Tiger sighting at Ranthambhore - May 2012

The summer months of April to June are the best time to visit Ranthambhore. The undergrowth is sparse, water sources are limited, and the sighting is therefore much better. 

We did 3 safaris and thoroughly enjoyed all three. We stayed at Khem Villas, and can't say enough good things about it. Their commitment to the forests and to the people of the land is incredible, and the work they do to protect the whole ecology of the place is admirable.

On our very first safari, into the tiny Zone 1, we spotted this beautiful tigress:

Side view of T-39, in Zone 1

She is a very young tigress about 5 years old, and she has just given birth to a cub. She is quite thin right now, what with looking after the cub as well as hunting. When we saw her, she had hunted two days ago, with a successful deer kill. Now she was on the prowl again (but you can see she is hungry and her stomach is absolutely shrunken). On a close up of the photo you can see teats, she has been nursing. She is very graceful.

Tiger on path - T-39 goes in search of water

We were lucky she was walking towards us! The photographers in the other jeeps were behind her and could get only butt-shots :) The forest has shed a lot of its leaves and the undergrowth has dried up.

T-39 alert!

She stood, alert and poised, when she saw some prey. It was amazing, the transformation from sleepy walk to alert awareness.

Tiger hidden! T-39 walks into shrubbery

After a while she walked away from the road, beautifully camouflaged in the forest. If this had been winter we could not have seen anything! Because it was summer, we could follow her, and later we saw her emerge from a ravine and climb up a small hillock.

If you are visiting Ranthambhore in winter, the chances of sighting drop substantially. Can you imagine the photo above, if it were full of dense green shrubbery? How would you even know that the tiger was there ! Fortunately, tigers love walking on the forest roads, because it is easier on their paws. So the paw-prints can give you clues about where they are. After that, it is just luck and perseverance!

Ranthambhore is more than just tigers, though. Just being there amidst the jungle is very soul-satisfying. Learning about the ecology of the place, the BALANCE of everything, the seasons, the way the food chain works, the birds of each season...all of it made me feel a sense of peace.

The dhok, the most widespread tree in Ranthambhore

The dhok is particularly well-adapted to the harsh climate of this region, shedding its leaves to survive the summer. It has a hair-trigger response to rains, and begins to sprout leaves with the first few drops. While we  were there, it rained very briefly (unseasonal) and we saw the trees already with their opportunistic response :)

Not all parts of the jungle are dry - there are zones which are green and beautiful. 

Green lush areas of Zone 5 - very refreshing

This photo was taken at the far end of Zone 5, near Bakola. Zone 5 has bone ratting rides up the hill before you get to this ravine with water :) The temperature here is at least 2-3 degrees lower than the rest of the forest, with a moist inviting forest smell. We saw paradise flycatcher, golden oriole, and black-tailed mongoose, I didn't want to leave! 

Zones 2 and 3 are also very scenic, with large lakes. Here you can see not only a lot of waterbirds, but also a wide range of animals. 

Female sambar in Rajbagh lake - Zone 3 

Sambar are good swimmers and often feed on the grasses and water plants. They have good sense of smell and hearing but poor eyesight. The safari path skirts the lake (see jeep in photo), so you are treated to a beautiful vista, and you can really get a sense of peace here if you switch off the engines and sit quietly for a while.

While the female sambar remained unconcerned, nearby, the stags were in a confrontational mood:

Male Sambar fighting - Zone 3

Surprise information: they make tiny mewing sounds when they fight!

We were also treated to this almost comic confrontation scene between one macaque and a whole group of langurs.

Ruffian Macaque and Lady Langurs :) 

This single male macaque (you can see him in the centre of the photo) managed to scatter a group of langurs, mostly females with young ones. I was surprised. There were at least 20 langurs, but they all moved away. Only one older female stood her ground, hissing and snarling at him. One young male tried to stand up to him, then got the fright of his life and bounded away into the trees!

I have lots more photos of this Ranthambhore trip, but this blog entry will become too long if I put up everything. Maybe another post, another time!

Falling in love - my Kanha trip report

We are just back from a 3 day trip to Kanha Tiger Reserve. We flew into Nagpur, and drove 5 hours through the countryside, to a pretty lodge called Camp Dev Vilas. We did four safaris into the jungle - two in the morning, and two in the evening.

By the time I came back home, I was exhausted. But I had fallen in love with Kanha.
Why, you ask? No, it wasn't the tigers. Or any of the beautiful birds we saw. Or my first sighting of a leopard in the wild.

I fell in love with the land itself.

There are very few places in India where time stands still. Kanha is one of those places. In the tall sal forests of Kanha, it feels as if nothing has changed for a thousand years, as if the forests and the trees have stood there forever.

A sounder of wild boars in Kanha's Sal Tree Forests. 

Apart from the noise of their feet on the leaves, there was no other sound.

I have been to other forests in India - but none of them have had this kind of impact on me. Maybe it is the sheer size of Kanha. You can keep driving around; the park seems endless.

One evening, we drove up to a plateau for a look at the park boundary. The forest stretched as far as the eye could see. The park is all of 2000 square kilometers., with habitat that includes not only sal forests, but also more wild forested tracts, and beautiful meadows.

Kanha is horse-shoe shaped, with hills ringing the park.

Can you see the hills in the far distance?

By the way, if you have heard of the word 'Gondwanaland' - referring to an ancient continental structure that existed up until 130 million years ago - it comes from the Sanskrit words "gond" + "vana" - meaning Forests of the Gonds.

In the late nineteenth century, an Austrian geologist, Eduard Seuss, studied the ancient land formations in central India, and came up with the theory that the continents as we know it today were all joined together. It was he who coined the term Gondwanaland to refer to this ancient supercontinent.

The famous meadows of Kanha. Looks like a water-colour painting . 

The people of Kanha are ancient too. One morning, as we drove in the dark pre-dawn hour to our safari, I saw a group of Baiga tribals, carrying wood. There were men and women in the group walking with small quick steps, balancing their loads on their shoulders. As they melted away into the darkness, our guide Monu explained that the Baigas still make their living from the forest, collecting honey and timber.

In the buffer zone of Kanha, we also saw many small settlements of Gonds. Their houses are uniformly painted an auspicious blue. Their cattle are short, with small horns. They are farmers and cattle owners, living a simple rustic life.

Gond house under a mahua tree

Rocks, forests, people - everything about Kanha seems ancient, reminding you of a time when the world was  a different place. Although the animal population of Kanha is nowhere the size it once was (the vast herds that once roamed these meadows are gone), the Forests of the Gonds seem to have escaped the complete destruction we see everywhere else in India.

One of the endearing features of Kanha is that the animals are still very shy of humans. It is a very different experience from say, Africa, where the animals lie around, indifferent to the hundreds of tourist jeeps. I for one, rejoiced that I had found such an Eden. I will return to Kanha soon, I am certain.

Chital run away in alarm when they see our jeep.