There were a couple of marriages to attend, one in Uttarakhand and the other one in Kolkata. Uttarakhand one was on 03rd February-25 and the Kolkata one was on 03rd March-25. The logical mind would say, take a flight to both the locations as one is in north India, the other in East India and I live in south India, alas that’s not the case with me. I saw it as a wonderful opportunity for a long drive.
In 2023, I already did the Hyderabad to Dhanachuli (Uttarakhand) trip so the route wasn’t new for me.
Click here for my first Trip Report from Hyderabad to Lucknow in 2023
However this time, situations were a little different than they were a couple of years ago. I wasn’t alone this time around, my mom was joining me on this whole trip. Secondly, because of the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, I cannot take the same route that I took last time, via Jabalpur. I had to find an alternative route. Moreover, I cannot just take one night halt between Hyderabad and Lucknow, since mom was with me, I had to take 2 night halts. Last time I took a halt in Jabalpur. So I started contemplating, looking at the possible options in google map, and the idea just stuck me like a flash. “Why not do jungle safaris on the way, that way we won’t feel the long drive like a job, it will be more like a vacation”. And that’s how the plan got conceived.
Day 2, after breakfast, we will drive from Pench to Panna National Park. Stay at Taj Safaris in Panna for 2 nights.
Day 3, take morning and evening safari in Panna
Day 4, after breakfast, drive from Panna to Lucknow.
Day 5, take rest in Lucknow
Day 6, drive from Lucknow to Dhanachuli and stay there for 15 days.
Got all the bookings done for both Pench and Panna, luckily managed to get the rooms and the safaris as per my liking, even though I booked it only a month in advance. Taj safaris have only 12 cottages in their property, so booking is usually not that easy. I guess I was lucky to get these bookings on time. Taj helps you book the safari from their end, so we don’t need to worry about that part, and they always manage it perfectly. I never had any complains, whatso ever.
The drive from Hyderabad to Pench was almost uneventful, until we crossed Nagpur. There was a terrible accident on the National highway and the entire highway was blocked with traffic for more than a stretch of 5 km. We had to reach Pench before lunch so that we could finish our lunch and leave for the safari. It was constantly playing in my mind, that any delay on the highway will make me miss the safari drive that afternoon. So, I started referring the map of north Nagpur and tried to figure out an alternate route that could take me past that traffic jam. Finally managed to drive through the outskirt villages of North Nagpur and got a chance to skip and go ahead of that blockade. It took me an additional 45 minutes I guess, but it was much better than getting stuck in that traffic for who knows how many hours, and end up missing the safari that afternoon.
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| Total trip summary from Hyderabad to Dhanachuli |
Total Distance covered: 1755 km
Total driving time: 30 hours 35 minutes
Average Fuel Economy: 13.5 km/l
Top Speed: Never crossed 100 km/h
Car: Audi A4 Petrol
Total Toll: Rs. 1,960
Left Hyderabad: 5-15 am
Reached Taj Pench: 2-15 pm
Total driving time: 9 hours (It could have easily been 8 hours if we didn’t face that unfortunate traffic problem on the highway)
Had our lunch at the resort
Went for afternoon safari
Total Toll: Rs. 740
Drive from Taj Pench to Taj Panna.
Started from Pench at 08-45 am (after breakfast at the hotel)
Reached Panna at 3-15 pm
Total driving time: 6 hours 30 minutes
Total distance: 410 km
Total Toll: Rs. 540
Click here for the Panna Trip Report
The drive was quite uneventful, which I would say is best when going out on Indian roads. These days I really consider myself lucky if my car goes through the entire stretch of the drive without a single scratch. Not to mention, never ever I got a scratch in my car because of my fault, it was always some other idiot on the road that caused it. Luckily on this occasion, I managed to complete the drive unscathed. The MP roads in general are quite decent. This time when I was driving on the Nagpur Katni stretch, I noticed a lot of traffic than what it was last year, primarily because of Mahakumbh. That road from katni goes all the way up straight to Prayagraj. I was to an extent relieved that I had to take a right turn from Katni. The road from Katni to Panna has deteriorated in condition since last year, but I won't say it's the worst I have seen. There are stretches which are good and some which are really bad, but then the good part was that traffic was minimal.
We reached Panna around 3-30 and had a late lunch. We got a wonderful cottage (no. 12). It was the last one in the resort and I liked that we had to walk through that serene forest to reach there. Adds to the beautiful experience. They always provide you security escort to walk to-and-fro but then there is something about walking in the midst of the forest, that gives me such a great joy, which I am incapable of expressing in words.
