[Diesel9999]

Folks,

Somehow, forests and 4x4's have always pulled me strongly. Maybe they were appealing to my primal instincts These two have been of keen interest to me since a very long time and there are a few places in India and Sri Lanka where I get to indulge both my passions at the same time.

I am talking about Bandhavgarh and Kanha in India and Yala Wildlife Sanctuary in Sri Lanka. A few years back, in Kanha and Bandhavgarh, you could take your own vehicle into the forest along with an official guard provided it was a 4x4 and was emissions compliant. They have discontinued that practice now. In Sri lanka, you can still do that.

These forests and animals have to be experienced in their pristine habitats to truly understand their incredible beauty. A glimpse of the majestic Tiger would be the icing on the cake, but any wildlife sightings are well worth it.

I usually drive from Hyderabad to Bandhavgarh and Kanha via Nagpur and its an 11 hours to 14 hours drive, depending on the traffic and road conditions. Best bet is to take an MUV or an SUV rather than the hatches as road conditions in Madhya Pradesh tend to be quite bad in patches and you will lose a lot of time over bad stretches of the road in Hatchbacks.

For Yala Wildlife sanctuary in Sri Lanka, I fly to Colombo and then rent an SUV for the drive to Yala. Its a 6 hour drive usually and the drive is quite nice. There is a place called Mirissa at which you can stop by on the way to Yala and you can catch the Legendary Blue Whales in action here. In the months from October to January or so, Mirissa is home to the annual Blue Whale Migration and local boat charters take you out to the sea to spot the Blue Whales. Its quite an experience to see the largest creature on earth and sightings are pretty good.

I am uploading a few pictures from some of these trips for you guys.

[Scarlet_Rider]

Excellent pictures! What gear (cameras, lenses etc) do you use for photography? I keep experimenting with my cameras at times on weekends. I have a classic Petri TTL Film SLR camera and the Canon EOS 1000D Digital SLR camera.

Regards, Keep Revving and Clicking,

Rahul Waghmare.

[Diesel9999]

Originally Posted by Scarlet_Rider

Excellent pictures! What gear (cameras, lenses etc) do you use for photography? I keep experimenting with my cameras at times on weekends. I have a classic Petri TTL Film SLR camera and the Canon EOS 1000D Digital SLR camera.

Regards, Keep Revving and Clicking,

Rahul Waghmare.

Thanks for the compliments Rahul. For wildlife photography,I chiefly rely on my Nikon D90 and I carry the 55mm prime, a 70-300 f2.8, a 1.4x teleconverter and the 18-105mm kit lens that came with the body.

My dad has a Nikon F1 film camera but he wont let me touch it

[Subrat Seet]

Nice photos! Last three from Bandhavgarh. What about the Leapord and croc?

[Diesel9999]

Originally Posted by Subrat Seet

Nice photos! Last three from Bandhavgarh. What about the Leapord and croc?

The leapord is from Yala wildlife sanctuary in Sri Lanka. The croc is from bandhavgarh.

[fazalaliadil]

Diesel9999,
Those are wonderful shots of the leopard and croc.
The spotted deer is too inland for the crocodile to kill it. Whats the story behind it?
Looking forward for more from you.
Regards,

[Gandhi]

Amazing pics there. The photo of the road in the jungle is really good. It has some feel of the jungle to it. Keep 'em coming.

[MohsinRoadster]

Start of yet another wildlife thread. Excellent shots there especially of the leopard, croc and the jungle road.

[gd1418]

A 70~300 f/2.8. Which brand lens is this. Nikon doesn't make one. And how do you use the TC with this? With its elements the 70~300 won't fit on the TC.

Your dad is sensible...

Originally Posted by Diesel9999

a 70-300 f2.8, a 1.4x teleconverter and the 18-105mm kit lens that came with the body.

My dad has a Nikon F1 film camera but he wont let me touch it

[Sunrise]

Great Pictures indeed, the real thing is to get into the jungle and see the glory of the widlife in pristine conditions
BTW they want certain emission standards on own vehicles but what about the Gypsies they are taking? Though glad to see that the good old Gypsy is still a preferred vehicle when it comes to jungle terrains, but is that conforming to emission norms?

[aviorp]

Brilliant pictures. Loved the way, you have captured the Tiger. Feel sad, for the deer though. You're an awesome photographer, Mahesh.

[Diesel9999]

Originally Posted by aviorp

Brilliant pictures. Loved the way, you have captured the Tiger. Feel sad, for the deer though. You're an awesome photographer, Mahesh.

Thanks for the compliments aviorp

Originally Posted by Sunrise

Great Pictures indeed, the real thing is to get into the jungle and see the glory of the widlife in pristine conditions
BTW they want certain emission standards on own vehicles but what about the Gypsies they are taking? Though glad to see that the good old Gypsy is still a preferred vehicle when it comes to jungle terrains, but is that conforming to emission norms?

I am not sure how they decided that the gypsy was meeting the emissions. A few of the vehicles I saw there were not very 'clean'. I guess the logic of the govt babus is that petrol vehicle = no pollution

Originally Posted by gd1418

A 70~300 f/2.8. Which brand lens is this. Nikon doesn't make one. And how do you use the TC with this? With its elements the 70~300 won't fit on the TC.

Your dad is sensible...

my bad. Its the 70- 200 f/2.8 and yes, the 1.4x nikkor teleconverter goes onto it quite well.

Originally Posted by MohsinRoadster

Start of yet another wildlife thread. Excellent shots there especially of the leopard, croc and the jungle road.

thanks mohsin roadster. the croc seems to be mighty popular here

Originally Posted by Gandhi

Amazing pics there. The photo of the road in the jungle is really good. It has some feel of the jungle to it. Keep 'em coming.

yeah apparently thats a very often photographed stretch of trail. It looks quite 'jungly' if you know what I mean.

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Diesel9999,
Those are wonderful shots of the leopard and croc.
The spotted deer is too inland for the crocodile to kill it. Whats the story behind it?
Looking forward for more from you.
Regards,

I agree with you. Its quite strange for a spotted deer to be so far inland. If you observe carefully, there are two crocs in the pic. It was the croc in the background which first knocked out the spotted deer as it was drinking water. The bigger croc in the foreground then rushed out of the water and shooed away the smaller croc and took hold of the deer. Is it even normal croc behaviour? It was a very strange experience.

[fazalaliadil]

Originally Posted by Diesel9999

I agree with you. Its quite strange for a spotted deer to be so far inland. If you observe carefully, there are two crocs in the pic. It was the croc in the background which first knocked out the spotted deer as it was drinking water. The bigger croc in the foreground then rushed out of the water and shooed away the smaller croc and took hold of the deer. Is it even normal croc behaviour? It was a very strange experience.

Diesel9999,
You mean you witnessed the smaller croc. knocking out the deer as it was drinking water???
Why did you not photograph the sequence?
How did it do?
Yes it is perfectly normal croc, and animal behavior, hierarchy and its show is very prevalent in the animal kingdom.
Regards,

[Diesel9999]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Diesel9999,
You mean you witnessed the smaller croc. knocking out the deer as it was drinking water???
Why did you not photograph the sequence?
How did it do?
Yes it is perfectly normal croc, and animal behavior, hierarchy and its show is very prevalent in the animal kingdom.
Regards,

it happened in a flash and my camera was focused elsewhere, to capture the birds. By the time I refocused the cam and started shooting, a few seconds had gone by. And it all happened so silently.

It was the gypsy driver who first spotted this by the way.

[mallumowgli]

This is the first TL on SriLanka i think. Never knew the Island had a population of big cats.Nice snaps