Expect the Unexpected - Tadoba - Feb 2016 - Camp 22 (By Shreya Kulkarni)

When the cold harsh winter has given its last breath,
When the sky above shows life instead of death,
When the claws reaching to the frozen sky become decorated with leaves,
When the animals in-long hiding scurry from trees,
We know winter has ended...

These lines by Camille Gotera exactly depict Tadoba in spring time. Spring is one the best seasons to visit forests. But one more element is necessary for awesome sighting. That is, of-course.. immense luck and your patience. When luck and season favors you, well, this is what you get...

This was a dream come true for iCampers. Watching Sonam and her three cubs along with their father Bajarang, playing in the water was a sight worthy of a national geographic documentary. Thanks to Guru Kaka for the amazing pictures..


As we were waiting near the water hole to see if there is any movement, are there any calls.. And to our surprise the royal male tiger Bajrang, came from the hillock and went into the pond to drink water. After some time he settled inside the pond to cool down. Thereafter Sonam the famous tigress of Tadoba came with her cubs as we started counting her cubs from one to three. They all drank water together. Cubs were in playing mood and saw their father on other side of the pond. They immediately rushed towards him and started playing with him. It was really fascinating to see the cubs playing in the water with Bajarang.

Bajarang, cooling down in the pond

Sonam arrived in same pond with her cub

Both were drinking water and the other 2 cubs followed them

One more cub joined them

And one more!

Though it was not possible to capture all five of them in a single frame, the memories of all five of them would stay with us forever.


We were very happy and thought that this was the most amazing sighting for the camp. But what we saw the next day was totally unexpected and took our breath way...

Maya the queen of Pandharponi chasing a Sambar deer and dragging it along one of our gypsies.

The story goes along with the sighting shows the importance of patience and instincts. It was an afternoon ride and we had not seen anything.. A gypsy with full day permit, said that their were calls at point 97. We and other 5 gypsies along with 2 of iCampers gypsies waited there for about 1 1/2 hr. The heat was making all of us miserable...

Firstly two wild boars came to drink water and went away.

Wild boar at Water Hole

After that two Sambar deer and their fawn came for a drink. We thought that, these animals are so casually coming and drinking water, that the chances of sighting a tiger were extremely scarce.. And so we left that place. 

Sambar Deer and Fawn at the same water hole

No one knew that this could be the last live picture of the fawn!

But those who were more patient, got to see something very special, very rare. Not many have seen such an incidence in their life. They witnessed a kill in the wild..

After we left in 10 minutes, out of no where, Maya the bold tigress, pounced on the Sambar fawn. Girish Kaka and Mom's gypsy saw her following the fawn but the fawn escaped inside the thicket. The action was so quick that none of the photographers could catch it in their cameras. Many calls were heard thereafter but we could not see the action behind the thick foliage. After hearing the calls many gypsies around the scene, started moving in the direction of calls. To our surprise, Guru kaka's gypsy got to see Maya dragging the fawn across the road. Once again it was Guru kaka to witness and click these snaps.

And she killed it

And dragged it away from us, towards her tiny cubs...

This camp was a huge success. Two big stories, some good clicks of the king and the queens in action. We all were absolutely thrilled by these experiences.

But as always the case, the Jungle gives the unique pleasure of watching the birds. This time, we could capture many raptors in camera. We could capture them in action at times...

Crested Serpent Eagle

Crested Serpent Eagle Calling

White Eyed Buzzard

Crested Hawk Eagle / Changeable

Black Shouldered Kite Taking off

This is why I am called Black shouldered Kite

Concentration

We had also seen few other birds as always!! We were pleased to see the black stork this time! It is a widespread, but uncommon, species that breeds in the warmer parts of Europe, across temperate Asia and Southern Africa. It was nice experience to see this migratory guest in Tadoba.

Black Stork

Bronze Winged Jacana

Great Egret waiting patiently at Tadoba Lake

Little Bee Eater

Grey Jungle Fowl

Orange Header Thrush

Rufouse-tailed Lark

The marshy area hosts the oldest species of the world.. The crocodile. Here we had seen some giant crocodiles. One of them had a great lunch as we could see her red tooth in the photograph.

Crocodile in Tadoba Lake

Do you see my Red Tooth

Seeing the black vegetarian giants in white socks is unique fun. The muscular male Indian Gaur invites every photographer to click!! They grow up to 1.5 tonnes! But the 300kg king can kill and drag it for miles.. Wild life is just amazing!!

Male Gaur

And the younger one!

Jungles never disappoint a nature lover. There is always something new for photographers. May you be having telephoto lenses or wide angle! The jungle gave equal opportunity to landscape lovers!

