Marchula, Jim Corbet Park Utter Pradesh

When my Brother in Law suggested that our first destination on a three-day trip should be to the Le Tigre resort in Marchula near the Jim Corbet Park I was a little skeptical about the prudence of visiting a little-known resort. My family and I left Gurgaon and stayed overnight at my Brother in Law's place in Ghaziabad one day before. We left for Marchula from Ghaziabad on the 8th of June at 6:30 in the morning. Marchula close to the Jim Corbet Park is one of the farthest resort in the region while traveling from Delhi.The resort is 325 kilometers from Delhi and the driving time would vary from 7.5 hours to eight hours depending on the traffic condition. The toll roads and by-passes make the journey relatively easy. The Hapur bypass and the Moradabad bypass offer roads that allow you to speed up while driving. 

Nestling at the base of the Uttarakhand mountains, Marchula can be a bit warm during the day time. The Le Tigre Resort, however, turned out to be better than expected. The suites housing two bedrooms with attached washrooms a living area and a pantry happen to be air-conditioned. Moreover, we were more interested in diving into the swimming pool once we reached the resort and completed formalities by about 12;30 p.m.

Meals were served in the dining hall area, and the food was simply amazing. While we spent a couple of hours splashing and swimming in the pool, we spent the evening trekking a short distance to the Ram Ganga river, where, the sole of my floater came off. The evening before and after dinner was spent listening to music and dancing. If you were to ask me whether or not I had spotted tigers, the answer would be and emphatic, 'No!' Yes, I did come across what I would term outsized chameleons that reminded me of ancient dinosaurs, and birds including parrots that were gorging themselves on mangoes. A flycatcher was actively gobbling up insects, and the two dogs at the resort followed us everywhere!

The only bad thing about the Le Tigre Resort at Marchula was the poor mobile signal. There was no WiFi and no data services, which is a way suits people who want a breather from the constantly connected culture in the cities. Since we had planned to stay for only one day, we did not really explore all the facilities provided by the resort such as the pool table, badminton, and cricket.

Last but not least, there is something about Marchula that makes it mystical! One wonders if this was the very moon that Jim Corbet used to see on his lonely late night vigils for Maneaters!