[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Great pictures Sachin. I really liked the Purple Sunbird one. You seem to be having great luck with the tigers wherever you go this year :-)

Focus on the tiger behind the bushes has come out well. Was it the camera autofocus or did you take extra effort in manually focusing?

Thanks Nilanjan. Also on behalf of my wife - she had taken that Sunbird pic.

The focus was camera autofocus. But i had to spend efforts to ensure that the tiger and not the bushes were in focus

[sach.sri]

It has been a very slow "season" for me in terms of wildlife trips and Tiger sightings.

It started with all the confusions and delays about opening of parks because of supreme court's order and then I did not get chance to visit the parks as much as I wanted to. Infact, I made plans and had to cancel 2-3 visits because of various reasons.

Did only 2 trips after park re-opening - one to Sariska and one to Corbett and came back coppers in terms of Tiger sightings. This was really rankling me and I was itching to go and see some tigers. Summers came up and along with them my son's school vacations were fast approaching and we started planning for our yearly holidays.

Last year we had taken 2 weeks off - but this time due to wife's work commitments could only manage 1 week. So driving was out of question and we planned and booked 3 days in Bandhavgarh and 3 days in Tadoba.

Hmmmmm.......... then why am I posting it in R'bhore thread?

Well, it so happened that we could not goto Bandhavgarh - our train tickets did not get confirmed and I watched it stop at WL #2,3,4 -- so near, yet so far.

Heartbroken (it is the 3rd time that my trip to Bandhavgarh got cancelled), as I was really looking forward to come face to face with Bamera and the other tigers in Bandhavgarh - I scrambled to see what could be done to salvage our vacations - and checked with my contact in R'bhore if he could get us Gypsy safaris (5 in number) from next day on. He responds in affirmative and I also call up the hotel where we stay and book our room.

So - it was fixed - we goto R'bhore instead of Bandhavgarh and then fly out to reach tadoba as per schedule.

All done - topped up Pegasus (my Scorp) and we started for R'bhore after lunch to reach in the evening.

Teaser of things to come



P.S:- This was my first Tiger sighting in more than 6 months, so I really enjoyed it

to be contd...

[gd1418]

The teaser picture of T 19's male cub is really enchanting. Waiting for more.

[joe1980]

Originally Posted by gd1418

The teaser picture of T 19's male cub is really enchanting. Waiting for more.

Is it still a cub? How old is he? From the photo, I can see that he looks a bit scared and concerned about something. Is he capable enough to hunt on his own? Kindly excuse if my questions were silly like a kid. I love to watch and know more about Tiger's. I follow all your posts about Tiger sightings in Ranthambore and Sariska.

[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by joe1980

Is it still a cub? How old is he? From the photo, I can see that he looks a bit scared and concerned about something. Is he capable enough to hunt on his own? Kindly excuse if my questions were silly like a kid. I love to watch and know more about Tiger's. I follow all your posts about Tiger sightings in Ranthambore and Sariska.

Joe - thanks. He is of "legal age" for tigers and has separated from the mother and yes, he hunts regularly. However, the 2 brothers still hang out together and will further separate in a couple of months or so once they become more confident and start looking out for individual territories (T-19 had 3 cubs, 2 male and 1 female).

This guy here is not concerned about anything - prior to this picture he was sleeping/lying down. This is one lazy tiger and from what I hear is not concerned about gypsys and such and has been giving regular dekkhos to a lot of people - at around the same area.

[gd1418]

Cub, I guess is a wrong word. He is now a sub-adult of 2+ years. By 3 he should be ready for mating. He isn't scared or concerned. He has separated from his mother and is inquisitive. Look into his eyes and see the curiosity in them.

Had he been scared, he would have scooted inside immediately. Take a look at him in my Ranthambhore thread of last year (May-June 2012) where he along with his brother & sister is sitting in a water hole and drinking water. On the contrary, his sister then was quite bold.

The fellow is not even concerned about the human prescence around him.

Originally Posted by joe1980

Is it still a cub? How old is he? From the photo, I can see that he looks a bit scared and concerned about something. Is he capable enough to hunt on his own? Kindly excuse if my questions were silly like a kid. I love to watch and know more about Tiger's. I follow all your posts about Tiger sightings in Ranthambore and Sariska.

[sach.sri]

Contd...

The morning was very hectic with me running helter skelter trying to fix up a viable plan, do the cancellations, make new bookings, etc. But the good thing was that I was able to secure a nice plan for us and we were now really looking forward to our time in R'bhore and excited with the prospect of abundant Tiger sightings in R'bhore.

Our safaris were to start from 16th morning and I had asked for 4 seats to be booked to have ample space for us and the gear. We reached and checked into Nahargarh about 2030 hrs on 15th evening and settled down. It was a long over due trip and I caught up on the gossip with Mr. Mahipal, the GM at Nahargarh and then it was nap time.

Morning came and with it came the rain clouds - weather turned very pleasant and we enjoyed the feel of cool wind in a open top gypsy.

I have an interest in birding as well and looking at new colourful birds always gladdens my heart. Captured some shots of the various birds in and around the lakes.

Night Heron


Lesser whistling teals


It was "chick" time for red wattled lapwings and we saw some tiny tots strutting around. This picture is taken from the gypsy and in no way endangered the nests or the little ones.



We had Zone 3 - the zone with 3 lakes and perhaps the best zones of R'bhore in terms of scenery as well as Tiger sightings.

It was also monsoons and mating time for peacocks - so the males were out in full gusto trying to impress the females present.

