Trip Report

Tigers and the Wildlife
of India Photo Tour
2015

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Please scroll to the bottom of this report for important information
about next year's Ultimate India offerings!

This year's Tigers and the Wildlife of India Photo Tour was the most diverse we've ever had, with some of the best images of species we rarely get an opportunity to see or photograph. That includes several great opportunities with Sloth Bears, with cubs, jumping Giant Squirrels, Asiatic Wild Dogs (Dholes), and spectacular Leopards. Several in our group did extremely well with Tigers, although I had the worse luck I've ever had, but still managed a couple wonderful shots. Mary had the luck this year, and shot several good tigers.

India is not like East Africa, and it can be frustrating at times, but I love photographing here. In fact, I recently told Mary that if I had two months to simply travel and photograph (hint), I'd do so in India. India is so diverse, with Tigers, and Bears, and even Lions, although we haven't done that trip yet but we will, next year, that there is always something new and exciting to photograph.

This trip report is divided into four main sections, reflecting our two pre-trips, to Kaziranga and Keoladeo, our main Tiger/wildlife trip, and a post-trip, scouting trip to a new Tiger park. Some of our participants did all four parts, while others did the first two or three, or the last two. Our time in India, which included our Snow Leopard Expedition, presented us with a range of temperatures that went from a low of zero Fahrenheit (in Snow Leopard country in the Himalayas) to 110 degrees at our last Tiger location. Obviously, it also presented us with a wealth of different subjects, ranging from alpine to jungle.

A quick word about gear. The Gypsy Jeeps that are used for game driving in the parks are small, very small. We only have one person per row or two photographers per jeep, and I can't imagine how anyone deals with three or four or more shooters in one of these tiny vehicles. It's fine for one, but even then, there isn't too much room for gear. On our last trip, we started using the Really Right Stuff Monopod and Pro Monopod head, and that worked perfectly when we were not bracing our lenses on Vertex Molar Bags. I carried an 800mm along this year, like I did last time, because I had the lens here, used for the Snow Leopard trip. Vertex makes a great Long Lens Bag, that I helped design, and it was perfect for the long lens. Most of the time I simply strapped it vertically to one of the braces of the jeep, with a foam pad below the lens to protect it from jars. In the few jeeps designed differently, I laid the lens on the floor, insulated from the bumps by a foam pad -- which was easy to pick up in India. I'd recommend everyone going to India for wildlife photography to have: One, a Molar Bag for lens support; Two, the RRS monopod and Pro Monopod head; and Three, if you're using more than one big lens, get the Long Lens Bag, too.

As I post this, I'm already chomping at the bit to go back, and next year's offerings will truly be the Ultimate India Wildlife Tour. I hope you'll enjoy this report and the images, and that you'll join us next year in India.

Here's the complete report.

KAZIRANGA

Feb. 23. After arriving in Delhi yesterday, returning from our Snow Leopard Expedition, we had the afternoon and evening to rest up for our early departure for Assam and our next leg – for the Indian One-horned Rhino. We drove for about an hour to a restaurant for lunch, where one of our drivers received a call asking whether anyone had forgotten their computer at the airport. Although most of us did not have our laptops out, we all checked, nonetheless, and Randy, who had been using his and stored it in the seat pocket in front, had indeed left his behind. He and a driver returned to the airport to retrieve his laptop while we waited at the restaurant. The trip cost us about an hour, and with two or three stops en route for bathroom breaks we reached our lodge after dark, around 6:30PM.

Feb. 24. We had an elephant ride schedule for the second outing, around 7AM, and we left our lodge at 5:30 for the half-hour or more drive to the park, where we waited at the gate, eventually being let in and driven to our elephants. The ele ride lasts about an hour, taking us through elephant-high elephant grass which the ele’s we were riding snatched trunk’s full whenever they passed by. In all we had about 20 Rhinos, including a few with small babies, one of which (female) eventually lost her patience and snorted and faced off at the intrusive elephants. The ride took us close to Barasinga (Marsh) Deer, many Hog Deer, and a few Wild Boar.
After the ride we headed out in our jeeps, shooting a variety of subjects, including several Bengal Monitor Lizards, Open-billed Storks, Parakeets, and other birds, including the ‘best ever’ Red Jungle Fowl rooster I’d had anywhere. The male tossed leaves about, as did the hen that was even closer, but both were more than full-frame. A Kalij Pheasant hen tossed leaves in the undergrowth as well, but was too well hidden for a photograph.
My driver/guide pointed out several locations where he’d seen Tigers, including one just two days ago along the river, visible from the viewing platform. We scanned from there but only had a lone Bull Indian Elephant visible, drinking along the shoreline.
In all, we probably had over 20 different species of birds and great shots of Hog Deer, Monitors, and Buffalo for the morning, arriving back at the lodge at 12:30PM.





Top Row: Hog Deer; Wild Water Buffalo
Middle: Yellow-footed Green Pigeon; Bar-headed Goose
Bottom: Barasinga Deer

PM. We left at 2:30pm, not giving us much time between lunch, downloading, and repacking to head back out. We went to the western sector of the park which, in the past, has been productive for both Rhino and Buffalo. Today was no exception, and we had a good bull Buffalo who stared intently towards us, his attention on the brush breaking behind us – a rhino, and posed wonderfully. That Rhino then crossed the road, and we had several good opportunities at the Rhino as it faced us.



At one of the watch towers a Pallas Fish Eagle flew by at eye-level and close, but appeared out of nowhere and no one got a shot. Rhesus Macaque Monkeys were fairly common but all seemed to sense when we had a lens trained on them and jumped from their branches or ran off, giving little chance for shooting. We saw several Himalayan Hoary-bellied Squirrels, and Mary got some shots – my opportunity was far too contrasty to bother.
Towards the end of the game drive another vehicle that had parked by a waterway waved to us that they had … a Tiger! We raced to the spot and the cat disappeared, but my driver/guide spotted it in the grass and took a shot with my camera – I still couldn’t locate it.

Look carefully, and you may see the tiger. I could not, and it was only when the tiger
finally moved that I saw it in the grasses. There is a tiger in this picture!

One of the guides near Mary had a green laser pointer and with its aid she eventually saw the cat, as did I when it finally decided to move. Still, it was incredibly cryptic.
The guide that originally spotted the cat held everyone up, blocking the road, while Mary waited, frustrated, thinking that the tiger was moving down a corridor further along. He eventually gave us, and as he, and my vehicle right behind him, passed another dirt track he (and I) spotted another Tiger. Looking at the images we’re certain it was the same cat as earlier, now walking down the lane with the vegetation around it smoking from a recent burn. I only got back views, but still they were interesting and ethereal, with the smoke of the fires wafting along the trail as the cat passed by.
We reached the Park entrance by 5:30 and headed home; pretty happy that in three trips to Kaziranga we had finally seen a Tiger in this park!

Feb. 25. We had a 6:30 breakfast and a 7:15 start, with overcast skies, the usual mix of humidity and wood smoke or haze, not actual clouds. We headed to the western end of the park for Hoolock Gibbons and Capped Langurs, and we hadn’t driven too far on the main road before we saw two Gibbons huddled in a tall, bare tree. We got out and positioned ourselves to be above the lower leaf canopy and waited, and eventually the gibbons moved about, often going to the end of the tree’s furthest reaching limb to contemplate leaping to the next tree. We had some nice shoots of the gibbons brachiating, i.e. swinging by their very long arms, and finally one moved to the end, and bounced up and down, creating a springing motion for the branch, like a diving board, before it launched itself across the twenty foot gap. We were ready, and shot, but whether we achieved focus remains to be seen! Although the Gibbon’s shape would start out ape-like, towards the end of its jump the silhouette resembled a squat, four-legged spider as it neared its destination.
All but Mary’s vehicle pulled out to continue, but she was waiting for Jim to repack his gear when their driver/guide spotted a Gibbon moving close to the road. It was a female with a baby, and Mary got some great shots, low and with a green leaf background, of the gibbon and baby. With only a fixed 500mm sometimes the hands or feet protruded beyond the picture – these are big, lanky animals up close.
Shortly after entering the Park for our game drive we found a large troop of Capped Langurs. The group was moving through some reasonably close trees, and occasionally leaping from branch to branch or tree to tree, and like the Gibbon they would occasionally bounce to achieve some spring before leaping. We had about a dozen chances, so despite issues with a plane-of-focus, some should be reasonably sharp.

