Wildlife & Wildlife Photography- ArrowHead T-84, Ranthambore Tiger Reserve - December 2016

One of the Nature Guide shouted, "Nalleh me jayegi, Nalleh me". (She will move to the stream ahead)

 

Ranthambore, the land of tigers! My 1st National Park on the wishlist, and I did it in two years. Ranthambore National Park is different from the lush and evergreen forests of South India. This was my first time in Ranthambore, it was all together a different experience. It is different from the lush evergreen forests of South India. It has a different terrain from the South Indian jungles. It is a deciduous forest, which is quite open and rocky. It has got some beautiful landscapes, which one cannot miss. It has two mountain ranges meeting each other - Aravalli & Vindhya hill ranges, thus creating one of the best landscapes in India.

Ranthambore is one of the largest National Parks of India. It is spread in 1700 sq area, of which 20% comes into the tourist zone. The tourist zone are is divided into ten zones, out of which one to five zones are core zones. Those five zones are where the activities of predators can be seen regularly. Third zone is a beautiful zone with three lakes, namely Rajbagh, Padam & Mallik. The Mallik lake also share the border with fourth zone. The total no of tigers present in the park is 55 tigers, out of which 30 tigers are in the tourist zone. Apart from tigers, the park has Leopards in the predator category, while there are Sloth Bears, Spotted Deers, Sambar Deers, Blue Bull or Neelgai, Indian Gazelle or Chinkara, & Hyena. The birds include Kingfishers, Owls, Buzzards, Vultures, Eagles and many more. Crocodiles can be seen in all the lakes and there are instances where there has been a fight between crocodiles and tigers. Macchli the legendary tigress, is the one who is responsible for regeneration of the tiger population. She is the most photographed tigress in world! She killed a 14 foot long crocodile, after which she was declared the Queen of Ranthambore, and this title is given to the tiger/tigress which controls the three lake zone. 

Ranthambore is one of the best places to spot tigers in their habitat and they can be seen everywhere in park. The best months to be at Ranthambore is in May & November. May is the last month of summer season & in summer the water is scarce, so they come out to the water holes to drink water, thus increasing the chances of sighting. November again because it is the start of the winter season, also because its just after the breeding season, where we can see new fauns and cubs as well. 

Ranthambore is situated in Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan. It is well connected by road, rail & airways. Nearest railway station is Sawai Madhopur 11 kms away, Nearest Airport is Jaipur 160 kms away & 110 kms from Kota.

There are various hotels in and around Sawai Madhopur and I stayed at Ranthambore Regency, which had lovely food and stay.

So I reached to Ranthambore on 13th December and my first safari was at 14:30 hrs. Mr. Sharad Sharma was our guide for all the safaris. Within 15 minutes into the safari, we saw few gypsies hovering around a place. Once we reached there, I saw a faint figure of tigress, I knew I was in for treat.

One of the Nature Guides shouted:" Nalleh mein jayegi, Nalleh mein" , still I did not know, what next is going to happen, as it was quite possible it could go more deeper into jungle where we cannot go on gypsy or it could just come in front of us. So I was waiting to see, what drama will unfold in front of me. She was watching a group of wild boars unaware of her presence.

Then she vanished into the ruins and I thought now we might not see her again. Whatever happened next was in fraction of second, she just leaped on her target and kaboom!!! She had the piglet caught by it's neck. Tiger or predators normally catch the prey by it's neck, thus strangling its breath and eventually killing it or first they catch the prey by it's neck and then comes a paw thrashing on the prey's head thus giving it no chance to fight back. Next, we had her for 15 minutes giving us the images of lifetime. She was none other than Tigress Arrowhead (T-84), one of the famous tigress from third litter of the dominant female tigress T-19 or Krishna. She is a sub adult tigress and has a brother by name Pacman. Their father is the dominant male T-57 or Star. She is very bold and is fond of cameras. She then went towards the canal and from which it did not come out till that day.

This was the best sighting I had ever had of tigers and the cherry on the icing was the hunt process. She gave us the demo on hunting process. She is very beautiful and the arrow can be seen on it's forehead. After that safari, I did not see her again till the end of all the safaris.

