Gaurav came to make sure that everything was okay. Our driver was Ajit, the same person who received us at the airport last night.
The drive was smooth but crowded urban roads for the first half of the trip, it then changed into scenic view but the roads were in need of repair. After we crossed the border and entered Uttarkhand ( a state created in the recent past), from UP, the roads really deteriorated and driving was slow. We started worrying about if we will be in time for the afternoon safari.
We reached the Riverview Resort around 12:45 PM, and was informed that we were in plenty of time for a quick lunch followed by the safari.
The resort faces the Kosi river and the view from the restaurant was beautiful, but unfortunately none of the cottages or rooms were river facing. The number of resorts at Corbett is mind boggling, ours was half way up the hill and in a good location.
The lunch was excellent and I have to admit even better tasting than the meals at Svasara.
After lunch we met up with Harish, who was our driver and guide for all our 5 safaris.
We picked up forest guide Kehm, who turned out to be a smart aleck with very little knowledge of the forest. This was pretty disappointing since all our forest guides so far have been good to excellent.
We entered through the Amnanda gate, this is one of 4 gates to Corbett, this takes us into the Bijrani area of the reserve. This is a beautiful forest with Garjia river running through it. We crossed this river a few times in our Gypsy. The drive was beautiful but the forest appears to be devoid of animals and birds.
All of a sudden another gypsy came speeding by and told our driver that there was an injured male elephant coming in this direction and might charge. Apparently it was a teenage elephant who thought he could take on the ruling male and was mad when he got beaten up.
We decided to get off the main road and let the elephant go past, it so happened that the elephant decided to turn into the side road behind us and started to make threatening gestures. The driver took off faster than a Formula One driver, and we hid in a nook and watched the elephant walk past, taking his frustration out on anything he found in his path.
We left in time, it was about a half an hour drive and was quite chilly with the evening in an open gypsy
We were offered tea/coffee and that was delivered to our room, free of charge. We were in room no 221, it was quite large complete with a sitting/dinning room and a large verandah.
We freshened up and made it down to the river, a picturesque and tranquil scenery and eventually went in to the restaurant.
The food was buffet style and excellent. The quality of food and the variety is superb and the desserts fabulous.
Retired for the night and slept well.
Location:Riverview Resort
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