Several moved close to our track and we moved down for a better view, and had frame-filling or more than frame-filling shots as they perched in nearby trees. One grabbed an over-hanging limb with both hands and feet, creating a comical spread-eagled look – and luckily this one wasn’t a male. We stayed with the langurs for well over an hour, finally moving on in hopes of finding something new.
Twice, Malaysian Pied Hornbills and its even larger cousin, the Great Pied Hornbill, flew by, and Randy got a fairly decent (if cropped) shot of the smaller species flying by. We stopped our game drive at a ranger station and lookout that over-looked the B River basin, now only a broad expanse of sandy banks. In the wet season, South Asian River Dolphins sometimes play right beside the track.
On the way back we had a great Malayan Giant Squirrel, a huge, nearly yard-long squirrel that resembled a pine marten more than a squirrel. It rested on the tree, frozen in place, and then switched around for an even better view, before climbing up and jumping into another tree where it joined our original troop of Langurs Monkeys.
On the main highway, on our return back to the lodge, we stopped at an observation area where locals can see distant Rhinos, and where a nice size flock of Bar-headed Geese were feeding and swimming in a small lagoon. While we photographed several small flocks flew in for flight shots, an added bonus. This goose is known as the highest flying bird ever recorded, and flocks reportedly have been seen flying OVER Mt. Everest, at 29,000 feet. How they get enough oxygen to sustain a powerful flight at that height is unknown.
PM. We headed back to the middle part of the park, where we did yesterday’s AM ele ride and game drive. Early on, I spotted an Assam Water Dragon, a type of agama lizard that vaguely resembles an American anole lizard. It sat patiently on a fence post near the track for photos. Earlier, right before lunch, I nearly stepped on a Bronze Tree Snake on the elevated pathway that crossed the rice paddies and led to our room. Three others were draped loosely on small limbs around a tree, and a fifth slithered ahead of me, just below the bamboo slats of the cross-walk. Snakes are rarely seen, and I regretted not having my camera along at that moment.
We traveled along a few of the lagoons, hoping to see a tiger, and I asked my driver/guide whether he’d ever seen a tiger chase a hog deer along these shores. He had, several times, and stated that the deer never try swimming to safety, but instead always run along the shoreline.
Near the end of that route we spotted an Indian Rhino we presumed had just climbed down from the road. It grazed along the palmetto thickets, then into an open field before turning back, intending to cross the road. Our driver pulled forward to give it room, and Mary’s vehicle backed up a short distance – not enough for the rhino for as it reached the road it turned and half-charged as it galloped across the opening.
We headed to a raised platform by 4:50, hoping to see a tiger from that lookout, and along the way, about 150 yards ahead of her, Mary had a Tiger enter the road. It saw their vehicle and did a quick U-turn, and as they drove nearer they could hear the brush crackling and soft, ‘uh uh uh’ calls, that cats sometimes give when summoning their cubs. She and Randy didn’t see it again, but that was our second Tiger for Kaziranga – and we’d never had a cat here before!
The park management must be setting fires throughout the park to burn off old grasses and stimulate new growth, and all around us distant smoke columns, or, as dusk deepened, distant glowing flames, marked the fires. Although we could rarely smell smoke tendrils of ash and blacked, curly grasses flew about, almost suspended in the air, and the particulate matter was so thick that by 5, a full half hour or more before dark, it was quite dark. We didn’t see a tiger, but a wild Indian Elephant walked close to the track on our way home, far too dark for any photos. We arrived at the lodge at 6, in the dark.

Feb. 26. We awoke at 4:30AM for a 5:30 departure, heading to the central area and another elephant ride. This one was rather anticlimactic, with only four Rhinos gathered together at one location, and a few scattered rhinos, at best, off in the distance. Hog Deer were surprisingly few, and one OK session with Barasinga, or Eastern Marsh Deer, was the only one subject.
After breakfast we did our game drive, notable for large tiger tracks we followed in reverse for a few hundred yards along the river, close to where the rhino had charged yesterday. No one saw the cat.  We continued on this track, where normally we do a U-turn and reverse, but a distant Elephant along the river tempted me, and I had our driver continue. We never saw that elephant, but later had an enormous Bull Elephant, with very long tusks, almost reaching the ground and rivaling an African Elephant’s tusk size.  The elephant approached us and our driver was a bit nervous that it might charge – Indian Elephants are bad-tempered – but it turned parallel to the road and disappeared in the tall, burned elephant grass.
Other notables for the morning game drive included good views of the Great Hornbill, including a courting couple, and Barred Owlets, perched fairly close to the road. We returned to the lodge at noon, and after lunch had an hour, for downloading or napping, before leaving again at 2:15.
PM. The smoke in the air created sunset like conditions by 3, and by 5 it was nearly dark. We did an entirely new loop, where a Wild Boar trotted towards us, but before we could get our lenses up it sensed us and darted off, dashing across the road. A Barred Owlet perched nicely, and we had a few shots of Indian One-horned Rhinos, but nothing exceptional in the increasingly dull light.
At 4:30 our drivers headed to the bridge and Park entrance, but I stopped them, questioning what they were doing and being told that they were heading back. The light was very poor but there was still a chance that a tiger might appear and so I had them turn around and drive back to where we’d had a tiger two days ago. It was clear that the drive was perfunctory, and that their hearts were not in it, and at 5, with black skies to our west, a cold wind, and no light, we headed back. We’d just turned when a bull Elephant appeared along the pond bank for some shots, then disappeared in the reeds and we drove, quickly, towards home.

Feb. 27. We headed back to Delhi, flying IndiGlo airways this time (JetAir on the way up) and we had a minor hiccup when the ticket agent wanted to weigh our carry-on luggage, and then check it! We had her way two bags, but stressed we had camera gear and after a bit of back and forth no other bag was weighed and we boarded without incident. The drive to the airport took about 4 hours – we left at 8 and arrived about 1, and with an almost 3 hour flight where nothing but water was free we reached Delhi at sunset. Steve and Randy caught flights that night and the rest of us got some sleep for the morning departure for Keoladeo the following day.

A Portfolio of Kaziranga Wildlife


Indian Rhino; Wild Boar; Tiger in a burning field


Well camouflaged Barasinga Deer


Three views of One-horned Rhinos; Bengal Monitor at burrow


Bengal Monitor - how did it turn around in this hole?


One-horned Rhino; Assam Roofed Turtle

Jerdon's Forest Lizard

Feb. 28. KEOLADEO
We had scheduled a 7AM departure last evening, after an initial time of 7:30AM, and as would be expected the bus arrived at the original time, 7:30. Still we made good progress north to Keoladeo, stopping for one break at an expensive restaurant/souvenir shop, and arriving at the ‘castle’ where we’d be staying by 1. At 3:15, after a lunch, we boarded the bus for the 10 minute drive to the park, where we took bicycle rickshaws into the park.
I couldn’t pronounce my driver’s name very easily, and one of the other rickshaw drivers said ‘He’s Captain,’ and so I called him that. A helpful guy, he held my big 800mm while I got on or off the rickshaw, and pointed out birds. His English was poor or so heavily accented that I only understood the bird names because I knew them, but he was a helpful guy.

Above, Purple Swamphen; Rose-ringed Parakeet; Common Hoopoe

Like our Snow Leopard trip where the snow line was high, apparently rain was sparse this year and the water levels were low. This may have been advantageous, for we had Wild Hog and numerous Nilgai or Blue Bull Antelopes feeding in the marshes near the road. Like Kaziranga, the skies were heavily overcast, and at 5PM it began to rain, so this cloud cover was not all soot, although the drive up from Delhi was under basically dull, sooty skies.
Still, it was an interesting run and using our Swarovski 25-60X to simply enjoy some of the birds, like Dusky Spotted Owls at their nest, and a pair of Spotted Owlets perched side-by-side on a limb shortly after we started our ride, we had fun. Using the scope is, I’m sure, the best way to really enjoy and appreciate wildlife. The clarity is far better than viewing through a camera lens, and because of the limited focus better than a close naked eye view. In Yellowstone I’ve had discussions with the wolf watchers about the best scope, and opinions vary, but I can’t imagine finer optics than the Swarovski – the scope is incredible.
Among the birds we had Jungle Babbler, Indian Robin, Brahminy Starling, Bronze-winged Jacana, Indian Moorhen, Common Coot, Northern Shoveler, Common Teal, Spot-billed Duck, Greater Spotted Eagle, Rufous Tree-pie, Bare-headed Ibis, Purple Heron, Intermediate Egret, and Purple Sunbird, and I’m sure I’m missing a few – like the Peafowl we saw on our way out.
With the rain and the extremely low light we stopped our drive by 5 and headed towards home, reaching the entrance at 5:30, and hour before closing but the best choice – the light was too low for anything but marginal viewing, and the threat of rain … we were all happy to end a good day.


