Many of us have different ways of celebrating the new year. Some see the fireworks, some go clubbing, I choose to explore the wilds. In the first week of 2017, I visited Kanha and Bandhavgarh national park in India and I have to say this trip were some of the best salaries I ever had in India.
The trip started exactly on January 1st. Beverly deprived from sleep after watching the fireworks, I determinedly woke up at 4am. Our flight to New Delhi was at 8:00 so we had to reach the airport by 6-6:30. We called a cab and reached terminal 3 within about half an hour. I was really excited for the vast as it had been 2 years since I went on my last Safari.
The flight took of on time and passed Pula Ubin during take off. I was paying close attention to Pula Ubin because for the week prior to my trip there were sightings of an Asian Imperial Eagle on Pula Sudoko, just off of Check Java. Unfortunately I could not see any bird and was told that the bird did not make an appearance n the morning.
The flight was smooth, I watch finding Doary and slept for the majority of the flight. I choose to have the spinach omelet and I have to say I was disappointed by the flavour. The omelet was mostly bland and had very little seasoning.I was quite surprised that SQ would give a dish like that but I have to say it must be a one of because I tired the Indian dishes which my parents took and it was up to the SQ standard.
We landed in Delhi and went to my Grandfather house. We stayed there for the night and left for the airport at 7:30am the next morning to the domestic terminal. Our flight was scheduled for 10:10 and we arrived at about 8:15. Since we were aware of our surroundings, we manned to get a check in counter with absolutely no people and by 9:40 we were on the plane. One thing which surprised us was the automation in the airport. To manage the crowd size in the gate area, the domestic airport has but in automated berries before the entrance to the gates. These barriers are fully automated and only allow people to enter about 30-45mins before boarding. This was good thinking on the airports part to manage the crowd.
There was not much problem with take off, it was a small plane as Jabalpur is a very small airport. The flight time was supposed to be 2:15 hours but the actual air time was just 1:30hrs. Upon taxing to the drop off point, I managed to see a Kestrel but could not ID which Kestrel it was.
Upon exiting the airport, we had to wait for our pickup to arrive to take us to the lodge.It was quite surprising as we were expecting the pickup to be waiting. When the car came 20mins later, the driver told us that he was mistakenly told that we would at the train station. Luckily during this time we could see black shouldered kites and himalayan griffin vultures during the wait.
The ride to the lodge in Kanha was smooth and took us 4hrs to complete. When we arrived we were welcomed by the manager and he sat us down for a cup of tea and told us all the guidelines and sightings. After this he guided us to our rooms (11&12).It was already getting dark at 6:00pm so we did not expect to see any animals or birds near our room, but behold we managed to see a nightjar and a scoops owl.
My brother and I were walking to the dinning area when my brother saw the owl sit on a branch while I was looking the other way. I only had my 20mm lens with me so I quickly ran back to get my big lens. Unfortunately I could not get it to face me. Initially I thought it was a oriental scoops owl but now I think it is an Collared Scoops Owls.
We roamed around the lodge a bit, my brother saw wild boars while I saw a jungle cat. We had dinner and went to bed.We got up at 4:30 the next day to start our Safaris.
Safari 1 in Kanha
We got up at 4:30am and left for the safer at 5:30am. My dad had brought his spotting touch and my mom and brother brought the torches from the room. The guide (Harpreet Singh, aka Happy) told us to shine in around while we were driving and look out for eyes and behold we managed to see 2 jungle cats even before we entered. The trip was a 30 mins journey to the gate and for all zones there is 1 gate. We reached the gate at 6am and waited till the gate opened at 7am. While we were waiting a jeep pulled next to us and I have to say: something was definitely wrong ( Indian Soap Oprah reference).
I was the first person to regonise him but I kept quite. 5 mins later he was swarmed with tourist. Thats when we entered the park. The very first animal we came across was a Jackal blended into the ground.
They say, seeing a Jackal first brings you luck. Well it holds true, we say a sloth bear immediately after we saw the Jackal. The picture is not to good, but it just makes it for a record shoot.
The rest of the safari was uneventful but towards the end we managed to see more birds including a Tickles blue flycatcher, Yellow Wagtail, Crested Serpent Eagle and Grey Faced Buzzard.
