The showstoppers - Bandipur May 2018

King of the Jungle

2003 - Our honeymoon was close to bandipur and now 2018, 15 years later we still go there every year :) In these 15 years and probably umpteen safari's and drives that we have done, we never sighted a tiger. To be honest, we did sight it once, but just his ears :) Ofcourse, at Tadoba we got a beautiful sighting of Maya and her cubs. But then this is about Bandipur :)

Thanks to the super exciting parcel of this trip - Anuva - we would play mind games with each other asking each of us to guess what are they going to see on the day's safari. Prabs was certain this particular time that we will see the tiger and I too had that on my guess list :)

Was it to be or not...only time would tell. We were the second Jeep that entered the route that went to a famous watering hole. The safari was going on as usual - the occasional deer, sambar being spotted and then we soon found ourselves very close to the watering hole. 

Immediately the super excited but quiet folks in the jeep ahead of us signalled 3 fingers to us. We obviously didnt think they are telling us 3 tigers, there can't be. But there were! There were 3 tigers in the watering hole, but only till a few moments before our jeep arrived. We were like - Oh no, not again have we missed the tiger n Bandipur.

The driver shut the engine and we all waited in the direction one of the tigers had departed. It was all silent enough to hear our racing heart beats and every breath being taken in the jeep. 

And then it happened - one of the sub-adult tigers broke cover and decided to walk out. He majestically strode past and looked straight at us before vanishing as silently as he stepped out. It was a beautiful specimen who will grow up into a handsome tiger. Left us all spell bound and the entire family high fiving each other :)

Ramdevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary @ ramnagara

I was casually browsing for some offbeat sanctuaries in India (much like the Daroji bear sanctuary at Bellary) when I chanced upon a post about the Ramdevarabetta vulture sanctuary at Ramnagara which is very close to Bangalore on the return leg from Bandipur. Thanks to this blog creator: http://kannadagottilla.com/ramadevara-betta-vulture-sanctuary/

We had been looking around for vultures on our Moyar drives and the Bharatpur trip and never sighted one. Getting to go to a vulture sanctuary that too on the way back from our trip was almost a dream come true. It made sure excitement after leaving Bandipur was still high before we hit the city routines again.

So the plan as set and on the return leg, we found ourselves crossing an offbeat road from the highway to the sanctuary that we were not even sure existed. Reached there and it was a mixed feeling. The forest officials there knew about the vultures, that was a good thing but they said that vultures do come here but once in 2-3 days and at no particular time!

But we are not the ones to give up (remember 15 years to see the tiger at Bandipur!!). So much to the amazement of the officals and locals, we took out the tripod and the 600 mm lens and set it up pointing right at the rocky hill where the vultures come. Waited close to 45 mins, no activity. Spent some time going up to the temple there and came back sometime later, to be told by the forest offcial that "hang on, a vulture has come!". We were super thrilled with that statement and after some up there, down here kind of dialogue, prabs was able to spot the lone long billed vulture! It was quie far and well camouflaged in the rocky background. But the wait paid off and we felt very satisfied at the end of it all!

Its a pity that they have become so rare in the last 2 decades thanks to the diclofenac episode. Just praying that may their tribe grow.

Longing to be back :) Over to Prabs to cover the birds!

Wildlife - Bandipur May 2018

The Real thing - Wildlife

We were blessed to have seen so much this year literally..

Sambar Deer  They are fewer in number than the spotted deer and are extremely Shy . However this time we did see that the ones we spotted weren't as shy and in fact we saw them approaching cars for food. Am so glad that the car in front of us which the sambar approached did not feed it. 

In the first picture , the sore patch of the Sambar is seen clearly.

These ears can hear what the eyes cannot see! This sambar was such a poser. Gave us the opportunity to capture mugshot like pics from each angle :) and a demo of the 360 degree flexibility of its ears. 

A Rare White Sambar Deer

Have only seen brown ones till date. Seems to be asking "Yes, I am white. So what?" :)

The Indian Gaur

Keep calm! Each sighting of the bison amazes us at their calmness inspite of their size and strength especially when they are in a herd.

