Another one to be framed. We had finished our evening safari and were returning, when we saw this pair of tusks from behind the bamboo. Slowly the tusker emerged and we spent the last few minutes of twilight watching him feed on the bamboo. I have converted this to b/w to get that late evening twilight feel in the jungle…
Finally after 3 years of clicking with my DSLR, I finally got an image printed and framed.This is the final edit, resized to be posted on the web. Thanks for viewing 🙂
“Maybe once I get some decent Tiger images, I’ll quit bugging you to go on these jungle visits all the time”
The urge to visit the jungles was getting too unbearable after a long….4 months 🙂
The last time I went there, I got some good images of this guy.
But this had eluded me for a long time….
I somehow made the booking online for 3 days 2 nights at JLR,Bandipur and spent the next one week trying to convince my wife to join me.She was unrelenting, and as the days went by my panic increased and thus I tried the first line.
She was in Bangalore on office work for 2 weeks and I somehow managed to convince her finally to join me. Phew !!!
So we were to spend a long weekend at JLR Bandipur on 17th 18th and 19th Dec 2011….We were last there in Dec 2009.
This time she was to take the Volvo ( Bangalore-Ooty Volvo would drop you right in front of JLR), and i was to drive from Calicut.Usually I take the Calicut-Nilambur-Gudalur-Mudumalai_Bandipur route. But since there was some tension going on between Kerala and Tamilnadu over the Mullaperiyar dam issue , I did not want to take any risk and chose the Calicut-Kalpetta-Gundlupet-Bandipur route.
The ghat roads were in a bad shape , and 4-5 hour traffic jams on the ghats were happening every day. So I left home at 5 :30 am hoping to cross the ghats before the rush starts.Luckily for me there was no traffic and i managed to cross Sultan Bathery by 7 30. Stopped at a small eatery for some nice hot coffee and Appams and egg roast. Got news from Reshma that her bus had not yet crossed Bangalore city limits.
So with lots of time to kill, i decided to visit Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary in Wayanad. It was filled with tourists, and they were being crammed into jeeps for a One hour ride. I had never visited Muthanga before. So I went to the office and asked how much would it cost if i were to hire a jeep for myself.
At Rs. 650 including all charges I thought it was a good deal. So I boarded the jeep. My company for the ride was Vivek, the driver and Madhav, the guide.
Frankly I did not enjoy the drive at all. The guys were good company with a lot of information and anecdotes , but the forest was depressing.I will not go much into detail, but I did see some elephants and spotted deer and the Malabar giant squirrel.
After the safari I headed off to Gundlupet.Reshma asked me to pick her up at the Coffee day there. I had some nice coffee and samoosas, and then dozed off in my car for an hour.I was refreshed by the time Reshma reached, and we drove on towards JLR.
While checking in, we were very happy to see the familiar face of Mr.Nataraj, one of the naturalists at JLR in the office.After exchanging pleasantries, we were shown to our room for the weekend. It was the special cottage,called Hoopoe. Nice, clean and big with a small balcony, and away from the road.
Freshened up and went for lunch.I was not very hungry because of all the eating I did. But the lunch was great. Simple delicious food, excellent courteous staff.
Rested a bit and soon it was time for our evening safari.
Our driver for the evening was Kiran. There were 8 people with us in the jeep excluding the driver. Two of them were 2 young guys from Australia( Adit and Pranav) who had just completed their 12th std and were out to see India.
Our evening safari yielded the usual suspects… Chital, Gaur etc.Unbelievably, one of the guys fell asleep during the safari. The Aussie duo were busy clicking .
We came across a group of Dholes ( wild dogs) midway through the safari, but they were far away running on the jeep tracks.
Perhaps they were on a hunt ??!!!
Anyways opportunity ruined, and the non-photography crowd in the jeep didn’t want to stick around for the Dholes. We returned back to JLR. I was not too disappointed…I was thrilled to be in the Jungle.
Members of an online community Indianaturewatch, of which I also am a part of were there in Bandipur.
Eminent Surgeon and Photographer Dr.Ajit Huilgol and his son Vikram(An ace photographer himself), Suganthi and Rana Belur( makers of the battle of bandipur,search youtube),Saravanan Sundaram( I guess he loves the jungles, shuffling his time between the corporate jungle and the real one), Basavanna of JLR, Anshu Rao and his family and Sabir Chowdhury and his family.