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Mudumalai Tiger Reserve - August 2016

I was totally disappointed with the safari arrangements made at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and tourism department of Tamil Nadu needs to develop it as they take you in canter and will drive a round of say 5 kms and back! If you get anything it is your luck and duration depends on sightings. The employee's reply itself says that they are doing us a favour by taking us on wildlife safari. So it was like wastage of time and money both though charges are not much. I was so disappointed and my friends who accompanied me were visiting a wildlife safari for the first time and they also were also not happy from the safari we had and we then decided not to take anymore safari here at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

So we were returning back to our home stay De Rock, when I saw elephants walking on my right side and told Rohit to halt the car and there was commotion about something and police was also present. After sometime I saw police apprehending two people and putting them into the car, after which the traffic was cleared by the police, then I got the chance to click both mother and baby elephant and then it struck me that she was protecting her, hence she trumpeted to warn the people who were walking up to them to click their images. The Mother Elephant was very angry and was trying to hide her baby calf, but I did click an image where the baby calf just came in between mother’s four legs. Take a look here: 

Since the light was less, I could not get better image than this and it was clicked with Nikon D3200 and Nikkor 70-300mm lens. She was so angry and the baby calf was afraid even to come out because of us who are educated and still do not understand that they are wild animals and they are not governed by rules, hence if they attack out of self defense no one can help you in this case. Hence make sure you do not break forest rules and try to enjoy the sighting from a safe distance. 

I would like to narrate an incident which took place when I visited Bandipur for the first time in April 2012, I was with my family and into the first safari, where we spotted a herd of Elephants with a calf of 7 days and I could feel that Mother Elephant was uncomfortable with us watching them, now in my jeep there was a couple who had put on a strong perfume and had forgotten to switch of the flash. These were the two reason for the Mother Elephant to charge towards us, though they were mock charges, but what if she had given a real charge and our jeep driver was also frightened which could be seen from the way he started the jeep and in a hurry to drive it out of elephant's reach the jeep could not start, now I was all the more frightened, but those were mock charges hence we were safe! This little experiences teach us about do's and don'ts of Jungle Safari. Every briefing about the wildlife safari will be about the do's and don't's , one needs to pay full attention to it, and learn from other's mistakes. Do not tease wild animals and they will not harm you is the basic rule and one needs to keep that in mind every time you are in wild.

I'm really sorry, could not get many images, but I promise next trip will have amazing images to mesmerise you all! Next trip is to home in September, Goa where I can get Kingfishers, Weaver birds & many more. See you till the next time. For more stay tuned !

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Elephants, Bandipur 2016

All eyes were trying to spot the National Animal of India - The Tiger, when one of them whispered a beautiful pair of Elephants! The eyes moved in the direction where this beautiful pair of Elephants were dancing looked like..............

Bandipur has always been one of my favourite wildlife destination, and yes I spotted my first Tiger here. It is a forest full of wildlife diversity and people love coming here, especially those who are wildlife and photography enthusiasts.

Bandipur Tiger Reserve is situated in Mysore, & Chamarajanagar districts of Karnataka. Kabini and Bandipur are separated by the Kabini river, which plays an important part of thriving the wildlife in the forests of Bandipur, Kabini and Wayanad. Bandipur has been a place where the tiger sighting has been regular and not to forget the Prince or the Alpha male tiger, which will definitely meet you the next time you go. Leopard and Bisons are also quite regularly sighted along with birds like Crested Hawk Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle, Hoopoe, Shikra and many more. 

This is about the encounter I had with the most mesmerizing mammal - Elephants. Elephants are the largest mammals living on land and are divided into Asian Elephants & African Elephants. They can be found in Africa, & South East Asia. Asian Elephants can be divided into Sumatran, Indian, Srilankan, & Borneo. 

Elephants are herbivores and they normally prefer to stay near water and tend to move away or avoid to cross paths with the predators like Tiger, Lions, Leopards or Wild Dogs. This is because, the new born calves are more vulnerable than the adults. So even if any body nears their calves, they either charge or move away from that area. Elephants socialise in groups and in such a way that new groups can get mixed into the other group and thus they adjust themselves. Everyone helps each other and they are lead by Matriarch . The males separate once they reach puberty and then they go with other males. The group first makes calf safe and then they deal with danger, such is their culture and they do not stand any nuisance. It is said that they can run 1 km  while chasing someone.

I and Elephants have a history, for my first visit to Bandipur and the first animal we encountered was of a family of Elephants which had a baby just one week old. We were just admiring the cutie when some flash caused irritation to them and the Matriarch just made the calf and mother safe and charged, unfortunately our jeep did not start, luckily ti was just a mock charge! Phew! it was very close. That was my first wild encounter of Elephants and such an adventurous welcome to Bandipur I received back in 2012.

