Bandipur Calling!

The weekend after Pozu's birthday was going to be at one of favorite Jungle Lodges in Bandipur. Gowri's cub Prince was being sighted quite often in the tourism zone and we were hopeful of catching a glimpse of the young male tiger ruling the area that once his mother reigned upon. An early morning start ensured that we were able to do a customary stop at the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. The migratory birds had yet to arrive and so we just decided to do a short boat ride and let the kids enjoy watching the crocodiles.



We reached Bandipur in time for lunch and got ready for our first safari in the afternoon. The weather was pleasant and the light was good, both conditions hinted towards poor sightings in the forest. And that's exactly what happened as well, the forest was nice and quiet and although one of the vehicles saw a glimpse of a leopard, the big cats remained pretty much elusive.

But we did have some good time watching a herd of elephants taking a dip in the pond as the sun was about to set in the background. Although this wasn't the best setup from a photography standpoint, it was an awesome experience just to witness how the jumbos helped each other down the steep incline of the pond and were enjoying in the water.



This lady streak-throated woodpecker gave us some nice opportunities to shoot with a clean green background.



Next day morning we spotted a Changeable Hawk Eagle sitting in between tall grass and we were wondering why it was sitting down there.



Just then it flew with a Pond Heron clenched in its talons and perched on a branch far away from the track. What followed was a series of feather tearing action to start feeding on the flesh. I am sure this was just a snack for the huge raptor who are known to hunt smaller monkeys as well.



A huge alpha males gaur leading the herd that was grazing besides the track was an awesome sight to watch as well. Although they're usually pretty calm and avoid proximity to the jeeps, there have been few reports of aggressive behaviors by these largest wild cattle. Weighing more than a tonne at times, these males can be a serious threat if provoked.



Overall, it was a good trip and more so because I hadn't been to Bandipur in quite a while and it was just nice to be there. Our luck with the big cats didn't really work out this time, but that's a part of these wildlife trips, you shouldn't read too much into that anyway.

Amy the Amethyst Fairy a.k.a Pozu the Elephant

A new school event was coming up, and this time it was a fancy dress competition with a fairy/goblin theme. Gozu was all charged up to make a DIY costume for the event and a lot of youtube searches were made to finalize on one design. I was a bit skeptical at the beginning on whether it was worth the time and effort to make things at home vs buying a ready made costume.

Now we didn't really know too much about fairies except Tinkerbell, but with a little help from Google we figured that there are different types of fairies etc. Amy, the Amethyst fairy was chosen since her name started with an "A". Apparently, she's a fairy who can make things disappear and that's not a new thing for Pozu.



The prior weekend was spent in gathering all the raw materials required for the tutu skirt and the tiara etc. The only thing that was remaining was to get the wings made from the wire hangers that we use for clothes. Finally one day, Gozu got me and showed me the demo of how to bend the hangers to make those wings. It wasn't all that difficult at all and in 10 mins we had the wings sorted out.

I hadn't seen the final dress until the day she wore it, and it really looked pretty I must say. Everything just fitted in really nicely to transform the naughty little Pozu into an adorable fairy. And best part is, she won the competition!



It's amazing to see her grow so fast, sometimes I sit and tell her stories about how she was so tiny that I could fit her in my forearm and now she's half my height already. I've gotten so many pics of her when she was a baby, but that's coz she couldn't run away from the camera. Now, its not the same anymore, she won't pose for the camera that easily. It takes a lot of patience to get her to stand in front of the camera and a lot of times I don't end up getting even a single good shot.

But there was this one day where I was testing a lens that came back from service and she knew I wasn't really doing a photoshoot. I casually got her to stand to see if the lens was tracking the focus points etc. It was only a few weeks later that I happened to see those pictures and found a gem. When I showed her the pic, she instantly said it was Pozu the Elephant (that's what she likes to call herself). This one's definitely one of my favorites from the recent times and will make it to the wall in my next batch of prints.