It was great meeting all of them there.
Had a drink and then an early dinner and hit the sack…wanted to be fresh for the morning Safari.
Sunday morning we were up and ready before dawn broke.Infact we were ready even before the JLR staff were awake !!!
We were with Kiran again. With us were Basavanna, Rana and Suganthi, and the Aussie duo.
The early morning ride to get to the jungle was amazing. It was freezing, travelling on the highway in an open jeep at 6 15 AM…
At the forest office there was information that a Tigress ( Gowri) was spotted around 5 45 am at a particular zone,and there were high chances that we might get to see her.
Without wasting much time we zoomed towards that area.Saw some gaur along the way…
Its magical to be in the jungle in the morning in winter.Though the slight mist and the low light were not ideal for handheld photography, the setting was simply awesome.
Basavanna and Kiran scouted for pugmarks, and there were so many going in different directions that it was all very confusing….
Finally we moved on slowly, very alert.The light was becoming better and then suddenly there she was…..
Gowri, the reigning queen of Bandipur was walking on the jeep tracks.She was just majestic.In my excitement I did my now patented “Spraying and Praying”. Got some shots in the camera. And then I settled down, nerves were calmed and carefully clicked some more images. The Hanuman langurs were going berserk on seeing the tigress.She at one point went into the bushes and let out some muted, but oh-so-menacing growls at the langurs. The hair on my neck stood up on its end.
We carefully tracked her till she disappeared into the bushes.Some excellent planning and driving by Basvanna and Kiran made us cross paths with the tigress again.
This time there were 3 more jeeps with us and all of us soaked in the view. The tigress was nonchalant, she had 4 cubs waiting for her and she was not bothered by the jeeps.
She quenched her thirst in the waterhole and went on her way….It was time for us to get out of the jungle and back to our rooms.
What a morning !!!!
Had a hearty breakfast and did some birding around the campus and near The country club, with Mr.Natraj. It was a morning well spent.A short walk yielded, the Red Munias, Green bee-eater and the Chestnut Headed Bee-eater, Peacocks, White cheeked Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, Parrots, Scarlet Minivets, White backed vultures,Pacific swallows, and perhaps an Asian Paradise fly-catcher.
Surprisingly, the jungle safaris yielded very few birds.Only managed to spot a male streak throated woodpecker and this crested serpent eagle.
We returned in time for a great lunch and some well deserved snooze.
Evening safari ( in Kiran’s jeep again) yielded us the barking deer( muntjac) and a few elephants.( Incl. a couple of solitary tuskers).Reluctantly we got out of the jungle again.
Back at JLR, Dr.Ajit showed me some of his images on his Ipad. The man is truly a gifted photographer. Had a light dinner and again tucked in early. I got up sometime in the night and opened the balcony. It was frrrrreeeezing !!!
Early next morning we were ready for our last safari with Kiran.It was considerably more foggy, and the light was low.Saw 2 barking deer together near a salt lick.
Moved on from there and in a couple of minutes we saw THE TIGER.
A huge handsome male….walking without a care in the world. He was just surveying his domain, sniffing around and scent marking a lot of trees.
Clicked a few images, and wished I had another camera body and a wide-angle lens….The tiger soon went inside the bushes.Here is where the most brilliant piece of tracking was done Kiran. He reversed the jeep got on to the main highway and parked the jeep by the roadside and waited… Soon enough the tiger crossed the main road and went into the other side.We also went inside( different route and road) and waited for him. The jungle was reverberating with Chital alarm calls.We again came across the tiger, watched him strut his stuff, relax in the grass and pose for the camera. At one point he was about 10 ft near a herd of super alert chital….Clearly food was the last thing on his mind as he left them alone and continued his walk.
We waited near a salt lick for him to return.He did not disappoint. He strolled down a meadow, licked some salt/mud for a few minutes, sprayed around some more, and went off on his way. At his closest he was about 20 feet away…A majestic animal, strong and proud.I lowered my camera and soaked in the moment.
This was nature, this was the jungle, this was what I had come to experience.Too often we are so obsessed about getting that awesome image that we forget to look at the bigger picture.The pure air, animals and birds roaming wild and free….
Checked out after a great breakfast…..I just cant wait to get back to the Jungle again !!!
The urge has only gotten stronger 🙂
This January we did a wildlife and nature photography trip to cover Mudumalai, Masinagudi and Bandipur.
