[Coooolcat21]

As we had planned both the safaris for today , really wished to have a glance of collarwali. We did wait at a point for over 1 hour as one of her cubs was there in the bushes wanting to cross the road , but stayed put due to the huge noise of the gypsys, everyone there for the one and only reason to have a glimpse of the new generation.
Besides the stripes, the jungles are full of such beautiful birds and animals that one often misses out on them.
The paths are serene and the jungle often quite but its full of silent activity , everyone with a watchfull eye and with a keen ear..







Serpent Eagle









Bhraminy Ducks







The silence continues. Nightjar still in the same position.



White Wagtail







Grey Wagtail





The search for more continues..

[fazalaliadil]

Coooolcat,

Some more beautiful photographs and great clarity, you even managed to get the cobweb in the third serpent eagle pic.

Neelgai has come out really good, (second one).

Very nice color range in the egret pic. two ripples and reflection.

This pair of owls are perennially holed up in the same hole since decades I guess.
Regards,

[Coooolcat21]

@Fazal Sir,
Its amazing how keenly you notice details of every picture. Thank you.
Regards

The jungle surely cannot stay too quite for long when there is a Brown headed barbet around.
How well they camouflage.



Cormorant







Common Hoopoe
Its such a beautiful bird that i had missed in all these years.
Like putting up pictures in a sequence as it shows the various vibrant moments of the bird.









Plum headed Parakeet at a far of distance.



Crocodile bark trees.


Black Shoulder Kite


Black-Headed Oriole



Grey Hornbill silhouette

Jungle Owlet

Coucal



With this we ended our stay in pench and headed towards kanha National Park our favourite destination

[gd1418]

Amazing avian pictures; especially of the seldom seen Barbet & Coucal. More please..!

[Coooolcat21]

@Gd Sir,
Thank You.

We drove out of Pench after the evening safari being happy to have seen a variety of birds and beautiful landscapes. But then we had to start planning to come back soon as collarwali again this year did not show up. I think she wants us back and we shall soon do it with great pleasure.
The evening was extremely windy and seemed like it would rain all night.

Woke up the next day morning to an overcast sky. Packed our bags to start for Kanha National Park. The office here told us the that the road before seoni for about 30 kms in the ghat section was extremely bad and was also closed the previous night. Now that did not worry us as the distance was not much to be covered and we had driven on bad roads just a couple of months back.

Could it get worse than this?





Well the road had lots of pot holes ,nothing new except for a huge trailor that had turned over and was blocking the path. By the time we got there they had made way for the traffic so we did not loose on any time and would surely be able to catch up with our evening safari in Kanha.

Soon it started pouring and it dampened our moods as we had been told that Kanha had been closed for the past 2 days.
It rained all the way and we just hoped it would stop.
Reached the park at 2pm and were told that there would be no safari. Not a good start at all.
Checked into Baghira Log Huts , they looked beautiful in the rain and the mist except that the wildlife there was missing. No deers or bisons near the waterhole. After a while we did manage to see a pair of jackals near the gol ghar while we sipped hot tea.
It rained silently.



After a while it stopped raining and our spirits were up again hoping there would be the morning safari, but for us to know that we had to be up and ready by 6AM .
We looked up at the sky hoping to see patches of clear sky assuring us of no rain that night and went to bed with a little prayer.





Woke up to a cloudy sky and the log huts were engulfed in thick mist. Gol Ghar was not even visible. No hopes of a safari but then nothing could stop us from getting ready on time. Reached Gol Ghar exactly at 6AM.



At 7AM we got the good news that the park was being opened and we could now no longer wait to go see the the magic of the beautiful jungles of Kanha National Park

[C300]

Lovely pictures of the misty forest Coolcat. Didnt know that the ghat section near Seoni is so bad, but the views are majestic. That ghat road can be mistaken for any road in Uttarakhand IMO

[Coooolcat21]

Originally Posted by C300

Lovely pictures of the misty forest Coolcat. Didnt know that the ghat section near Seoni is so bad, but the views are majestic. That ghat road can be mistaken for any road in Uttarakhand IMO

The pictures are a reflections of the worst roads we have driven so far in Rohtang La . Well seoni road condition I have mentioned in my earlier post.

