Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, August 2016

Honestly my this trip to Masinagudi was to spot the Black Panther, but as we all know that precious things we do not get so easily, so this trip was incomplete as I did not get to spot Black Panther.

Masinagudi trip was planned a month earlier & there were many additions & then deletions, but lastly ‘Hum Paanch’ (Five of us) were left from 10. Five of us were Sandeep, Sumit, Lingraj, Rohit & Yours truely.  So we took one of our friend’s car & left on Friday the 12^th August 2016. It was my first trip with friends, & I wanted it to be the memorable one. The plan was to stay at Masinagudi for 2 nights & then move to Ooty, Coonoor & then back to Bangalore.

The route plan was to go through Bandipur National Park, I had my camera ready & this time it was NikonD3200 with Nikkor lens 70-300mm, now the reason for not going to the higher models, the weather played the major role in deciding the model. It is really a very user friendly & it helps you to learn a lot. This was supposed to be my first all night trip & the longest road trip so far.

So we started on 12^th night & we reached Bandipur at 4:15 hours & we had to wait because the gates would happen only at 6:00 hrs. So we had some clicks & then I took out my camera & was ready to take the first picture of the trip.

By 6:30, we were through the gate & we saw both side, huge herds of Spotted Deer, then came Bison & Elephants, & by 7:00 hrs we were into Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, TamilNadu. Beautiful l&scapes & lovely narrow roads, we could see the huge Nilgiri Range & by 9:20 hrs, we reached our destination De Rock, Masinagudi.

Our plan was to go for evening safari & after lunch we started towards the ticket counter which was 6-7 kms away from our homestay. On our way, we saw 7-8 cars spotting something & I told Rohit to go ahead & see & to our left we saw an Elephant, could not be picturized as it was way far & lots of bushes & parallel to it was the National Animal of India, The Royal Bengal Tiger, again way far & could only be seen half of it, before it went into the bushes. Probably, a 15 mins earlier it had crossed the road where the cars were halted, as it is rightly said ‘You need to be at the right spot at the right time’, holds true in this case as well, had we been a little earlier or a lot earlier, we would have got it or again missed it respectively.

So we reached the ticket counter & we saw a almost a huge crowd of 100 people, excluding us & to my disappointment, only two canters & the timings were from 2 pm to 6pm & I asked the counter person, “what would be the duration of Safari?”, he replied “ depending on the sighting”. & I knew this was not my type of safari & we got our chance around 18:15 hrs & we only saw deer as everyone in the canter was excited to see the deer & lastly saw an Elephant, which was old, lonely & almost on the verge of natural death. Then we saw the National bird of India, the Peacock & it was beautifully sitting as if a statue was placed there, that made my day. Apart from Spotted Deer, Elephant & Peacock, no other animal was spotted & we returned to the ending point.

We decided to take a trek next morning & moved towards our home stay, when we saw a huge traffic & a female Elephant having supper. Obviously, there was traffic & police had caught two people, who were drunk & had gone near the Elephant & her calf to take the images. Now the worst case would have been, the female Elephant would have trampled them & some cars here & there would have been flung in anger & ruthlessness of the huge animal, which would be a fitting reply for such stupid act of few educated illiterate people. Luckily, police was on time & caught them, saving a lot of trouble, otherwise the Elephants would have even flung our car, though we were not at any fault & I was able to take some images from moving car.The irony was that we saw more animals outside of the safari zone than in the safari and we decided not to go for anymore safari. 

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Wild Dogs, Kabini Dec'15

Kabini is a heaven for wildlife photography and photographers. It has everything you need for a good photography. It has greenery, beautiful birds, predators, elephants and the weather. It has got three predators namely, Tigers, Leopards and Wild Dogs.

Wild Dogs are called Dholes in India. They remain in packs and make sure they do not get left out. Their thinking is "United we stand, divided we fall". Whatever they do, they do it in their pack. When they are united, no one can touch them and they are ferocious, but a singular is afraid of the predators lurking around.

