[naveenvenkatesh]

It was summer trip time to Kabini. This is a tour conducted by Toehold (a Bangalore based Photography company) that is focused on, well, photography!

Reached JLR Kabini on first day afternoon. I had also rented the lens with Toehold. It was time for the first safari. This trip was with Jayanth (CEO and founder of Toehold) himself, so i had high hopes for some big cat sightings.

We are given zone A and we started our first safari with eagerness and lot of hope. We looked around for 10-15 minutes. We came across this Langur on a branch and took some practice shots.



After that, we saw another JLR jeep stopping a little ahead and we are in for big surprise!

A pack of 3-4 wild dogs has chased blacky up a tree and he was balancing precariously. I will let the pictures do the talking now.











As, you can see, he wasn't very comfortable on that branch. He tried different positions and also took a short 30 min nap while the dogs were scampering below. Perhaps there was a kill below, but we couldn't see due to lot of lantana bushes.

He moved around the bush many times, yawned and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible.







After about 2 hours on this branch, he finally gathered enough courage to get down but the dogs would have none of it. They chased him back up and he quickly climbed back onto the branch.









After that, he moved to a thicker branch which did not allow any good photo opportunity.
All in all, we spent just over 3 hours watching this guy laze around on the branch. This is the longest i have ever watched this cat! It was wonderful. Our first safari was eventful and my memory card was almost full

Day 2 and we are charged up from our previous black lord encounter. While waiting to get into the park, spotted this guy on the tree trunk. Was good practice to get the exposure in proper order.





We were first in the forest. We looked around for quite some time in Zone B but couldn't find any big cats. Around 7:30 or 7:45, we came across this peacock who was perched on top of this trunk. There was excellent light on the peacock and we were able to get very close to take some really interesting pictures, including some abstract pictures.



Content with a bunch of photos, we moved about 100 meters ahead and we came across another peacock who was in an even better position. This guy was again in excellent morning light. We shot quite a few pictures again.







And that concluded safari 2. It was an interesting morning with good photo opportunity.

Safari 3 started in the evening. Again, we looked around for some time. Then we heard that a tiger couple were seen near KV tank (folks familiar with Kabini will know the place). While we were about to reach the place after about 20 minutes of spirited driving in the jungle, we heard an elephant trumpet loudly for a good 2-3 minutes, followed by loud tiger roars.
By the time we reached KV tank, the tusker had chased both tigers into the bushes. We waited for some time to see if the tigers would come out into the open. While waiting, we heard the tigers roar quite loudly again. They were busy trying to further their species!

After waiting for a good 1 hour, one of the other jeeps waiting shouted "Tiger, Tiger"! All the jeeps turned around the chased the tigers, both of which had quietly come out of the bushes and were headed in the opposite direction. The male tiger (Jari Male) was ahead and was almost gone by the time we made it to the place. However the female tiger (Bisilwadi female, apparently) was a bit late to come out. Managed to get 1-2 record short of her. How i wish she has turned around at least once! But alas, the tigers were preoccupied with other things and both went into the bushes.





We turned around and went onto the other side of the road to see if the tigers would exit the bushes onto the other side. After about 45 mins, nothing was seen. Perhaps they decided to lie down in the bushes. So we gave up on the tigers and moved to other side of the zone. While driving around, we saw that many jeeps and forest department vans were parked in one place. All the good spots were taken.
Turns out Blacky was on the branch again, lounging as usual. We managed to get some line of sight and get some half decent pictures.









He finally got up and moved to thicker branch. And it was also time to exit.
All in all, it was an interesting evening.

Safari 4 and final day. We wanted to complete the trip on a high. We looked around for the tigers again but didn't see anything. Then we heard that Blacky was seen again! So we raced to the place and again we were royally late and all the good spots were taken. We managed to squeeze into a gap and get some pictures.







Turns out, he had made a kill the previous day and was guarding the kill all night and early morning, based on a filmmaker who was tracking her.