Thank and Regards.

[C300]

Originally Posted by Coooolcat21

The pictures are a reflections of the worst roads we have driven so far in Rohtang La . Well seoni road condition I have mentioned in my earlier post.

Thank and Regards.

oops! My bad. Time to get my eyes checked.

[mallumowgli]

Great to see coolcat back with Amazing wildlife pics, beautiful landscape compositions and great narration. Looking forward for more....

[Coooolcat21]

@mallumowgli
Thank you.

We drove along wet winding paths that led us to a dense white cloud of fog,that had many wonders in store for us.
The jungle was mystical, the tall sal trees dissappered into the skies hiding within, the beautiful birds that were not seen or even heard today. For now we stopped to soak in the silence that could almost be heard.
Sometimes the tall sal swayed giving way to the silent activity of the langoors. The paths were lined with the red dried leaves of the sal that had turned a mushy brown due the rain and gave a wet sweet smell of the jungles.
The leaves dripped of glistening beads of water that made a loud sound ,while the grass and the bamboo held on to them making them into a string of beads.





Far at a distance we saw the fog clearing and drove on trying to hear the sweet sounds of the birds. But then the silence was broken only by the little splashes of water made by the gypsy when it drove thru small muddy puddles.





The guide decided to go to Kanha for a little tea break as he had less hopes of any sighting in this kind of weather.
As we got there ,we were the first to know of the tiger show as the elephants had tracked a male tiger. We were not to sure if we wanted to go on a show, but at the same time the weather did not promise us much. By then my son declared that he wanted an elephant ride and so it would be.
Most of us look for these marks in awe and in glee too ,hoping to see the magnificent tiger.
Our hope had turned true



My son was more than happy to be holding on to the ladder that we took along with us to where the elephants waited.
Or should i be saying to where, the tiger decided to let the elephants wait for desperate visitors like us.





"Munna" is his name! He was sleepy and he yawned.










The next inline.



We jumped on to our gypsy hoping to see the tiger while on the drive through the jungle.
Well we can never have enough.





Barasingha

[fazalaliadil]

Coooolcat,

The landscapes are breathtakingly awesome !

Though the fourth and the twelfth are shot from the same angle but show different moods of the day, the later is not a photograph but a painting.

The Barasingha is so well shot between two different colored vegetation, only wish he was standing more in the foreground, with the yellow grass behind him.

Munna is just superb, his looks are in total contrast to his name.

The misty woods are so mystical, beautiful. Next time try to crop out any man made structures like the platform in the foreground.

Last three frames of the misty meadows are very good. The best part of your travelogue, it has a feel of being there as you include the inhabitants of the forest, the forest itself and your wonderful, narrative writeup.

Nice Fortuner and its luggage rack.
Regards,

[gd1418]

Coooolcat21,

Your pictures of Kanha & Munna bring-back nostlagic memories. Munna, the 2nd biggest male of Kanha after Nakkataa.

Not at all hijacking your wonderful thread, but this is an account of my encounter with Munna in April 2011.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post2361478

[nanduchitnis]

Amazing photography ! Been glued here for quite some time !!

[sach.sri]

awesome pictures - very very nice and well balanced! I M loving it!! bring it on.

[nilanjanray]

Great pictures. Kanha looks so different in the winter. I stayed in the same MPTDC/Kisli lodge - the winter fogs make it look so different! I have nice memories of spending evenings in front of the cabins, listening to jungle sounds. If it were not for the higher chance of spotting big cats in summer, I would prefer winter - anyday - to visit such a forest.

The Barasinghas and the Sambhars seem to have a nice winter coat.

P.S.: rated 5 stars :-)