May this year, iCampers planned a camp @ "The Land of Rudyard Kipling" i.e Kanha Tiger Reserve. It is the largest national park in Madhya Pradesh stretching over an area of 950 km² in the districts of Mandla and Balaghat. It is surrounded by a buffer zone of 1000 km² and 100 km² of Phen Sanctuary. It is one of the top 10 tourists places and a pristine sanctuary for sighting Royal Bengal Tiger, leopards, sloth bears, wild dogs, wild cats, barasingha, sambhar deer, spotted dear, chausingha, bison etc.
Day 1
This was a big camp, 30 odd including kids.Most of us started from Pune and others joined us in Mumbai.
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| Mowglis for the Kanha Camp |
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| iCampers socializing @ CST |
Group train journeys are always fun: new friends, endless talks, munching and cards (Ganiti Jhabbu). We all relished on Bademiya's Biryani got by Gitesh.
Day 2
Early morning we reached Jabalpur. We had quick breakfast and we headed for Bedhaghat & Dhuadhar falls.
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| iCampers ready for Bedhaghat & Dhuadhar falls |
We took a boat ride and with it heard some amazing filmi commentary.
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| Diver @ Bedhaghat |
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| White Marble Ravines @ Bedaghat |
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| iCampers @ Bedaghat |
After Bedaghat, we all reached Dhuadhar falls. Huge gushing water falls awaited us there. We all got drenched and played quite a while in the chilled Narmada waters.
We had kandamul, berries, cucumbers, lassi, chat, jalebis and a luch too at Dhuadhar falls. We then left for Kanha. It was a long drive. On the way, we again munched on Mug Bhajis and Mawa Jalebis.
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| Mawa Jalebi |
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| Mung bhaji |
We reached Kanha pretty late in the evening, had our dinner and retired back in to our rooms.
Day 3
We assembled in the lobby at 5 am, had tea and started off for the first ride of the camp. Even though this was not the first ride and that we had seen the tigers in the wild earlier still we all were very anxious and kept our fingers crossed. Every sighting of a tiger in the wild is mesmerizing. We prayed that we witness some of the best sightings. Every ride, our quest was to be the first in the queue at the gates. As soon as we entered the forest we were greeted with an awesome sunrise.
As sun rays lightened the forest darkness, we first saw a pair of jackals playing far off in the open ground.
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| Jackals |
As jeeps spread out in different directions, our quest for sighting a tiger started. We kept ourselves very alert to the slightest indications of any alarm calls, unusual activity in the Jungle or for any tiger pug marks along the trail. Tiger being an apex predator, keeps all other animals on their toes. Animals make peculiar noises (Alarm calls) when they sight a tiger. These alarm calls are different for a tiger than that for a leopard. Tiger is also a solitary animal. A male tiger owns and governs approximately 50 SqKm territory and allows two or three females in his territory. These females have their own exclusive territory. Tigers mark their territories with scratches on tree barks and spraying their urine.
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| Tiger Scratch Marking on tree bark |
They fiercely guard their territories by constant patrolling inside their territory. Tigers love to walk down the trails. This is when they leave the pug marks on the trails. Freshness of these pug marks determines the vicinity of the tiger in the area.
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| Pug Marks - Kankatta Male Tiger |
We saw fresh pug marks of both male as well as female with her cubs along the trails. We also heard numerous alarm calls. We roamed the entire zone, different water bodies in search of the tiger. Finally, we settled near a water hole hoping that the tiger would come by to quench its thirst and we could have its glimpse. We also exchanged information with fellow Jeep riders/enthusiasts, mahoots for any indications of tiger presence. However, the tigers had different ideas and the whole day we couldn't spot them. Its an endless waiting game. You never know, when you decide to leave and the tiger walks in. The wait is interesting though. There is lot to hear about the silence of the jungle. The chirping of birds, langurs playing around, deers passing by etc.
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| Langurs |
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| Garden Lizard |
Eventually, we decided to look out for other animals and birds. We spotted bisons, sambar deer, spotted deers, barasingha's, monkeys and chausinghas (four horned antelope).
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| Spotted Deer |
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| Indian Bison with calf |
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| India Bison (Male) |
If one animal species were to represent Kanha, it would probably be the barasingha, or the swamp deer. The barasinghas at Kanha are unique, being the hard ground variety, which populate the large open tracts of grass amidst the forests of teak and bamboo. Couple of decades ago, the barasingha was faced with extinction but some desperate measures including the fencing-off of some animals helped save them and again the air in Kanha bugle with their rutting calls. Kanha is the only habitat for the Barasingh. The swamp deer differs from all the Indian deer species in that the antlers carry more than three tines. Because of this distinctive character it is designated barasingha, meaning "twelve-tined." Mature stags have 10 to 14 tines, and some have been known to have up to 20.
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| Male Barasingha |
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| Female Barasingha |
We spotted Chausingha, the four horned antelope. Its kind of difficult to spot them in wild as they are solitary animals, although they are occasionally found in groups of up to four individuals . The most distinctive feature of this animal is the presence of four
horns; a feature unique among extant mammals. Only the males grow horns,
usually with two between the ears and a second pair further forward on
the forehead.
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| Chausingha |
At times the forest is dead silent and sometimes it is filled with wide variety of sounds from different animals/birds. Its really amazing experience to witness these sounds. We saw so many pair of Lapwings guarding their nests on the ground.