We were 5 of us. Ashwin,Sharat,Fabith and me from Calicut.John was to join us from Bangalore.
We had planned 3 nights and 4 days enjoying the Jungle and doing our photography.
Equipment: Cameras:- Canon EOS 450D, Canon 500D, Canon 5DMkII, Canon 50D
Lenses: Canon 100-400L (2), Canon 24-70L, Canon 70-200 f2.8, Canon 28-135, Sigma 18-200 OS
We left Calicut on a thursday afternoon after lunch, in Ashwin’s souped up Skoda RS.
The route we took was Calicut-cheroopa-edavannappara-areakode-edavanna-nilambur-gudalur-theppekkadu-masinagudi.Distance is slightly less than 150 km.
This route is a drivers pleasure, with fabulous winding roads,great scenery and very less traffic.
A word of caution though, from Areakode till you cross the checkpost at Vazhikkadavu, the roads are narrow and filled with the most undisciplined drivers.
Fabith took the driver duty as Ashwin had sprained his neck. He usually drives his bmw 5 series and is an expert driver.
The Skoda was put through its paces and after some brisk driving ( mind you, at no point was the driving rash) , reached our first pit stop at Vazhikkadavu about 90 mins from Calicut.We went to Hotel Galaxy and had some nice hot Kerala parathas, beef and tea.Hotel galaxy is the last place for good food on this route.Cant say the same about their washroom though.
After this brief break we started along the famous Nadugani ghat section. winding beautiful and immaculate roads on the Kerala side, and the Skoda RS showed what a powerful beast it is.Once you cross the toll at the border and cross over to Tamilnadu, the roads are not as great as on the Kerala side, but still they are not bad.
It was past 5 30pm and we sighted a magnificent sunset over the hills.stopped for a few mins to take some snaps.
Sunset, Nadugani Ghats
Had to hurry, as our contact Mr.Haneefa was waiting for us at the entrance to the Mudumalai tiger reserve.He had told us not to be too late. By the time we crossed Gudalur and reached the first checkpost it was about 6 30pm .
We had selected the particular dates as it was full moon, and we wanted to enjoy nature at night too.
After meeting up with Mr.Haneefa, we were to follow his jeep, as we didn’t know the route to Masinagudi Log House, where we were to shack up.
On the way, after Theppakkadu we saw the most amazing full moon rising.Being the crazy photographers we were, we stopped the car to take some moon shots.(didn’t get out of the car as we were in the jungle by then).The moon was absolutely beautiful and we spent some time to admire the beauty of the moon rise in the jungle.
Moonrise in the jungle.Image made by blending 2 different images in Photoshop.Pretty close to the same view we had inside the jungle.
Panic gripped us when we realised we were far behind schedule.We started driving on to Masinagudi, and saw a scared Haneefa driving back to scout for us…he looked worried and angry!
We went on till our destination, thinking of excuses to explain our delay.But to our relief, as soon as we reached the log house, Haneefa had cooled down and with a grin he said “I’m sure you guys must have stopped on the way to take photographs.” “be careful, elephants roam the roads at night and might prove to be very dangerous”
John joined us a few mins later.He had driven down from Bangalore in his Laura.
After unloading our luggage and equipment and freshening up, we settled down for some “liquid refreshments” before dinner.
Shortly after that John asked us to be quiet, and said that he heard something move about. One of us got a flashlight, and LO and behold it was an Indian Sloth Bear.We were quite thrilled at such an awesome start to our wildlife trip.The staff at the Log house told us that bears and other manner of wildlife(including the big cats) frequent the property as it is unfenced and is surrounded by scrub forest.
Anyways we had a good sighting of the bear for a good 30 mins.Fabith tried to get some snaps but it proved to be a futile attempt, due to the darkness.
We had a simple but delicious dinner after that and hit the sack.
Haneefa had organised two safari’s in Mudumalai the next day.
In the night I got up and looked outside the window.It was an amazing sight.The full moon had lit up the entire area.The small pond in front of the log house looked amazing, and there were lots of spotted deer,and a couple of sambar grazing on the sides.Since the staff had warned us not to step outside in the dark, I was content to see the scene through the window.
Full Moon Night.A view from the Log House
All of us woke up early next morning, freshened up and drove down to reach Kargudi by 6 am. It was a beautiful winter morning and the jungle air was cold and crisp.
