Live from the Indian Jungles

looking for lizzi and ended up with python

2008-04-09T08:09:31Z

"Haavu!" shouted Thavrgatte and jumped over a small stream, i have never seen anybody jump instantly so high!. Thavrgatte had a obvious reason to jump, he almost stepped on a huge python!!. Thavrgatte a forest guard at Bandipura National park, with him another guard and my friend Murthy and myself we were at Gopalswamy betta (hill) in Bandipura on a short trek. The jungle was at its best with lush green after few pre-monsoon showers . Murthy and myself met up with Thavrgatte in his make shift camp under a rock in the hill which is their anti-poaching camp in the morning and had jaggry tea over looking jungle and the blue mountains which is no wonder called Nilgiris as they look blue from far and Bandipura forms part of its Biosphere Reserve.
After Tea we set out for the trek where Thavrgatte got his double barrel gun and said 'today i will show you tiger and we can get close to elephants i am not sacred of anything in the jungle as i am born and grown here'. Thats true this forest was his home and not only he knew the area well but had amazing experience as he was also ex- Veerappan informer, poacher and every time i used to pull his leg by mentioning Veerappan's name he used to get angry. Now as he is a changed man he is appointed as forest guard.
As we trekked down from the camp few 100mts i saw fresh sets of tracks near a small spring on wet mud, it had claw marks with tail dragging. It was unmistakable tracks big monitor lizard and as i showed it to others Thavrgatte got very excited and said 'i will track it and we can catch and you can take picture of us with it and release it!', 'ok lets track it' i said. We split to track in wide area as the tracks went into under growth, i went straight to small rocks which was next to bushes and as i was looking there Thavrgatte called ' saar its here' and as i turned around thats when he jumped like no man has jumped!!. laying still in the undergrowth was this huge python and it looked like it had eaten something just then.

Probably the lizard which we were looking for?!. May be it, as the swollen part of the snake looked like longish and big, like big monitor lizard!. And i have met , seen and heard about many tribals, they all are brave and not afraid of anything in the bush but snakes!.

The snake was a beautiful specimen of easily 9-12ft long. And as we were close, it had taken its striking position. All of them were insisting me to catch for which i refused as it may regurgitate due to stress.

I asked them come little closer and have a good look before we leave this snake alone to digest its meal which would easily last for many days and also took few of these pictures with my film camera and many months later these pics were scanned and i had lost the cd until recently i found it.

I am missing those Bandipur days trekking in the forest and seeing these amazing things on foot.
Later that days trek Thavrgatte kept looking at me and smiling, recalling the incident.

Tigers: Spy in the Jungle!

2008-04-08T14:56:25Z

Finally one of the best footage so far on Tigers is out last month 'Tigers: Spy in the Jungle'.
It was filmed here at Pench for nearly 3 years! Made by one of the best media company John Downer Productions ltd .
When ever i used to meet them in the park while driving i used to ask how is it coming? whats new footage they got? when it will be ready?, and i had visualized what ever they said and imagined how it looks whenever the tigers moved close to those low level cameras they used. now waiting to see it.
Geff who is amazing with his engineering, creating new camera equipment every day making and fixing it in the field and Mike cameraman always on elephant following the tigers and filming them.

Geff with his new invention

Mike driving Geff using his new invention.

I guess soon it will be released in India and i am sure Pench is already getting popular in Europe as its already aired there.

The 2 female and 2 male cubs in this movie are now adult and independent. Females have formed territory in their mother's territory and males are not sure where they go and come but they are seen once in a while.

Check out few clippings at John Downer Productions ltd

After long time.....Visiting places

2008-03-13T17:34:27Z

After long time i visited few places and also trying to update my blog.
I came home from Pench after few months, met up with my old school friend shivakumar_l and made quick visits with him and Jayanth to Ranganatittu, Bandipur, stayed in Mudumali, made a quick trip to Ooty for some endemic birds and a afternoon boat safari at my fav place Kabini backwaters.And all these in 2 days.
Ranganatittu Bird Sanctuary was good, got this croc shot. They are so used to people they dont even bother a little.

