[diliprayar]

Nilanjan,

Brilliant, Stunning, Jaw dropping... What not! The pictures are a visual feast and they come with a splendid narration as usual.

Your thread on Inn the wild - Bandipur, had made me to fall in love with that place and I visited that place a couple of times as well. I'm one other fan of your writings.

The Kanha tigress snaps looks majestic. Es-specially, the close one of Mukki tigress, is nothing short of a professional. She looks truly elegant.

BTW, Kanha tigress you mentioned of killing and eating a human, any idea on how it happened? Due to one other human err or?

[Dieselritzer]

Monday morning, after a long weekend, I am being so lazy opening up the laptop and then i stumble upon this ! You have put me in a week long depression now brother, I am one "Alt Tab" away from huge excel spread sheets, and these amazingly beautiful creatures. You are one lucky man :-)
Lovely pictures. Could you share the details of where you stayed? I am planning to go there in December.

[NKR]

[quote=nilanjanray;3549528]

You are very right. The Red headed vultures are placed in the IUCN Red List category- meaning they are Critically Endangered. The mature population is estimated to be 2500-9999 world wide, while tigers I believe are 3200 worlwide. Thanks for the Honey Singh Photo. I believe it is a Honey Buzzard, .

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by diliprayar

Nilanjan,

Your thread on Inn the wild - Bandipur, had made me to fall in love with that place and I visited that place a couple of times as well. I'm one other fan of your writings.

The Kanha tigress snaps looks majestic. Es-specially, the close one of Mukki tigress, is nothing short of a professional. She looks truly elegant.

BTW, Kanha tigress you mentioned of killing and eating a human, any idea on how it happened? Due to one other human err or?

Thanks.

It was a Tadoba tigress - a favourite tigress of mine (see photo below) - that killed and ate a man. Not a Kanha one. Will share the story - as I heard it - when I talk about the Tadoba leg of the trip.

This is her. It was a 'close' encounter - that is almost a full frame shot



Btw, I have stopped going to Inn the Wild. Too expensive and 'resort like', now.

Originally Posted by Dieselritzer

Monday morning, after a long weekend, I am being so lazy opening up the laptop and then i stumble upon this ! You have put me in a week long depression now brother, I am one "Alt Tab" away from huge excel spread sheets, and these amazingly beautiful creatures. You are one lucky man :-)
Lovely pictures. Could you share the details of where you stayed? I am planning to go there in December.

Thanks. I stayed at MPTDC Kisli Tourist Lodge in Kanha, and at Svasara in Kolara, Tadoba. FYI, I had stayed at Svasara during my 2012 Tadoba trip. The travelogue is on the forum somewhere.

[quote=NKR;3549701]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

You are very right. The Red headed vultures are placed in the IUCN Red List category- meaning they are Critically Endangered. The mature population is estimated to be 2500-9999 world wide, while tigers I believe are 3200 worlwide. Thanks for the Honey Singh Photo. I believe it is a Honey Buzzard, .

Thanks for confirming.

[hemanth.anand]

Wow! nilanjanray. Some amazing pictures those.

I had always read from people that Tiger spotting is so difficult and here you are, posting pictures like the tigers came to you for a photo session.

MP and its tigers have been long on my wishlist. I don't know when it will happen, but till then, I'll do with your log.
Amazing mate! Thank you so much for sharing this.

BTW, can I have your photography gear details please? (Excuse me if I have missed it)

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

I had always read from people that Tiger spotting is so difficult and here you are, posting pictures like the tigers came to you for a photo session.

BTW, can I have your photography gear details please? (Excuse me if I have missed it)

Thanks Hemanth. The photos are visible. The numerous disappointments, the heat, the dust, chronic tiredness etc. are not. But that is part of shooting elusive big cats.

I used a Nikon D7100 + 80-400mm AF-S for these photos. Including the landscapes. All were shot handheld.

A low key shot in B&W. A tigress and her cub out for a walk. Early evening, bad light.

[nilanjanray]

YAWN!


It was me who was yawning, not the hot lady above. Though I really like her dental job.