March 1. Keoladeo
We were scheduled for a full morning and afternoon in the park, but at 7:30Am, the time of our departure, the skies were dark, with no light and a light rain. Our guide, Nawrendra, suggested we wait until 9:30 for it to clear, and since it was still raining he suggested we wait until after lunch, when we’d go out, regardless. By 10:30 it had cleared, temporarily, but it began to rain again, although after lunch, when we did head out, we had no more rain.

Common Teal; Spot-billed Duck

It was cold, however, and very breezy, and for most of the afternoon the skies were covered. We headed out to the very end of the rickshaw drive, hoping for Sarus Cranes. Ron and Donna had some luck with a pair quite close to the road and despite the fact that they sneaked behind a cement structure to shoot the birds flew off. Still, with only a 100-400 on a 7D they had essentially frame-filling shots.
The mammal life was quite different today, with no Rhesus Macaque Monkeys, no Wild Hogs, and only a few Nilgai, or Blue Bulls, close to the road. Early on in our rickshaw drive a large buck Spotted Deer stood on the road for a moment, then crossed and disappeared into the brush. Later, near the end of the day, Nilgai were more visible, but no one bothered to shoot, as the conditions were better yesterday.
Bird activity was fairly productive, especially around the Canteen area where people picnic and toss out food for the Brahminy Starlings, Jungle Babblers, Myna Birds, and Rufous Tree-pies. A Eurasian Hoopoe, often a skittish, difficult bird to approach, poked for ants nearby, oblivious to the people picnicking nearby. While I was shooting here my rickshaw driver, a guy the others called Captain, and thus so did I, came over to tell me that Sarus Cranes were in a nearby field. We biked over, and eventually walked to a comfortable distance from four birds. As we left, they decided to fly off, crossing where we’d been only minutes before and catching most of us completely unprepared.
By 5 the afternoon sun, which had appeared briefly, was dropping below more western clouds and above us one heavy cloud dropped rain as we biked to the entrance and our bus. It was surprisingly cold, and everyone was ready to retreat.

March 2. Keoladeo to Delhi
We had planned on visiting the bird park again this morning since we had missed yesterday’s, and in planning this we cancelled our visit to the ancient Fatapur Fort. It was overcast as we headed to breakfast and raining heavily afterwards, and with no prospect of clearing skies we decided to simply head back to Delhi to give us more time to pack for our next leg, our tiger safari.
It was fortunate that we did so, for it took six hours to reach our hotel, because heavy, monsoon-like rains had one of the intersections in the outskirts of Delhi flooded, and traffic was snarled. Along the intersection’s side streets the water was up to the grill of the smaller vehicles, and people and cars slowly waded through the deep water. That intersection, where we advanced a bus’s length or so every few minutes, cost us over an hour. We arrived at our hotel at 2, met the new people, Toni and Jean, and said goodbye to Jim who was now leaving for home.

March 3. Delhi to Khajuraho
We left shortly after 8AM with our ‘fixer,’ who would assist us in a group check-in for our flight. Although we were 65 lbs. overweight, 50 were covered by our outfitter and our fixer had the extra 15 waived, a nice little savings. Security is always something of a headache, as computers, cell phones (sometimes), readers like a Kindle, and all cameras and lenses (sometimes) had to be removed from their bags and passed through separately. Indians are an impatient lot, and we’ve had guys weaving in and out of gaps in the exit line of a jet, just trying to get out first. Regardless that once out, they’d still have to wait for a bus or for luggage, but they are out first! Security lines were no exception, and if you let it bother you and hurried you could get stressed out, and perhaps forget or lose something as you repack gear. For this trip I decided to carry both my big lenses, an 800mm, meant primarily for backup or for situations where a distant tiger offered a shot, and my 200-400, both of which I packed into my Bataflae bag, and virtually nothing else except cables and computer extras. I packed four cameras in LensCoat cases in my Chobe bag, two stacked on top of the other two, and my laptop, and even with the expanding zipper closed I had enough room, although the bag itself was very heavy. Fortunately we were not challenged and everyone got aboard the plane without a hassle.
At Veranase, our one stop, nearly everyone got off the plane. Inexplicably, although the plane was now virtually empty except for our group of ten, the few tourists and locals still aboard were seated amongst us, three to a row. Although those folks had the entire plane to choose from, they insisted on sitting in their assigned seats, so the rest of us, possessing some common sense, got up and moved to empty rows. One lady, who had spent the entire first leg of the flight in the very last row, now insisted she sit in the seat I now occupied, being quite huffy about it. I moved, and had a row to myself, while she slept, pressed against the window, with another guy just a seat away. Go figure.
We arrived at Khajuraho by 1 and were met by our guide and delivered to the Hotel Chandela, where we’d stay the night, doing the ‘light show’ over the ruins after dark and where, at lunch, we had a surprisingly good, and quite huge, lunch. Although Mary and I were given a two room suite, we have just one outlet in two large rooms, and that only by unplugging the coffee maker! Nonetheless, having the time to relax, see the ruins after dark, and getting to Bandhavgarh tomorrow in a less-rushed timeframe is a welcome change from previous trips.
We left for the ‘light show’ at the Khajuraho ruins and temples at 7, and were seated in the front view of a line of plastic chairs overlooking a broad lawn and the silhouettes of several temples. There was nearly a full moon and natural light shows, at high ISOs and low shutter speeds, were possible, although without a tripod rather dubious in quality. The ‘show’ was a big disappointment, basically a dramatization of the creation of the temples, in English and very Bollywood. At dramatic moments various lights would illuminate a temple which would then glow against the night sky, then fade back into darkness. Occasionally one of the crew, or a lawn man, walked in front of some of the lights and cast his shadow against a wall, and had the production had a few actors that did that, to illustrate in silhouette what was being narrated, the show would have been a lot more interesting. Video wasn’t allowed, but that was delusional  on their part as it would have been suicidal to watch in replay. A sound recording might have been worthwhile to record notes, but lame lights waxing and waning on distant temples … no.

March 4. We did a morning tour of the ruins with a fairly good guide, and for once, rather than worry about taking photos I’d do little if anything with, I stayed with the guide and listened. Consequently, I enjoyed the tour far more than I ever had before.
We returned to our hotel at 11, had lunch, and departed at 12 noon for a 5.5 hour drive to Bandhavgarh, whose only real highlight was my rescuing a White-throated Kingfisher that must have hit a car and sat, stunned, in the middle of the road. I picked it up and wrapped it in a handkerchief to keep it calm, and after about 5 minutes it started struggling. At the first open, safe place we could we stopped, and I released the bird, setting it on a bare branch which it promptly left, flying a bit unsteadily into a leafy shrub where, we hope, it would recover.
As we neared the park the vegetation thickened, and undergrowth and trees became more plentiful. Several trees balanced upon their root system as if on pedestals, with all of the soil around the roots eroded away to a depth of six inches or so, with only the earth directly beneath the tree roots at the original height. In a strong wind, in wet soil, I imagine plenty of these trees would topple, due to the over-grazing of sheep and goats that lay the land barren wherever they go.
Shortly after entering the boundary of the park we stopped at a ‘tiger jam’ where several vehicles had pulled over to look for the Tiger that had crossed the road just minutes earlier. We just missed it, but stayed, looking in varying directions as the locals pointed  down trails or into bamboo thickets, believing the tiger was there. We never saw it and continued on.
We arrived at our lodge at 5:30, a full hour or so before dark, giving us time to unpack and get organized, have an ‘after the game drive tea,’ and an early dinner in preparation for our first game drive tomorrow.

