After accustoming myself to my new bike as I zigzagged sedately south from Dehli into Madhya Pradesh, I turn west on to National Highway 75, towards the Panna national park. The Panna reserve comprises 543 square kilometres of forest, fiercely gouged gorges and an upland of whispy grass and acacia trees.
The Ken river flows through the reserve. Ken River Lodge (huts from around £170 a night), a sprawling tree house, stands high on the river bank. Vinni and his wife Bhavna are the creators. Vinni is a fellow biker and has invited me to stay. They are both determined environmentalists. I will breakfast with them later and say my farewells.
For now I am sitting in a rowing boat. The lodge gillie is in the bows; his paddle dribbles a trail of minute explosions. Lapwing chicks totter on ridiculously elongated legs across the boulders of a reed tufted islet. Ducks rise from the far bank. Bejoy Issac (nicknamed Baloo) points to a stork-billed kingfisher.
Baloo is the lodge's resident naturalist. For the past five days he has bounced me down tracks in the reserve in a mini Suzuki jeep. Don't be a list ticker, is his advice. Take joy in what you see rather than being disappointed by what you don't.
My highs: two green pigeons beating their wings at a pair of vicious treepies attacking their chick. Yes, and right at the end, a tigress glutting on a fresh kill.
How was it? Miraculous. The miracle worker here is the field director R Sreenivasa Murthy. In 2009 the Madhya Pradesh government admitted that, as a result of illegal hunting, there were no tigers left in the Panna reserve. But Dr Murthy is responsible for reintroducing tigers there and for two firsts in tiger management: successfully introducing a reared tigress into the wild, and successful breeding from reintroduced tigers.
Deer and wild boar are common. Gazelle pogoing between the acacia trees are reminiscent of Kenya. A serpent eagle screeches its annoyance at being photographed. Peacocks flaunt their tails. An owl views us with aristocratic distaste.
I do not see a leopard. Nor do I see a bear. Baloo has met two bears in the lodge's gardens. The score for flight is one to the bears and one to Baloo.