At Bandipur did not see much but i was happy to visit the park and see few friends and felt really good for just being there where i work and learned a lot about the jungle. Kabini was good again to meet old friends and another place where i used work. Saw lot of crocs and Jayanth & Shiv managed to get great shots of Osprey.

I am back at Pench now, but before comming back managed to do some quick trips Maidanhalli black buck sanctuary for the Antelopes, foxes & birds. Drove to Honavar for Olive Ridley Turtle hatchings! and from there to Daroji for Bear with Cubs!. Will post all these and more soon.
btw got glimpse of a tiger today evening ;)

Courting Leopards!

2007-02-19T17:20:43Z

This winter looks like a season of cats for me. Big cats. Now that I've settled in the Pench National Park and doing safaris more often, it is getting real interesting. Here, sightings of large predator the Tiger is not as common as in Bandhavgarh or in Kanha but there are good densities of wild dogs and the elusive, adaptable, little big cat - the leopard!

Leopards are the most successful of big cats. One of the reasons is that they are shy and secretive. That helps, especially in places where its bigger cousin, the Tiger, reigns supreme and also where ever it is close to human settlements. They are not easy to see and you always get fleeting glimpse or hear that unforgettable sawing call.

An early morning, a few weeks ago, we were driving in an area called ‘Jodamunara’. While driving in this area, the eye wouldn’t miss the huge black rocks and boulders which are all over the place. The road winds like a snake with ups and downs since it's a hilly terrain. I was keeping an eye on rocks, as my first sighting of a leopard in Pench happened just there late last year. We came to a turning, when suddenly our guide shouted leopard!Less than a hundred meters ahead I saw one leopard jump off from a small boulder which was on the roadside. Then we saw another and that was still on the same rock. Two leopards!! WOW! I immediately asked the car to be stop. Himanshu, my colleague, who was driving stopped the vehicle and I asked him not to move till they are comfortable by our presence. The one that jumped was much smaller compared to the one that was on the rock and with quick look through binoculars we conformed smaller one was female and big one was a male. A courting pair!

The female was very young compared to male. We think that this might be her first courting. She was shy as she hid behind a tree. The male looked old and had bad wounds on his face and chest. There was fresh blood on his face. The wound was probably caused by the female, as leopards, and all big cats in general, tend to be aggressive while mating. Poor old guy had been clawed on his
face by the desperate young female. Seth, the Head Ranger from CCAfrica Phinda of South Africa, who was with us for five weeks to train us was with me. Looking at the swollen face of the leopard, we came to this conclusion: When female is in estrus, she advertises by sawing. Sawing is a way where leopards call for marking territory or for mating. It is fairly loud, similar to the sound of a saw cutting wood but difficult to explain in writing! This sawing along with the scent marking of the female would have attracted another male from different territory. And it was quite possible that both the males would have fought during the previous night.And when the male leopard jumped off the rock in the end we actually saw him limping. So, it must have been a fight with another male and few on the face may be courting fight with the female.

Anyway, we slowly approached the couple to get a good look at them. The male was not at all bothered by us but the female looked nervous. I had a little knowledge of leopards, but Seth has amazing experience with them since he does specialist safaris there which deal with tracking leopards! We knew the female would come back eventually. We waited there patiently and now we were less than twenty meters from the leopards.

The female who was moving around was now getting a little comfortable she came into our full view making loud purr.

She came much closer without taking the eyes off us and then right under the rock. The male hardly reacted to her.

Then she jumped on the rock going back and forth around the male, who was basking his face to sun where he was bleeding.

She then started snarling at him... and in few seconds she made her move for the obvious the position.( The courting leopards! my fav shot!)

Then they mated.

A few seconds later it was over.

Both jumped off the rock and we could see the male limping as he went behind rock sat into the grass.

We waited for few minutes and the female came back purring again. The male got up and followed her into the small valley behind the rocks. As they moved we heard chital alarm calls from the valley. They may mate for few more days, after that both will go separate ways though she will be in his territory, for he gives protection for the cubs. So if i am luckier than this i may see the cubs too in few months time!