A Quick Trip To Bandipur and K'Gudi

Having been to Kabini a couple of times already, we wanted to visit some of the other national parks around here. Bandipur used to be my favorite hangout a few years back but Kabini had taken over that position ever since. The sightings at Bandipur had slowed down after the tigress "Gowri" died early last year and her cubs have taken to their own separate ways. There is a handsome male "Prince" who is now the ruling champion of the tourism zone in Bandipur but it's not everyday that he is being sighted.

Bookings at Jungle Lodges are always difficult to get unless you're going on a weekday, we could barely manage to get a one day booking at Bandipur. So we decided to add another day at K'Gudi which is one of those places where I've always wanted to go but never ended up going. Being the peak summer time, we were thinking we may get a bit lucky at either of the places.



The safari ride in Bandipur was pretty quiet, there was a recent forest fire that had charred quite a large area of the jungle and the wildlife was just adjusting to it. With a little help from the summer rains new grass had begun to emerge from the otherwise parched landscape. Most of the water holes were running dry except a few which had minimal water remaining.



It was good to be back in Bandipur after a relatively long time. Our safaris however were pretty quiet and uneventful, to the extent that I hadn't pulled out the camera more than a couple of times. But that's how unpredictable these wildlife trips can be, sometimes you're busy throughout the safari with lots of action happening all around and other times you just sit around admiring the vistas without needing to pickup your camera even once.



The next day we reached K'Gudi, the JLR property here is within the buffer area of the forest so there is no demarcation between you and the wildlife. There isn't a regular power supply available and the power generator is intermittently used through the day. At night, there is no power supply and each tent is supplied with a kerosene lantern as emergency lighting system. It's a really nice experience to be staying in the wild and I could hear numerous chital and sambar calls through the night signalling the presence of the striped cat nearby. On checking with the staff, they told me that the resort actually falls into the area of one of the tigresses and the warning calls are pretty much an everyday affair. There were also some reports of a kill being sighted about a kilometer away from the resort behind the hill that surrounds it on the back side. No wonder that they discourage guests from loitering outside their tents/cottages in the night once the lights go off.



The safari at K'Gudi was a lot different than what we've done at Bandipur or Kabini. The whole area is hilly and visibility isn't all that great. The chances of sighting a tiger or leopard isn't as high as some of the other reserves, but if you do get lucky, people have had a wonderful time photographing them. The bird life on the other hand, is one of the highlights of K'Gudi, even a casual glance around the resort will yield a lot of different species to be recorded. Another difference is the barking deer population at K'Gudi is significantly higher than Bandipur or Kabini, it could be because of favorable terrain or the food availability.



There is a bird bath created just outside the dining hall and once the breakfast or lunch event is over, you can see a lot of birds coming down there for a dip and drink. The oriental white eyes, shyamas, robins etc are regular visitors of this place. We noticed it only on the next day while having breakfast and didn't get much time to spend there, but it's on my to-do list for the next time.

Kabini With The Gang - April 2014

It was almost a year since we went to Kabini with our gang of friends. We were  going to have Anish come down from Mumbai just to be a part of this trip, it was a first time since he returned to India that he was joining us on a trip. Going out with everyone together is always special, last time we were lucky to have awesome leopard sightings and we were hoping it'd happen again. More than us, it was the kids who get excited with the thought of going to Kabini.



We planned an early morning start from Bangalore so we could do a boat ride at Ranganathittu before proceeding towards Kabini. We reached Ranganathittu at about 7AM only to find out that the new ranger/warden has enforced the 8AM opening time and the boats would only be available post 8.30AM. Now who on earth got the idea of such a late start especially for bird sanctuary, it's not even worth discussing that here. This was beyond the normal migration season and most of the birds had returned back, the only ones left were the local migrants, some resident birds and ofcourse the crocodiles.





After a nice long breakfast at Kamats in Mysore we proceeded towards Kabini through the HD Kote road. Once at the resort, it was time for the kids to play around until it was time for the evening safari. It had been raining at Kabini for the past few days and with rain comes the risk of low animal movement in the jungle. We searched all through the forest but there was no sign of the cats anywhere. The whole place looked so calm and relaxed that there was no way one could avoid feeling lazy.

