Hurry up and Wait!
Things didn’t exactly go according to plan…
How long do you think you could go without the things that are most important to you? I’ve just come back from spending three weeks at Paatli Fort Estate Resort in the far north of India, where there was no Western food on the menu, no pretty girls in sight, and I had to wait 10 days for a photography permit! In the end, I only saw two tigers for a total of about 10 seconds—and I didn’t manage to take any decent photos…
Getting There
It’s not often that I can add a new airport to my ‘life list’, but this was the first time I’d ever flown to Pantnagar. Starting from Putney, I took a taxi to Heathrow, then flew overnight with Air India to Delhi before boarding a turboprop to Pantnagar (see above). Finally, I had a three-hour drive to Paatli, where I arrived 20 hours and 15 minutes after leaving home!
I know it sounds like a marathon every time I describe my long-haul journeys to the far-flung corners of the Earth, but I’ve got used to it by now. In fact, everything went pretty smoothly on this occasion. Both my flights were delayed, the first by 40 minutes and the second by 20 minutes, but we made up most of that time in the air, so I was only 20 minutes late landing in Delhi and only a minute late landing in Pantnagar. The dodgiest part of the journey was the final ascent to Paatli, which had hairpins so tight the driver had to make three-point turns on the edge of a cliff!
My strategy for stress-free travel is to pack as lightly as possible to avoid having to check a bag, listen to as many podcasts as I can to pass the time and try to sleep on the overnight leg. In addition, the Air India flight had free Wi-Fi, which was a nice bonus.
There’s always the risk that something will go wrong, of course, and the check-in staff almost forced me to put my camera bag in the hold when they weighed it and saw it was 15kg, which was more than twice the 7kg limit! However, they backed down when I told them it was expensive and fragile camera equipment. Phew…!
The Resort
Paatli Fort Estate Resort is in the village of Paatli in the Kumaon Hills near the Sitabani Forest, around 25 miles (40 kilometres) from Ramnagar and the main gates to Jim Corbett National Park.
In the good old days of the British Empire (!), the colonial staff and their families used to drive up to the hills in summer to avoid the baking heat. Paatli was only built in 2024, but it serves a similar purpose to the old hilltop outposts. It lies at an altitude of around 5,000 feet, and it’s always cool in the mornings before the heat of the sun starts to build up around midday.
The weather was pretty much perfect while I was there, and I didn’t see a single cloud in the sky! Unfortunately, that meant that the sunrises and sunsets weren’t as spectacular as they might have been. I seem to remember it was the same at the Taj Mahal. In India, the sky tends to turn from black to blue without passing either orange, pink or gold on the way! Shame…
The owner of the resort was a Mr Shiv Sharma, and he’d first come across me through my Wildlife Photographers Facebook group. After taking a look at my work, he was kind enough to invite me to stay for free at Paatli in exchange for copies of my pictures.
Despite the language barrier and a few delays, I eventually managed to book a three-week stay from 13 February to 6 March. I was originally only going to stay for two weeks, but Mr Sharma said if I extended my visit, I’d be able to celebrate Holi, so that’s what I did.
Paatli had a reception area, dining room and 16 guest rooms. The restaurant served Indian, local Kumaoni and "home-cooked" style meals, including options for halal and vegetarian diets. In fact, I didn’t eat any meat the whole time I was there!
There was a large recreation area by the swimming pool, which was still under construction, and I ended up playing cricket a couple of times with the owner’s son, Varun, and a couple of young boys. They’re very passionate about cricket in India, and I watched India v Pakistan in the T20 World Cup with the owner and his wife while I was there. In addition, the men and boys seemed to spend the major part of Holi playing cricket!
My Room
I was given Room 02, which opened on to the main terrace. There was a great view out over the hills, and all I had to do to enjoy was step out of my front door! I could even sit on one of the swing seats—although the nearest one faced the wrong way for some reason…
My room was spacious, clean and functional. The twin beds had been pushed together to make a double, and there were light switches and power outlets above the bedside tables on either side. That was very convenient, and I was lucky that one of my power adapters worked. If it hadn’t, I’d have been in serious trouble!
The bathroom had a sink, mirror, toilet and shower, which was all I needed. However, it didn’t have a towel rail by the sink, and you had to turn on a switch to guarantee the hot water—which I obviously forgot to do the first time!
The essentials for me are always power and Wi-Fi. I had both at Paatli, but the Wi-Fi wasn’t particularly fast, and there were frequent interruptions. I had a power cut at least once a day, and the Wi-Fi occasionally went down, too. This wasn’t too much of a problem, but it did get a bit frustrating when I was trying to do my daily social media blast in the morning!
There were a few other issues. There was no heating in the room, and it was usually so cold that I had to wear three or four layers of clothing to keep warm—and even hide under the covers! In addition, the staff didn’t bother to clean the bathroom, empty the bins or change the sheets the whole time I was there. Even when I asked someone to clean my room, all he did was sweep the floor!
