Bandhavgarh in dec

With my twenty years of experience in visiting national parks, one thing i knew for sure was " Never visit the national parks during season holidays". If you really want to enjoy wildlife you ll have to visit the parks when there in minimum traffic. I have been going to Bandhavgarh since i was 2 years old and based on that i can tell you folks, don't go to Bandhavgarh in the dec. There is a maddening rush in the park. Even when the vehicles have been restricted to 45 or 50, the traffic is so heavy that it is rather tourist in park as wildlife than the wildlife itself.
This Dec i had to went to Bgarh with some guest of mine. As this was their only holiday slot i had to adjust.They had come to achanakmar for two days initially and then we went to bandhavgarh but even before boarding the train i had given them a clear picture of the park and what to expect in that period. Oh my GOD..... all of my predictions went crashing through the woods. During their eight rides in the park they saw 7 different tigers, A family of three bears and barking deers, sambhars..... at large. At times they saw 3 tigers together and rest two at a time minimum.
One major learning experience for me- For the first time in my life i saw tigers mating. On the 24th morning while we were returning from center point we got the news of elephant show in the chorbehra area. as i reached the scene as usual i asked the mahout if its worth taking a picture. He told me that there are two tigers, a male and a female. I boarded on a small elephant with one of my photographer friend. She was a two seater. As i reached the spot i saw both of them sitting apart in a dense bamboo patch. they were not visible clearly so i asked the mahout to make some clearings. The elephant broke down some twigs so that we could see clearly. With us there was a male elephant which had four tourists on him. After a while suddenly the female started moving. She went past the male and started making some low growls immediately the male stood up and the female took her position. As soon as the mating started the female gave a terrific growl(moan). The sound was so immense that i felt as if it went through my veins. My heart definitely missed a beat and surprisingly the same happened with my elephant and instantly she started trumpeting and running here and there. she even tried to jerk us off from our seats. Both the elephants started trumpeting lowd because of which the male tiger gave a full throat ed roar. Our elephant started running without any direction sense. Even the mahout was not able to control her. Finally she stopped after a kilometer or so.
The nightmare ended. Lesson learned: Never disturb the tigers while they are busy with their tigresses.