One of the things I have noticed over the past two years is that the elephant population coming to Kabini has reduced ever since the reservoir had almost dried up in 2013. Even though there was no problem in 2014, the elephants had not returned back and one could only find one or two gentle giants foraging on the fresh green grass along the edge of the backwaters. Hopefully they will return next season for a grand view of having 100 or more elephants in a single frame like it used to be.



Next day morning safari wasn't too different either, none of the jeeps had spotted any large predator. We had one more day to go and the situation wasn't going to be much different. The next two safaris also yielded similar results, no big cat, but just moving through the forest was an awesome experience. The dried up vegetation seemed like it was coming back to life with the non-seasonal showers and I'm sure even the animals were feeling a lot relieved of the heat.



After spending two awesome and memorable days, we were now headed back home and we were going directly to the airport to drop Anish for his flight back to Mumbai. Except for the lack of wild cat sightings, I think we all enjoyed having fun as a group after a really long time.

A Special Birthday Treat

It was time for my birthday and we hadn't done any trips to Kabini or Bandipur even once in this year. So it was decided that we will be spending a couple of days at Kabini to celebrate and I couldn't have asked for anything better.



The summer was just starting and the dry forests usually have a lot more action than the other seasons. The Kabini River Lodge is one of my personal favorite jungle resorts, and it is always exciting to be there. Pozu also enjoys the place a lot, she actually starts missing it if we don't visit there for a while. But more than the resort, this time I was more keen on getting some good sightings in our safaris, and I wasn't disappointed.



On the first day itself, we had an amazing leopard sighting for almost an hour where the huge male cat posed endlessly for our cameras. This guy is one of the boldest leopards we've seen in Kabini and he really put on a nice display of his dominance that day.



The next day's safari was also quite eventful with another leopard resting on a tree. But what was even more interesting was the jungle fowl posing for us in superb morning light.



A sambar deer at the backwaters made for an excellent shot with the glittering water in the background.



During our last safari, we saw a couple of elephants along with a baby crossing the safari track in a hurry. On closer inspection, we found that the baby had developed some kind of an infection on its right hind leg and wasn't able to walk properly. The mother and probably an aunt were being protective and keeping close at all times. It was painful to see the little one suffer, but that is nature's way of ensuring only the tough ones survive in the wild and strike a balance in the ecosystem. Hopefully, the baby will make full recovery and be able to walk pretty soon.

Kabini Magic - Not once, not twice but three times lucky!

Finding time to do hobby stuff is becoming increasingly difficult these days, especially with newer things getting added to my to do list. Earlier it used to be bike rides, long distance tours and photography on my mind, but since November last year, a lot of time is being consumed on the Jeep. It was the end of April 2013 that I realized I hadn't done even a single trip to the jungles since November 2012. Not that I didn't want to do a trip, but given the work schedules and the list of things to do over the weekend, it just never happened. And when I did have the time to go out for a weekend, it was the finances that never worked out (the jeep has sucked a lot of moolah ever since it arrived in my garage!)

Having missed all the action at Tadoba in the last season I was very keen on visiting the jungles on central India once again, but the plan wasn't materializing. Then one fine day Charles and Shalu casually mentioned that they wanted to go to Kabini or Bandipur for a weekend. I volunteered to join them or let's say I just shamelessly tagged along even though their original idea may have been to spend time together. And so it all started...

Trip #1: Bandipur and Kabini with 4les and Shalu



Our search for places started with Kabini which was fully booked as usual so we searched for other options and found one room available at Bandipur for Friday. So Bandipur it was going to be, the room was promptly booked else it would have been sold out too. Given that it was a weekday and Gozu wasn't coming, Pozu was going to join me for the trip. The Safari was due for a service which meant the Jeep had to be taken for this trip, not the best highway runner but we had no choice.