Daily Routine
When I go on safari, the daily routine is usually fairly predictable. I go on morning and evening game drives, and everything else fits in around those activities. At Paatli, I spent the first 10 days waiting for my photography permit, so I couldn’t do anything except eat, sleep, teach online and watch movies on my laptop!
Bush Walk
The only time I was allowed to leave the hotel was when I was invited to go on a bush walk. We stopped for a lassi at a cottage where one of the staff lived and then plunged into the jungle. We saw one or two birds and heard a deer at one point, but I didn’t get a chance to take any decent pictures.
As time went on, the path got narrower and trickier. I was wearing deck shoes rather than proper hiking boots, so I eventually had to turn back. It was pretty stressful trying to keep my balance on narrow, rocky paths with a sheer drop on one side, and I didn’t want to end up spraining my ankle—let alone breaking a leg!
Photo Shoot
One evening, Mr Sharma asked me to take a few pictures of him and his wife. It was nice to be able to use my camera for a change, so I went out and took a few ‘romantic’ portraits as the sun set. Aww, how sweet…!
Game Drives
When I finally received my permit, I tried to book game drives in the core area of Jim Corbett National Park, where tiger sightings were most likely, but there was a three-day advance booking period, so I had to visit the Phanto (pronounced Fart-O!) Eco-Tourism Zone instead. In addition, it was against the rules to go on jeep safaris in places like Dhikala, so I would’ve had to go in a ‘canter’ (or coach) or stay overnight.
After three days of game drives without seeing a single tiger, I realised that I had a problem. A couple of my guides told me that Dhikala was the best place to go as it had the most tigers and also lots of grassland, which made spotting the animals much easier than it was in the Phanto jungle. However, I never managed to make it there, unfortunately…
Varun was my main point of contact, but he was based down in Ramnagar, so the resort manager, Govind, liaised between us at Paatli. Those were the only two people who spoke decent English (apart from a few of the guests), so I had to rely on them for everything.
Varun did a lot of research on my behalf and did all the paperwork required for me to get my permit. He booked game drives for me in all the different zones (apart from Dhikala!), and to cut down on the drive time, I had lunch most days at Chaudhary Vaishno Dhaba or Shilpa Restaurant in Ramnagar. As a result, this was my normal schedule:
0500-0630 Pick-up from Paatli
0630-0730 Drive to Jim Corbett
0730-0930 Game drive
0930-1000 Drive to Chaudhary Vaishno Dhaba or Shilpa Restaurant
1000-1330 Lunch (and use Wi-Fi to check emails etc)
1330-1400 Drive back to Jim Corbett
1400-1730 Game drive
1730-1930 Drive back to Paatli
1930-2200 Work on my photos
As you can see, I only ate one meal a day, and there was a LOT of driving! Most of my drivers couldn’t speak very much English, so all I could do in the morning was listen to podcasts. Normally, I would’ve downloaded the papers to read on the way, but because of the 5.5-hour difference in time zones, they weren’t published that early, so I had to wait for the Wi-Fi connection at lunchtime.
In addition, my driver was usually late. On one occasion, I was supposed to have breakfast beforehand and leave from the main gate at 0700, but the restaurant was locked, and my driver didn’t arrive until 0845! He didn’t apologise. He just said it had been a ‘late night’…!
Weekend in Bijrani
The only change to my routine came when I spent a couple of nights in the Bijrani zone one weekend. The advantage was that I didn’t need to make the long trek up and down the mountain every morning, but the disadvantage was that I wasn’t allowed to use my mobile phone!
The rule stemmed from an Indian Supreme Court judgment that banned mobiles in order to stop people from sharing sightings and therefore prevent overcrowding. Whether you agree with the reasoning or not, it was incredibly inconvenient! I had to lock my mobile in a wooden box on the way into Bijrani, and then I wasn’t allowed to take it with me on any of my game drives.
Another consequence of the mobile ban was that there was no Wi-Fi connection, so I had to go the entire weekend without it. Normally, that wouldn’t have been a problem, but I was supposed to be teaching someone online, so I had to ask the Officer in Charge if I could use his phone as a hotspot to dial in. Unfortunately, the signal was too weak to access the internet, so I had to cancel the lesson. However, it turned out that my client had cancelled it anyway, so no harm done—but it was still rather stressful…!
Holi
Holi is a Hindu water festival that celebrates the start of spring. It’s probably best known for the practice of ‘greeting’ people by smearing coloured powder on their faces, and I got my first experience of this while I was at Paatli (see above)!
Holi meant that Jim Corbett was closed for two days, so I couldn’t go on any game drives. Instead, I mooched about the place until someone knocked on my door and invited me to join the party.
When I arrived at the swimming pool area, Varun immediately daubed coloured powder on my face from what looked like a crisp packet and told me what to do in return. The idea was that you had to smear powder on the other person’s face, say ‘Happy Holi’ and hug. After that, the other person would do the same.
There were about 12 staff and members of the family, so the whole greeting process took quite a while! In addition, someone built a bonfire (to ward off evil), and we all had to walk around it, munching on sweet pastries while someone chanted something or other!