Haneefa had arranged a jeep safari with the forest dept., and we were all pretty excited.To our slight dismay, it was not an open jeep, but one of those closed jeeps belonging to the forest dept.
We entered the jungle roads, considering ourselves lucky to have got into a jeep at all.Apparently only mini buses are allowed for tourists inside Mudumalai.Haneefa had got us special permissions from the dept.Dont know if this is possible now-a-days.
From a photographic point of view, the safari was nothing great.It was difficult to move around in that closed cramped jeep.We saw elephants, spotted deer, sambar, Gaur, Langurs.Fabith and Ashwin managed to get some great landscapes and forest shots.The rest of us just enjoyed being in the jungle.The sights, sounds, and smells were just too good.
Gaur, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve
A road inside Mudumalai Tiger Reserve
Streaming sunlight inside Mudumalai
I truly believe that they should allow open jeep safaris, at least by the govt, for photographers and serious wildlifers in Mudumalai. We returned to Kargudi by 9 am.Traffic had started plying on the road and we were eager to get back to the log house.
Had a heavy breakfast and relaxed .Fabith and me did some birding.the light was a bit harsh for bird photography. but were happy to sight so many birds.Masinagudi is truly a birding paradise.
Long Tailed Shrike @ Masinagudi
After a snooze and shower we were hungry again.Called up Wild Haven and informed them that we were coming for lunch.
After a late lunch and chilled beer, we got ready for the evening safari.To our dismay we were to do this safari in a mini bus.As a small consolation we had an entire bus for ourselves….meaning lots of space to move around.
If you are serious about photography, taking mini bus is BAAAD idea. Noisy,severely shaky.I’m sure any wild animal would have heard us from 100 km distance and scooted for cover.But still, we managed to see the usual suspects…Elephants, spotted deer, Gaur and Sambhar.The highight of the trip was the leopard that scurried across the road….too fast for any of us to even react, let alone get a photograph.
We spent a good 30 mins at the watch tower overlooking the Moyar Gorge.Spectacular view of the Moyar river thundering down a steep gorge.apparently even access to this region is severely restricted.How I wish we could spend one night at the watch tower….
Watch tower near Moyar Gorge.
A breathtaking view of the Moyar Gorge
Anyways we jumped and jerked and rolled back to Theppekkad.By now Ashwin and Sharat were severely frustrated with the safari arrangements and swore not to undertake anymore safaris this trip.
Needless to say the liquid refreshments were on the stronger side that night. Before the fluids got hold of his senses, Ashwin managed to capture some lovely moonlight shots of the log house.
Masinagudi Log House on a full moon night.
Masinagudi Log House, on a full moon night.Photo taken by Ashwin
Fabith and me wanted to check out Bandipur the next morning, and Fabith made arrangements with Jungle lodges for a jeep safari early next morning. But Sharat and Ashwin were in a mood to relax and shake away some weariness after the bone jarring safari last evening.They were bitterly disappointed with the sightings…or lack of it.Especialy Ashwin, who wanted to shoot some big cats.
Saturday morning we woke up at 5 am…got ready. Managed to wake up and convince John to join us.the checkpost opens only at 6 am. Crossed that and drove through some heavy mist to reach bandipur by 6 15 am. Our jeep was waiting and apart from the driver, there were two guys, both serious wildlife photographers Hari and Saravanan.
The Bandipur safari was better…better roads inside the jungle, a driver who knew what he was doing and the company of good photographers.There was not much activity in the jungle, no alarm calls and no sightings reported from the other safari jeeps that we crossed.
Early morning in Bandipur
Our driver employed his tracking skills and took us along a new road.Suddenly someone whispered urgently…”Tiger!!!”
The jeep engine was killed and there she was….this beautiful Tigress. It’s a sight I’ll never forget…seeing a tiger in the wild for the first time is a thrill that has to be experienced. No words can describe the feeling. The tigress calmly crossed the road and went behind a patch of bamboo.
As luck (or rotten luck) would have it I didn’t manage to get a good image.My camera was autofocussed on the bamboo and blurred the tigress.I guess only Saravanan managed to get a decent image.The langurs were going berserk on spotting the tiger and they followed it safely along the trees letting out loud alarm calls to warn anyone and everyone in the vicinity.
We tried to track and trail the tiger, but it was futile. Made a few images of the jungle and returned back.