This was Seth's, mine and most of the others' best leopard sighting ever.

Just Tigers!

2006-10-29T08:42:53Z

I was in Bandavgarh National Park in central India from end of June till the begining of August for a training and selection camp of my new Job with Taj and CCAfrica lodges called Taj Wilderness Lodges. Unlike back in Karnataka where parks are opened through out the year, most states in India close their parks for two to three months during the monsoons. June 30th was the last day at Bandavgarh and I happened to be there just few days before the park closed and training was to start from first week of July.
On the morning of the 25th July when I entered the park, I had just heard and read about this park. It was mainly about Tiger sightings here but the forest was more indeed beautiful than I imagined - the grasslands, rocky hills, many small streams, huge Mahuwa and Sal Trees, the great fort with plenty of vultures nesting on the cliffs. Ten minutes in the park I saw my first Red Junglefowl and the bird life too seemed to be fascinating. Then came the news from other jeeps, obviously, about a tiger but not just about one but quite a few which were seen by that jeep and others. We also got to that spot, but by the time they had disappeared. In a few minutes though, we did see a big male crossing the road ahead of us and very close to one of the jeeps and rested under a tree in
thick bush not too far away from the road. After this, believe it or not, I saw five more tigers in two different places and that morning twelve different individuals were sighted in the tourism zone!

Seeing a tiger is very different from what I was used to before - track the alarm calls and wait till you get to see the tiger or have a chance encounter with it. Every time down south was thrilling. Out here, to see a crowd of forty jeeps and a tiger sitting peacefully on a rock close by, not at all bothered by the the commotion down below is much different from what I was used to. One thing is for sure is that you have very good chances of seeing their behavior - cubs playing with each other and their mother, courting behaviour and of course, if you are lucky you could witness the most exciting behavior which we always dream off, that is hunting!

I was lucky to witness one hunt by a dominant male tiger of the tourism zone called B2! It was in the morning safari when we had chosen a track which goes alongside of the park boundary. Just a few kilometers down we found a convey of Jeeps on the track - obviously following a tiger! As we went closer, I got my first glimpse of this impressive big tiger crossing the road from right to left and that too between the jeeps. As I told you, we were on a track which was parallel to Park boundary which was to our left, the other side of the boundary was agricultural fields and a village. The forest cover to the boundary side was just 50-100 meters and in some places the road was touching the boundary.

So this tiger was moving from the right of the road towards the left. He came back to right and disappeared to the forest and immediately many jeeps turned around and zoomed past us to go to the road which would lead towards the direction where the tiger had moved. We decided to stick our route as we did not want get into rat race with other jeeps and discomfort the tiger. We went ahead for a kilometer or so and our park guide said that we should wait there for a few minutes as there was a good chance of that tiger appearing there. As we waited another jeep came and stopped and the guide in that jeep said the tiger may come here in few minutes and believe it or not, the tiger actually crossed right behind us! He walked parallel to us in the forest as we followed him on the road. He was looking inquisitively towards the park boundary side and as we covered few hundred yards he suddenly came from a bush from the boundary side sneaking towards forest cover (you can see tha in the second picture below). He did so because he saw cattle herders on the other side of the boundary! There was another jeep up front, in which a very experienced guide told us, seeing cameras in our hands, to 'get ready for he is eyeing one of the cattle as he looks like he is hungry.' I did not believe it for a moment but these guys know better, so we stopped and watched him reappear on the road and stared at us for few seconds and walked on the road when we decided to give him lot more space as he may hunt! Now the road was joining the boundary and as it was curving to left, he disappeared while we waited for few minutes and went ahead. As we came to the curve we saw him stalking along the fence and crouching and I immediately got on top of the jeep and saw he was looking at some cattle on the other side of the fence which were pretty close to him as you can see in the picture below. In a few seconds he just went below the fence and jumped the small rubble stone wall and I got a glimpse of him charging a calf and jump on it! Other calves ran and because of thick bushes, I could not see anything more and within a minute he jumped back on the rubble wall with one calf. As we had read about cats jumping good heights and were wondering if he could jump with the calf and the guide said he may throw the calf inside!! However, he just came down in the gap between the rubble wall and the fence and tried to push through
the fence. At this time the calf was still alive, so he killed it there and to our surprise he just left his kill and walked away along the fence. We could not figure out what he is up to? Even as we were thinking, we suddenly saw him coming some fifty meters ahead of us walking on the road inside the park! He had gone further along the fence and as he knew every inch of his territory he knew there was a big opening in the fence! His stare was on the calf and he just came to it put his mouth through the fence and that time I was wondering how he could pull the calf to get it this side. Many tries I thought but no, in one mighty pull, as you can see, he pulled the calf and carried into the safety of the National Park!