We reached Bandipur at about lunch time and were off to the jungle for the evening safari in no time. The jungle looked a lot greener due to the recent rains and I'm sure that the animals were feeling a lot relieved after surviving through an almost drought-like situation. There was hardly any big cat movement to be noticed  that day although sightings were quite frequent until the week prior. We returned back with the hope of having a better morning ride.



The morning safari was equally quiet with absolutely no big cat movements, but we had some interesting encounter with a small family of elephants at a water hole. A mother with a young calf and another sub-adult arrived at the water hole only to be shooed away by a few egrets and storks that had taken control of the place. It was funny to see the big beast get scared and agitated by the egrets that kept flying low over the water. The mother and the young calf stayed away while the sub-adult female tried to run after those birds.



End of the morning safari, we all were left wanting for more. I knew that this wasn't how it was supposed to end, especially since it was my first trip after 6 whole months. There were a couple of alternatives in front of us, either we wait for the evening safari at Bandipur or try our luck at Kabini instead. Staying back at Bandipur wasn't making strong sense as the chances of sightings looked pretty low given the mood in the jungle during the morning safari. I called the Kabini JLR and was pleasantly surprised to find a tent available on the basis of a cancellation for that day. That sealed the conversation on what should we do next, we were headed to Kabini right away.



Now, Kabini was rocking at that time with a good number of sightings each day and the tiger movements had been very high as well. I guess this season was one of the best at Kabini with respect to tiger sightings. Right as we entered the jungle for the evening safari, a few jeeps had spotted a leopard perched on a tree. It was a little difficult to spot it though and getting a picture was almost impossible so we decided to move on. We we had almost finished our safari and were exiting out of the gate when we noticed that there were some jeeps parked on the main road right next to the water hole. A quick dash to the location revealed a young male tiger cooling off at the water hole. Soon the crowding on the road increased and some impatient drivers started honking which made the tiger walk inside to find another peaceful spot to rest. My day was done, all the running around from Bandipur to Kabini now made perfect sense. This was the first tiger sighting for Charles and Shalu so they were all smiles too.



The next day morning ride was pretty uneventful, but we had nothing to complain about after the wonderful  sighting on the previous evening. Soon we were back home in the evening and life was back to the normal routine.

Trip #2: Kabini with Pozu (yet again!)



My plan to visit Tadoba was still not moving ahead of the planning stage, mainly because I had nobody for company and managing Pozu single-handedly on such a long trip would have been difficult. Finally, one day I decided to give up on that idea and spend the time and money on a familiar and nearby place like Kabini where Pozu and I can manage without hassles. I managed to get a 4 day booking at Kabini through the last week of May and set off on yet another father-daughter adventure trip.

We were on the first safari of the trip and it will be my most memorable leopard sighting ever. It was raining pretty heavy that day and even though all the cameras we nicely tucked inside to avoid the water, we were tracking a few alarm calls which signaled movement of the predator. Our driver was very quick in spotting this huge male leopard resting on a tree and preening itself as the rain had reduced to a light drizzle. Given that we had spotted the cat before anyone else, we had the liberty of finding a nice spot to park so that everyone can fire off with their cameras in tandem.



After about 10-15 minutes, the leopard decided to walk down the tree and perched on a mound right next to the road. We were extremely lucky to have the guy pose for us for those few seconds before it decided to climb down.



Next up, he put up a good show by crossing in front of our jeep a couple of times before heading out into the backwater area. Even while he exited, he tried to sneak up on a Sambar deer but ended up getting chased by a full grown Gaur. Those 20 minutes, the only sound you could hear the shutters going click-click-click in our jeep and for the rest of the safari, everyone had a nice "content" smile on their faces.



As if that wasn't enough for the day, we had another sighting of a female leopard resting peacfully on a tree. But this one was not so easy to photograph and we could only make some record shots. After waiting about 10-15 minutes, we decided to move on and circle back after a little while. When we returned, she was gone!



