In the city, you are
never alone but might be lonely.
In the jungles, you
might be alone but are never lonely…
Words of wisdom from Melghat Tiger Reserve - Amrawati District,
Maharashtra
So much is said in so
few words; a feeling that only a true nature and wildlife lover can relate to.
For every wildlife
enthusiast in India, there are a few ‘Meccas’ that one must visit before they
call it a day. Having ventured forth to a number of different places across
Central and South India, Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, without doubt, is arguably in
the Top 5 Must Visit wildlife destinations in our country.
We planned our May-end
trip to Kabini well in advance as this is the peak season, with school kids on
vacation and the weather just apt for animal sightings. Our much-awaited day
came on 27th May when we set out early at 5 am from Pune for the
day-long drive to Mysore, our night halt destination. The drive to Mysore was
lovely with nice clear skies and an open road. With Kedar at the wheel of his
big red beast, we covered the long 900 km distance within our scheduled time
and checked into Tulips Homestay on the outskirts of the city by 7.30pm. The
homestay was fantastic, with extremely large and clean rooms, complete with a
kitchenette and pantry.
The onward journey to
Jungle Lodges & Resorts (JLR) Kabini River Lodge was filled with a lot of
excitement, with all of us discussing our past wildlife trips in the car and
what we can expect to see here. We reached JLR a little after noon. JLR Kabini
is the northern extension of the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka. This is
part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and one of the best locations in India to
spot the elusive leopard. The JLR property is located right on the banks of the
Kabini River-Reservoir eco-system and was formerly the hunting lodge of the
erstwhile Maharajas of the region. Old wooden structures and villas give a very
unique old-world charm to the entire property and it has been maintained very
well by the staff over the years.
At the reception, we
were greeted by the friendly staff of JLR who gave us a detailed itinerary of
the next 2 days. This was our second visit to Kabini but for Kedar and his
family, it was the first time. The kids were very excited to see the massive
stuffed tiger kept at the reception area. The tiger was killed in a territorial
fight by another larger male and just gives us a small idea of the strength of
these magnificent creatures.
We checked into our
tents and then after a short break, headed over the enjoy the sumptuous lunch
spread. Post lunch, we geared up for our first safari. Since the water levels
were running low, the boat safaris had all been converted to jeep or van rides.
Safari #1 in A-zone began
on an eventful note, with a leopard sighting right at the start! The female
leopard was resting on a high branch with a spotted deer kill. While we started
to capture some snaps of her sleeping, she decided to grace us with her beauty
and agility. She got up, and then leapt from one branch to another… too bad we
couldn’t capture the leap!
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| Female Leopard resting after a meal |
After starting with such a sighting, it was going to be tough to keep up with the expectations… however, we had some lovely sights of a gaur herd, including a female feeding her calf, a pair of elephants, which included a junior tusker and a pregnant female (Kedar and Pallavi happened to witness the baby bump actually move distinctly even from our distance), a spotted deer stag sharpening its horns and several avian friends including Indian Rollers, Crested Serpent Eagles, Crested Hawk Eagles, woodpeckers and jungle fowl.
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| Spotted deer stag sharpening its horns on a tree |
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| Feeding time for the young hulk... |
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| Indian Roller (Neelkanth) |
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| Pregnant pachyderm |
Kabini’s backwaters are
a sight to behold. This is as close to Utopia as one can imagine… endless
rolling plains, large green pastures and an abundance of water (much of it had
dried up this time of year) – a tranquil setting made even more spectacular by
the sights of several hundred herbivores grazing together. If anyone has to
describe a scene from the Jungle Book, this could be it!
Our third safari in the
evening showcased exactly this. We were in B—zone again saw large herds of
elephants spread across the plains and even a lone tusker quite close to our
canter. To add to the drama, the fellow suddenly decided he didn’t like our
presence anymore and did a mock charge in the direction of our van. The
trumpeting sound and his ears flapping around was an unforgettable sight…
although the kids in the vehicle were not so thrilled 😃 We were also were lucky enough to witness another marvel of animal mutation –
an albino spotted deer. The herd was grazing near the backwaters and this
particular fawn stood out from the crowd.