Their way of hunting and strategy, one needs to learn from them. They always have a strategy to hunt and everyone co-operates. One who does not, he/she will have to leave the pack. The leader is an Alpha male or the dominant Wild Dog. Everyone needs to follow his orders.

This was a group of 15-20 wild dogs playing on the Jungle Track.

jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Nimit Bhatt - 500 px

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Wild Dogs, Kabini Dec'15

Wild DOgs - Kabini December 2015

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Jungle Owlet, BR Hills Dec'15

Jungle Owlet is a type of Owl found in Indian Subcontinent. It is small in size and looks very cute. BR Hills in Karnataka is famous for Wildlife Photography, but mainly birds. Brown Fish Owl is the main centre of attraction.

This Jungle Owlet was sitting on a branch with a good scenic view and the light was little dark. I could capture this cutie as it gave enough time and was patient with my photography. This was at BR Hills in December 2015. This was taken in morning safari.

Nimit Bhatt - 500px

jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Jungle Owlet - FB

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Jungle Owlet, BR Hills, Dec'15

Jungle Owlet - BR Hills December 2015

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Yellow Footed Green Pigeon, Kabini Dec'15

Yellow Footed Green Pigeon - State Bird of Maharashtra - a state of India, Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra and Financial capital of India.

These birds are very cute, well We (my parents & brother) were on our family trip to Kabini in December 2015. Kabini is a very lush green forest and known for its wildlife. Kabini is known for leopards, it is said you visited Kabini and could not spot a leopard - no chance, so we did spot leopards both in morning and evening safari. We could not spot Tiger - once again.

We were trying to spot Tiger, though it was early morning and fog had set in - bad situation for spotting, we came across these Yellow footed green pigeon. Lovely and attractive birds they are, there were total 5 of them, and then a pair flew and sat on a branch.

Another addition to my Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog

YFGP - Nimit Bhatt (FB)

jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Yellow Footed Green Pigeon, Kabini Dec'15

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Jackal, Kabini Dec'15

This was in Dec'15, we were on our family trip to Kabini, BR Hills and Bandipur. We were into our last safari - morning one and then we had to move to BR Hills. Kabini had this time given us a surprise with the Leopards and Wild Dogs. We had done some good photography of wild animals and nature as well.

We were assigned Zone B, the moment we entered we saw this cute little Indian Jackal or Golden Jackal staring at us curiously. All the poses it gave blended well with the nature and forest, in short the poses were good for Indian Jackal's photography.

Indian Jackal are small wild animals which feed on deers and other antelopes. They are usually found in packs. One who gets separated from group usually forms a relationship with tigers. They are on a considerable distance from them, but they live together and feed on tiger's kill once tiger is done. Not every Jackal gets the chance to form such relationship, only that Jackal who shows considerable self confidence, and can move in and around tigers comfortably. Even animals have to show self confidence !

Also this image of Jackal featured on +AnimalsinHD   - Instagram

This was with us for long time, here are the photos - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog........ 

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Indian Jackal - Kabini December 2015

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Jackal, Kabini Dec'15

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Indian Gaur, Bandipur Dec15

Me and my family were on family vacation and we visited Kabini, BRT Hills. we were returning from BRT Hills on 25th Dec 2015, the manager at BRT hills said to us that we should visit Bandipur as the tiger sightings are going on. He told us to try our luck, we said we will try. We did visit Bandipur Tiger Reserve, we missed tiger by 1 min and my wait to see my first tiger still increased till this year in March 2016. To our luck, my first date with tiger which happened at Bandipur this year in March 2016.

Bandipur has got lovely wildlife, it has got abundant deer families, which is a good indicator of healthy food chain. It is a dry forest, gaurs, elephants and deers will be seen in abundant, along with one deadly predator Wild Dogs.

So when we visited Bandipur in December 2015, we did see this beautiful Indian Gaur. These are found almost in all the jungles of India. They weigh from 650 kg to 1000 kg. They are dangerous when they are teased. They can even fight the predators and on their day they can even kill them. One video went viral of gaurs fighting lions.

