[gajadonga]

Sorry to Hijack your thread thought will post a picture when i visited Ranthambore in 2008

[gd1418]

Nothing hijacking about it. More the merrier. Great picture and great composition. Did the Cat finally hunt?

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Sorry to Hijack your thread thought will post a picture when i visited Ranthambore in 2008

[gajadonga]

Originally Posted by gd1418

Nothing hijacking about it. More the merrier. Great picture and great composition. Did the Cat finally hunt?

And finally this is what that happened

[gd1418]

Ranthambhore beckons me; once again. Will I be lucky and able to see any one of the 22 cubs born within a year? Last heard T-9 gave birth to 2 cubs and was also photographed.

Well, here is the plan:

24th May - arrival at Jungle View Resort around 12 noon by road. Evening safari - 15:30 to 18:30

25th May - Morning & Evening Safari

26th May - Morning & Evening Safari

27th May - Morning Safari, Check-out and head back to home

[fazalaliadil]

GD Sahab,

Wishing you some good sightings and looking forward to a good pictorial narration.

Gajadonga,

Those are some nice, very nice captures of the predator and prey, doing what they do best.
Regards,

[sach.sri]

Aha - so the plans have been crystalized. nice. I will be in MP jungle at that time, wishing you nice trip and good sightings

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by gd1418

Ranthambhore beckons me; once again. Will I be lucky and able to see any one of the 22 cubs born within a year? Last heard T-9 gave birth to 2 cubs and was also photographed.

The below article refers to T30 as having delivered 3 cubs

The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Energy & Environment : Husnara, the beautiful!

So your May trip will have more to look forward to. Or is this old news?

And the Tigress also gets a name, finally

[gd1418]

May trip, hopefully will have more to look forward to. Apart from Husna Aara, T-9 too delivered cubs.

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

The below article refers to T30 as having delivered 3 cubs

The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Energy & Environment : Husnara, the beautiful!

So your May trip will have more to look forward to. Or is this old news?

And the Tigress also gets a name, finally

[gd1418]

JINX BROKEN....

As per my plan mentioned in post #: 49, am currently in Ranthambhore and extending my stay by a day.

Here is a teaser picture. Detailed travelogue after my return.

I was searching for a superlative term for 'awesome'. Couldn't find one. So am using awesomest. One of the most awesomest shot that I've captured of a Tigress with a kill. This is the famous Sundari or the T-17 (queen of lakes) of Ranthambhore.

[aravind84]

GD Sir,

As always, eagerly waiting for the wonderful narration and pictures from you. This time though with loads of the king's pictures.

Bring it on.

Cheers,
Aravind

[gd1418]

Till about last week, I was probably the one of a few who did not have any sighting of the Big Cat in Ranthambhore & Bandhavgarh. It is said that every Tom, Dick or....ooops, let me use the native names - Ram, Shyam, Mahesh and a Suresh don't come back empty handed from these two sanctuaries.

Most get to see the Tiger in the first safari itself. And then there was I, who did 6 safaris in each sanctuary and came back empty handed. Friends scoffed & sneered at me. I must admit I was disappointed.

Due to certain unavoidable circumstances my elaborate Gujarat-Maharashtra trip had to be abandoned.

After a hectic 4 weeks of intense work, I needed a break and then I decided to re-visit Ranthambhore. By hook or crook I wanted to see a Tiger there to prove all wrong.

Booked a double room in Jungle View Retreat and seats in the jeep safari. This time too I intended to do 6 safaris. North was sizzling and the Tigers were bound to be found in the various waterholes to cool themselves. But then there was my luck too.

I thought of combining Sariska & Ranthambhore, but an agitation by the local villagers of Sariska forced the park to be closed.

24th May, 2012

Ranthambhore was roughly 340 kms away and it would take me about 5-6 hours of enjoyable drive to reach. Packed a few butter sandwiches and my wife & I left home at 4:30.

Last time I had taken NH8, Behror, Shahpura - Manoharpur - Dausa - Lalsot - Sawai Madhopur. This was a long route.

This time I took the following route:



As usual the Dausa - Lalsot section was pathetic with an exception of a few kilometers. Nearing Dausa hit a major traffic jam because of road expansion work. With a few pit stops, reached Ranthambhore by 11 am. My friend Guddu of Jungle View Resort welcomed me very warmly and it was a pleasant surprise to find that I was allotted the same room that was given to me during my October 2010 trip.

Nice clean spacious room but a furnace. The AC had been switched on but it would take a few minutes for the temperature to come down. We settled down, ordered some tea & coffee, polished off the remaining sandwiches and waited for the afternoon safari.

to be continued.../-

[nilanjanray]

That is a fantastic photo. I had a similar sighting in Bandhavgarh, but from farther away.

[gd1418]

To say that it was hot would be an understatement. One of the harshest sunlight ever seen. The jeep would come to pick us up around 3 pm. With experience gathered from my last visit, I had made it very clear to Guddu that I would want different zones for my safaris unlike the last time when the computer randomly gave me zone #:1 four times in succession.

Just to recount, Ranthambhore is divided into 7 tourist zones. While zones 1 to 5 are accessible from the Sherpur Gate, zones 6 & 7 are towards the Kundal side which is a few kilometres drive from where all the resorts are located and also the least popular. Zone 1 is the smallest since Zone 6 was carved out of it.

Zones 1, 4 & 5 are monitored & approached through Singhdwaar while zone 2 & 3 are monitored and approachable from the fort side.

At 1:30 lunch was served in the room and then I started getting ready. I had borrowed a camera body Nikon D700 from my friend Sridhar since changing lenses inside the forest would be a pain and result in loss of a shot. Loaded the 300 mm f/4 on my D300 and the 80~200 mm f/2.8 on the D700. Set both the cameras to spot metering, focussing on continuous AF and FPS set to 4.

Ready with the shooting gear



On the left is the D300 with the 300 mm and on the right is the D700 with the 80~200.

I heard a lot of chitter-chatter of the birds and came out of the room to have a look. And this what I found:

Oriental Magpie Robin (male)



Brahmini Myena (playing dead?)



????? - please identify





to be continued.../-

[nilanjanray]

Eager to get your feedback on shooting with the D700 (full frame) vs. with the D300 - from a wildlife perspective, given the low light/ sudden action/ movement we have to cater for.

Looking at the first photo, You need a camo vest - military ishtyle - will nicely round up the two cameras that look like guns. If it is too warm, you can wear just the military/photographer vest instead of a tshirt :-)

[gd1418]

Nilanjan,

Did not find much difference since I mostly shoot with a set of preset settings. In all humility, I boast of having a pair of a very steady hands so boost the ISO only that much. At the widest I had 80mm to play around with that was of not much help when the Cat passed within 3 feet of my jeep. I, then wished if only I had carried the 24~70 on a third body. Well, the demands never cease...

I deliberately did not take my vest this time looking at the thermometer. And wearing it Rambo ishtyle was never my cup of tea.

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Eager to get your feedback on shooting with the D700 (full frame) vs. with the D300 - from a wildlife perspective, given the low light/ sudden action/ movement we have to cater for.

Looking at the first photo, You need a camo vest - military ishtyle - will nicely round up the two cameras that look like guns. If it is too warm, you can wear just the military/photographer vest instead of a tshirt :-)