The TIGER Trip

March 5. Bandhavgarh
We left our lodge at 5:45AM, a full fifteen minutes earlier than we usually do, but that proved worthwhile as the drivers had to check-in at the administration area to get their permits. We arrived first in line for our drive, which entered the gate at 6:30, almost sharp! My jeep was assigned C-A, and Mary A-C, while other vehicles had C-E or B-D. Each vehicle must follow the assigned route, which switches to the second letter after everyone meets, at diverse times, at the central area where we are allowed of the jeeps to eat and take a break,
Rafael was the only one to see a tiger, a very distant view of one that appeared briefly on a hillside. We saw plenty of fresh tracks, and my pulse quickened several times as I expected to see the maker of the tracks around the next bend. It never happened, and eventually the tracks would either cut off the road to go uphill or down, or disappear in the stony ground.
Toni and Jean’s guide heard alarm calls and after waiting a bit he took the two up to the Lord Vishnu statue. After visiting it both ladies took a bathroom break and while they were off in the brush their guide, Varin, spotted a curious Leopard sticking its head above a rock. Their park guide went to retrieve the two, and the Leopard remained while the two, on foot and fairly close to the cat, photographed it! The Leopard was visible to the guides for 5 minutes or so, and for the ladies, as they shot, about another minute, but the results were the best Leopards any of our groups have ever had at Bandhavgarh!
Other morning highlights included a Brown Fish Owl, on the ground and flaring its wings, Common Langurs monkeys and babies, the bison-like Gaur, the largest of all the Bovines or members of the cow family , the fresh tiger tracks, and the distant tiger. We reached the park gate at 10:27, just minutes before the gate closed for the morning.
PM. This afternoon’s drive was, for Mary’s vehicle and mine, exact opposites – she did C-A, and I did A-C. Others had B-D or the reverse. No one had a cat, although we again saw tracks, and had a Barking Deer giving an alarm call several  times but nothing appeared, and our guides thought, perhaps, that it was a false alarm. I don’t think so, but whatever triggered the calls, tiger or leopard, remained unseen.
We left at 3, promptly, and did the circuit which, in this thick bamboo and deciduous forest, offered little. We did have several groups of Spotted Deer and Langurs Monkeys, the latter being surprisingly skittish. At the very end of the game drive several Sambar Deer were feeding in the roadside meadow and a pond close by, and we managed several good shots as this large deer, the biggest in India, raised its head from beneath the water, where it was feeding, cascading water down its snout and neck.
The Tala Route, which we did today, has always been extremely productive, although that is a relative term since any given game drive is likely to not produce a tiger. We did see a lot of fresh tiger tracks this morning, so cats are here, but the ‘word’ is that Magdhi Jon, or sector, is the ‘hot’ one this year, with several females regularly seen.  Tala suffered from tiger loses, as a male tiger killed the one-eyed female that, several years ago, Tom and I photographed while she was feeding upon the tigress she had killed. The male killed both the female and her three cubs, probably as a result of the tigress defending the cubs from the male. Two young males were also killed in this area, and I heard a distorted story on this afternoon’s game drive that a Forestry Department elephant killed a tiger after the elephant became excited by the two tigers that were fighting. When I asked one of the lodge guides, who speaks English well, about this he looked at me like I was crazy. Never happened. He did say that a pair of young tigers from Jon 2 and 3 had become man-eaters and had killed at least 6 people, and perhaps 8, or more, but the facts are covered and the information is always second-hand.

March 6. Holi
The park was closed today and we stayed the day in or around camp. After breakfast, on the roof top of the lodge, most of us helped celebrate Holi, a festival of color where people dab each other with color, to start, then embrace each other in a show of friendship. It soon gets carried out of hand and for the Indians, at least, it becomes a very colorful affair. By mid-morning we had walking Smurfs of various colors, mostly reddish pink, along with the colors that were applied to us. I painted Mary as a tiger as best I could, using charcoal that the staff mashed to a powder and to which I added water, something they didn’t do before but enjoyed. Next time, I’ll bring white chalk along for great whites, too.
The staff, all daubed now in various colors, gathered around a few drums and danced and sang. There are no women on the staff so the guys just danced for the fun of it, and you could tell by the hand gestures and body sways and singing that they did so for the sheer enjoyment, and not as a strutting mechanism to impress the ladies. An older man did most of the singing, throwing his head back occasionally as he said the one word I recognized, ‘Holi,’ as he did so. It was a lot of fun, and the best Holi we’ve celebrated. The difference is the staff, for at this lodge everyone is friendly and happy and helpful, and everyone, when we arrived, recognized us from previous trips and appeared, as usual, warm and friendly. At another lodge, where our schedule generally has us during Holi, the staff is distant and reserved, and our Holi celebrations have only involved perfunctory face painting among ourselves. Here, we were daubed and splattered and hugged by everyone, and we returned the favor as well. It was a good time.
For lunch we went to a local conservationist’s house where we toured her native tree growing project, and had an opportunity to ask various questions about India, politics, Hinduism, and more. Afterwards we returned to the lodge where everyone edited or wrote.

March 7. Bandhavgarh
Today are 5 vehicles were split between the three Jons. Mary and Donna, and Rafael and David went to Jon Three, Khitoli, while Tom and Larry went to Jon Two, Magdhi, and Ron and I went back to Jon One, Tala. Jean and Toni had an all-day game drive booked, and they headed directly to Maghi where most tiger sightings have been recently.
No one saw a Tiger today but we came very close. We drove back and forth on one section of our route, and between one pass and another fresh set of Tiger tracks crossed over, the male laying his huge paw into our tire tread. No one saw a tiger in Tala, and only one vehicle, that we know of, had one tiger cross the track before them.
In Kwitoli, that group had two Leopards, although the cats were too far away for any shots. Mary and Donna did very well at the large water-hole there, photographing Spotted and Sambar Deer, and a variety of birds in the area. Tom’s vehicle had a Golden Jackal chasing a baby Spotted Deer. Because of the high grass the Jackal would periodically jump high, bouncing, to look over the grasses to attempt to locate the fawn as it fled.
My vehicle did well with Langurs Monkeys, including one session where several fed upon red berries in some nearby bushes, in good light, and Spotted Deer on a few occasions. A Crested Serpent Eagle, a Barbet, and a great Common Kingfisher, that dove repeatedly and flew from one perch to the next almost too fast to acquire, rounded out our morning.


PM. Two of our vehicles went to Maghi, this year’s hot spot for Tigers, and they were successful. Jean and Toni had a great Tiger in the morning, and came upon another one in the late afternoon, the same Tiger that Mary and Donna and Rafael and David were already on. They had a spectacular cat in the afternoon, coming upon it just after it left a water hole where it now rested on the bank, quite close to the game track. In the effort to get in position their vehicle got stuck, but from their position they were still able to stand on their vehicle seats and shoot over the vehicle in front, getting great shots.
The Tiger eventually got up, and did flehmen quite close, before wandering off into the high grass. Later, Mary stopped another Tiger about 150 yards away from the track, just a head and shoulders appearing above the grasses. The habitat shot, incorporating tall, back lighted grasses, and the tiger, were exquisite.
Meanwhile, Tom and Larry, and Ron and I, were in the Tala Zone. My vehicle was assigned to B-D, and soon after a VIP vehicle, with three girls in back being driven by some arrogant official, passed us, we were waved forward by another car. A Tiger had just crossed the road and was now walking uphill, but both Ron and I had a brief glimpse of the cat before it disappeared.
We were told, later, that this Tiger was a three year old female that was the daughter of a Tigress that the BBC was now following. They’re trying to follow one specific Tiger, a daunting task when you consider that they are limited to driving on the roads.
I questioned our park guide about the story I heard yesterday, and the latest version was the teen-age Tigers killed 4 or 5 people. The Tigers that were fighting now numbered two, and supposedly a mahout and Forestry department guy tried to break up the fight. One of the Tigers took umbrage and charged the elephant they were riding, injuring the elephant’s trunk and panicking the elephant. As it ran off, basically uncontrolled, the forestry guy was knocked off the elephant by a limb, and the Tiger killed him. The alternate story was the guy fell off the elephant when the fight was still in progress, perhaps after the tiger charged and bit the elephant, and was killed then.
Somehow, supposedly, one of those two Tigers was then pinned down by the elephant and killed. I asked a guide for the BBC about this and he didn’t know, saying that hard facts are very difficult to get. My driver had filled me in – he’s a local, but his English is spotty, and my Park guide was constantly misinterpreting the meaning of my questions, so it’s really hard to say.