we see him going towards boundary to the left

suddenly coming back to the right after seeing cattle herders

Comes back again and stares at us

we find him looking at the cattle out side the fence

Squeezes under the fence

comes back in a minute with the calf

Kills & squeezes the calf inbetween the fence & rubble wall

Comes back inside the park

one mighty pull

carries off for undistrubed meal

Next day we went and saw the place where he had squeezed through and it was just 6 inches big and where he had dragged the calf was just 3 inches! This behaviour was amazing to watch and of course, he did not kill any wild animal like deer or sambar but it shows how clever the animal is. This fellow even comes into the campus where I work here at Bandhavgarh! Hope I will see him face to face on foot here one day.

Little Big Cat strikes again!

2006-05-13T19:39:59Z

It was in the month of November last year, i had for the very first time set up my camara trap at the resort property and for my luck, the Leopard chose to take the same path that night! It was the same day that the constructions workers also started their work, so i felt that the leopard would not pass again.Many camera nights passed by, I got the smallest of all wild cat – Rusty Spotted Cat, Civet Cat, Mongoose & few birds, but not the Leopard. Two months later, I could smell a strong Scent mark of a large cat in one of the small trails. "Ok! so it is visiting occasionally", I thought. To add to the signs, a few weeks later, I found a very old scat on a trail at the edge of the property bordering a sugarcane field.
From last two months, a small village settlement close to us which has sugarcane fields, were reporting of finding pugmarks of a possible Leopard in the fields & they had reported the same to the Forest Department. Later in mid last month, i.e. April, late evening at 7pm I got information that a Leopard had been sighted at Kabini Foundation which is situated between our place and the main village. I rushed there with powerful flashlight but was not able see, 2 hrs later Shivappa who was going back to his house with another villager saw the leopard close to the village.

Our Property is not directly connected with the forest, which may be less than 4kms as the bird flies. However, they are all covered by Agricultural fields and these fields are cultivated seasonally & others which are grown through out the year are sugarcanes as they have water pumps. The boundaries of these fields are with thick Lantana & other thorny bushes, which makes ideal home for Wild boars, hares, civets, mongooses & of course to our Leopard.

There is pleanty of space for the leopard, so it is living in and around the resort for quite sometime. But what is it surviving on ?? The first thing came to my mind was Village dogs which are in plenty. This was confirmed yesterday!

It rained heavily day before evening for a few hours & in the early hours of the darkness, the Leopard had made a kill - A black dog from the village just a km from our property that too someone's Pet! It dragged it all the way from there to our place through the ploughed fields & to the mud road & again on an open dry field & finally into the bamboos. Here it left the kill half eaten, it had finished only the stomach. One of our staff coming early morning saw the pugmarks & the drag mark & informed me and the other people. Before I went to check, they had followed the drag and had found the kill.
"It was 12'o clock now, so I guessed it had made a kill early in the morning as it had eaten only the stomach part & left, so it will come back to night", i thought. I knew it is hiding in the sugarcane field or in our property itself. I thought of setting up the camera trap at 3 pm, as i still had to charge the batteries. Also the people were talking aloud, so i thought that the leopard would not return just as yet. We left & I told every on not come here again as I was going to set up the camera.
At 3 pm I went to the spot carrying the trap with my friend to find the carcass was missing! I was totally surprised ! I couldn't believe that the leopard had come after we left & taken the kill! I could not find the kill as it had lifted it completely & disappeared. I searched around to find small heaps of dried leaf litter scraped up. Initially I thought it's a left over kill covered by the leopard, but usually the Tiger's do that. When I opened it , it had old scats & a small bones! So, its clear that this leopard is making regular kill and eating it here. I set up the trap in front of those heaps as I thought it may come to scent mark. i checked today morning but I found nothing other than a wild boar pic. Close to it i found the black fur of the dog but nothing else. So I left the Camera Trap near by to try my luck. While coming back Byra who was accompanying asked 'Sir, if it's around one day it may attack & eat us? Isn't it?'. So I said' don't worry Byra they wont eat Junk Food!'.

