A line of old oak trees in the Ribble Valley near Ribchester.
Bengal Tiger, Kanha - the Babatega female.
THIS TIME KANHA REPAID OUR EFFORTS to get to this beautiful and remote national park. We enjoyed some great photographic opportunities in its lovely forests and meadows often in very good light, despite crazy electrical storms and torrential rain, which saw us taking cover at times. Fortunately masala chai and a hot shower back at our lovely lodge were never too far away! The early mornings at Kanha zone were particularly nice, with dramatic shafts of light breaking through the mature trees there. Kanha’s highlights this time were the two stunning tiger encounters. One, an animal walking away along a forest track and then retracing its steps some time afterwards and giving a thrilling head-on walking view only a few metres away and the other doing a similar thing but this time in natural vegetation. Everyone was at last on the scoreboard. Phew!
Bengal Tiger, Kanha. There's no feeling like when they look you in the eye at close range!
Gaur, the huge wild forest-dwelling ox, appears to be doing very well indeed at Kanha despite donating at least 50 animals to Bandhavgarh and we encountered several groups there, one a herd of at least 21 in the meadows of Kanha zone. Several of these were immense bulls and one particularly stubborn animal with huge horns blocked the way head and had our jeep driver reversing more than once! The shaggy-coated Barasinghe, the endangered ‘hard ground’ form of Swamp Deer were also numerous along with many of the other now familiar Indian mammals. A Jungle Cat obliged for some but birds were generally a little less conspicuous than at Bandhavgarh but included some photogenic Indian Scops Owls.
A Chital (or Spotted Deer) stag in early morning rays of sunshine.
Back up! An impressive Gaur in Bandhavgarh's Tala Zone.
FLYING SOUTH OVER THE DECCAN, fields grew smaller, areas of deciduous woodland more frequent with the odd rocky outcrop here and there. Once at Jabalpur our Innovas made short work of the road transfer to our first destination, Bandhavgarh, except for the last stretch of the road into the park, which is now getting resurfaced (surprising as we were previously told that it was neglected deliberately to discourage speeding in the park’s buffer zone). For the next four days we stuck to a routine of an early morning jeep safari in the 437 sq km national park, lasting until lunchtime followed by a break and then another safari in the afternoon until dusk. Although travelling around the park in jeeps still feels a little like the ‘whacky races’, Bandhavgarh maintains a reputation of being one of the most reliable reserves to produce a tiger sighting and that is pretty much what everyone is here for.
Bengal Tiger, Bandhavgarh, Maghdi Zone
We could have done with more luck here, with all but one of our jeeps scoring a mediocre tiger sighting, although the first time one sets eyes on one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet is always a special moment whatever the quality of the view! Our luck was still ahead of our birding friends with one encounter from 12 jeep safaris but significantly behind one chap and his partner who breezed in to our resort and scored three sightings totalling six tigers on his first outing!!! Again we had some rain at Bandhavgarh, in fact it hammered down, with thunder and lightning one night. The cool wet weather hampered our tiger prospects as they tend to stay under bamboo cover in such conditions. Well at least the air was cleared of dust for a while and was nice for photos. We had hedged our bets between the picturesque Tala zone and the bamboo thickets of the adjacent Maghdi zone for our jeep safaris this time and whilst we were pleased to find that tiger activity was good in Maghdi we heard there had been around 10 tiger encounters in Tala since October, gulp! We still enjoyed the delightful forests and meadows below Tala’s 2000 years old fort and a couple of us even got off the mark here quickly with a rare sighting of an animal, which had apparently ‘tree-ed’ a Leopard, however, Tala was mostly otherwise quiet, except for its usual interesting bird residents such as Red-headed and Indian Vultures, Brown Fish Owl, Stork-billed Kingfisher and Orange-headed Ground Thrush. Malabar Hornbill was again obliging for some on our first drive but there was no Sloth Bear or Leopard for us this time.
Tickell's Thrush, a winter visitor from the Himalayas.
One of our jeeps also got off the mark with a tiger that strayed briefly into one of the peacock lekking grounds just before closing time but a few of us would have to wait until Kanha this time. It is worth remembering that although tiger reserves are mostly far from wilderness experiences their inhabitants are now a little more difficult to see now following the cessation of elephant-back ‘tiger shows’. This restriction is also likely to further impact on tiger tourism as a generation of tigers grows up more wary, without the habituation of almost ever-present tourists around them. Foreign visitor numbers were apparently 60% down at Bandhavgarh this year, although probably mostly as a result of the new 120 day booking limit for jeep safaris so the park was pleasantly quieter than I have ever seen it before.
