Safari lodges
at Tadoba

Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve covers 622.87 square kilometres of Chandrapur district in eastern Maharashtra, in teak and bamboo forest around Tadoba lake and the Andhari river. Safaris are made in four zones: Navegaon, Moharli, Kolara, and Pangdi and Zari. The reserve counts six core gates and sixteen buffer gates, though its own zone listing names seventeen on the buffer side.

Which gate you book matters here more than at most reserves, because at Tadoba the price is set gate by gate.

The gates, and who sits by them

The six core gates are Moharli and Khutwanda in the Moharli zone, Kolara in the Kolara zone, Navegaon in the Navegaon zone, and Pangdi and Zari in the Pangdi and Zari zone.

Buffer gates sit around each of them. Moharli has Agarzari, Adegaon, Dewada and Junona. Kolara has Kolara Chauradeo, Madnapur, Belara, Alizanza, Shirkada and Palasgaon. Navegaon has Navegaon Ramdegi and Nimdela. Pangdi and Zari have Pangdi Aswal Chuha, Keslaghat, Zari Peth, Mamla and Somnath.

Irai Safari Retreat is minutes from the Moharli gate, beside the tribal village of Bhamdeli and about a hundred metres from Irai lake. It runs drives into the Moharli, Kolara and Navegaon zones with its own naturalists, and holds TOFT certification for responsible tourism.

WelcomHeritage Tadoba Vanya Villas has 34 rooms in forest on the edge of the reserve, eight of them tents running to 1,200 square feet, with two restaurants, a bar, a pool and a spa for the hours between drives. Ask which gate your drives are booked at before you commit.

What a safari costs, broken down

Tadoba publishes its charges and they work differently from most Indian reserves. The guide fee is Rs 700 and the gypsy fee Rs 3,300, both fixed. Only the entry fee moves, and it moves with the day of the week and with how far ahead you book.

For a core gate booked inside 59 days, entry is Rs 1,800 Monday to Friday and Rs 2,800 on a Saturday or Sunday. That totals Rs 5,800 and Rs 6,800 for the whole gypsy.

Book the same drive 60 to 120 days ahead and entry rises to Rs 4,800 on a weekday and Rs 8,800 at the weekend, for totals of Rs 8,800 and Rs 12,800. Booking early at Tadoba costs more, not less.

Buffer gates hold one price across the whole 120 day window. Entry is Rs 2,300 on a weekday and Rs 3,300 at the weekend, with the same Rs 700 guide and a Rs 3,000 vehicle fee, so Rs 6,000 and Rs 7,000. A weekday buffer drive therefore costs more than a weekday core drive booked late.

Cameras are charged Rs 250 on the spot, at every gate.

A drive arranged by a lodge costs more than the government charge, and at Tadoba it varies by gate more than anywhere else we sell. Our own rate cards here carry twelve separately priced gates, from Rs 8,200 a vehicle for a buffer drive on the Kolara side to Rs 14,300 for a core drive in the Pangdi zone. Most of the buffer gates fall between Rs 9,500 and Rs 11,500. A core drive at Navegaon is around Rs 13,800. A lodge naturalist riding with you, alongside the forest guide the rules require, adds about Rs 2,000 a vehicle.

A Tadoba safari is not one price. It is twelve, and roughly Rs 6,000 a drive separates the cheapest gate from the dearest.

Full day permits, which Tadoba really does sell

Most tiger reserves sell you a morning or an evening. Tadoba sells a whole day.

A full day in the buffer is Rs 50,000 for Indian visitors and Rs 70,000 for foreign visitors, made up of the entry fee, a Rs 2,100 guide and a Rs 9,000 vehicle. Six people may ride, not counting the guide and the driver.

Full day photography in the core carries the same headline figures of Rs 50,000 and Rs 70,000, with a Rs 9,900 gypsy fee. Only four people may ride. Only three gypsies a day are let into the core on this permit, and you have to apply to the reserve holding a confirmed morning or evening online booking for the same gate.

The rules that catch people out

The core closes on Tuesday. The buffer closes on Wednesday. Two different off days at one reserve, so a short trip can lose a drive at either end if nobody checked.

Last entry is two hours from the scheduled safari time.

Normal bookings open at midnight IST, 120 days before the date of entry. A tatkal window for core gates opens at 08:00 IST three days before.

Only vehicles registered with the reserve may go in. Private cars are banned outright.

The permit is for the whole gypsy. There is a per seat option, a nine seater cruiser at Rs 700 a seat, but it runs only at Moharli and Kolara core gates, it is sold offline, and it is restricted to residents of Chandrapur district.

Children under eight go in free and need not be named on the booking, to a maximum of two per gypsy.

Using a mobile phone inside the reserve is a fineable offence and the fine is Rs 5,000. Alcohol and non-vegetarian food may not be carried in. Original photo ID is checked at the gate and photocopies are refused. Foreign visitors may use a passport and nothing else.

When it is open, and at what hour

The reserve's timing table runs the core from 1 October to 30 June and has no row at all for July, August and September. The buffer table does have one. The core shuts for the monsoon and the buffer works the year round.

Core timings: 1 to 31 October, in at 06:00 and out by 10:00, afternoon 14:30 to 18:30. November to February, 06:30 to 10:30 and 14:00 to 18:00. March and April, 06:00 to 10:00 and 14:30 to 18:30. May and June, 05:30 to 09:30 and 15:00 to 19:00.

Buffer gates keep the same mornings and evenings and add a midday round, which in most months starts at 10:30.

Getting there

Nagpur is the closest airport. Nagpur, Chandrapur and Wardha are the closest railway stations, and the Samruddhi Mahamarg carries most of the road traffic in. The reserve publishes no gate by gate distances, so confirm the drive from your station with the lodge before you book a train. Either way, the day you arrive is a travelling day and not a safari day.