The Giant Malabar Squirrel

This ever busy squirrel obliged us with a clear steady shot on a tree while on our way to the moyar dam.

Rivers and Animals have no boundaries.. Saw this tusker in Bandipur (Karnataka) and a few hours later in Mudumalai (Tamilnadu)! Btw, Hope the cauvery dispute resolves soon. It causes enough tension on our cross state drives :)

Summers and the pre-noon sun is the best time to catch a glimpse of the Monitor lizards. We saw quite a few of them basking in the sun

and the distant cousin of the monitor lizard :)

Deer are plenty and they always give you candid "in your face" shots. This one was spotted with beautiful antlers and then seemed to answer the question "whose antlers are those" with "mine" :)

Wild boars are all over the forest guest house campus to the extent that the word "wild" can be dropped off their title :) But this one was special, coz unanimously we agreed that this was the pig "Babe" from the movie babe :)

Wildlife blogs are not complete without a mention about the king of the jungle. Coming up soon :)

Intro and Us! - Bandipur May 2018

The Much needed Family Time

This year has been a very Challenging year for us and this break was so necessary. We chose the same destination Bandipur, though we usually stay in the forest guest house for at least 5 nights, this time around we stayed 3 nights in Bangalore , one night onwards  and two nights on the return leg. One big thing was that this year Ansh was away on his camp at Coonoor with NALS OUTDOORS and this trip was without him. No, he didn't crib ..he had his share of fun with his friends at the camp :)

So with the little fun loving 5 year old Anuva in tow, we set out for Bandipur in our car. As I type this its almost a deja vu! cos the first road trip we did was when Ansh was 5 and it was Yelagiri!

Anuva is such a fun kid to have around. No questions , No qualms, No hang ups. Such a  darling she was in the entire journey..she even sat behind (not with mumma) on her own until she threw up as we entered Bangalore!

Her mood was fine as soon as we got into our room at Lemon Tree and we decided to take a  dip in the pool to beat the heat. Splish Splash and after about an hour of fun in the pool, I was tired but this bumblebee was just not ready . Phew!

Impromptu, unplanned meetups have their own charm. We met a school friend Ranjeeta and her husband Sushant. I met Ranjeeta  after 25 years ! 25! But, it certainly didn't feel so. felt like we have  been touch and that those 25 years are actually a wink. Such a  wonderful evening it was.

We reached Bandipur post Lunch and despite the hike in the safari rates, accommodation , there was so much rush.The queues for the safari can scare one, well thankfully i have never ever stood in that queue thanks to Ankush who always makes sure i have to arrive only when the jeep is ready to go.

We settled in our one room cottage, and now were ready to soak in the nature in the place Ankush and i love the most!

Anuvas excitement is contagious.. .and i had to be child like with her screaming in excitement at every boar and deer we saw (there are hundreds in the property). Our next two days were blessed as we sighted animals and birds , woke up to birds chirping AND.. a wild boar pushing against the main door to try and enter in :P I think this was around 5 AM, still night by me...and I seriously thought a leopard is trying to get in!!

We photographed ourselves. Yes ! I coaxed Ankush to click my pics and of us together. If you've been following my blog and pics.. you would notice I am usually never seen, cos i am the one mostly clicking. But this time.. i was in front of the camera. So, out got Ankush his tripod and the shoot began :) A subtle warning - these might be a lil too mushy for some..:) but i love them!

The Little "Poorna"!

For those who have read about Poorna or seen the movie, Poorna was the youngest girl to summit mount everest. Anuva was very inspired by the movie and from the time we reached bandipur, she wanted to go on a hike in which she gets to climb a mountain :) such innocent ambitions cant be denied and so on our second morning, we set out to conquer Anuva's own everest :)

Ready for the hike and the climb!

She was so focussed on her summit attempt! Stretching and pulling her little body along and refusing ANY kind of help or support on the way!

Amma, I did it! :) And then she went up and down many times

Stay Glued for more on wild sightings in the next post!