March 8. All day permit, Maghi.
While the rest of the group had Jon One, Tala, or Jon Three, K, David and I spent the entire day in Maghi, which has been the hot bed of Tiger viewing this season. The permit cost $900 and allows the permit holder to drive in any of the zones, or Jons, and to drive any of the routes that are OPEN to the general public via an assigned route. Further, you are allowed entry 15 minutes earlier, and exit 15 minutes later.
What we didn’t expect was the limitation on the routes. There are several routes that previously, in years past, were open that are now closed to the general public, including one-day permit holders. The BBC, we saw, had a different permit entirely this year, and could drive those roads, a source of frustration for David and me since we learned that a Tiger was lying on the road along one of those routes. Also, the tracks that connect Jon One and Jon Two are closed as well, except for one laborious route that eats up an hour or more, making it somewhat problematic to switch Jons.
We had been told that Tigers often use the dirt tracks after the tourists leave, that the cats know when that is, and wait until they have complete freedom without hassle. If our experience today is any indication, that isn’t true. We did not see any fresh tracks, or any more than we’d see on a game drive where a Tiger might cross the road after we backtracked, that were made after 10AM when the tourists left. The two Tigers we photographed were shot when the normal tourists were in the park, although the best shots I got were after 10AM, when the other vehicles had to leave and we had that tiger to ourselves, when it crossed the road to travel to a kill.
So, is it worth it?
There are, this year, two sets of females with cubs and we rolled the dice, spending the money in the chance that I might get lucky and the Tigress would be out with her cubs. We came up short. Would I do it again? I would, if someone wanted me to come along and pay the fee, but otherwise, as subsequent events will show, it isn’t worth the money.
Further, I really question if, later in the year, in April or May, it would be worthwhile at all. The park gets extremely hot in those months, and the park opens earlier, and closes later, to compensate and adjust for the lengthening day light. However, after the first few hours the heat would, I suspect, shut everything down, and cats might not be active again until the very end of the day. Perhaps, if you stayed around a water hole a Tiger might appear to go for a soak, but that’s a lot of suffering in the heat for something you very well might get with a normal pass.
Bandhavgarh’s assigned route system is a royal pain, and the one-day permit circumvents this. For example, we booked our Jons several months ago, at the end of the monsoons when the park was still closed and when there was no data about the tigers. Accordingly, we booked the Tala Jon for the majority of our visits, and only when we arrived did we learn that a female Tigress and her three cubs, and at least one male had been killed, and perhaps two subadults had been removed from the area. Having a permit allows one to choose the ‘hot’ zone, rather than being stuck, as I’ve been, in Tala for nearly all of my game drives.
Still, with a permit, you are still dependent completely upon luck. You could drive a route where, minutes after you pass, a tiger appears, but you’d never know it. When the other tourist vehicles are about, you’ll hear about tigers, and might have a chance to get to one. On the permit, you’re on your own.
For me, I’d say unless you have the money to burn you’re better off not buying a permit. If it isn’t peak season, like around Holi, it may be possible to simply buy a new ticket for the ‘hot’ Jon if you find yourself in another one. That’s far cheaper, about $40 for a new ticket, for 2015, at least. These tickets are subject to availability, but ten half-day permits would be $400, $500 less than one full-day permit.  Note: With all this said, if you read on, on March 10, Donna and Ron managed to get a permit since Ron had not yet had a good luck at a tiger. They struck gold, as you’ll see. For them, the money was well worth it, the best $1,500 they ever spent! Their park guide and our lodge naturalist, who drove them, were outstanding, and they learned a lot, had a good time, and had some wonderful photography, too.
With our permit, we entered the Maghi portion of the park 15 minutes early, and drove fast to the areas where we were most likely to see a Tiger. We saw nothing. Later, about an hour or so later, a Forester told us that a Tiger had been found at a kill, and we raced to the location, driving a couple of kilometers. I envisioned a Tiger on a Gaur, with other Tigers coming in to join a male at the kill. The fantasy shot was about to be reality!
Well, no. When we reached the area the dirt track straightened out, and at the end of it a pile of vehicles were pointed our way. A second later the Tiger appeared and walked across the road, but we were still too far away. We managed a few back views as the Tiger disappeared into the jungle.
The kill, we learned, was a Water Buffalo, and was located about 100 yards from the track, but in thick brush and not visible to us. We drove off to check other spots, and later heard from a Forestry guy we befriended, giving him our extra breakfast food when we passed by, that the Tiger was out. We drove to the same location and were waved back, as the Tiger was moving towards the road. We backed up and waited, and listened to the crackle of leaves and bamboo as the Tiger neared. It stopped, apparently in the open, because the vehicles on the other side of the Tiger started pointing and shooting, while we could see nothing.
But we could hear the growls, and this Tiger was annoyed. Our guides told us to wait, it was now just past 10AM and the normal tourists would have to leave soon, and we should just be patient. As each load of tourists got their pictures they raced off, leaving just one tourist vehicle, on our side of the Tiger. They drove by, fast, worried about a charge, and stopped further along to take some snaps before racing off.

We waited, expecting the Tiger to cross, but after several minutes nothing happened. My driver, Sanjay, looked back at me and asked whether I wanted to get closer! Of course, and we pulled forward, and as we passed the cat I fired off a series that were completely underexposed. We stopped, with too much sunlit vegetation in the way, and the Tiger growled and gathered its hind legs behind, a move that often signifies a charge. We drove on, stopping where, this time, we had a very open view and great shots. The Tiger stared at us, but eventually relaxed and groomed its paws, but when he (it was a 3.5 year old male) rose to leave he snarled, wrinkling his snout and baring his teeth.
I quickly switched to my 70-300mm zoom in order to hand-hold the camera as the Tiger crossed the road, which he did, looking at us and snarling much of the time. Soon after, he was barely visible in the vegetation as he walked to the carcass and disappeared.
We waited, and a short time later our park guide spotted another Tiger about 200 yards away, about 50 yards from the open road. We raced up and got a few glimpses, and I was extremely impressed with the guide’s spotting ability. We never had another view of this Tiger.
We drove on, visiting various water holes and ascending rocky hills where the Tigresses frequented but we found nothing. At 3:30 the park had been reopened to tourists for thirty minutes, but not a single vehicle had driven by where we were parked, waiting for the male Tiger to reappear around the kill. Our driver guessed that the tourists must have had a tiger and we raced down the road, driving almost to the entrance where almost all of the vehicles were parked. Bameera, the ‘new male,’ we’d photographed two years ago was lying in bamboo about 100 yards from the road, with his white belly just barely visible, if you were at the right angle to look through the bamboo leaves.
Most people couldn’t see the cat, but many of those that waited soon lost interest and talked loudly, too loudly for the conditions. A full 1.5 hours went by before the Tiger moved, and he did so abruptly, walking parallel to the track while 15 vehicles or so jockeyed for position, racing along in a real mess of a drive. At one point one driver stopped, thinking (incorrectly) that the Tiger was about to cross the road, and he was giving the cat room to do so. It didn’t, and instead the Tiger wandered off into the forest.
We headed back towards the kill, hoping to find another cat in the remaining time, while most of the other vehicles raced towards the exit. Two Forestry guys on bikes told us about a Tiger lying on the road that links Jon Two and One, but that road was closed to us. VIPs, and there are many here, and the BBC had access; we did not.
We drove out as the sun was setting, with the light now too low for shooting, regardless. The extra 15 minutes … not too valuable, I’d say.