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| The calm before the storm... Tusker by the backwaters (notice the deer and peacock in the background) |
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| Albino Spotted Deer |
For great lengths of the
safari, we often didn’t see much action. However, the forest, in its
resplendent green cover was a sight like none other. For us city dwellers, this
is a rarity and I actually thought at times if my lungs would keep up with the
absolutely unpolluted, oxygen rich air that we were breathing :)
The highlight of this
ride, however, was our second leopard sighting. We spotted a few safari
vehicles waiting on the main road and waited with them as they had spotted a
leopard off the main road. We waited a bit and our patience paid off when the
cat was spotted through the branches once it moved. We managed to get a few
shots but to our disappointment, it quickly climbed down the tree and vanished.
We heard a call or two of spotted deer but there was complete silence
thereafter. Most of the vehicles left the spot after about 10 mins but our
canter guide insisted we stay on a bit. And did that decision pay off!!!
Shortly after all the
other vehicles had left the spot, the magnificent cat jumped right back onto
the branch – but it wasn’t alone... our sighting just got a whole lot better
when we noticed a spotted deer kill clenched in its jaws. We got going with our
cameras instantly and managed to get some fantastic shots despite the long
distance. On closer inspection of the photos it was evident that the deer had
been killed sometime before as its stomach was torn and its innards were
dangling out. It was a gruesome yet awe-inspiring sight to see the cat take its
prey up a tree for safe-keeping. The leopard then started eating the deer – a
natural history moment for the record-books.
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| Leopard with Spotted Deer kill... |
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| The Stare... |
We started the final day’s morning safari #4 with high hopes of spotting the notorious Blackie! Kabini’s pride and the only melanistic leopard that is spotted in those jungles. We began the journey in A-zone by visiting the leopard’s location from the previous night, and no surprises, he was right there. We could see him clearly behind the branches along with the half-eaten deer but decided to skip ahead in search of Kabini’s tigers. And almost as if our wishes were answered, luck smiled on us again. About 20 mins into the drive, we came across a vehicle waiting a little ahead of the famed Tiger Tank. The guide in that jeep told us that they had seen a tiger in the bushes nearby. We looked a bit more carefully and could see the striped beauty behind a thick bush. A few minutes of patient waiting and we struck gold! Or bright orange in this case! The sub-adult male came out and gave us a lovely look… then walked across the road into the bushes but not before turning back through the trees to give us one last look.
He was young but that did not stop him from exuding an immense amount of pride and grace that is synonymous with the greatest of the big cats. Before disappearing into the bushes, he seemed to have breakfast on his mind as he contemplated a hunt when he spotted a herd of spotted deer. But they were alert as well and ran away before he could make a move.
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| The King of Kings |
Having witnessed this
majestic beast, we thought Kabini had dished out everything it could. But there
was more in store…
There is an old
maharaja’s hunting lodge in the middle of the forest which is now used as an
inspection bungalow by the forest department of Nagarhole TR. Being a midway
point of A-zone, the drivers normally make a halt there for a quick bathroom
break. We were seated in our vehicle discussing how we had seen a pair of wild
dogs at the exact same location last time in December. The very next moment, we
saw our driver and guide charging towards the jeep yelling “WILD DOGS! WILD DOG
KILL!”. They jumped into the vehicle along with those who were out and we
headed down the road. Barely 50 meters from where we were, we spotted the pack.
Our pulses still racing, we tried to figure out if they were actually going in
for a kill or had killed something already. But they seemed preoccupied in
their play. The moment they saw our jeep, they started heading out in the other
direction. Our driver made a quick U-turn and headed on the other side of the
bushes where we waited for them to emerge. And emerge they did… all 14 of them.
We happened to get some fantastic images of the pack playing around, a great
insight into their social behaviour of how they bond and maintain their
hierarchy. The pack also had an injured dog, limping with an evident wound on
his front left leg. While such an injury is normally a death knell for most
other solitary predators, living in a cohesive pack obviously meant that this
fellow would still have a strong chance of survival.
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| Everything is better with a hug! |
The pack moved along the
bushy area right in front of our jeep and then settled down a few meters ahead.
We had more great photo opportunities before the other vehicles got there and
spooked the pack. We soon moved along allowing the other jeeps to enjoy the
pack. Thus our final safari ended on a high with sightings of all 3 apex
predators of the forest in a single ride!
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| BFFs |
We started the nearly
1000 km drive back home post breakfast, leaving JLR with some unforgettable
memories and the hope of returning sometime soon, with the hopes of catching a
glimpse of the black beauty.
Our forests have
something to offer for everyone, and Kabini, more often than not, offers way
more than you ever expected…