We took many photos. He finally decided enough for the day and got down and melted into the bushes. We waited for almost an hour, hoping he would come back but it was not to be. We left the park at 9.30, content with blacky sighting of a lifetime.

It was one of my best visits to Kabini. Spent a total of 6.5 hours with Blacky. It was interesting to watch his behavior.

Time to head home with happy memories and 50GB of pictures to process.

Disclaimer: I am not associated with Toehold in any way.I just find them convenient for tracking wildlife (cats in particular) and photography tricks and coaching.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[swami69]

Nice little tour report there of Kabini. I used to hear that this Blank Panther is elusive (probably is). But, the way you have spent time with her makes me think, she is going to start having breakfast with the tourists soon at the restaurant. getting too socialized possibly

Nice pictures.

Swami

[brd]

It was so nice to read the things you have described.
Felt like I was there.
And was surprised that Panther would be afraid of wild dogs. I know wild dogs are powerful but never knew that Panther would be chased.
By the way which vehicles were used for the safari? And are private vehicles allowed to enter Kabini area? Been planning to go there for such a long time.
Awesome write-up and photos. Thank you so much.

[Dr.AD]

Great travelogue and great pictures! Kabini is always an amazing experience. Recently we did a Kabini trip with Jayanth (Toehold) too, and it was really a great experience. Your travelogue made me relive our experience. Thanks for sharing this!

Originally Posted by naveenvenkatesh

After that, we saw another JLR jeep stopping a little ahead and we are in for big surprise!

A pack of 3-4 wild dogs has chased blacky up a tree and he was balancing precariously. I will let the pictures do the talking now.

Wow! Lucky you! Great sighting of the famous black panther of Kabini, and great photos!

We were not so lucky at all. We did four safaris there but the black panther remained elusive to us. We tried hard and waited patiently near the probable locations, but never got a glimpse of Blacky.

Great photos and great travelogue, once again!

[Rubbertramps]

Dope pictures. I cant believe you guys spent 3 hours watching the black panther. I wish I had the life of that filmmaker that you mentioned.

[Rangy62]

Congratulations! On your spotting of the black leopard. I see you are also using the term blacky which is the only thing the JLR guides are looking for these days. My experience there on my last visit there was quite disappointing. Nobody seemed to care for any other animals other than Blacky, and using the jungle tracks like race tracks to go after this elusive animal. The guides or naturalists are busy keeping in touch with each other on their mobiles to track the black leopard and in the process forget to show the beauty of the forest to the visitors.

[akshaydandekar]

Originally Posted by naveenvenkatesh

It was summer trip time to Kabini. This is a tour conducted by Toehold (a Bangalore based Photography company) that is focused on, well, photography!

Wow Naveen. What incredible images. Really captured the mood perfectly. Just wanted to check what was your camera setup for the trip. Do share.

Note from Support: Quote trimmed. Please do not quote large posts entirely. Thanks!

[naveenvenkatesh]

Originally Posted by swami69

Nice little tour report there of Kabini. I used to hear that this Blank Panther is elusive (probably is). But, the way you have spent time with her makes me think, she is going to start having breakfast with the tourists soon at the restaurant. getting too socialized possibly

Nice pictures.

Swami

Ha ha. Would love that! It is a He (Male)!
He (along with other cats) is very territorial and tends to prefer certain parts of the park during certain times. He generally tends to stay in one particular area for some time. This could be because of prey but is mostly because of female. Infact, his territory extends from the tourism area into the core area. So he sometimes disappears into the core and is not seen for long duration of time. However, when he is the tourism area, he is usually seen lounging around on branches.

Originally Posted by brd

And was surprised that Panther would be afraid of wild dogs. I know wild dogs are powerful but never knew that Panther would be chased.
By the way which vehicles were used for the safari? And are private vehicles allowed to enter Kabini area? Been planning to go there for such a long time.