This looks like a train behind a monarch


There were also some birds of prey - Shikra


and some exotic guests - Indian Pita - migrant from south


some more exotic species - Asian Paradise fly catcher male - or - Dudhraj


then some lifers for me - Great Indian Stone Curlew(thicknee). This is different from Eurasian thicknee, is larger and with subdued colors.




But what was not there were tigers. It had rained a couple of days ago in R'bhore and that had driven the Tigers to upper reaches.

During the last hour of the safari - it even started raining and we got drenched to the bone. The gypsy did not have its soft top cover and there was no protection from the elements. I was ready for the eventuality though and quickly packed away the cameras, phones, etc in a plastic cover.

My son thoroughly enjoyed getting drenched and his cheerfulness lifted our moods as well

but then, this was the first safari and we had 4 more to go, so I was not overly worried.

to be contd...

[jacs]

Sachin - This travelogue is all about variety of wild, keep flowing. Really seing Caracal for the first time.

[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by jacs

Sachin - This travelogue is all about variety of wild, keep flowing. Really seing Caracal for the first time.

Thanks Jacs. Only regret is that I could not capture it well enough. Also - at that point in time, I was a novice in the ways of the jungle and thought this to be some stupid cat and not worth getting excited. It was only later that I understood the significance of this sighting.

Continuing...

There were very few guests in the resort, infact I think other than the owners and the staff we were the only "guests" around for longer part of our stay.

It was something that I had never encountered before in Ranthambhore - but we were not complaining as we did get some extra attention because of this and were happy as a bug in a rug


The weather was still cloudy and we again tried our luck at Zone 3 in the afternoon safari

We were trudging along merrily when we suddenly ran into this guy. He was lying down and sat up on seeing us.





to show you how close he was.....also I wanted a closeup of his face looking at us. But the lazy guy, he did not oblige.



oh well ... it is again some stupid people coming to see me. let me go back to my siesta!

It was dark and cloudy, but suddenly sun broke through the cloud cover giving our guy a golden glow and perfectly lit frame. if only he was sitting up.



by now, there were some other gypsys coming up and he looked up once in a while whenever a new vehicle came.



too many vehicles! he sat up. and looked at us. We were at the pole position being the first ones in, and so have a bunch of nice shots...







Cutie pie





to be contd....

[sach.sri]

It was a lazy sunday afternoon and he was in full mood for sleeping off whatever exercise he did.

Repeatedly yawned showing us the canines.













Closeup to banta hai








Did not want to spoil the mood by too many words - minimal usage in this post.

to be contd...

[deky]

Awesome. Loved the bird pictures as well. Where was the caracal picture??

[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by deky

Awesome. Loved the bird pictures as well. Where was the caracal picture??

Thanks Dhiraj. Caracal pic was here -

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post2650636

[sach.sri]

It was a very good subject and gave us a lot of poses

Checkout what the guy has eaten




Yummy






When suddenly, things changed and this guy assumed a very aggressive posture. With us so near and this guy in a no-nonsense mood, we got very scared...





Nah. Just joking, this is flehman response, a typical tiger behaviour which it uses to scent other tigers in vicinity. As opposed to general perception, tigers dont really use smell for hunting, rather they use it for communication among themselves.

bye bye people.











to be contd...

[sach.sri]

It has been more than 10 days since i was able to update the thread last. Meanwhile, it has been real quite on the thread - why?


Anyways, i do hope to be able to quickly put up "My encounter with the Ustaad" as it happened on one not-so-rainy evening of the trip.

Overall - we got rains in 3 of our 5 safari, and also saw tigers in 3 of the 5 Safaris.
And - after the comment from my son of enjoying the rains w/o the cover - Bittoo made sure that we were drenched everytime!

White Eyed Buzzard - wonderful greenery after rains




Ek mahal ho sapnon ka - HDRed


How wonderful would it be to sit here on the "mooddhas" in the balcony on this palace, watch the lake and the animals that wander over - with a cuppa tea and pakoras - and a canon 1dx with 600 prime on a tripod.... wow, i am drooling just thinking about it, fultu fantasy stuff!


Tried my hand at sepia touch


The original


to be contd...

[gd1418]

Parks are closed due to monsoons and will re-open in October. Some very dry areas of RTR are open - Kundal, Balaas, Chirikho & Qualji. Only a few die-hard Cat lovers go there. There is a one such group going in mid-August. In case you are interested, then I can set it up for you.

Hence the 'sannaata'.

Originally Posted by sach.sri

Meanwhile, it has been real quite on the thread - why?

Looking forward eagerly...!

Originally Posted by sach.sri

Anyways, i do hope to be able to quickly put up "My encounter with the Ustaad" as it happened on one not-so-rainy evening of the trip.

I would, in my case, replace your statement as thus:

"How wonderful would it be to sit here on the "mooddhas" in the balcony of this palace, watch the lake and the animals that wander over - with a hot cuppa of coffee and pakoras & other eatables - and a Nikon D4 with the 800 prime on a tripod with remote trigger release, along with another Nikon D800 with a wide-angle (say a 17~35 f/2.8).... wow, i am drooling just thinking about it, fultu fantasy stuff!"

Originally Posted by sach.sri

How wonderful would it be to sit here on the "mooddhas" in the balcony on this palace, watch the lake and the animals that wander over - with a cuppa tea and pakoras - and a canon 1dx with 600 prime on a tripod.... wow, i am drooling just thinking about it, fultu fantasy stuff!

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