Sun Set

Silhouettes

The long dirt track, hope someone will cross it...

Through the Bamboos

This is one more camp in which everyone got to see the king! This once again proved, Tadoba doesn't disappoint iCampers!! The next day baba's gypsy got to see Bajarang at same place where Guru kaka had seen him with Sonam and cubs!!

Bajarang - Male tiger

But the trip truly becomes successful when you have a great group!! And as always,we did...
We enjoyed everywhere every time. The youngest of our gang was real pleasure. They did not want to part after reaching Pune and cried loudly when we see-offed everyone!! What a Camp!!

Breakfast at Nagpur

Getting Ready for ride 1

Dinner !!

Our Gang!

Playing in the train!

And the youngest of them all wants to drive 4x4

Picture credits - Gurunath Gholap, Kedar Kulkarni

Special thanks to Ninaad Joshi for editing the pictures!

Thanks all friends for reading my blog till the end!!

Tadoba - Kids Camp - Author - Arpita Kulkarni (Camp 16)

It all started a year ago. All the parents wanted a camp for their kids.Accordingly iCampers planned a student's special camp. All the kids were eagerly waiting for the camp. Different place, away from parents & moreover new friends.....quite interesting & adventurous!!!!
       
And finally the day arrived:7th may 2015....time to say Good bye to parents. Everyone was very excited.We boarded the train & the fun filled moments begun. It was 7 in the evening and all kids were bored by the talks, so we decided to play cards....

The jokes,the pun, the fun and what not.....a truly exciting journey...Even though the kids were not familiar with each others, they adjusted within no time...and i got many new friends...Although i was the eldest, I was enjoying myself with all the kiddy gang.

 
Dhriti, the youngest one, was so happy to climb onto the upper birth....A smile of satisfaction gleamed over her face....

After a long time of enjoyment,quite naturally we all were hungry...so had our dinner..very tasty...yummy...n the joy of dining with new friends is truly mesmerizing.

Enjoying dinner....!!!..truly an amazing  experience to dine with friends...

Time to sleep....Good night..

On 8th may we started our journey to our resort...which was in the buffer zone. wow...we were very excited to stay in the buffer zone....a joy of reaching our destination gleamed over our faces...

masti...majak....aur bahot kuch....

Finally we reached our resort....refreshed ourselves....n were very excited for our first jungle safari!!!! After having our lunch....all of us had a power nap for getting charged up.As the temperature was quite high...we had put on scarfs , suncoats to keep ourselves cool....and it was time for our first jungle safari....we all were seated in our gypseys eagerly waiting to capture the moments of the wild........

Day 1: We had one safari on day 1. But this was the most memorable one. Actually, it was icing on the cake.We sighted 3 tigers. This is very rare.....one has to wait for long time for sighting a tiger...and all the kids sighted 3 tigers; Gabbar, Maya  and Tyson on the first day itself..Also,we got to see numerous varieties of birds.Eventually,our exceptions soared high.

Crested Hawk Eagle

The crested hawk eagle gave a great pose..

Monitor Lizard

A species of lizard...quite contrast to the one we often see....

Gabbar Cooling Down

Firstly, we sighted gabbar...in the tadoba lake....who was cooling down . He was far away, but he was the first tiger which was sighted ...so all were very happy..

P2.. Maya

Maya, the only dashing tigress...which is sighted the most....Coming out of water...

Maya

Tyson is the biggest tiger in Tadoba......firstly we sighted Tyson in the thicket....later it crossed the thicket and was cooling down in a small pond...later on it started coming towards the road.....its exciting to see a tiger when it is quite away from us....but when it starts moving towards you....especially the biggest one....then even i turned into a color pale green..Some shots of Tyson taken by Kedar Kulkarni while it was crossing the road..

Tyson

Tyson

Eye to Eye

lo!!!!!eye to eye contact!!!!

Royal

How great it is to capture the royal Tyson!!

Crossing Road

Great shades of colours seen on the fowl....which enhances it's beauty.

Grey Jungle Fowl

It was 7 when we reached our resort...all the kids were excited to share the pics captured by them and tell about their safari...everyone had many queries and Kedar mama solved it and also gave additional information about  the wild.....this increased our excitement as well....
   
Our dinner was the best....paneer, fryums....and butter milk were the favourite items....all the kids were very excited for the next safari hoping some better sighting....like the first safari... 

Finally it was time to sleep....

Good Night

Day 2:All the kids were instructed to get up at 4 in the morning...we got a wake up call and everyone got ready for the next safari....very excited for sighting something new....

