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!!

Tempting Tadoba - Dec 2014 - (Camp 13)

Its been long time since the parks were opened and we had not planned any wildlife camp. There were no camps planned in Diwali and Xmas, so we decided to end the year on a great note and planned this quick camp to Tadoba. This time due to the time crunch, we decided to travel by flight to shrink the camp into 3 days and still achieved 4 jungle safaris.

Post announcing the camp, the bookings were finalized in weeks time and all were ready to fly.

Started checking the water bodies from the flight itself :)

From Flight

 
Winter camps are just perfect for photography. Playing with the golden light and fog makes it a magical combination.

As I always say, jungle camps are not just hunting for the big cats but it has many other amazing things to offer. In this blog I have emphasized on the same.

In early morning rides, the water bodies are just too awesome to visit. The landscape around these are just mesmerizing..

Early Morning Fog

Reflections

When the sun comes out with its golden wings, the light traverse through the dense forest making it a superb sight...

Sun Rays

The vehicle passing through the fog and dust in the golden sun rays asks me to click again and again.

iCampers Gypsy

Some roads are so amazing that you cant keep your camera off for longer..

Jamun Bodi

Even a travel on a tar road on the open top vehicle would also be a fun

Early Morning Ride

Sun sets and moon rise are also majestic inside the jungle.

Sun Set at Tadoba Lake

Moon Rise

Some older wooden constructions also make the scene photogenic.

मचाण

Then comes the birds. The jungle has to offer a huge number of birds species that you can get tired of counting. My daughter Shreya, is always with her pen and pad to jot down the birds seen in the camp. Here is the list of birds we saw in this camp

1. House crow
2. Green bee eater
3. Great tit
4. Purple sunbird
5. Tailor bird
6. Bush chat
7. Dusky crag martin
8. Black drongo
9. Indian roller
10. Cattle egret
11. Barn swallow
12. Wire tailed swallow
13. Long tailed shrike
14. Rudyshell duck
15. Spot billed duck
16. Little cormorant
17. Rock pigeon
18. Shikra
19. White breasted kingfisher
20. Black winged kite
21. House swallow
22. Red avadavat
23. House sparrow
24. Pond heron
25. Rose ringed parakeet
26. Spotted dove
27. Laughing dove
28. Jungle babbler
29. Magpie robin
30. Rufous treepie
31. Red wattled lapwing
32. Yellow wagtail
33. Rock bush quill
34. Yellow footed green pigeon
35. Little egret
36. Black headed ibis
37. Peacock
38. Intermediate egret
39. Oriental honey buzzard
40. Red collard dove
41. Ashy prinia
42. Grey headed fish eagle
43. Bronze winged jacana
44. Marsh harrier
45. Jungle crow
46. Black rumped flameback
47. Jack snipe
48. Common kingfisher
49. Plum headed parakeet
50. Alexandrian parakeet
51. White cheeked barbet
52. Black hooded oriole
53. Red breasted flycatcher
54. Sikeers malkoha
55. Crested serpent eagle
56. Grey heron
57. Oriental darter
58. Tikkell's blue flycatcher
59. Bramhiny starling
60. White eyed buzzard
61. Grey jungle fowl
62. Coppersmith barbet
63. White bellied drongo
64. Asia paradise flycatcher
65. White browed fantail
66. Black redstart
67. Black kite
68. Oriental turtle dove
69. Osprey
70. Lesser whistling ducks

Not all were photographed, but there were few I could catch in my camera. 

The Maharashtra state bird, "Yellow Footed Green Pigeon" (हरियाल ) were making the bare tree alive with their movements.
 

Yellow Footed Green Pigeon

Awkward Moments

In Golden Sunlight

Some raptors also show up with their supreme vision on the branch of the tall trees.

Grey Headed Fish Eagle

Water birds were adding to the beauty of the water bodies..

Snipe

Bronze Winged Jacana - Check my foot

Black Ibis

Taking Off

Parakeets also showed up their existence with their tweets and quick flights. And at times you are  not sure what you are going to witness!!

Plum Headed Parakeet Male

Rose Ring Parakeet - Love in the air

Rufous Treepie

Id?

Even after capturing the little green bee-eaters for so many times, every time we see it, my cam clicks it.

Little Green Bee-eater

Little Green Bee-eater

Woodpeckers and Barbets also showed up their beaks on the tall trees

Flameback Woodpecker

Coppersmith Barbet

Most common birds also shine in the golden light 

Magpie Robin

After birds there are insects to grab your attention in the wild. The giant wood spiders are seen in plenty on their huge webs. They are generally found in winters only in these jungles. Females are bigger in size and makes as big as 25-40 sq ft webs

Giant Wood Spider

Then comes the mammals. In winter the babies are too small and are taken care by the mothers. Clicking the shots of this parenthood is also experience in itself.

My baby

Herds at Tadoba Lake

Royal Stag

Injured Sambar Deer

Above all things do add lot of fun to the wildlife camp. And if you have the group like this you dont really need anything else!! The below group photo is clicked by artistic photographer Mukul!! With his permission I am adding this to my blog. This time the mighty German Shepard also made it to the frame!!

My Gang

As a group we enjoyed a lot. Pakoda  and tea post the evening ride was enjoyed before the bigger party at night. We had lot of chats, jokes at the campfire in the night. Children sung songs and poems and were cheered by the elders. Nagpur special गावरान सौजी Chicken made all the non-vegetarian crowd to cheer for...

With all these things to offer, if your luck is better even the big cats do show up. This time I saw 2 big cats but not for photos as they were just ignorant about our existence in their dens. The big male Gabbar was dead asleep when we saw him and decided not to wake up for more than 30 mins. We waited on the site, but there were no signs he getting upon his feet!! Finally we took a record shot and said adieu  to try our luck on other locations.

Gabbar Male Tiger Dead asleep

The mother of 2 cubs also crossed the road in hurry and did not give me any time to focus. Nevertheless seeing the big cat is icing on the cake..

P1 with GPS collar - out of focus

Some of us were so lucky to see the tiger for more than 40 minuets and that too from so close that they clicked the full frame shots from their mobile phones

If you are luckier enough, the spotted beauty also shows up. This time when we were doing some bird watching from our gypsy the female leopard came from the woods and started walking on the road. We followed here for a minute. I was able to catch her in my camera but she refused to turn back. Almost 1 min of following her, she showed her dislike and turned back. 2-3 seconds of time was offered to catch her in cam. I somehow tried to click in hurry to get head shot. Immediately after seeing us, she changed her path and entered into the thick bush and disappeared. But those 2 minuets were worth the whole ride!!

Cat Walk

Eye to eye

Nose to Tail

With lots of great memories, we said goodbye to Tadoba, but not to part for very long. With the promise of coming back soon we concluded our camp.

Thanks all who joined the camp and all those who read this blog!!