We just relaxed that day, knowing that tomorrow we would be having a wonderful whole day safari sessions, both in the morning as well as in the evening.
DAY 3: Can there be a better safari day?
Click here for the Panna Trip Report
I had been asking myself a question quite often. Will I ever be able to click a good photo of a leopard. These days tiger sighting has become so easy in the safaris, that they are no more a craze for people to go to a forest. It is like almost certain, that you will end up getting a tiger sighting for sure. But you cannot say that for a leopard. They are far more elusive, very difficult to spot, and equally vary of tourists. Unlike the tiger, who is mostly not bothered.
I cannot thank my luck enough that I got such a wonderful sighting of a leopard this time around. It wasn't just a fleeting sight, It was there for a whole 10 minutes show and it even came out of the bushes on the open road. I got such nice shots that Karun (who was our naturalist from Taj) even mentioned that it was maybe because of the mirrorless camera that I was using. I won't deny that completely. Mirrorless has really revolutionized photography as we knew it. Along with my luck, I cannot thank enough my gear of Canon R5 with a combo of the Canon 400 f/4 prime. A lot of people use zoom lenses, but the fun that I have with prime is something incomparable. The image quality, the fast autofocus and that aperture of f/4, it's hard to beat that combo. And all of this, if you put into a body like R5, well... that's the best at that weight. anything bigger than 400 is also too bulky, not this one though.
Drive from Panna to Lucknow
Started from Panna after breakfast at the hotel around 9 AM
Reached Lucknow 4-30 PM
Total driving time: 7 hours 30 minutes
Total distance: 337 km
Total Toll: Rs. 310
This was the first time I was driving on this route and even though I did whatever research I could, I never believed that the road condition would be so bad that a mere 310 km would end up taking 7.5 hours of driving. However, after I did this trip, I got to understand a better route, which is longer than usual but definitely faster and almost all through the expressway, first the buldelkhad expressway and then the agra-lucknow expressway. Through this new route, the total distance will increase from 310 to 550 km, that’s a significant increase, but you have to remember that out of the 550 km, 450 will be on the expressway. So technically we will be doing 450 km in 4.5 hours and the remaining 100 km in maybe 2 hours. Making the total driving time to be around 6.5 hours. Now, that’s a significant decrease in the driving time, not to mention the driving fatigue will also be less as it will be mostly expressway. So, I would suggest all to take this route, if of course you are not bothered about the extra money that you spend on the petrol and the toll charges on the expressway. If one is not concerned about the money, I suggest this is th best route between Lucknow and Panna. I sure will be taking this route next time I make this trip again.
Took rest in Lucknow
DAY 6:
Drive from Lucknow to Dhanachuli
Started from Lucknow around 6 AM
Reached Dhanachuli: 1-45 PM
Total driving distance: 406 km onward and 406 km return (To-and-fro Lucknow)
Total time: 7 hours 45 minutes onwards and about 8 hours return
Average fuel economy: 13.5 kmpl
Car: Audi A4 Petrol
Passengers: 2 adults
Luggage: Full boot
Place of stay: Rituraj Homestay (https://goo.gl/maps/WNsLH41g5BW3HpPV7)
Route: via Bareily (not via Lakhimpur - Pilibhit)
Total Toll: Rs. 370
This was my first experience of driving in complete zero visibility fog. The winters in norther India are very harsh and the Gangetic plains are painfully famous for foggy morning. There are numerous videos that start circulating about various accident pileups that happen on the highways because of fog. When we started from Lucknow, I was almost certain we would encounter that situation. The first 150 km was completely covered with fog. Luckily I was driving the Audi, that had rear fog lamps and front all weather lights. I switched on the all weather lights and the rear fog lamps and I was hoping nobody else makes a mistake of coming and hitting me. The visibility was nil, everything was blocked out by the fog, all that I could see was the white paint on the roads. I used that as a marker and steered myself in the right most lane and sticked to that lane all through. The maximum speed that I could manage was about 30 km/hr but I was less concerned about the delay, and more about the traffic on the highway. Even though I had full control on my car, but in India that is not the case with other people. They come and rear end your car, and behave as if it was my mistake. I have see and faced numerous such instances in my driving career, and now I just walk away thinking I had bad luck that it happened to me. I swallow that bitter pill and look forward to another day. I consider it as a tax to have a hobby of driving long distances in this country. At last we reached Dhanachuli safe and sound, in 7 hours and 45 minutes, which could have been easily 7 hours if there was no fog.
