[khandujam]

This is the story of our third driving holiday from Bangalore since moving here last year. And it turned out to be the most unforgettable one.

Prologue: Lucky break 1
With the pandemic waves and unpredictability, long distance holidays have been replaced with short driving holidays for us. Ever since we moved to Bangalore, visiting one of the many forests has been on the agenda. And Kabini - Nagarhole is the closest to Bangalore, so was the obvious first pick. We initially made a booking in late December for a short break in early Feb. When wave 3 came along and we ourselves got Covid, we had to push out the dates to late Feb. In hindsight, this was the first stroke of luck in our destiny to meet the Tigers of Kabini. So, the booking made at Red Earth, I waited eagerly for the drive.
Note: we didn't take along the DSLR, keeping expectations low. So please excuse the grainy twilight shots and shaky vids from my handheld phone.
Note to mods: please move the post to an appropriate thread if required.

The Day: Lucky break 2
A day before our holiday was supposed to begin, we got a call from the resort at 830 am that by mistake they blocked the rooms from a day earlier. So in case we can come, they have a room for us. I smiled giddily at my wife and somehow convinced her to drop everything, pack in rapid fire time and make a move for Kabini by the afternoon. Google maps showed five hour fifteen minutes and we had about six hours till sundown. So, with an extra night of holiday to look forward to, the three of us loaded up and off we went.

The Drive To
I knew that the route was same as Coorg (a drive I had done last year) on NH275 till Mysore and then diverged south west for Kabini. But google maps showed us to take the Kanakpura exit on Nice Road and then onto NH948, and save 15 mins. Given the tight window, I didn’t argue with Google and took that. The road quality is nothing as good as Mysore highway as the videos show (till 2:21 in the dashcam video). I am guessing once the Mysore highway widening work is done, it will be a no brainer to stick to that. It wasn’t a bad road, so we drove non-stop and made it to the resort in exact five hours. For someone who has experienced the convoluted Physics of Bangalore roads that says “time to destination increases with reducing distance to destination”, doing lesser than Google maps time was surreal. The road leading up to the resort was an acceptable village road (2:22 to 3:50 in dashcam video)

Phew, taking a breather on reaching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB3rujImwwc

The Safari fixed: Lucky break 3
Everyone who had been here earlier asked us to keep our expectations of sighting super low. Also, there is no chance that you can get a jeep – they are all first given to guests at JLR, and rest get the van. As soon as reached, we placed a request for the safari next day morning in a jeep. As it turned out, there were ten of us at Red Earth wanting to do the morning safari and we got a full jeep just for us.

The Safari: Mother of all Lucks
Morning 530 am, we all huddled closely, fighting off a chilly wind blowing right through the open jeep. With all the entry checks done, we entered the Nagarhole forest on Route A as the first vehicle at 620 am. The sun was still just waking up and a dim brightness was just filling up the jungle. And within 100 mtrs of driving on the kuchha road, at exact 627 am, I spotted a tiger sitting on the right of the path, in all its regal glory. I was shocked for a second or two that is it for real or just my last night’s dreams floating through my eyes!!! But no - it was real. The first ever tiger spotting for me and my wife, on maybe what was the 15th safari for us. And sitting between us was our son on his first ever safari, spotting his first ever tiger in the wild. Talk about bringing along a lucky charm!!
This big cat was a shy one and was almost bemused to see us so early in the day. It gave us a look, showed its catwalk, and then vanished into the thicket. And it was gone by the time other jeeps entered the range. Word quickly spread around among other drivers and soon 7-10 other vehicles turned up parking them around a watering hole nearby. But the tiger didn’t come out and everyone slowly moved to other parts of the jungle.

What a welcome

https://youtu.be/hKZ-y_hfzWw

The Temple Tigress darshan
Our driver was very clear where he wanted to go next – the Temple Tank. This watering hole derives its name from centuries old rock temples found near this spot. We winded through paths, crossing beautiful herds of spotted deer, mongoose, langurs etc. We reached Temple Tank around 730 am and the driver pointed out the deer calls coming from nearby thicket. They call it Strong Calling and he was sure a tiger would turn up in the next 10-15 mins. The ruling deity of the Temple Tank is a tigress with a litter of four cubs, who comes out in the mornings for a drink at the watering hole. We waited patiently along with the same 7-10 vehicles - the word on the strong calling had also spread. While waiting there, we saw a group of Sambhars and more deer.