However we did manage to see the Icon of Kanha:the Barasingha. This species of deer almost became extinct. However naturalist discovered a small heard in a village inside the Park many years ago. The government took action and removed the village, converted the land into grassland and fenced up the deer in the patch of land. For many years scientist bread the population in this small area and now there is a significant population of them in Kanha, so much so they can now relocate some to other parks to protect the population. Kahn is home to one of the three populations of Barasingha and home to the Southern Sub- species.
On the return to the lodge, we say a multitude of birds including greater flameback, white bellied drongo, greater racket tailed drongo and grey cuckoo shrike. Sadly I only got a acceptable photo of the white bellied drongo.
In Between
In between the two safaris we had gone on a walk to a lake near the lodge. We had managed to see many birds including the ashy-crowned sparrow-lark, bronze winged Jacana, Golden bellied leafbird, red named ibis and a lone bush qual.
Safari 2:
We left the second safari at about 2:00 as the gates opened at 3:00. The evening salaries are always short as the gates open at 3:00 and close by 5:15. This safari we got in Kanha zone and honestly it was very mundane, although we could hear warning calls. We barely saw anything.Below are just a few things we managed to see.
We also saw a gaur. We were so close to it that my 200mm was too long. I was too scared as we were so close and I could not change the lens. I also saw an indian scoops owl.
Safari 3
This was our third and final we went to the kanha zone, the same as the previous safari. This was our last safari in Kanha even though it was our third. We were not keeping our hopes up as our experience from the previous day was not too fruitful. When we entered we did not see much, we saw a changeable hawk eagle and Isabella shrike . We stopped at a make shift toilet to take a break and talked to a car coming from the opposite direction. Our hopes were not too high as the other car did not see anything. A piece of advise for safaris, do not get your hopes up as most salaries would be empty but always expect the unexpected even when you are disheartened. Even thought we were informed that there was no tiger we still went down that path. Luckly enough , the T8 female decided to come and lie down on the road and bask in the sun. We were the first jeep in the entire zone to see a tiger. I was shaking, after 2 years I saw a tiger.
It was a awesome 2 hour sighting, sadly I did not realise at that time that my VR was malfunctioning and my camera had severe backfocous and I missed a lot of shoots. I only realised this when giving it in for servicing. After the T8 left into the forest we quickly went to another area as we got news that there were 2 tigers mating. We reached the place and saw faint glimpses of the 2 in the undergrowth. We stayed there for 2hrs and consitily could hear roaring. They were about to come out but our time was up and had to make it to the gate. So 1 safari 3 tigers! On our way back we saw a orange headed thrush but we could not get a picture as time was short.
So a great time at Kanha came to a close, next was Bandavgarh!
It was a long drive to the park, of which most of the time was spent sleeping. When we arrived it was already nightfall. Our first animal we saw was a jackal and a bengals fox! These fox's are very hard to see. Unfortunately I could not land a shoot.
We arrived at the hotel with no major problems and went to sleep for the next safari.
Safari 1
We left the hotel early at 5:30 to tala zone. Tala zone is very close to the hotel so it took us a short time to reach. When we entered we were the first car to enter.The first thing we say was a melted wood owl and after that we say a crested serpent eagle with its open crest.
While we were viewing the birds other cars overtook us. They all stopped in one place so we quickly abandoned the birds. What they stopped was for a leopard! What a amazing start1 This is only our second leopard in india!
We stayed there for a good amount of time. We decided to abnodone it for a while and look for a tiger. Our intuition was that the leopard will stay. While looking for a tiger with cups, we managed to see the collared scoops owl, tiga flycatcher, spotted deer, monster lizards and jungle owlet plus the common spotted deer.
On our return trip the leopard had left.
Break
After the safari we returned to the hotel and took a 2 hrs break. We managed to see many birds including the Tickell's blue flycatcher , White shouldered peritonea, indian silver bill and black redstart.
Safari 2
On this safari we were reunited with Gudda, our guide from last time. This time we got zone 2, where we saw our first tiger last time. Unfortunately we missed 2 tigers. But we saw mongooses, white eyed buzzards and a indian pond heron eating a over sized frog.
This safari was mostly uneventful.