March 9. Bandhavgarh
Mary and Rafael and David and Larry had Jon Two this morning, and had great luck. They followed a female Tiger for over an hour as it wandered through the forest, eventually arriving at the raised embankment of a pond. There, the Tigress walked along the top, then through the straw yellow high grass to come to rest at a small waterhole where she drank in plain view. The cat’s reflection shimmered in the still water and the four fired away, having as good a luck, and really better, than I did yesterday on a permit!
Meanwhile, our three other vehicles went to Jon Three. My vehicle, shared with Tom, missed a Tiger by a few minutes, as we were told by the lone vehicle ahead of us. Meanwhile, Donna and Ron had taken a little used route to a small water hole, and on their way back out Ron spotted what he thought was a monkey’s face in the tall grass. He pointed it out to the driver and guide and they turned, and instantly said Leopard. One, two, three! Three cats in all, a mother with a cub, and perhaps either another cub or a nearby male. No one was clear on that. They had the Leopards for about ten minutes as the cats moved through the long grasses and open woods, making this the second great Leopard sighting in Bandhavgarh this trip, and the best we’ve ever had here.
PM. The entire group did various routes in Tala, and as usual, no one was successful. A Tiger had been spotted on the morning drive, simply crossing the road, but we had no sign this evening, including any fresh tracks.
Still, it was a fairly productive afternoon, as Rhesus Macaque Monkeys were as common as I’ve seen them here, and early on, while the light was still good, Tom and I photographed a few across the meadow. I used the 800mm on a 7D, and with that combination I could barely fit a juvenile in the frame.
Later, we had a very good sighting of an Indian Nightjar in the area where we normally see this well camouflaged bird. One of our guides spotted it and it took me several seconds to see it, although I was focusing my attention much closer to the vehicle. Mary had a good afternoon, too, photographing Macaques and birds.




March 10. Bandhavgarh
Four of our five vehicles had permits for Mahdi, Jon Two, this morning, and our fifth was able to squeeze in an all-day permit, the same one Jean and Toni, and David and I had earlier. Donna and Ron, on the all-day permit, had three Tigers at 6:30AM, just as the rest of us were entering the park. The viewing was brief, and Ron managed three quick shots before the Tigers disappeared into the bamboo. Donna missed the shots, because her old Canon 7D’s mode selection switch moved on her, giving her a P or Bulb or some silly setting, and by the time she got things changed the cats were gone. This was a huge, major flaw on Canon’s part for the 7D, a flaw that Canon would fix for $125 or so. Although it was their problem, you paid for it. Mary and I did so, and objected having to pay for a design problem on Canon, but ultimately it has saved us a lot of headaches. The 7D Mark II had the ‘fix’ built-in.
The rest of us sped towards the water hole area and when we arrived, we found that the three Tigers were now hidden behind a screen of bamboo. We could hear them growling and roaring, and eventually first one, then the other two Tigers, appeared in a forest lane where each, in turn, peed and did flehmen before moving on. Later in the morning we missed a female Tiger that crossed the road in the same general area, missing it by minutes.
Instead of travelling the entire area of Jon Two the drivers stayed around the area where the Tigers had been seen, and Mary felt that our permit was wasted in doing so. However, on an earlier visit to Jon Two Mary didn’t shoot anything until they had Tigers, and I didn’t do very much shooting here on my all-day permit. Staying in the area may have been the best choice.
Although we saw Changeable Hawk-Eagles and Vultures, the only other subject we photographed today was a pair of well-camouflaged Eurasian Thick-knees, a nocturnal shorebird that I’ve seen in this Jon in years past. I spotted these two, and shot a series that illustrated their incredible camouflage, while most of our other vehicles followed behind and got similar shots.
Towards the end of the morning we cruised the ‘tiger area’ repeatedly, missed the female, and headed back to our lodge. We did have Tigers, though, and Tom, who had not seen one until this morning, finally was rewarded, and Ron, who saw the bottom half of the one I saw on our second day here, had a headshot of one of the threes at the very start of the day.
PM. Ron’s headshot was just the start of a lucky day. With their permit, Donna and Ron had the park to themselves, excepting the five other permit holders, and shortly after 10AM their driver and guide heard alarm calls. They followed the calls, and suddenly had a Barking Deer dash out and across their road. A few seconds later they could hear a struggle, as a Tiger made a kill. Soon afterwards, the female Tigress appeared, carrying a Spotted Deer fawn, and crossed the road in front of them.
There were now four confirmed Tigers in that general area, and they decided to stay around that location, which centered around the morning water hole. Nothing happened for SIX HOURS, but they stayed, and were rewarded when the Tigress reappeared and drank at the water hole, then got inside and soaked, kicking her back legs as she did so, and then, got out and laid on the bank in clear view. A water truck appeared and the Tigress retreated into the high grass, but returned again after the afternoon tourist crowd left, when she again drank, and soaked, and basked. It was a spectacular day for the two, money well spent (in contrast to my day!), and perhaps contradicts what I wrote about a few days earlier, after my experience.
That said, another pro photographer got very little today, and missed the kill. Afterwards, instead of staying in the area, he went on, only returning at the very end of the day for the last minutes of shooting. Patience paid off for Donna and Ron, but they could have wasted other opportunities and not had any luck. But that’s wildlife photography, and in this case it most certainly was a great day for them.
Meanwhile, the rest of us went into the Tala Jon, Jon One. On Mary’s route, B-D, they found evidence of a very fresh kill, with tiger tracks straddling the scrapes made as the cat dragged a carcass down the road. Rafael and David heard alarm calls, but saw nothing.
On my route, we had Monkeys giving alarm calls, too, but we think it was for a leopard that never showed. Otherwise, no tracks or fresh sign.
However, Tom and I had the best day we’ve had in Bandhavgarh this year. Our park guide was excellent and he and my driver worked well, driving very slowly and allowing both them and us to look for and spot game. Accordingly, we photographed Langurs Monkeys, Sambar Deer, Nightjars, Green Bee-eaters, Black Coucals, and take our time doing so. It was a very rewarding afternoon, and although we still hoped to bump into a tiger, we were not wasting the day in pointless, fruitless searching. We shot what we had on hand, and it was good.

March 11. Banhavgarh and to Kanha
Our last game drive in Bandhavgarh and once again we had Tala. Historically, this Jon was THE place to be, but not this year, although every morning we always saw more tracks here than anywhere else, and I felt that it was just a matter of time that our luck would change. In many ways, this morning it did.

The park opened at 6:15 today, beginning the early summer schedule to accommodate the earlier sunrise, and later sunset, and for the AM run, the park closed at 10:15. While this might be advantageous later on, it isn’t for the first few days or weeks, as the sun is still quite low at the beginning of the drive. It was still quite dark when we reached the Tala gate and one of our guides spotted a Giant Flying Squirrel in a tree near the front gate. While we watched the Squirrel launched itself, gliding over us like a big, square kite, and landing in a nearby tree. Apparently it has a nest hole here for the squirrel soon disappeared, and I suspect that had we known this, earlier visits would have produced more squirrel shows.
By 7AM, Rafael and Larry, and Tom and David, had a Sloth Bear, Tiger, and Changeable Hawk-Eagle. The Bear was first, shortly after the start of their drive, probably before 6:30, and too low for any real shooting. Tom did a little video, and in hindsight felt that he should have done more, as the shutter speeds were just too slow. Soon after, in good light, a Tiger stepped out onto the road and walked towards their vehicle. Perhaps to give the cat room, perhaps, their driver kept on going backwards, stopping only for a brief moment, long enough for Tom and David to almost shoot, and then miss most shots as the vehicle resumed its retreat. The Tiger was out for a few minutes, but they only managed a few usable shots. They were more successful with the Eagle that was feeding on the remains of a carcass, a fawn deer that may have been the left-overs from a kill. Those shots were great.
Meanwhile, both Mary and I, in separate vehicles, were on the route where, yesterday, Mary saw fresh drag marks from a kill. She was hoping we’d get lucky, and indeed, as we drove the first leg of our route we followed very fresh Tiger tracks, doing so for at least a half mile. When we lost the tracks we heard alarm calls, but we did not see the cat.
We stopped at the central point for breakfast, where we heard of the other’s good luck. We continued on, and eventually encountered the BBC film crew where the drivers exchanged information. My driver, Sanjay, drove a short distance, did a U-turn, and stopped. We waited and listened, and finally could hear the shouts of a mahout and the breaking branches as his elephant moved through the forest. They were looking for the tiger, which was nearby, information the BBC driver had shared with our’s.
A short time later a Tiger stepped into the road, and Sanjay gunned his jeep, racing towards the tiger. I shot while we were still in motion, but Sanjay stopped in time for some motionless shots before the cat crossed and moved into the bamboo. We raced up, but only managed poor back shots of the cat. However, those on the road were good!
We ended up with two Tigers for our last game drive, giving the group a total of, we’re fairly sure, 8 different Tigers, and a total of 16 sightings – in 5 and a half days, averaging over 2 per day. It didn’t seem like that because of the relative luck, and the fact that Tala was essentially dead, for us, despite the tracks, and almost all the activity was in Jon Two, which we only visited via all-day permits and a couple of normal game drives. Had we had a normal year, with Tala not suffering the mortality this year from fights and infanticide, that number would have been far higher, as it would have been if we’d had more Jon Two game drives. We also missed several tigers by just minutes, and I know I missed two, as did the others. So, it wasn’t a bad run. We also had a total of 7 Leopard sightings, and 1 Sloth Bear, with the Leopards being a record for this park.
We left the lodge soon after 12 noon and driving surprisingly well maintained roads, arrived in Kanha and at our lodge by 5:15, the earliest ever, and a welcome change, giving us a chance to unpack and relax for the game drive tomorrow.