Lightening

2006-05-09T07:58:42Z

It was like someone setting off a powerfull camera flash close to my eye, when this Lightening stuck last month.I was blind for a few seconds. Late evening as i came back from safari there were thunder clouds formed, here & there was Lightening. As it was not yet raining i thought i'll give it a try, so with 35mm at 30sec exposure i was trying my luck just placing the camera where ever there was lighting. More than 20 frames, and one by one heavy drops started to hit. i did not get a decent shot. "Ok, i'll try one last frame & will quit", i said to myself & placed the camera east where i saw the last Lightening strike. I guess more than 20sec over when rain drops became more & i thought its time to close the camera & i looked up, then this powerfull Lightening came ! i was overjoyed & checked the result, it showed a completely overexposed frame. It was too powerfull for the exposure i thought & packed. Later when i downloaded & reduced the exposure & brightness in photoshop, i could get this!

Terns & Elephants

2006-04-09T08:33:26Z

I had seen many times birds mobbing a predator; if they can mob & chase away the predator, they may not have to worry being predated & may be they roost there peacefully. Many mob just because it is a predator.
At Kabini backwaters, I happened to see River Terns mobbing Elephants! Of course, Elephants are not predators but they are a problem for the River Terns.
Water is receding at the backwater very fast now, due to which lot of small islands are created. There are new grass sprouting everywhere and Elephants have congregated in good numbers to feed on them. River terns too have come in good numbers to breed in these small islands and to fish. I had heard about Terns mobbing the Elephants but was waiting to see!!

Day before yesterday in the evening safari I saw an Elephant getting into the river from Bandipur side and started swimming towards the island where many Terns have come to breed. I knew if this Elephant swims to the island, the Terns are going to mob so I went closer to watch. When the Elephant was half way through I was thinking whether the Terns are aware of the Elephant coming to the island at all. But, before my thought finished I saw Terns gathering from the island and coming towards the swimming Elephant making lot of noise, which was still 30mts from the island! In few seconds, the elephant started to get agitated & started to throw up its trunk! It finally reached the island and stood still for sometime, the terns did not come. But as soon as the Elephant started to move many Terns came and started mobbing and the Elephant. The giant got agitated even more and it started shooing the terns around it by throwing its trunk up & side ways, also chased them! It was a funny sight but for Terns it was not. Right now there are no eggs or chicks, they have just started choosing a suitable place to nest. But when they have eggs later, the chicks may get trampled by the Elephants! Yesterday I saw a small herd on the island, even they were mobbed. This will continue through out this season .

Are Elephants sensitive enough! Will they avoid crushing? As terns nest here, every year it's become an yearly affair. Few may die & many may survive too. Hope to see chicks growing up & elephants avoiding them.

Otter day!

2006-01-23T09:18:09Z

Last Thursday, I was on a boat safari early in the morning, as the jeep safari was closed due to tiger census. I was with Mr. Ken Fields, a birder from London, who was searching for Malabar Pied Hornbills along the riverside. We had entered the forest and still could see the villages when we noticed a small mongoose like animal on the bank, which immediately dived into the water and its head bobbed up! It was an Otter!
I was seeing one after a long time and we immediately switched off the engine of our noisy motor boat. Usually these guys are shy and they disappear quickly but this fellow was rather inquisitive and was
swimming around us. He caught a fish, a small one, right in front of our boat and then he then came really close to us from behind when I got this photograph! This was my closest and best otter sighting ever.