Safari 3
This safari was a morning safari on the next day. We got zone 3, our first time in this zone. Again always expect the unexpected. Our hope were down as zone 3 is not known for its tigers. But we had the benefit of being the first car in. Int just so happened that we were the only jeep to see the tiger this round! Unfortunately this tigress was very shy and quickly fled. I had a chance for a picture but got distracted by a barking deer. I thought the barking deer was a cub and missed the shot of the tiger :(. There is always a next time. Our guide was very experienced and so took us to the other side of the place where we saw the tiger as he knew the tigers habit. Unfortunately it never showed its face. In the mean time a jacket came and entertained us.
Safari 4
This was our last safari, we were very hopeful that we would see something. We saw a red walked lapwing, brown fish owl, wild boar and spotted owlet.
I would say that the safari was a overall sucsse as we saw many animals and birds. I would really want to come back!
We landed in Delhi and went to my Grandfather house. We stayed there for the night and left for the airport at 7:30am the next morning to the domestic terminal. Our flight was scheduled for 10:10 and we arrived at about 8:15. Since we were aware of our surroundings, we manned to get a check in counter with absolutely no people and by 9:40 we were on the plane. One thing which surprised us was the automation in the airport. To manage the crowd size in the gate area, the domestic airport has but in automated berries before the entrance to the gates. These barriers are fully automated and only allow people to enter about 30-45mins before boarding. This was good thinking on the airports part to manage the crowd.
There was not much problem with take off, it was a small plane as Jabalpur is a very small airport. The flight time was supposed to be 2:15 hours but the actual air time was just 1:30hrs. Upon taxing to the drop off point, I managed to see a Kestrel but could not ID which Kestrel it was.
Upon exiting the airport, we had to wait for our pickup to arrive to take us to the lodge.It was quite surprising as we were expecting the pickup to be waiting. When the car came 20mins later, the driver told us that he was mistakenly told that we would at the train station. Luckily during this time we could see black shouldered kites and himalayan griffin vultures during the wait.
The ride to the lodge in Kanha was smooth and took us 4hrs to complete. When we arrived we were welcomed by the manager and he sat us down for a cup of tea and told us all the guidelines and sightings. After this he guided us to our rooms (11&12).It was already getting dark at 6:00pm so we did not expect to see any animals or birds near our room, but behold we managed to see a nightjar and a scoops owl.
My brother and I were walking to the dinning area when my brother saw the owl sit on a branch while I was looking the other way. I only had my 20mm lens with me so I quickly ran back to get my big lens. Unfortunately I could not get it to face me. Initially I thought it was a oriental scoops owl but now I think it is an Collared Scoops Owls.
We roamed around the lodge a bit, my brother saw wild boars while I saw a jungle cat. We had dinner and went to bed.We got up at 4:30 the next day to start our Safaris.
Safari 1 in Kanha We got up at 4:30am and left for the safer at 5:30am. My dad had brought his spotting touch and my mom and brother brought the torches from the room. The guide (Harpreet Singh, aka Happy) told us to shine in around while we were driving and look out for eyes and behold we managed to see 2 jungle cats even before we entered. The trip was a 30 mins journey to the gate and for all zones there is 1 gate. We reached the gate at 6am and waited till the gate opened at 7am. While we were waiting a jeep pulled next to us and I have to say: something was definitely wrong ( Indian Soap Oprah reference).
I was the first person to regonise him but I kept quite. 5 mins later he was swarmed with tourist. Thats when we entered the park. The very first animal we came across was a Jackal blended into the ground.
They say, seeing a Jackal first brings you luck. Well it holds true, we say a sloth bear immediately after we saw the Jackal. The picture is not to good, but it just makes it for a record shoot.
The rest of the safari was uneventful but towards the end we managed to see more birds including a Tickles blue flycatcher, Yellow Wagtail, Crested Serpent Eagle and Grey Faced Buzzard.
However we did manage to see the Icon of Kanha:the Barasingha. This species of deer almost became extinct. However naturalist discovered a small heard in a village inside the Park many years ago. The government took action and removed the village, converted the land into grassland and fenced up the deer in the patch of land. For many years scientist bread the population in this small area and now there is a significant population of them in Kanha, so much so they can now relocate some to other parks to protect the population. Kahn is home to one of the three populations of Barasingha and home to the Southern Sub- species.
On the return to the lodge, we say a multitude of birds including greater flameback, white bellied drongo, greater racket tailed drongo and grey cuckoo shrike. Sadly I only got a acceptable photo of the white bellied drongo.
