While planning the trip, I was hoping to do five safaris to get two sightings. While we could only go for three Safaris, all in the buffer zone, we were lucky enough to get three sightings. I tried to extend my luck to see if we could get any more Safaris which did not happen.
Instead of stretching the plan or waiting uncertainly, we decided to move on. That is how Nagpur happened.
The drive from Tadoba to Nagpur felt like a gradual re-entry into normal life. Forest tracks gave way to highways. Silence gave way to traffic. We stopped for a relaxed meal at Haldiram’s, more out of familiarity than adventure, and continued into the city.
Nagpur is often described simply as the Orange City. For us, it was a pause between wilderness and routine.
We checked into Hotel Centre Point, centrally located and comfortable enough for a short stay. After days of early mornings and dusty drives, an urban hotel corridor feels surprisingly bright and structured.
That evening, we visited Deekshabhoomi, the Buddhist monument associated with B. R. Ambedkar. The scale of the structure, and the quiet discipline with which visitors moved through the space, created a different kind of stillness from the forest—more deliberate, more reflective.
We also stopped at the Zero Mile Stone, a small but symbolic marker that denotes the geographical centre of India. After spending days measuring distance in forest tracks and tiger trails, it felt appropriate to stand at a point that once defined the country’s mapping. We went for dinner at FSB. The food was good.
There were, of course, small reminders that travel never unfolds perfectly.
A three member group travelling back to Chennai realised that the online platform (avoiding the name here) they had used for booking the tickets for their flight from Nagpur to Chennai had cancelled their tickets erroneously. The scramble to book alternate tickets at short notice was both stressful and expensive.
I booked an early morning flight for the chennai group. On reaching the airport, my son realised he had left his wallet behind at FSB after dinner. For a brief moment, that felt more unsettling than any forest encounter. I contacted the restaurant immediately, and to their credit, they were prompt and reassuring. Even before the official opening hours of the restaurant, they coordinated access so we could retrieve it. That simple act of cooperation will stay with me for a long time.
Myself and my wife had more time in Nagpur as our flight was in the late evening. We went to a mall, watched the new Avatar movie and drove down to the airport.
Our return flight to Hyderabad was uneventful. By then, the Safaris had settled into memory—the tiger at twenty feet, the alarm calls in Zarri Peth, the long waits that suddenly felt meaningful.
I realized after the trip that not everything spectacular unfolds with a spectacle. Some just need perspective.
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