The next day morning safari was pretty uneventful while the evening safari had us excited with the news of another leopard perched on the tree. However, in the end it turned out to be a very difficult sighting as the leopard was sitting right inside a thick cover of branches. We did manage some really nice peacock photographs as it obliged by staying put on the tree stump for a while.



It was already halfway through the trip and the morning safari yielded a few shots of the white-bellied woodpecker, not the very best I could get, but  better than just record shots.

While we came to the Gol Ghar for lunch, I noticed the former Indian skipper, Rahul Dravid had arrived with his family. There was a bit of an euphoria among everyone at the venue and a few ladies desperately wanted to go get their picture taken with him. I'm sure he must have come to spend some quiet family time with his wife and kids but he wasn't going to be spared.



In the evening, as we came to the grouping point for the safari, I was informed about a change of vehicle. We had been riding with a group of wildlife enthusiasts and serious photographers for the last four safaris and Pozu was very well settled with the group. She didn't really approve of the change in plan at the start, but given that she had some like-minded company in the other jeep, she settled down quickly. We were scheduled with the Dravid family, this came with a bit of a surprise initially since I thought he'd get a special safari jeep given his celebrity status.

Here's our favorite naturalist Prasanna standing with the wall for a profile picture.


Our ride started with a bang! A langur frantically giving out alarm calls while sitting right next to the safari track. There was a lot of excitement about what we're going to see emerging from the bushes, but soon the langur became quiet and whatever it had spotted had either changed directions or settled down to rest. Just then we got lucky with a juvenile Changeable Hawk Eagle that was sitting on a nearby tree with a myna kill in its claws. This was my first time watching this magnificent predator with a kill, but the light wasn't in my favor.



As we drove through the jungle, we had a lot of conversation about the forests and conservation etc. Apparently, Dravid had been visiting these forests quite regularly until a few years back. The two junior Dravids were very keen observers and had a lot of questions to ask. I guess it was their first time in the wild and they were pretty excited to see all the wildlife around them. The former skipper talked about how he wanted this break after the long IPL season which had just gotten over. Now, cricket and me don't really go well together. I didn't really remember anything apart from the fact that he captained the Rajasthan Royals team so I wisely chose to keep the cricket topic away from our conversations. Moreover, I'm sure he must have also felt relieved that we didn't discuss the game, given all the controversial match-fixing incidents that were being discussed at that time. Overall, based on our interactions through the three hours in the jeep, I must admit that he is a true gentleman and even his family was very warm and accommodating.



During the initial half of the safari, Pozu had dozed off nicely and Mrs Dravid was very surprised on her ability to sleep so cozily in the jeep as it moved through the bumpy forest tracks. Finally my little tigress woke up and I knew there were some hopes of a sighting now that she was up. True to her reputation, it wasn't even 5 minutes after she woke up, we got lucky to spot on the male tiger cubs resting on the opposite bank of the Bisalwadi lake. Now, this was a far away encounter and you could only see the cat with the help of binoculars, but nevertheless it was exciting for the Dravid family who were witnessing their first striped cat in the wild. After making sure that everyone had their share of viewing the big cat, we decided to move on.



As we turned back from Bisalwadi, there was another good news for us! One of the jeeps had spotted a pack of seven wild dogs resting by the jeep track on the temple road. Soon we were at the location and were very happy to see a nice and content pack of dholes relaxing right in front of our jeep. We spent the next few minutes in watching and photographing their behaviors as the 4 pups played around. Soon it was time to head back to the resort after the wonderful 3 hours in the jungle.



The next few safaris were nice, but devoid of any big cat sightings. One of the rides we had a female elephant charging at our jeep pretty aggressively. It always serves as a reminder that you're an outsider in the jungle and not everyone welcomes your presence. It's always exciting to have an elephant charge at you since no matter how confident you are that it is only a mock charge, deep down you also know that it may prove you wrong!