In Between
In between the two safaris we had gone on a walk to a lake near the lodge. We had managed to see many birds including the ashy-crowned sparrow-lark, bronze winged Jacana, Golden bellied leafbird, red named ibis and a lone bush qual.
Safari 2:
We left the second safari at about 2:00 as the gates opened at 3:00. The evening salaries are always short as the gates open at 3:00 and close by 5:15. This safari we got in Kanha zone and honestly it was very mundane, although we could hear warning calls. We barely saw anything.Below are just a few things we managed to see.
We also saw a gaur. We were so close to it that my 200mm was too long. I was too scared as we were so close and I could not change the lens. I also saw an indian scoops owl.
Safari 3
This was our third and final we went to the kanha zone, the same as the previous safari. This was our last safari in Kanha even though it was our third. We were not keeping our hopes up as our experience from the previous day was not too fruitful. When we entered we did not see much, we saw a changeable hawk eagle and Isabella shrike . We stopped at a make shift toilet to take a break and talked to a car coming from the opposite direction. Our hopes were not too high as the other car did not see anything. A piece of advise for safaris, do not get your hopes up as most salaries would be empty but always expect the unexpected even when you are disheartened. Even thought we were informed that there was no tiger we still went down that path. Luckly enough , the T8 female decided to come and lie down on the road and bask in the sun. We were the first jeep in the entire zone to see a tiger. I was shaking, after 2 years I saw a tiger.
It was a awesome 2 hour sighting, sadly I did not realise at that time that my VR was malfunctioning and my camera had severe backfocous and I missed a lot of shoots. I only realised this when giving it in for servicing. After the T8 left into the forest we quickly went to another area as we got news that there were 2 tigers mating. We reached the place and saw faint glimpses of the 2 in the undergrowth. We stayed there for 2hrs and consitily could hear roaring. They were about to come out but our time was up and had to make it to the gate. So 1 safari 3 tigers! On our way back we saw a orange headed thrush but we could not get a picture as time was short.
So a great time at Kanha came to a close, next was Bandavgarh!
It was a long drive to the park, of which most of the time was spent sleeping. When we arrived it was already nightfall. Our first animal we saw was a jackal and a bengals fox! These fox's are very hard to see. Unfortunately I could not land a shoot.
We arrived at the hotel with no major problems and went to sleep for the next safari.
Safari 1
We left the hotel early at 5:30 to tala zone. Tala zone is very close to the hotel so it took us a short time to reach. When we entered we were the first car to enter.The first thing we say was a melted wood owl and after that we say a crested serpent eagle with its open crest.
While we were viewing the birds other cars overtook us. They all stopped in one place so we quickly abandoned the birds. What they stopped was for a leopard! What a amazing start1 This is only our second leopard in india!
We stayed there for a good amount of time. We decided to abnodone it for a while and look for a tiger. Our intuition was that the leopard will stay. While looking for a tiger with cups, we managed to see the collared scoops owl, tiga flycatcher, spotted deer, monster lizards and jungle owlet plus the common spotted deer.
On our return trip the leopard had left.
Break
After the safari we returned to the hotel and took a 2 hrs break. We managed to see many birds including the Tickell's blue flycatcher , White shouldered peritonea, indian silver bill and black redstart.
Safari 2
On this safari we were reunited with Gudda, our guide from last time. This time we got zone 2, where we saw our first tiger last time. Unfortunately we missed 2 tigers. But we saw mongooses, white eyed buzzards and a indian pond heron eating a over sized frog.
This safari was mostly uneventful.
Safari 3
This safari was a morning safari on the next day. We got zone 3, our first time in this zone. Again always expect the unexpected. Our hope were down as zone 3 is not known for its tigers. But we had the benefit of being the first car in. Int just so happened that we were the only jeep to see the tiger this round! Unfortunately this tigress was very shy and quickly fled. I had a chance for a picture but got distracted by a barking deer. I thought the barking deer was a cub and missed the shot of the tiger :(. There is always a next time. Our guide was very experienced and so took us to the other side of the place where we saw the tiger as he knew the tigers habit. Unfortunately it never showed its face. In the mean time a jacket came and entertained us.
Safari 4
This was our last safari, we were very hopeful that we would see something. We saw a red walked lapwing, brown fish owl, wild boar and spotted owlet.
I would say that the safari was a overall sucsse as we saw many animals and birds. I would really want to come back!
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