Honda Drive To Discover 7: Nagpur To Khajuraho

The Tiger – a symbol of pride, a fierce predator, a national icon and an animal in serious need of conservation. Nope, this isn’t a public service announcement, nor is it a wildlife report, but through Honda’s ‘Drive to Discover’, I managed to complete my quest of finally meeting this fabled beast in all its fearsome glory. Showing off? You bet! Here’s the interesting stuff.

The event that played host to my tiger encounter was Honda’s seventh edition of the Drive to Discover series. The itinerary set for us auto journos, included touring through two states, a couple of jungle safaris, and nearly 900km of driving in a range of Honda cars – yes, this counts as work! It started from Nagpur, Maharashtra, and concluded at Khajuraho, MP, while covering Pench, Kanha, Bandhavgarh, and Panna National Parks. While previous editions of the D2D only had a select few cars from Honda’s model line-up, this time, it was more like an “if we sell it, you will drive it” kind of deal, with the Accord Hybrid featuring in the cavalcade too.

For me, the drive started with the Jazz petrol – a zippy, comfy hatchback with enough space to put sedans to shame. Exactly what you need when there’s multiple days of driving involved. The first leg of the journey was from Nagpur to Pench, a distance of approximately 170km. Not a daunting distance to cover and getting out of Nagpur was a breeze, but as we approached the MP border, the roads deteriorated and how. Let’s just say if humans ever want to live on the moon, this is a lovely training ground! This reaffirmed my belief of what they say about the roads of ‘Hindustan ka dil’, but fortunately, the Jazz’s great ride quality offered some much-needed relief. That said, I was absolutely astonished by some of the patches featuring amazing tarmac, but more on that later.

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Our Pench National Park safari was scheduled in the evening and here’s where things get juicy. As we started from our resort, which was around three kilometres away from the park’s entrance, I was skeptical of a tiger spotting. There were two reasons for this: firstly, evening safaris are of a relatively shorter duration; and second, was my past experience of the Ranthambore National Park.

However, while traversing through the park, spotting various species of deer along with langurs and birds, a large group of Gypsys (the car, not the nomadic ethnic group) was rushing towards us as if we were on a war field. It was because of the tiger call as the rest of the animals in the jungle warn others of its wrath. We all headed that way. At the time, all other thoughts were laid to rest as my eyes were desperately searching for the wild cat. Then, finally, the guide hastily said: “wo ped ke piche dekho!” And, voilà, there she was, coming out through the trees in the most intimidating way ever, and the first sight of this majestic creature captivated me in a manner I can’t describe. 

It was a tigress, named C21. There was utter silence, except for the endless clicks of the cameras. That’s something worth mentioning if it is happening for the first time. What happened afterwards will be remembered as a moment to cherish forever – we managed to witness C21 mark her territory by pouncing on a tree and leaving deep claw marks. A rare sight! 

A day well spent, we all came back gloating. Moreover, to our amusement, since us car guys always find ways to relate things to automobiles (sometimes to the annoyance of those around us), there’s a tiger named ‘BMW’ in Pench!

The following morning, we headed for our next destination – Bandhavgarh, with my hands firmly behind the wheel of the Amaze petrol. We stopped at an isolated location near Kanha National Park for lunch. At roughly around 500 kilometres, this was the longest stretch of our trip, and while long-distance is diesel territory, the 1.2-litre i-VTEC is great fun - something I learnt on a patch of road from Mandla to Bandhavgarh (post Kanha) that is proper supercar stuff! Even though the rest of the roads from Pench to Bandhavgarh were kind of a mixed bag, this stretch had buttery smooth mountain roads with plenty of twists and turns; the perfect setting to push a rev-happy engine! We reached Bandhavgarh late in the evening, and spotted a few animals on our way to the resort as we had to traverse through the forest there. I must mention that on this stretch, the new automatic climate control unit in the Amaze facelift comes really handy when the temperature plummets drastically over the course of the route.

Unlike Pench, our safari at Bandhavgarh was a lengthy one and started at 5:30am. We were happy! It was absolutely dead cold (around 3-4 degrees) and if it weren’t for the provided blankets, this report would’ve been worded by a Popsicle! As the sun began to rise, it was a ray of hope! Locals say that it is one of the most beautiful jungles in the state. Don’t take their or my word for it, just look at the pictures! Sadly, we didn’t spot any tiger that day in Bandhavgarh, but that doesn't matter as our desire was satiated at Pench. Lucky us!

The next morning, it was time to head for our last destination, Khajuraho, in a red pocket rocket – the Honda Brio AT! Khajuraho is a city famous for its temples, which are among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India. Since, it isn’t very far away from Bandhavgarh, the weather was similar. We reached Khajuraho just in time for the light and sound show, which begins at 7:30pm, and explains the glorious era of the Chandela dynasty. The temples were built between 950 and 1050 AD and depict the social life of the Chandela dynasty, where women were on par with men, something which India still has to learn. They also have their famous erotic sculptures, depicting things which are still a taboo in the country. Besides this, their architecture was way ahead of their time. On a similar context, when Honda introduced the Brio automatic, it was ahead of its time as none of its competitors were offering a five-speed unit. After travelling for four days, the Brio automatic kept my left foot relaxed all the way to Khajuraho. Sure, the shifts are not as smooth and sporty as Honda’s CVT, but it works perfectly well nonetheless.

For the most part of this memorable trip, I drove the refreshed Amaze and the Brio, but rode in almost all the cars. The mid-cycle update brought some much-required additions to Honda’s entry-level duo, while retaining the good bits such as the powerful powertrain options. They proved their mettle as comfortable cruisers at triple digit speeds with enough feedback from the steering to keep things engaging when the roads permitted. While I didn’t drive the BR-V, it’s quite the mile muncher and while the cabin space is remarkable, it’s the 200mm of ground clearance that came in handy on more than a few occasions. As for me, to state the obvious, it was a brilliant way to start a year. It began by accomplishing a lifelong dream of spotting a tiger, and with great cars and great people to drive with, turned into a journey of pure and thrilling discovery.