Everyone was waiting

And at 814 am, the tigress decided to give us darshan. It just appeared out of nowhere and the driver shouted excitedly for us to turn our heads around. Clearly this one wasn’t shy - it just stepped out and sauntered along the pathway nonchalantly. The morning sun was up and the lighting was just brilliant - the first words that came to me were Tyger Tyger, burning bright. Her morning walk path crossed over from our right to the left. She crossed the road couple of vehicles ahead of us, in complete confidence like a true ruler. And once all of us had our fill of clicks, vids and gasps of breath, she just vanished into the jungle. It lasted all of five minutes but the excitement stayed with us.

https://youtu.be/oOfV9USzSFQ

Temple Tigress: Like a Boss

We had another hour of the safari and we moved around spotting some wild boars and Malabar giant squirrels. Just as we were about to exit the range, we saw a heard of Indian bisons enjoying some breakfast. Happy, satisfied and eternally grateful, we made our journey back to the resort. All along the way back, my wife and I were pinching ourselves to be sure we really saw what we saw. And my son was wondering what is the fuss all about. Lucky kid, doesn’t know the heartbreak of a safari where all you get to see is a pugmark.

https://youtu.be/IBvzoMsVc34

Afternoon encounter with the Backwater Ruler
The morning excitement had our adrenaline pumping and the luck element had really started to hit home. We decided to take the afternoon boat safari the same day. We were hoping to spot some elephants on their famed mud baths on the banks of the backwaters. We reached JLR and at around 3.30 pm hopped into our boat expectedly named Elephant. Two other boats started off with us and the trio stayed together wandering around for the next one hour the beautiful kabini backwaters. We spotted more Sambhars, spotted deer, cormorants, pelicans and egrets.
And then our boat driver decided to break away from the pack and took the boat into a wedge that shows on Google Maps as Kabini Backwater Gandathur. It’s a narrow stretch of nearly still water and we kept wondering why is he going away from the open waterways. Clearly he had heard something. And as we hit the absolute end of the waterway in this creek at 405 pm, my wife gave out a cry of disbelief – oh, there is a tiger sitting there!!! And there he was – just lounging behind a stack of driftwood, shaded from the harsh sun, enjoying his afternoon siesta. We briefly got a glimpse of his face and then he went back down to the nap he was clearly really enjoying.

Soon more boats came along and the tiger gave enough head-lifts to keep everyone interested but never really got up. The other two boats didn’t get a full view and the occupants soon got bored. For some reason, our driver was not willing to go – maybe this was his prized discovery for the day so he wanted to stick on. And thank god, he was so so right. At 440 pm, he king got up, walked away from us to go have a drink. Our boat driver turned the boat around to land us in a spot that gave us what is perhaps going to be the image that will define tiger spotting for me for the rest of my life. I will just let the images and videos below do the talking.

https://youtu.be/ljvFUvx1_FA

Three tigers in a day. Three. On a day that we weren’t even supposed to be there. On a holiday that happened only due to Covid wave 3. I have always heard from wildlife followers that spotting a tiger is a matter of luck. And we lived to tell the tale of luck getting us our audience with royalty. I couldn’t have asked for a better gift for my 40th birthday, which was the real motivation for taking a holiday on this very weekend.

Epilogue
The next day morning was a fun walking bird watching tour where we spotted larks, spotted owl, golden orioles and scores of other birds. We did a bus safari on route B the next day as well and spotted two more tigers. One was lounging in the bushes close the river and another was a two second appearance from the bushes and then back. None were close enough for us to get good clicks but were fun nonetheless. After spending the next day doing literally nothing but soaking up the absolute quiet of the area, we returned via the Mysore Bangalore highway.

Sunrise over the Kabini



Until next time

[Satish Pari]

I guess lady luck smiled on you. Three tiger sightings in a single day is simple unbelievable - and I understand how it feels when you see a tiger in the wild. Tiger sightings especially from South India are always special.

[khandujam]

Originally Posted by Satish Pari

I guess lady luck smiled on you. Three tiger sightings in a single day is simple unbelievable - and I understand how it feels when you see a tiger in the wild. Tiger sightings especially from South India are always special.

Yes. The guides told us that it’s a combination of high temperatures and prolonged dry spell. Made the animals step out for water more and the undergrowth was completely dried up, thereby easier sighting. Feb / March are great months

[TechSavvy]

Please request to all travelogue writers. If you have a beautiful car, post more pictures of that than the surroundings cause that’s what I come to see!

[JoshMachine]

Beautiful pictures .
From all the Kabini travelogues that I have seen here, one is rarely disappointed with the sightings.
Happy 40th, btw!

[vinodvaddi]

Few years ago, we were there at JLR. They organized an early morning boat trip on the Kabini river/backwaters. That was so beautiful. You set out when the moon is still visible and sun comes up when you are on the water.

The entire experience was a revelation. It was as if we've never seen moon/sun earlier. Even the forest was so beautiful in the afternoon safari. The play of shadows and light was magical.

[khandujam]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Beautiful pictures .
From all the Kabini travelogues that I have seen here, one is rarely disappointed with the sightings.
Happy 40th, btw!

Thank you yes the forest is just something else with dense vegetation sloping into the backwaters

[ashishsGT]

Hello khandujam,

You got really lucky!!
A tiger spotting in a safari, just elevates the whole experience to a new level. Thank you for sharing your travel story.

Cheers,
Ashish

[ramnath_77]

Crisp travelogue with nice images. The thrill of seeing the big cat (no matter how many times you have seen it earlier) is something that can’t be put in words.

I just returned back from a trip to Kabini. The place is rocking with Tiger sightings. We got 7 different tigers in 6 rides. Unfortunately due to higher density and movement of tigers in recent times, sightings of Leopards have dramatically come down. I will put up a travelogue soon