This time we saw a huge tusker just on the way to Bandipur's forest gates, unfortunately the images were not good, but as we moved in on the evening safari, So our eyes were itching to spot Tiger, when the naturalist whispered Elephants! Our eyes moved to the direction where he spotted a mother and calf dancing as it look like ............... Or She was trying to tell them that "we need to welcome them as they are admirers and not the killers, they are our defenders and not the destroyers. Welcome them baby, C'mon do not be shy!, " We need to save them, they are on verge of extinction, I would like to tell you all, please do your bit in saving these beautiful creatures.

Please see the image here :

Next we moved little further after trying to get the calf to welcome us, and we saw another lovely herd of Elephants again, now it was a huge group with adults and calves all together taking sand bath and trying to cool them from teh scorching heat. These mammals will not do anything, if you do not harass them and people take them in wrong sense and then they perform atrocities on them and thus these beautiful mammals are on verge of extinction.

Please check the image here:

The next day evening safari, we were trying to search the mother and calf pair, when we spotted calf's father as well with them and they were standing to welcome us like the last day, this time they were more cautious, but it was Kodak moment, relish the image here................

Bandipur has lot of resorts and forest guest house as well. The best option would be Jungle Lodges & Resorts , they have their own jeeps and canter to take around the wildlife enthusiast to the forest and the Forest departmetn has the facility of canter to take around the wildlife enthusiasts around the forest. The duration is the difference, the duration or timings are morning from 6:30 to 9:30 hrs and evenings 16:00 to 18:30 hrs and JLR's jeeps and canter take you around for the full 3 hrs in morning and 2.5 hrs in evening, while Forests department's canter will take you around only for 1 hour round and will bring you back. If you wish to take the Forest department's vehicle, book the ride in advance to avoid last minute hassles. The Forest department's website is tariff plan and safari plan by the Forest department.

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Barking Deer, Kabini Dec'15

Kabini or Nagarhole, my favourite forest, it just takes you to some other world all together. Once you visit Kabini, you will fall in love with it. Kabini's wildlife diversity is so vast, that every time you go, you will still be amazed by it. People often say to me,"Nimit, why do you go again and again to Kabini? ", the simple reply is it still makes me fall in love with it and every time I see something new. This is what makes it more serene, pure, misty and full of surprises. Every turn will give you a surprise, it might be a leopard (trademark of Kabini), a tiger or simply a Crested Hawk Eagle, but you will never ever be bored of Kabini.

The Nilgiri Bioreserve is seperated into four forests by the Kabini river , namely Kabini backwaters, Bandipur National Park, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. One might not be surprised, that Kabini Backwaters is the reason for such diverse and magnificent wildlife.

Jungle Lodges Resorts  are the best option for any forests stay in Karnataka, yes most of the time it is full and you need to book in advance, apart from them there are many and for more you can contact me on bhattnimit79@gmail.com and I will help you with more options.

Barking Deer or Indian Muntjac is a very shy animal. It will be appropriate if I put it this way, more shy than deers. They are not used to the people seeing them from the safaris.

The Barking Deers usually give calls especially when they sense a predator approaching the area or when they are in danger, but these calls resemble barks and hence the name "Barking Deer". All the Muntjac species are called as Barking Deer.

As I said, JLR has the right to conduct safaris in forests other than government, they have open jeeps 6-7 seater and canters for 15 people. So they have moer than 5 jeeps and 3 canters. So the forest is divided into two zone Zone A and Zone B. The routes are given by the team leader Mr. Prasanna and then the jeeps move into their respective zones. Some paperwork has to be done and then you are into teh magical forest of Kabini. The timings change due to the change in seasons. In summer it starts from 6:30 am to 9:30 am and in evening from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm and in winters, the timings in morning are from 6:30 am to 9:30 am and in evening its from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm. For more one can check with JLR
We were into our evening safari and we had booked in Jungle Lodges Resort only, as they have the right apart from government vehicle, to conduct safaris in forests of Karnataka. So after futile search for predators, we came near a waterhole, thinking we might spot some predator, but to our surprise, the Barking deer came out and we did not waste time to take few images of this beautiful creature, before it vanishes into the bushes. The landscape with lush green vegetation and waterhole in fromt of it and the reflection of it falling in the river. It was really a beautiful and the wildlife photographers had satisfaction down to the core of their heart, after clicking the images of Barking Deer.


Please see the image here:

Barking Deer - Kabini 2015

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 - 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 - 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 - 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