March 12. Kanha
We left for the gate early, but still found ourselves about the tenth vehicle in line at the Mukki gate. At 6:15 the park opened and most vehicles raced on, passing us as they headed towards tiger country. In Kanha, however, that’s everywhere, and it pays to go slowly and look.
At a bridge where, a few years ago we had a Tiger appear from underneath while we sat patiently for a few minutes to look and watch, Rafael shot a Common Kingfisher, posed nicely against the dark water. We continued, passing through the Kanha grasslands, the relic from when this area was still farmed, and continued into the forest.

We headed towards Baba Tinka, a beautiful forest pond situated quite close to the game track, where we’ve had Sloth Bear, Wild Boar, Gaur, Chital, and where we hope, someday, to get a Tiger soaking. Not today, though.
Along the way one of the other guides indicated that there were some alarm calls, of Langurs Monkeys, and soon after, the honking bellow of a Sambar. We drove along, stopping at a broad forest cut that reminded me of a power line at home. In the distance, where the hill higher, a Peacock and several Langurs Monkeys fed in the grasses or sat on the rock, seemingly undisturbed by the alarm calls nearby. Langurs were calling to the left, and the Sambar from the right of the clear cut, and only later, when the Tiger was about to appear, did those monkeys climb a tree.
Suddenly, on the right side of the clearing a male Tiger stepped into the open and our guide yelled ‘Tiger!’ I wasn’t quite focused – with my eyes – but I could see something different and assumed it was the Tiger and aimed my 800mm at the spot. It was the cat, who was now walking towards us. It paused, looking our way, then turned, walked over the bank and disappeared. The Monkeys never gave another alarm call, and I’d have expected them to be hollering like mad.
We drove to a spot where the Tiger was likely to cross but the cat remained hidden. Nearing breakfast, we drove to the central area to eat, then returned to the tiger  location but there was no sign, or alarm  call,  and we drove on. Upland Swamp Deer, or Barasingas, and Tinker Blue Flycatchers completed our morning.
Meanwhile, Mary’s park guide slept nearly the entire game drive, collecting, I presume, his government wage while doing nothing. We normally give a good tip at the end of each drive, but after enough of this type of work ethic at this park we’ve stopped doing so. Accordingly, Mary did not tip the guy at the end of the drive.
Mary photographed an Indian Scop’s Owl, sparring Spotted Deer (Chital), and nicely posed Langurs Monkeys, and Marsh Deer to complete her morning. Ron was in the vehicle next to mine when we had the Tiger, the only two from our group that were there.
PM. I had the same park guide, Guru, but the afternoon was relatively uneventful. Soon after entering the park we had a Black-shouldered Kite hovering above a field, and I had time to pull out the 800mm and get flight shots as it hovered in place. The highlight for the afternoon for me. For Rafael, the highlight was at the very end of the day when we had a Peacock in a dry wash, preening, and teasing us with a partial fan.
We drove over to my favorite pond, Baba Tinka, but Forestry employees were raking leaves nearby and I felt it fruitless to remain. Still, there were other vehicles parked there, but I couldn’t understand why as nothing would be coming in with people on the ground, making a lot of noise as they did so. Spotted Deer were plentiful and we got some nice shots, but again nothing spectacular.
Mary spent a great deal of time shooting Little Green Bee-eaters that were flying repeatedly back to a perch, using it as a hawking point for catching flying insects. In one sequence, shortly after the bird swallowed an insect it regurgitated an indigestible pellet, but how it separated fresh food from pellets is a mystery to me.


March 13. Kanha
We had a permit to visit the Park’s central area, called Kanha, which required us to drive without diversion until we reached the area. Our route took us near Baba Tinka, and over and along a ridge line where leopards are often reported, although none were today.
Soon after arriving in the Kanha meadows we were told of a Tiger that passed by a few minutes earlier, but with alarm calls still sounding we drove to a cross roads and waited. The Tiger never showed. We continued on, heading in the direction of a Golden Jackal den, but along the way we heard that a Sloth Bear was in the open not far away. We raced to the location and saw the Bear, a black, shaggy lump, as it foraged, head down, in the high grasses. We stayed with the bear twenty minutes or so, and once its head was visible as it walked along, but otherwise all we saw was its back.
We continued on to the Golden Jackal den, finding the female and three young pups outside the entrance. It was in the same general area we’ve had them in in the past, but even further away this time, and even my 800mm shots of the puppies were small.
We did have some great birds, including two displaying Peacocks that shimmied their upraised tail feathers and wings, slowly rotating in a tight circle as if to display their magnificence in every direction. A few Shikras, accipiter hawks that resemble our Sharp-shinned Hawk from the US, perched above us along the game track, and a Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker hitched itself up a Sal tree, inspecting the bark but only one giving a few tentative hammers with its powerful bill.
Last night, at dinner, Dimple, the wife of the lodge manager, told us of her encounter with a Tiger a few weeks ago. She and another woman, along with their driver, explored a new foot trail in the buffer zone of Kanha. They saw tracks, and later on heard an odd moaning sound that Dimple thought was a radio playing a song at one of the guard huts. Her driver said it was a tiger. They continued hiking.
When they reached one point along the river their driver said, ‘Mam, there’s a tiger!’ and Dimple started looking across the river, then down to the water, watching for a tiger soaking, and he directed her attention much closer – about 15 meters away. There, on the bank above them, a huge male Tiger was sitting, sphinx-like, watching them. They were shocked, and after recovering a bit her companion quietly stepped back. The cat, which was now sitting, stepped forward one pace, as if to keep up. Dimple said she could see the Tiger’s ears laid back, revealing the white of the back of the ears, and she thought she was dead. This was the end, but she said she’d just let it go, there was nothing she could do. Her driver, meanwhile, had deserted them as soon as they saw the tiger, and it was probably fortunate that he did so then, rather than after the Tiger advanced a step as it probably would have chased and taken the man down.
Not wishing to have the cat move any closer, they ceased walking backwards, and after a few minutes the cat stood, turned, and disappeared into the bush. Dimple and her friend hopped from rock to rock along the river’s edge, while her friend yelled and tried to scare off the now unseen tiger. A short distance downriver they found their driver, who had climbed a tree, explaining that he had done so to look for a good tree for the two of them to climb. Dimple wasn’t impressed.

March 14- 15. Kanha

We continued our game drives through the Mukki section of Kanha, photographing Barasinga Deer, Spotted Deer, various birds, and a Sloth Bear. Jean and Toni had a great Tiger on the last game drive in Kanha, one that I missed by only a few minutes. We were compensated, however, by the tamest Leopard I've ever had in Kanha, which we shot in the very last light of the day.



March 16. Kanha to Pench
We left Kanha at 8:15 for a 5.5 hour drive to Pench, where we stayed at Amit’s newest camp, Jamtara Wilderness Camp, a beautiful  tented camp near the least-visited gate of the Park.  That evening, if all went as planned, Mary and I would sleep atop an elevated platform, under mosquito netting, at the edge of the forest. If it didn’t rain.
We headed out for our game drive under potentially threatening skies. Although the Park guide we were assigned was fair, I had an absolute idiot for a driver, who failed to see anything, stopped at the most inappropriate places when I had him stop, and who was completely incapable of understanding any hand gestures, indicating he should go forward, or backup, or turn around. It was an infuriating game of charades, and as the afternoon wore on I was becoming more and more frustrated and mentally exhausted.
We did have a nice pair of Golden Jackals that I had the driver follow and get ahead of, and at one point, at a cross-roads, we spied another Jackal approaching. This was a larger male, resembling a wolf, and it ran up and confronted one of our pair, snarling and growling in a fight we could not see. There was an easy game track we could have backed up to, for a clear view, but instead, completely misinterpreting my pointing, swooping hand gestures, and anything else I could think of, our driver drove forward, placing the action behind a pile of brush!
We drove on, and encountered a Tiger jam where two Tigers lay in a nala, mostly hidden by lantana brush. We could see the belly or portions of the face of one tiger, but we had no shots.
The western sky now looked ominous, and closing time was nearing, so we headed towards home. Our driver decided to race the storm, and of course we lost, and were completely soaked as the rains enveloped us before the driver and park guide could attach the canvas rain cover. They did a good job there – they weren’t bad people, just clueless about game viewing and photography, although our  guide did back up into a tree instead of the twenty feet of wide open space on either side!
It rained so heavily, with almost nickel-sized hail and heavy winds, that Mary’s return to the lodge  was delayed as they picked their way around fallen trees, downed electrical wire, and water, seeing village houses with their roofs ripped off. We didn’t sleep in the platform bed, and the night was cold and damp, even in our tents.