Then, we went further and saw another otter resting on the submerged tree stump and even this one was not scared of us! Later, while returning from the safari, we saw three more otters at the same place.
They were swimming back and were smaller than the ones we saw in the morning. Five different otters in a day!

However, we came back to the lodge with out seeing the Hornbills - which was our primary objective. In the evening, we were joined by Mr. Mohan, deponti and amoghavarsha, . We saw a crocodile disappearing into the water after some basking in the evening sun when Byra noticed more Otters on Bandipur side!! As we went closer, we noticed that there were four of them, feeding on a big fish. This was an Otter day!
Soon, we heard Langur monkey giving alarm calls - surely a predator was around. And then we heard Tiger roar! As we were waiting for the elusive big cat, we finally saw two Malabar Pied Hornbills flying across the river from Kakankote(Nagarhole) to Bandipur.

Natural buoyancy, four strong pistons & a snorkel!

2005-12-26T17:43:15Z

Few weeks back I was on boat safari, at backwaters of Kabini. As we had good rains that lasted long this year, the lake was full and not many animals were coming to the water.
By evening we had seen couple of crocs basking in the evening sun soaking up energy as much as they can, a few herds of chital, a pair of Malabar Pied Hornbills and lots of Barn Swallows roosting on the dead tree stumps in the river. As we started heading back, Byra, our boatman, spotted a herd of eight Elephants on Bandipur side. We went closer, switched off the engine, and started drifting towards the land, but little away from the herd. The Elephants were not much aware of us initially as the wind was blowing towards our direction. But as we were about 20mts from them they went behind the bamboos. After just a minute or so, as we dint start they came back to the river, started drinking and spraying. There were two calves playing in the water too.

As we were watching, one of them slide and dived into the river, Byra said they might cross the river! 'I doubt it' I said as there is water everywhere, backwater is full and the other side forest is over half a mile! Before I finished thinking, one after another, they all dived and started swimming! Wow! I have seen them swimming in small water holes, and had heard about this river crossing here and of course the swimming at sea between Islands at Andaman & Nicobar. But now its right in front of me! Sometimes its hard to believe but natural buoyancy , four strong pistons & of course a snorkel ! What else does a 3-ton animal need to swim easily? I could see them wobbling, whole body being submerged sometime only head and trunk visible, spraying water and making loud noise. Its something like watching whales!
One of the calf which was just a year old was so much at ease! The herd took around 20mins to swim across over half a mile and safely reach Nagarhole. As we followed, they all ran into the forest, except for one who waited for the last one to reach the shore.. as with the last one there was a calf!
It was one of the best Elephant sightings I have had and as summer comes, I would witness more of this.

My first Tiger!

2005-12-21T06:22:00Z

At last a tiger - the first one after moving from Bandipur to Kapila. The wait of four to five months seemed endless and moreover even managed a decent picture of it.

Two years back when I came to Kabini for the first time with Sarath, I had heard a lot about the jungle, the elephants congregation, amazing birdlife and of course it's reputation for being the best place for big cats in South India.
In my first safari then, we came to this very nalla, it was dry and covered with beautiful bamboos
on either side. As we stopped the jeep a bright colored bird flashed in front of me and went to the bamboo patch where evening light was falling, it was a Malabar Trogon! That too male, perched in open and in evening beautiful light! "Wow!" I thought then, "even if I do not see Tiger its ok, this bird is as great as tiger for me."
Now exactly two years later at the same nalla I got to my first photograph of the Tiger!

In the Morning Mist

2005-12-09T03:32:54Z

snake

2005-12-04T05:34:21Z

Our boatman Byra came running yesterday morning saying there is a snake inside the tyre at the Boat Jetty!
i rushed there with my camera, to find out a non-venomous watersnake (Checkered Keelback) was inside the tyre.
Though non-venomous but bites like crazy! I slowly picked him up and released, took few pics and also made byra to handle it! to get rid of fear!
And I got one of my Best picture of the snake!
I was handling a snake after a long time, it reminds me of my snake-catching days in Bangalore!