So we were into the forest and we bumped into a herd of gaurs, where one was a huge gaur and was looking straight into the camera. I did click few of them. It was very ferocious and was intensely looking at us and then suddenly it ran and we thought it was towards us, but it changed the course and ran into the waterhole nearby, maybe due to fear. But, if it was to bump us, it would have been a very deadly collision.

Have a look at this huge Gaur - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography blog ...............................

Indian Gaur - jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/bhattnimit

Indian Gaur - Bandipur December 2015

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Indian Gaur, Bandipur, Dec'15

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Bandipur Trip, March 2016

This was at Bandipur, March'15,we were into our fourth safari, and we got a tip that there is a sighting of leopard. We immediately sped off in that direction and we saw this leopard on the tree having breakfast of deer and it was there for almost 30 mins and gave us good time for photography. As soon as more vehicles dropped it went down into the bushes.

Our naturalist said to wait and it will come back, all the other jeeps and buses went to the other place. We waited and to our surprise this leopard, just jumped from the bushes onto the tree and vanished into the bushes on the other side.

Before it vanished, I got this shot - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog..................


This was clicked from - Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm lens

I'm also attaching the same Leopard on the tree picture just for the reference - It was clicked from Nikon D4S, Nikkor 600mm lens.

Leopard, Bandipur 2016 - jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Leopard - Bandipur March 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Bandipur, March 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Sloth Bear , Kabini Trip ,Dec 2015

It was our lucky day as we might say, we were waiting at the Tiger Tank - name of the place in the A zone of the forest of Nagerhole National Park or Kabini. We were waiting for Tiger to come out of the small opening and to our surprise, A Sloth Bear came out and it is shyest animal of all the animals. It is very rare to be spotted, rarest then the Tiger. Many photographers want to spot it, but very difficult to spot.

It came out to have water, while we waited for it to show its face, it was looking as if the bear was angry from us. Then, at one second it showed its face and it was lovely and most cutest animal ever seen (Panda is yet to be seen).

It was black and furry and a patch of white in its face in round shape. Its eyes were shining and within a fraction of second it went away. It was a small meeting, but will remember till the end of my life.

Sloth Bear are very shy animals, they normally do not like to be disturbed and are very lazy as well. Their photography is very difficult to take, but sometimes miracles too happen,

Here is the picture of Sloth Bear - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog ...........

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Sloth Bear, Kabini, Dec'15

Sloth Bear, Kabini Dec'15 - jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Sloth Bear - Kabini December 2015

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Leopard, Bandipur, March 2016

Let me tell you, In India, we have four predators found - Lion, Tiger, Leopards and Wild Dogs. Asiatic Lions are found only in Sasan Gir - Gujarat. No other country has got this pride of having Asiatic Lions.

Tigers are found in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerela, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and in East India. Leopards are found all over India, same as Wild Dogs as well or Dhole as they are known.

We were into our fourth safari at Bandipur on 26th March 2016 morning, we entered with the hope that we do see Prince, Leopard and Wild Dogs. We were capturing the images of Crested Hawk Eagle or Changeable Hawk Eagle, when we got a tip saying a Leopard was spotted. We sped off in that direction.

We saw like 6 vehicles converging in one place and were pointing towards a tree in opposite direction. Then we saw a Leopard some 100 mtrs away on a tree having breakfast of a deer.

It was a beautiful sub adult leopard, shiny fur and was looking very intense while having break fast. He had managed to take his prey on the tree all alone. It gave few poses while eating and then it went down the tree into the bushes.

Our naturalist said that lets wait because he has not gone very far and it will come back to the tree, as they do not leave the prey unprotected. After 15 mins, it came from the backside of the vehicle and I managed to click a picture (yet to be processed). It went into the bushes never to return not even in he evening.

Please do have a look at this Leopard pics - Wildlife and WIldlife Photography Blog .......................