After that, Varun cracked open a bottle of Golfer’s Shot whiskey, and I helped myself to snacks from the buffet. Someone had brought up the karaoke machine, so there was lots of singing and dancing (while Mr Sharma hosed us down with water!) before everybody eventually went home to shower off all the coloured powder. It was pretty hard to get rid of it all, so it looked like I’d dyed my hair pink for a few days—and one of the check-in staff even commented on it at the airport!
What fun…
Food and Drink
I’ve been to India four times now, so I know I’ll be having curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner! It’s not ideal, but I’m used to it, and I usually get delicious mango lassis every day to make up for it. Unfortunately, mango season was still a couple of months away this time, so I had to make do with pomegranate and mixed fruit juice boxes at Paatli and sweet lassis and lime sodas at lunchtime…
The food at Paatli didn’t change much from day to day. I often had ‘bread omelette’ for breakfast or one or two kinds of curried vegetables with some kind of Indian flatbread and perhaps some chutney. I quite liked the aloo paratha (or potato-flavoured bread), but everything was very spicy, and I once made the mistake of thinking that a hot green chutney was actually a cucumber raita. I’d already finished my fruit juice, so I was in desperate straits until I finally managed to order another one…!
The two restaurants I visited for lunch had a much longer menu, but the only Western food available was a toasted cheese sandwich—and even that was made with paneer, which doesn’t melt! However, it was nice to be able to relax between game drives, check my emails and do my usual social media blast.
The Wi-Fi connection was slow and unreliable (obvs!), but I had to be thankful for small mercies…!
Wildlife
The most important thing to say about wildlife photography in India is that it’s all about the tiger. In Africa, there are so many extraordinary animals that even if you don’t see a lion, say, you can always photograph leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras or even birds. However, India is not like that. Yes, I did see a sloth bear, which was nice, but there were very few other animals apart from the odd spotted deer and very few birds apart from the odd crested serpent eagle.
As time went on and I still hadn’t seen a tiger, I felt obliged to ignore anything else and spend as much time as possible looking for the big cats. I told my drivers they should only stop for tigers or leopards, but that meant I actually missed out on quite a few other sightings.
In the end, I didn’t take any decent pictures. I normally rate my images from one to five stars:
Non-wildlife shots of people, the lodge or the food
Slightly better non-wildlife shots—good enough for Facebook or a blog post
Wildlife shots good enough to sell via stock agencies
Slightly better wildlife shots
Top 100 wildlife shots of all time
On this trip, I took plenty of one-star shots and a few three-star shots but none at all I could give four or five stars. Shame…
Verdict
I wasn’t supposed to be going on any trips in 2026. I didn’t have much money, so I was supposed to be saving up. However, that plan went up in smoke when I had the chance to do two residential photographer jobs, one in Ecuador and one in India.
They were both great opportunities, and I didn’t feel I could turn down free (or cheap) accommodation for the sake of rebuilding my finances. Maybe I was wrong. Either way, it was nice to shoot hummingbirds and use a multi-flash set-up for the first time in Tandayapa, and I enjoyed my trip to Paatli.
Varun Sharma and his father were very kind to me and looked after me very well. It was also nice to spend so much time away from home. It gave me a chance to relax and catch up with a few chores, and I found myself hardly thinking about my life in London. However, it was more of a ‘holiday’ than a proper wildlife photography trip…
Species
Here are all the animal and bird species I came across. The ones I’d never seen before are shown in bold.
Animals (16)
Barking deer
Blue bull
Forest turtle
Golden jackal
Indian elephant
Indian hare
Indian palm squirrel
Mongoose
Monitor lizard
Northern plains gray langur
Rhesus macaque
Sambar deer
Sloth bear
Spotted deer
Tiger
Wild boar
Birds (55)
Asian green bee-eater
Black drongo
Black stork
Black-headed bulbul
Black-winged stilt
Brown fish owl
Cattle egret
Changeable hawk-eagle
Common iora
Common kingfisher
Common mynah
Crested snake-eagle
Egyptian vulture
Fulvous-breasted woodpecker
Great egret
Great hornbill
Great slaty woodpecker
Grey bushchat
Grey heron
Grey hornbill
Himalayan vulture
House sparrow
Indian cormorant
Indian peafowl
Indian pond heron
Indian robin
Indian roller
Jungle babbler
Jungle crow
Jungle owlet
Kalij pheasant
Lineated barbet
Little egret
Long-tailed shrike
Pied bushchat
Pied kingfisher
Purple sunbird
Plum-headed parakeet
Red junglefowl
Red-naped ibis
Red-vented bulbul
Red-wattled lapwing
Red-whiskered bulbul
River lapwing
Rose-ringed parakeet
Ruddy shelduck
Rufous tree pie
Siberian duck
Siberian stonechat
Spotted dove
Stork-billed kingfisher
Streak-throated woodpecker
White-throated kingfisher
Woolly-necked stork
Yellow-footed green pigeon
If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.
If you’d like to book a lesson or order an online photography course, please visit my Lessons and Courses pages.