Something that is on the up at Bandhavgarh is Gaur (or Indian Bison). Following their reintroduction in 2012 they appear to be flourishing and we are now seeing these photogenic large animals without unsightly collars, as well as the original collared stock. They are a most welcome addition to Bandhavgarh’s attractions. Other wildlife photographed included: Lesser Adjutant Stork; Red Junglefowl, Wild Boar, Indian Muntjac (or Barking Deer) and Sambar as well as the ubiquitous Spotted Deer and Northern Plains (or Hanuman) Grey Langur monkeys. However, as always, Bandhavgarh was mostly about tiger anticipation.
Wild Boar foraging in a forest stream at Bandhavgarh.
Indian Skimmer sunset, Chambal River
WE HAD TWO CRUISES ON THE WONDERFUL CHAMBAL RIVER again this time and these were the most productive photo sessions of the whole tour with some of us taking well over 2,000 photos per day of numerous different subjects. The highlight of a cruise along the Chambal River is undoubtedly an encounter with the second largest crocodile in the world, the long-snouted Gharial (second only to the monstrous Saltwater Crocodile). We saw plenty of them including a few large-nosed males, amongst the more widespread Marsh Mugger crocodiles. The National Chambal Sanctuary was declared in 1978, mostly to protect this critically endangered, fish-eating crocodile. Named after the Nepalese word ‘ghara’ meaning earthenware pot, referring to the enlarged growth on the end of the snout of mature males, which can grow to six metres long and one tonne in weight. There are fewer than 400 breeding pairs left in its remaining range, a mere 2% of its former distribution, which used to include Pakistan, Burma and the Brahmaputra. A truly magnificent animal! We also had some really bonkers close encounters with a huge Marsh Mugger Crocodile, which thankfully decided not to join us in our boats.
Marsh Mugger, Chambal River
Gharials enjoying late afternoon sunshine, Chambal River
Another major attraction here is the endangered Ganges River Dolphin and the encounter we had this year was easily my best so far, with numerous semi-breaches and I even managed a (albeit record) shot of one this time. They seem to favour the same deep section of the river that I have seen them in year after year, downstream of a couple of river islands and upstream of a large meander, just as they are supposed to. These creatures face a range of threats from pollution to water development projects, hunting (Ganges and Brahmaputra) and entanglement in fishing gear but happily they continue to flourish in the Chambal River.
Another brief glimpse of a Ganges River Dolphin, Chambal River
A rich variety of wildlife can still be found on the Chambal, including pretty much all of the characteristic species of the large slow-flowing rivers of the Gangetic drainage system that were once found all over northern India. It is like stepping back in time and other relics included Red-naped Ibis, Comb Duck, Black-bellied and River Terns. Also here were: flotillas of Bar-headed Geese grazing on the weed in the river; Dalmatian and Great White Pelicans and the impressive Pallas’s Gull from Central Asia, Ruddy Shelduck, paired up and a couple of Golden Jackals on the prowl. We also photographed a pair of nesting Pied Kingfishers; a crazy Striated Heron perched on one of the abandoned pontoons that allowed approach to almost within touching distance plus a furtive Brown Crake along the nearby riverbank.
Great Thick-Knees, Chambal River
As the sun was setting on our evening cruise we finally caught up with another major target here, the amazing Indian Skimmer, with its ‘snapped-off’ shorter upper mandible, bouncy flight and even living up to its name with a little skimming. There was only a pair this time, however, we were relieved to see them at all once we knew skimmers had not been seen for around 10 days and lots of folks had gone home disappointed lately. Although the light was fading fast by now, they even arranged themselves in the reflections of the orange sun on the water – FANTASTIC STUFF!
Indian Skimmer, Chambal River
Once the thick morning mist had cleared our next cruise also afforded several opportunities to photograph some attractive River Lapwings (now a threatened bird of the Indian Subcontinent’s large slow-flowing rivers) and the peculiar Great Thick-knee. A 960km long tributary of the filthy River Yamuna, the Chambal River has evaded development and its inevitable pollution owing to the river being considered unholy! The river reputed to have been cursed by a princess as well as carried the blood of thousands of sacrificed cows, ironically saving it from the even worse fate that has befallen the other rivers around it. Our very pleasant lodge near the Chambal was as delightful as ever and a wonderful evening meal here was followed after dark by some Common Palm Civet photography in the lodge gardens. In daytime there are usually some interesting birds in the near vicinity and this year’s visit again resulted in some good photo opportunities of Spotted Owlet. We were sorry to head back north to the bright lights of Agra, then Delhi via the bizarre empty new Yamuna expressway and the next stop on our tour, the ‘Kipling Country’ of Madhya Pradesh state.
Striated Heron on an old pontoon, Chambal River