs and two mature males.

Sightings were sometimes too brief or were too distant to photograph. Rather than sending what I think are my best images, I have enclosed one picture of each of the eleven tiger I managed to photograph. The best that can be said for the photograph of the Raharaha female is that the tree beyond her is in focus. Both she and the Raj Behra male are rarely seen so that with them it is a game of catch as catch can. According to the camera timer, he was in view for 17 seconds. In essence that is the case for the defence.

The names used for the Tigers are those the Naturalists in Bandhavgarh employ. As I understand it, the males Charger and Challenger were known from an event in their life. B1, B2 and B3 were called after their mother Batchji. While Raj Behra is called for the district he occupies. Similarly, most females are all known by the area they hunt, although occasionally like Batchji and Mohini, they earn a term of endearment. There are a good number of young tigers and even mature breeding females; such as the one resident between Bagh Sarai and the Gore Gate, that have not been named.

I use a Kodak DCS Pro SLR with Canon lenses; these photographs were all with my 100 to 400 mm zoom lens. Digital cameras record a great deal of information, some of which I have extracted and give here. Personally, I let the camera expose the image, while I trying to focus, frame and fire.

Bandhavgarh is may be the best place in India to see tigers but the other mammals, birds and the park itself are always a joy.

Best regards
Bill Gilmour©
PS. Can I have the same room next year?