The sun was shining in its full glory...

but everyday is not the same....on day 2 we spotted  birds....and a few kids spotted a tiger....but we didn't get to see much variety...

Although we didn't spot a tiger, we got to see many birds and enjoyed birding...

Good Morning

Wild Boar

Brainfever

Eurasian Thicknee with Chick

Brhmini Starling

Airborne

The swift glider.....truly airborne....

Spotted Dove

Paradise Flycatcher - Male

Tadoba is truly a paradise for paradise flycatcher....

Honey Buzzard

Brainfever - troubled by Bulbul

Quite amazing to see the chattering and fights between birds......

Katezari Male cub

Although a cub, it is getting ready to sustain all by itself....a few more days and it will be an all developed tiger.....searching for its own territory and ruling it.....a brave and royal one.

Crested Serpent Eagle

The will to be the best is seen through its eyes.....

Monitor Lizard

Yellow Throated Sparrow

                                                                     sun bird

        

Panting to maintain its temperature....quite common in all  the birds and animals                                                                                                                                                                     

         

                                                            Maya P2
 
walking along the bank.....

                                                                  Amazing moment

So amazing to see a tiger just in front of  its prey....the deer quite alert ....looking at the hunter....as the tiger could attack them at any moment.....

                                                            Indian darter
Day 3: day 3 was amazing for some kids as they got to see a sloth bear which was crossing the road......very rarely a sloth bear can be seen...so it was quite amazing and adventurous....also we got to see the Katezari male cub....which was busy swimming in the pond...among the thicket.....it was difficult to spot it...as it was camouflaged in the  bamboos......

                                                                Red wattled lapwing

The innocence can be seen ............

Peafowl.
Blessed with natural beauty.........

Through the Bamboos

Amazing Road

Its an amazing experience to enter the wild habitat.....

Jungle is not just about animals

This is a historic pillar which was built for the king Gond while crossing the jungle at night.....the top used to be lit with the help of lanterns......which would light up the jungle at night....

But they cut their road at times

Finally, it was time to say bye to the jungle and return back...but in these we got to make many new friends...got to know how the wild habitat is....and were returning back home with a package full of sweet memories ,the fun, the pranks...and moreover....a great eye for the wild.

This was our group...the sweetest and naughtiest one...although we were returning back....we were happy to be a part of the camp....taking back a big suitcase of sweet memories...which just can't be washed away from our minds....it was great fun to be a part of the camp....a big thanks to Kedar mama and team for organizing the camp....hoping the next camp to come soon.


Bird List -

Cattle egret	Red wattled lapwing	Jungle myna
Red avadavat	White breasted kingfisher	Common tailorbird
Little brown dove	White breasted waterhen	Ashy crowned sparrowlark
Spotted dove	White bellied drongo	Crested serpant eagle
Little green bee-eater	Alexandrine parakeet	White throated fantail
Intermediate egret	Bramhiny starling	Ashy drongo
House crow	Eurasian golden oriole	Common blue kingfisher
House sparrow	Grey junglefowl	Common hawk cuckoo
Rock pigeon	Indian peafowl	Pallid harrier
Jungle prinia	Rose ringed parakeet	Sirkeer’s malkoha
Oriental magpie robin	Black rumped flameback	Eurasian stone curlew
Red vented bulbul	Purple sunbird	Purple rumped sunbird
Red whiskered bulbul	Asian koel	Montague’s harrier
Ashy prinia	Common myna	Oriental darter
Long tailed shrike	Red spurfowl	Dusky crag martin
Indian robin	Black crowned night heron	Bay backed shrike
Paddyfield pipit	Brown cheeked fulvetta	Oriental turtle dove
Black hooded oriole	Yellow footed green pigeon	Black headed ibis
Tickell’s blue flycatcher	Orange headed thrush	Pied kingfisher
Jungle babbler	Grey hornbill	Indian little nightjar
Indian roller	Greater coucal	Skykes lark
Rufous treepie	Plum headed parakeet	Crested treeswift
Crested hawk eagle	Racket tailed drongo	Brown fish owl
Asian paradise flycatcher	Indian pitta	Marsh harrier
Oriental honey buzzard	Black naped monarch	Amur falcon
Black drongo	Shikara	Black kite
Little cormorant	Black shouldered kite	Lesser adjutant stork
Little egret	Lesser whistling ducks	Bank myna
Pond heron	Jungle crow	Common hoopoe
Black ibis	Eurasian collard dove	Baya weaver
Asian openbill	Great egret	Bronze winged jacana
White eyed buzzard	Yellow throated sparrow	Indian shag

Thanks Everyone for reading this!!
Arpita Kulkarni