On the last safari, I had switched over to the wide angle lens and focused my energy on capturing the beauty of the forest rather than looking for the elusive cats. The common notion is that you need a long lens for wildlife photography and that only close-up shots look beautiful. But on the contrary, the longer lens can be quite limiting at times and the wider lenses can do wonders to highlight the habitat and it's relevance to the subject in question.



Deep down in my mind, I was trying to answer the question - what makes the forest so special?

• It's not only the tiger or leopard which are good health indicators of the ecosystem and the most sought after animals with respect to sightings. They'd be struggling to survive if the prey population wasn't healthy.
• It's not just the animals that form the prey base - they wouldn't have survived if there were no trees. 
• It's not only the trees since they'd not be able to propagate without the help of animals, birds and insects. 
• It is the natural equilibrium of all the above elements that make the forest special. 

The interdependence of plants and animals and the prey-predator relationships are quite complex by design, but they're equally interesting as well. It's amusing to see how the prey population is controlled via natural predators while the predator population is mainly balanced based on area available in the jungles. Habitat destruction is a bigger evil than poaching that affects the conservation of our forests and the growth of tiger population in our country. If we continue to squeeze the forest reserves and don't give the animals enough space to live, just by providing them protection we can only delay the extinction process but not reverse it. 

Anyway, this was definitely one of the special trips of recent times and the inability to visit Tadoba was all forgotten at the end of it.

Trip #3: Kabini with the whole gang!

Surprisingly, the trip with Pozu wasn't going to be my last trip to Kabini for the season, a couple of weeks down the line our whole group decided to spend a weekend at the place. This was not my regular photography trip, but more of a get-together with a close group of friends. Everyone was pretty excited about the trip and were hoping to get lucky with the sightings as well.




Our convoy started from Bangalore pretty much on time that morning and this was the first time both the Safari and Thar were going on an outstation trip together. We reached just around lunch time and soon it was time for our evening safari. Given the size of our group, we were assigned the mini bus instead of the regular safari jeeps. I wasn't complaining since I firmly believe that sightings are a matter of luck more than anything else. The mini bus was actually quite a comfortable ride as compared to the jeeps where everyone is pretty much restrained due to lack of space. The downsides were that the mini bus wasn't a 4x4 so we had to stick to the easier routes rather than the slushy trails that a 4x4 could conquer quite easily, also the angle of shooting was much higher than the jeeps. But given that this was more of a enjoy together type of a trip, it was a good idea for all of us to be seeing and experiencing the same things.



The evening safari turned out to be a good one with a lazy leopard sighting on the tree. It looked like a sub-adult who chose to rest peacefully on the tree while we moved back and forth in our van to get a clear view. The raised view from the van actually helped us get a better view to watch the leopard and there was a rush of excitement running amongst everyone. It was the first safari experience for a few and the leopard sighting made it extra special.



The next day morning started pretty quiet, but soon we noticed a female leopard hastily crossing the road in front of our van. There was another group waiting in anticipation of her sighting and our van had actually made the leopard disappear inside faster than it would normally do. But all wasn't lost, we could retrace her again a little ahead and what followed next was a complete entertaining drama for about 5-10 minutes with the leopard crossing in front of our jeep and then leaping over to the other side of the track and disappearing in the bushes. We slowly moved in the direction where the leopard had gone but on a parallel track and were lucky to spot mother-cub leopard duo on a tree. They were situated a little too far from the jeep track and though we could see them using binoculars, there was no clear view to photograph them both. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful sighting anyways and everyone in the jeep were super excited to have witnessed so much of action in just two safaris.



The return journey was mostly filled with conversations about how such sightings make you come back for more. What was planned to be a leisurely get-together, turned out to be an exciting encounter with the spotted cat. Overall, during the 6 days I spent at Kabini through the season, there were 7 leopard and 2 tiger sightings - a much higher hit ratio than any of my earlier trips so far. And to add to this, the other sightings have been pretty good too with peacocks dancing, elephants charging etc.



For now, thats the end of my update until my next travel to the jungles or some other interesting event comes up.