Leopard, Bandipur 2016 - jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Leopard, Bandipur March 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Prince, The Unsung Hero of Bandipur, March 2016

Please welcome the Hero of Bandipur - Prince, a handsome 12 yrs old charming Tiger. Brave and most feared Tiger of Bandipur.

We were on our first safari at Bandipur on 24th March 2016, around 6 pm we were capturing a bird when we saw a jeep and a bus speeding off in one direction, obviously we were curious and wanted to know what were we missing on, we sped off in the same direction. On the way we came to know a Tiger was spotted in one area called Katte.

Now my heart was pounding, as my dream of seeing a Tiger was about to come true and this was around 6 pm in the evening. We were the last jeep to arrive & ahead of us were 3 jeeps and a bus. I was ready with my Nikon D750 70-200m lens to shoot the lovely animal.

Two minutes later, Prince - Tiger, the national animal of India makes the entry in the frame. The light was low and it was a perfect timing where he entered. Lovely, majestic and just out of a muddy waterhole. It was having a majestic walk and marking its territory and gave us a time for lot of photography and I was thrilled and awestruck though I did capture some fantastic images of him. At one moment, he just looked at me and suddenly my hands and legs were stuck at one place in the jeep, as he was just 5 mtrs away from the jeep.

Well after his act of marking his territory was over (of which I have the images), he just retreated in the bushes never to be seen again in that evening.

What an animal ! Majestic and I was like did it really happen ! We cannot go and pinch Prince to see whether he was really there or not. But, that safari I will never forget in my life. It was my first sighting of Tiger ever ! I had missed narrow chances of spotting it in Kabini and Bandipur earlier in Dec 2015.

Again, we saw him on 26th March 2016 eve, from the bushes coming out and then sitting lazily. He made few sounds to call a female as our naturalist said. He then went into the waterhole and was there till we left around 2 hrs. That was the most scenic picture I could have.

My trip ended on 27th March 2016. It was the most memorable one, though my brother was missed a lot.

Prince - the Hero of Bandipur: He is 12 yrs old, has fought five fights and has killed Tigers which were powerful than him. He fought his last fight in March 2015. He was not seen till November 2015. He was weak and had lost his two cannines, which meant he now could not hunt Gaurs which he used to before fight and his favorite food. Now, the forest department officials say, he can survive one more fight and maybe after that we may not see him again.

Now, he is the owner of his territory and two tigers are roaming in the periphery of the Jungle and waiting for him to die or fight him to claim his territory back.

Here are the pictures of Prince our Hero, and we might not know, will we see him next time we go or not ! - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography................

Prince - jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Prince - Unsung Hero of Bandipur

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Prince, The Unsung Hero of Bandipur, March 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Leopard, Kabini, Dec 15

This was a trip with the family in December 2015, we decided to go to Kabini and BRT Hills in Karnataka as I work in Bangalore, this was nearer.

We were hungry of seeing the Tiger and Leopards and Kabini is known for Leopards.

We did see the Leopards both in morning and evening safaris. In morning it was on the tree and it was an awesome sight and believe me once you will see the picture, you will know what I'm talking about.

Leopards are mostly found on trees, lazily lying around, having food or just sitting on the tree. They say to spot it, try to spot a crocodile bark tree with a low and strong branch and then spot a hanging tail - Leopard. This leopard gave us an exclusive time for photography. It first turned around, gave poses and then it just went down, crossed the road and into the bushes. This was in the morning safari at Kabini - Zone B.

In the evening safari, we were just returning to the base, when we spotted a sub adult leopard, walking towards our jeep, we again got the chance to do exclusive photography of it. It was not bothered by the presence of our vehicle and others as well. It was lost in its wildlife world, it was playing and was still there, but we had to move, as it was getting late.

Pls see the imagesof both the Leopards - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog ...................

Nikon D7100
Nikkor 300mm lens

Leopard, Kabini Dec'15 - jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Signature of Kabini - Leopard

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Leopard, Kabini Dec'15