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| Yellow-wattled Lapwing |
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| Yellow-wattled Lapwing |
The Eurasian stone curlew, Eurasian thick-knee, or simply stone-curlew is a northern species of the bird family. It occurs throughout Europe, north Africa and southwestern Asia. It is a summer migrant in the more temperate European and Asian parts of its range, wintering in Africa.
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| Eurasian thick-knee |
We found the Indian nightjar in the morning ride as well as the evening ride at the same exact location. It is very characteristic of them lie still on the ground through out the day. Thy camouflage very well with the ground making them very hard to spot. It flies mostly after sundown.
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| Indian nightjar |
The common hawk-cuckoo, popularly known as the brainfever bird, is a medium-sized cuckoo resident in the Indian subcontinent. It bears a close resemblance to the Shikra, even in its style of flying and landing on a perch. During summer months, before the monsoons, the males are easily detected by their repeated calls but can be difficult to spot. The call is a loud screaming three-note call, repeated 5 or 6 times, rising in crescendo and ending abruptly. It is heard throughout the day and frequently during moonlit nights. It sounds very similar to "Brainfever" or "Perte Vha (marathi word)". Some say that the farmers start preparing for sowing(Pernya) as these calls are heard before the monsoon and resembling "Perte vha" (Start sowing).
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| Common hawk-cuckoo (Brainfever) |
We saw numerous raptors, owls and vultures.
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| Crested-hawk Eagle |
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| Shikra |
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| Serpent Eagle |
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| Brown fish owl |
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| Vulture |
We came across a very rare species of raptor called Jerdon's Baza. We presumed it to be a crested-hawk eagle. However, we were corrected by a Danish enthusiast that it was Jerdon's Baza. He had studied this bird in detail and has even written a book on it.
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| Jerdon's Baza |
Day 4
Next day, we were hoping to catch the glimpse of the elusive tiger. We started out for our morning ride watching out for pug marks and alarm calls. We saw a jungle cat hiding in the thick grass. We extremely delighted as Jungle cats are extremely rare to spot.
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| Jungle Cat |
As we moved ahead, we saw conspicuous pug marks of a male tiger. We were in the territory of the Munna tiger. We roamed the entire zone in search of Munna but we couldn't find him. It was about time to head-back to the center point and resume the later half of the morning ride. We were reluctant but had to leave. On our way back we saw very fresh pug marks of a male tiger and they were different from Munna's. The guide immediately said it might be of Kankatta, another aggressive male tiger. The pug marks were very fresh and we started looking out for Kankatta. At a juncture, we took a right turn and immediately our guide spotted Kankatta crossing the road behind us. What an awesome sight it was. Huge male tiger Kankatta, the real king of the jungle, unperturbed by the presence of the jeeps around him, walked silently and gracefully in the thickets. kankatta is a ferocious, aggressive and a huge male tiger. He is collared too.
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| Royal Bengal Male Tiger (Kankatta) |
It was an awesome sighting though it lasted on a few moments. We had a quick breakfast at the center point and resumed our remainder of the ride. Very were very much contended. We spotted quite a few Sambar deers.
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| Male Sambar Deer |
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The fourth day evening ride was the most astonishing jungle rides we ever had. We witnessed something phenomenal. At about 4 pm, the thundering clouds gathered and it turned pretty dark. The wind was blowing very fast. The dry leaves of the Saal tree were flying all around. It started raining heavily. After the initial drops, we could smell the Petrichor, the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The sweet fragrance made us extremely fresh. We wrapped our cameras in the bags and enjoyed this heavenly experience.
Day 5
Third day morning was our last ride. Kanha is extremely picturesque and we wanted to witness its famous meadows, landscapes and water bodies. Shravan Taal, the famous lake from epic Ramanayan, still exists inside Kanha. The lake is errie and still surrounded by thick and dense trees all around. A female tiger roams nearby this lake.
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| Naktighati |
We were late to reach the Shravan taal. We noticed most of the jeeps had witnessed an awesome tigress sighting. We were dejected. We were in the final hour of our last ride. We wandered around the zone in search of that tigress but in vain. As we were waiting at a secluded spot for this tigress, our driver suddenly saw the tiger tail and we reached the spot. We were extremely delighted to see the tigress. This was the different tigress. Never the less we were ecstatic. It sat around for a while and then vanished in to the woods. We could see an injury mark on its left eyebrow. It might have been from a territorial fight with another tigress. Our guide told us that this tigress had recently delivered cubs.
We spotted numerous birds during five rides across three days.
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| Lesser Adjutant Stork |
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| Red-flame back Woodpecker |
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| Indian Roller |
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| Red Jungle Fowl |
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| Emerald Dove |
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| Prinia |
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| Peacock |
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| Dancing Peacock |
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| Little Cormorant |
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| Racket-tailed Drongo |
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| Black Hooded Oriole |
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| Scarlet minives |
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| Vulture in flight |
Kanha is one of the most beautifully maintained tiger reserves. On a full moon night, in the open air theater at the main gate, we watched a documentary film made on tiger conservation. The film is very honestly made. Still a long way to go but we should appreciate that a lot has been done to save the tiger and we are seeing positive results in the census.
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| Full moon night in the forest |