little big cat in my backyard

2005-11-21T18:51:56Z

I used to work at Bandipur until recently i.e. Three weeks back, now I am in Nagarhole National Park, Kabini part at this resort called Kapila Wilderness Retreat. Which is actually 60acrs property but only 20acrs is leased out for resort use. This is adjoining the Jungle lodges and village agriculture fields, of course on the banks of Kabini backwaters.
This place has amazing birdlife, reptiles and other wildlife. Mammals recorded on the campus are like monkeys, jackal, hare, Jungle cat, civets, and leopard cat etc. There were few known cases of leopard straying into the village coming here and to Jungle Lodges campus many years back. I got my camera trap last week to get a picture of Jungle cat, as I have not seen it until now and to get to know what all creatures are here in the campus.

If you are coming to our resort, you have to come on the bund for 0.5kms before entering, where the entrance has eucalyptus plantation with very thick lantana bushes. The road inside is very narrow only one car can fit until you reach the reception which is around 200mts. On this road I had seen scat (defecation of a predator), looked more of a smaller cat’s. There were small animal paths crossing this road so I thought I would set my camera trap here. I spoke to Shivappa (Naturalist from the local village who is been working here since 3yrs) about my plan, he suggested one place where he had seen Jungle Cat crossing the road quite a few times.
So yesterday around 3.45pm before going for safari, I set up the camera trap and left hoping that at least I would get a picture of a rat! Because from day before yesterday more than 15 laborers have come to start the construction. These people will be walking on this road to the village and they will not only trigger my camera but also disturb the animals. Honestly, without any expectations I left for safari. On the way, I ask Vikram when he last saw leopard on the campus. He said, he saw its scat 5months back and 3years back he had seen the leopard itself! We also spoke about the incident, which happened few months back where a Tiger had strayed into the agriculture fields just few kms away from the campus and the whole village had gathered making hangama and chasing it out!

We came back from the safari the camera triggered as our jeep passed in front of it, I was happy it was still working coz I had not used for months until now. The computer I am working at reception is hardly 50mts from the camera trap but I cannot see it as the road curves and also coz of vegetation. I was working until 1.30 am; I could hear owl calling and probably jackal also. Went to my room around 2am and crashed.

Morning woke up at 730 asked Lokesh (a trainee Naturalist from local village) to get the trap. He got the trap and left, I opened it casually not excited, saw 34 picture are taken 33 pictures of people and jeep!!

But 2 animal pictures were also there ...one was Common Indian/grey Mongoose taken around 5pm

and another one was ... probably early hours in the morning ...
A little big cat

Knowing animal language

2005-11-20T19:13:39Z

Today in the evening safari, we happened to see two striped-necked mongooses about 60ft away from the jeep. As soon as it saw us, it turned and started going back towards the bush. Through my little experience with animals, I made a sort of squeaking noise, hearing which, one of the mongoose immediately turned back and started coming towards the jeep. It stopped, so I repeated the call again, and it came a little closer. Mr.Vikram, our resort manager, started recording everything on his handy cam. This happened until it came as close as 40ft from us. The other mongoose came back, which probably dint hear I guess, and both took off on the road which led into the thicket.

I have called mongoose quite a few times and most of the time its responded well. The last time was at Bandipur with kalyan but it was a common grey mongoose. It was on the roadside and as soon as we got close, it fled inside, I tried my luck with the call and it came back to such close proximity that we managed to get a good picture of it and I hope Kalyan still has it!

After calling mongoose in the evening, we went further where we could see an elephant going into the bush making some noise, I knew it got scared and there are other elephants of that herd too. We were 30ft from the elephant, which we could not see properly but could hear the twigs breaking. So I thought I'll call…… this time its like dog yelping and rumbling! If you have ever encountered a scared elephant, you would know. As soon as I called, one of the adult cow elephant came out of the bush half, started to smell, and followed by two more with two young calves!

We were there for another five mins, drove 50ft ahead, and stopped. Totally five adult and two calves came to the road where we were earlier and peacefully started grazing!

But sometimes they do charge !!!

kabini backwaters

2005-11-10T19:13:51Z

just checking

Hi!

2005-11-10T18:40:38Z

just reg LJ