The boys who had missed the safari couldn’t believe their horrible luck,but were somewhat consoled when we told them that we couldn’t make a decent image of the Tigress.
Peacock in the golden morning light, Bandipur Tiger Reserve
Post breakfast, we did some birding and decided NO MORE SAFARI’s. I suggested hanging out at Mark’s Place that evening and night.Now Mark Davidar has his house bang in middle of the jungle in the Sigur range of mudumalai.Mark is a nature lover, conservationist and has absolute respect for the wildlife and the jungle.He imposes a strict code of conduct and does not entertain tourists at his place.However Ashwin,John, and I ,have had the privilege and pleasure of being his guests before this trip.John especially is very close to him, having been a regular visitor at cheetal walk since his college days.
We tried reaching Mark on the phone, but to no avail.
Made plans to go to wild haven again for lunch and chilled beer.While we relaxed after lunch, John and Ashwin went down to meet Mark. they returned a few mins later with big grins.
We were spending the night at Mark’s !!!
Later in the evening, we parked our vehicle at wild haven and were dropped to Mark’s house in a jeep.Mark ushered us in and asked us to settle down soon.
Soon we took our vantage positions in that famed verandah and watched the drama unfold.
Believe me, for a true nature lover, this is THE PLACE to watch nature in all its glory.We saw gaur, sambar,wild boar and spotted deer at the waterhole and the saltlick.Peacocks sauntered by and the jungle fowl scurried across.
Cheetal @ Cheetal Walk
Sambar couple at the salt lick
Suudenly we heard cheetal alarm calls and the low grunt/roar of a passing tiger. All of us strained our eyes and ears,but we couldn’t spot the tiger…the alarm calls still continued.”there’s a leopard in the bush guys, no sudden movements” Mark suddenly whispered.Ashwin and Fabith saw the leopard first, but the rest of us couldn’t spot him.He was so well camouflaged. We looked closely at the direction and there we spotted the leopard.I guess it was lying there for some time, waiting for the coast to clear.We watched him for a few minutes after which he scurried across into the scrub and disappeared.
leopard @ cheetal walk. Heavily cropped image, taken in very low light.
It was growing dark and the light was no longer suited for photography.Suddenly a dark shape appeared across our view…Tusker !!! Mark’s place is visited by few elephants which he has named after the brazilian soccer team. Soon after he was joined by another tusker.By this time the light was really bad, the moon had not risen and it was getting a bit too risky to stay out in the verandah.
The Solitary Tusker. Viewed from the verandah at Cheetal Walk.
We could only make out few vague black shapes moving about ahead.
We were told not to step out of the verandah and not to stay too close to the edge of the verandah.we were whispering when suddenly a black shape became bigger and bigger…one of the tuskers was getting a bit agitated and did a mock charge at us.
Rivaldo, one of the tuskers that frequent Cheetal Walk.
We had the shock of our lives and dived inside.In Ashwin’s words….”Ful throttle,wheels spinning, traction control was not working!!!” That summed up our situation as we were trying to scramble inside from the verandah.
Mark had retired early and after the elephant mock charge none of us wanted to go out to the verandah again.
We had a few drinks to soothe our jangled nerves, and an early dinner.We could hear the sounds of branches being broken…the elephants were hanging around. By now the moon had risen and we could still see the 2 black shapes slowly moving around, through the windows. We heard some more alarm calls in the night, but no one dared to get back to the verandah.
We called it a night and fell asleep soon. Now 3 of us are heavy snorers, and Sharat termed the experience as sleeping in a room full of Bedford trucks.Perhaps that scared the Tuskers away . Fabith shared the room with Mark and he had a decent nights sleep.Except Sharat, all of us managed to sleep well 🙂
Morning we got up to beautiful birdsong…Sat in the verandah enjoying the cold winter morning ,sipping nice warm black tea.
Coppersmith Barbet @ Cheetal Walk
Saw the usual suspects roam around…but no more big cat action.
Kumar from wild haven came to pick us up in his jeep. we bid goodbye to Mark, promising to visit him again soon.
Went back to the log house….had a solid breakfast, cleared all the dues, bid everyone goodbye and returned home, with great memories of a wonderful weekend, promising ourselves to return there together again.
From L to R : Me, Fabith, Sharat, John, Ashwin.
PS. Thanks to Ashwin and Sharat for letting me use their images.
The Lazy Traveller 