I think a single Panther can take on, at-most 2 dogs, if there is a competition over a kill. But this time, i think there was atleast 4-5 dogs. So dogs had strength in numbers. Even tigers are known to stay clear of them. Dogs have a very unique way of operating. Usually, there are about 2-3 dogs (called Scouts) who go around patrolling, generally looking for prey, other dogs etc. When they do find anything of interest, they call the rest of the pack. And in a very short time, the entire pack of 15-20 dogs will be at the scene and no predator would be able to take on so many.So usually everyone gives them a wide birth! Fascinating creatures
In Kabini, you will have to go with Jungle Lodges Vehicles only. No private vehicles are allowed inside the park.You can choose to stay within Jungle Lodges resort or choose other resorts in the vicinity. But all of them need to come to JLR for the safari.

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

We were not so lucky at all. We did four safaris there but the black panther remained elusive to us. We tried hard and waited patiently near the probable locations, but never got a glimpse of Blacky.

Great photos and great travelogue, once again!

Thanks Dr.AD. You need tons of luck with this guy. My last trip before this was completely dry. Did not even get a since big cat. I guess it averages over time. I think you atleast have a genuine reason to plan your next trip to Kabini

Originally Posted by Rubbertramps

Dope pictures. I cant believe you guys spent 3 hours watching the black panther. I wish I had the life of that filmmaker that you mentioned.

I wish so too. But being a wildlife camera man is not all rosy. Need lot of patience.

Originally Posted by Rangy62

Congratulations! On your spotting of the black leopard. I see you are also using the term blacky which is the only thing the JLR guides are looking for these days. My experience there on my last visit there was quite disappointing. Nobody seemed to care for any other animals other than Blacky, and using the jungle tracks like race tracks to go after this elusive animal. The guides or naturalists are busy keeping in touch with each other on their mobiles to track the black leopard and in the process forget to show the beauty of the forest to the visitors.

Sorry to hear about your not-so great safari at Kabini. Usually, the driver/naturalists at Kabini (infact across JLR) are open to feedback. And if you request them during or even before the start of the trip about your preferences, they generally oblige. But if there are other dominating personalities in the same jeep, they can take the experience in a whole different direction, which is perhaps what has happened with you.
I think the reason this cat has become so popular these days is because of all the viral videos circulating around as though he appeared recently. This is far from the truth. This cat is about 8 years old and has been in this part of the park for a good 4-5 years. Lots of folks have seen him (including me multiple times) and photographed him. It is just that his video has gone viral and driver/naturalists seem to assume (perhaps wrongly) that everyone comes to the park to only see him. Kind of playing for the gallery. Sad but true. I hope you have better experience in your next trip(s).
If there is any consolation, JLR guys are 1000 times better than regular Forest Department safari, unless you know the driver. Otherwise, they will take you on a rally tour of the park and scare away all the animals!

Originally Posted by akshaydandekar

Just wanted to check what was your camera setup for the trip. Do share.

Thanks Akshay. I used my Nikon D850 combined with 500 F4 lens which i had rented from good folks at Toehold. In hindsight, i should have carried my 1.4TC also. Would have given me even better reach. Oh well, something for the next trip!

[AZT]

Amazing clicks. Being under lockdown such travelogues are a treat to read.

Can't wait to visit Kabini myself soon.

[ruzbehxyz]

Dear naveenvenkatesh

Excellent photos. And I must say you are lucky. Sighting two wild cats is really lucky.
On my trip to Kabini years back I could not sight one. Perhaps will try again.
How about adding some more photos.

[naveenvenkatesh]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Dear naveenvenkatesh

Excellent photos. And I must say you are lucky. Sighting two wild cats is really lucky.
On my trip to Kabini years back I could not sight one. Perhaps will try again.
How about adding some more photos.

Thanks. I think these were all the shareable pictures from this trip. Let me dig up my old archives and see if i can find some good onces