Day 3 - Wildlife park visit in Hyd...

1000 hrs on 7th-June-08, press folks had gathered at Aashish's uncle house to get a glimse of our K2K riders and to take notes about their ride. Reports from E-NAADU, a TV channel from Hyd were at the spot ready for an interview. Once the interviews were through, Aseem and Aashish departed on their planned ride to PLANET Theatre where they again had media and crowd waiting to click a few pics and have a chat ! Our next way point was Karuna International Wildlife Park, where the rangers were supposed to meet the riders at 1100 hrs. As planned, the park rangers met our riders and were given posters, banners and stickers, prepared by team BMC reflecting the message intended to be spread to save the big cats from extinction. These were later taken by the rangers and posted around the park perimeter so that people would take note of the message !

With this, it was time to move on... Enroute, as planned, Team RED BULL had their representatives meet up with Aashish and Aseem and gave away Energy drinks enough to last through their journey to the next waypoint - NAGPUR. Again, we appreciate RED BULL's prompt actions in tracking our riders through their journey.

It was lunch time and our K2K riders headed back to Aashish's auncle's place. Post lunch, at 1500 hrs both the riders started off towards their next waypoint - NAGPUR.
Just a couple of minutes into the rider, Aseem notices a problem in his brake drums. They aren't functioning efficiently ! So, the duo immediately head to a garage nearby called Nirmal Autos. This garage apparently, is owned by one of the local political leaders and he pooled in a group of local media folks to publisize the event ! It was 1700 hrs now and with the 400+ kms to cover, our bikers hit the road again. Enroute, at Adilabadh district of AP, a beautiful stretch of ghat section welcomed our riders. I remember an ecstatic Aseem narrating this to me over the phone as they enjoyed the jungle ride ! They were well past into the evening and then, rear tyre on Aashish's bike went flat ! It was 1830 hrs now by the time they fixed the tyre and started riding again... As per plan, Mr. Harpal Singh (an editor or Hindu Times newspaper) was waiting at a jungle Check post near Adilabadh. Along with him were a group of AP forest department officials waiting for a photo shoot. Post photo session and chat, the ride continued.

Considering the long distance they had to cover to reach Nagpur, Aseem and Aashish came to a conclusion to ride quick and reach overnight. It was around about 0000 hrs by the time the duo entered Nagpur ! Tired and Hungry, both of them stepped into one of the 24 hour Cafe Coffee Day at Nagpur to grab a bit and sip hot coffee. As usual, a crowd collected around the bikes, curious to know what was happening !
Sitting in the opposite table at CCD were two guys (Ashish & Ritesh) who were localites of Napur and apparently had their own bikers club there ! They owned and run a Royal Enfield Bullet club in their city ! The elated duo met our K2K riders and spoke for a while about the trip and other general stuff. Next, they took our riders to a nearby lodging hotel called "Hotel Chidambaram" for their overnight stay.

0900 hrs on 8th-June-08, both Ashish and Ritesh came to the hotel and met up with our K2K riders and took them to a well know mechanic called Shaanu who owned a garage called Shah Automobiles. Both the bikes were sent in for a complete overhaul !
Incidentally, a few passerby from Nagpur who are strongly involved in wildlife conservation work met up with both Aashish and Aseem and suggested places where Tiger movement is more in Maharashtra ! With that, the routes to be taken around forest zones to access tribals and witness tiger movements etc...were handed over to our riders. A few reference contacts in and around Nagpur were also handed over to them in order to seek help. So, the original waypoint map had to be tweaked to accomadate these new changes. Rest of the day was spent planning to factor in the extra few places to be visited enroute. The plan to travel directly to Agra from Nagpur had now been changed to -> Nagpur - Wildlife places in MH - Agra !