I had fallen asleep after the Sarhi safari. Splashed some water, and then went outside the room. Darkness had descended. I could hear the familiar and soothing call of the Nightjars. Somewhere within 50 metres, a brain fever bird was crying 'brain fever, brain fever', or perhaps 'did you do it? did you do it?'. Those who have heard it, will know how irritating it can get at times.

As I sat in the dark balcony (there were no other guests around that point of time), I planned out rest of the evening.

I needed to go to Baihar (near the Mukki range) to pick up another fellow safari guest (there were a few of us sharing the Gypsy) - who was stuck there since there was no transport in the evening. There was no mobile signal inside the forest, so I had no idea exactly how far away Baihar was. One guy I had asked, had said it takes 3 hours to reach there. Anyway, I thought that once I get Airtel signal in Khatia, I would figure out the optimum route.

A quick shower, and I was ready for a night drive. At Khatia, Google map showed me that the usual route would be ~ 85-90km. No time for that. But as the crow flies, Baihar wasn't that far away from Khatia. Was there a shorter route?

I asked a couple of local jeep drivers. After talking among themselves, they told me that there was a short cut, a dirt track. I asked them, does your jeep go? They said yes, once in a while, if required. I might have to cross 1-2 dry river beds, though. "Yeh 4WD vehicle hai? Tab to koi problem nahi hoga" (Is this a 4WD vehicle? Then there shouldn't be any problems)

Well, if a jeep could go, should the Fortuner back out from trying? What's the point of having a 4WD if one can't do such small, unplanned x-country drives?


The King - the Wagdoh male, who is supposedly one of the biggest tigers (if not the biggest) in India. They say he weighs more than 300 kgs.


The initial stretch was a narrow dirt track past a few houses and mud huts. Then it was just me, the dirt trail, swirling dust, and diffused headlight. I knew from GPS location that I was going South - the right direction. There was no one on the track (it passed through the buffer zone of Kanha). I was in somewhat of a hurry, and so started pushing the vehicle a bit. The new tyres performed well - the grip and handling on a broken dirt trail was better than that of the stock Dunlops. This is all relative, of course - the Fortuner has a reputation of rolling over if driven rashly over corrugations (there were many articles in the South African press about this). So when I talk about pushing the vehicle, it is after keeping in mind what the vehicle can and can't do. And there were sudden dips, rocks and loose gravel on that track every few metres.

Came across a checkpost after a few kms. The guy was surprised to see my vehicle in the night, but took Rs. 25, gave me a receipt, and let me go. As I drove off, I shouted to him that I will be back after a while.

Crossed a couple of dry stream beds. Not a big deal - any high ground clearance vehicle could have managed if driven carefully. The problem was the dust. I couldn't see very far away, which reduced my speed. Quite a few times I came to track intersections, with 4-5 different tracks going in different directions. I couldn't even see far way, with the dust. I could eliminate a couple of options, but then had to drive for a few hundred metres, before turning back. That happened 3 times, if I remember.

A walk in the woods #2


Eventually I came across a village. Asked a few of the guys who were still outside, and they confirmed that I was on the right track. After quite some time I reached a broken tar road. I think I preferred the dirt track. The road was filled with potholes (some of them 10-12 inches deep), which were well camouflaged in the dark and dust.

Anyway, eventually I did reach Baihar and picked up my safari mate. I had traveled about 40 kms, cross country. Then it was time to head back to Khatia/Kisli, before the forest gate shut down for the night.

There were no people around in the couple of villages I passed. All the doors were shut. But by then I had some idea about some of the turnings, and how they correlated with my location on GPS, so without any further goof ups, I managed to arrive at Khatia gate again.

I do have a fleeting suspicion, that at least a couple of times during the return drive my co-passenger thought that I had lost my way, and was slightly crazy to take a route through the middle of nowhere.

Which is fair, because I thought the same of that person - how crazy can one be to get stuck in Baihar in the evening?

As I had mentioned in the long term ownership thread, I wouldn't have tried doing trail driving in the night, through the buffer zone, if I didn't have a reliable 4WD. And there was no way I could have maintained that pace if the vehicle hadn't been tough and abuse-friendly.

This is the route. The blue one is the normal route. The black one is more or less the one I took- depicted here by a line drawn with the Note 2 S-pen.

[allinbalance]

Amazing travelogue! You do have a "Tiger" (or perhaps Tigress?) fix. Beautiful photos!

[ameysme]

The Tigeress Potraits are just Amazing !!! Hats of to the Way they are Captured.
'The Yawning Tigress' and 'A rocket-tailed drongo' Pictures are just supercool.

Kudos to You Nilanjan. Was a Good Read !

[AJ-got-BHP]

Hey Nilanjan,

Really Awesome snaps bro !! Hats off to your camera work which just tempts one to be there right away.

I've planned a trip to Kanha & Pench in the first week of November 2014 and am now really looking forward to the trip after going through your junglelogue.

Will seek certain tips from you buddy (that is if you don't mind) by the end of this month, to prepare myself for my first outing in the woods with family.

Lovely post !!

[JASMEET MATTOO]

Amazing pictures and a lovely travelogue there Nilanjan. You are one person who believes in letting the pictures do most of the talking. Absolutely loved the pic of the yawning tiger (well needless to say loved all of them).

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by allinbalance

Amazing travelogue! You do have a "Tiger" (or perhaps Tigress?) fix. Beautiful photos!

Thanks

Originally Posted by ameysme

The Tigeress Potraits are just Amazing !!! Hats of to the Way they are Captured.
'The Yawning Tigress' and 'A rocket-tailed drongo' Pictures are just supercool.

Kudos to You Nilanjan. Was a Good Read !

Thanks. I personally wasn't very impressed with the yawning tigress photo though - I prefer a more active look.

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

Hey Nilanjan,

Really Awesome snaps bro !! Hats off to your camera work which just tempts one to be there right away.

I've planned a trip to Kanha & Pench in the first week of November 2014 and am now really looking forward to the trip after going through your junglelogue.

Will seek certain tips from you buddy (that is if you don't mind) by the end of this month, to prepare myself for my first outing in the woods with family.

Lovely post !!

Thanks. Feel free to PM me.

Originally Posted by JASMEET MATTOO

Amazing pictures and a lovely travelogue there Nilanjan. You are one person who believes in letting the pictures do most of the talking. Absolutely loved the pic of the yawning tiger (well needless to say loved all of them).

Thank you. Glad that you and others like the photos.

[Alfa Romeo]

Nilanjan, must say amazing clicks .. really i am reminded of a proverb "In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality"

a great trip and all the lady luck with you. Can you give me some quick info on your lens / camera etc. Also the camera settings you used for clicking the early morning kanha picture. Which editing software are you using?

i know its a lot, but am a beginner in photography and trying all sort of photography. kudos

[mallumowgli]

Great report as usual with parallel streams of photo and narrative

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

After Nainpur, stretches of Sal forests began. I have a soft corner for Sal trees - when in school, I used to go camping in the forests of Bihar and Orissa, in the Chhotonagpur Plateau.

Do you remember that your promise of enthralling us with these stories are still pending? (All you have shared is the story of chicken running away!!)

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

I needed to go to Baihar (near the Mukki range) to pick up another fellow safari guest (there were a few of us sharing the Gypsy) - who was stuck there since there was no transport in the evening. There was no mobile signal inside the forest, so I had no idea exactly how far away Baihar was. One guy I had asked, had said it takes 3 hours to reach there. Anyway, I thought that once I get Airtel signal in Khatia, I would figure out the optimum route.

Simply loved this portion of your trip!!

Psst : Your Kumaon log is still incomplete, you know?

Originally Posted by NKR

This will also ensure that we talk only about Automobiles in the forum.

No problems in discussing birds and animals in the travelogue section, I guess.

[prashkul]

Awesome trip and breath-taking photos. I'm out of adjectives. Your narration style is also quite interesting. It's like watching a movie with anecdotes/flashbacks thrown in. Loving it.