March 17. Pench to Satpura
I had a new driver and guide, while Mary had my guide from yesterday and he did a good job. I had the idiot’s brother. Mary’s vehicle encountered a very tolerant Dhole, or Indian Wild Dog, and shot the best images we have of that animal to date. After we met up with Mary we went looking, but the dogs were gone, or further off in the trees and beyond the comprehension of my guides.
We shot a few birds and Wild Boar, but the morning was fairly uneventful, except for the stress and frustration I had. We started back towards camp early, and at the center point where people have breakfast I noticed a vehicle’s occupants frantically putting away their meal and jumping back into the jeep. Our guide and driver drove on, until I stopped them and pointed, whereupon the guide asked what was happening. It was obvious – something good was spotted and they had received word.
We followed their jeep, and I had a brief glimpse of orange and stripes as the Tiger rounded a brushy hill and disappeared. We drove on, returning to camp for a brunch and a noneventful long drive to Satpura, where we expected sanity once more.
We arrived before dark and met our old friends from camp, David and Rysee, and relaxed. Tomorrow, we’d head into a great park.

March 18. Satpura
In the predawn gloom we boarded the skiff that would take us across the lake to Satpura Tiger Reserve, where we met our jeeps, loaded our gear, and headed out on our first game drive. After the nightmare of Pench, it was refreshing to have guides that we trusted as competent.
Rysee, one of the guides at our lodge, spotted fresh Dhole, or Indian Wild Dog, tracks and scat and followed the tracks down a game track. David and Larry were in that vehicle. The rest of us took a different route, and within a very short time our first vehicle came upon a single Dhole feeding upon a fresh Sambar kill, a fawn. The Dhole ran off almost immediately, but the Sambar herd was agitated, snorting and facing a thicket of lantana. Our guide spotted the head of a Leopard buried in the vegetation, and soon the Sambar did, too. They gave their typical explosive alarm barks, but also almost a whistling, chirping call I’d never heard before. Perhaps this indicates a predator up close, or perhaps it is Sambar-speak for ‘leopard.’
We drove to the ridge top and a few minutes later the Leopard appeared in the brush, walking almost directly to and past our vehicle as it continued towards the carcass. We drove back down the hill in anticipation and within minutes the Leopard appeared, and trotted down to claim the kill. Meanwhile, the Wild Dogs appeared in the distance, and one, perhaps the original dog at the kill, came running in, bouncing on its hind legs, rising, as I’ve often seen coyotes and wolves do, and Cheetahs, to either see better or to intimidate.
I swung my camera to catch that action just as the dog raced in, circled below the leopard and raced up the other side, too fast for me to follow with too tight a zoom! The dog rushed it, bit the Leopard’s rump, the Leopard turned and roared, and as the Dhole charged in again the Leopard raced to the trees. The Dhole sprinted after it, probably hoping it wouldn’t catch up, and then returned to the kill. For several minutes we shot the Dhole feeding, before it either was full or grew nervous with us and ran off.


The Leopard reappeared, sticking its head out of the brush, before slowly working its way down towards the kill. Once again, I was caught by surprise when the Leopard, instead of continuing to the kill, ran almost straight at us, passing right beside Mary’s vehicle and continuing on about fifty yards. Then it turned, and made its way back to the kill. It didn’t feed, but instead picked up the carcass by the neck and dragged it, in three or four legs, into the shelter of the trees.
We left it there, but later we returned, to find the Leopard resting in a tree. Although we’d have to leave the park soon, for the 11AM closure, we waited, and the Leopard climbed down from the tree and resumed feeding. We hoped it’d go to water – right in front of us, but our time ran out and we had to leave.
In addition to the Leopard/Dhole action, we had good Gaur, including two males playfully butting heads, great shots of Mottled Wood Owls, perched in a tree; River Turns flying about; and a wonderful Mugger Crocodile that was basking, mouth open in great light, facing us. It was a great morning!
PM. The park was closed in the afternoon so the group had the time off, although Toni did a solo trip for birds and village pictures, and Jean, David, and I did an evening game drive to a water hole where we hoped to spend the first hours of darkness.  En route, all of us photographed a Eurasian Eagle-Owl, the largest Owl in India. Frequently, this owl perches along the nearer cliffs but this evening it was some distance away in a tree, although the resulting shots were clean and without distractions.
We drove past the last village in a distant buffer zone where we picked up a Park Ranger and continued on cattle and indistinct jeep tracks to the water hole, where we sat and waited silently. Only a Wild Boar went by, and it never came close to the water. Our plan was to drive closer once animals appeared, but with a very squeaky rear wheel we’d have been better served parking close and staying still. As it was, we didn’t have to test the theory as an alarm call lured us away from the pond.
We stopped several times in the growing darkness, listening for calls, then driving on, when we came upon a mother Sloth Bear with two small cubs riding on her back. It was too dark for stills, so I fumbled with the 7D Mark II, trying to activate the video feature and not remembering how. I finally got it working, and shot the bear as it started across the road, climbed the other side, and disappeared into the forest. It was mumbling low growls the entire time.
We also had on the drive Indian Gazelles, an Indian Palm Civet, and a Scop’s Owl, and the drive was worthwhile. Cows can graze in the buffer zone and the area was fairly denuded, but the Gazelles supposedly like the habitat and the Nilgai, which we saw, browse. Rysee, our guide, told us that if a leopard or tiger kills a cow that is viewable by their clients, they will pay the owner of the cow $1,000 for each vehicle that comes. The Forestry department is supposed to reimburse the owner $6,000 for the cow, so in might be most financially rewarding for the villagers to be raising cows for tigers!
When we returned to camp I headed out with one of the guides to arm a Range IR camera trap I’d set up on a trail for Civets. I got two shots, but one flash failed and the shots were a bit disappointing.



March 19. Satpura
We left 15 minutes earlier but started our drive about the same time, first heading to the Leopard area, which appeared vacant. Donna missed the Leopard yesterday, so she and Ron and Rysee stayed at that spot, waiting, and found the Leopard in a tree. It climbed down and laid down on a fallen tree, in the open, for great viewing.
Meanwhile the rest of us were in the woods looking for Sloth Bear. We found the most cooperative Malabar Giant Squirrel we’ve ever had, that climbed down a trunk and posed, and did two good leaps to other trees. Both Mary and I were on it and got nice shots.
We headed for a breakfast break but when we arrived we were told a Sloth Bear had been spotted so we raced off, and found the Bear close to the road but in thick vegetation. It ambled off, unconcerned, but never got clear enough for a shot and eventually it wandered uphill. We left it and drove on to breakfast, eating quickly enough to return to the Bear. It hadn’t moved far, and we had no better success.
Rysee said the Leopard might still be out so we left the speck of black, the Bear, and drove on to the Leopard. Since yesterday, the Leopard had dragged the Sambar carcass up into a tree where Jungle Crows were now feeding, a fairly good sign that the Leopard was gone. It wasn’t, and one vehicle that arrived later and waited saw the Leopard moving through the brush.
PM. Toni, Jean, and Rafael did the boat cruise, photographing birds and a very close Mugger Crocodile, while the rest of us went on game drives. Tom and David had a Sloth Bear with cubs that disappeared over a hill, and they left to find other subjects (reluctantly!) and when they returned, Donna and Ron were already there, with the bear and the cub close by, within sixty yards. The cubs played and climbed trees while the mother dug for bugs, and they had spectacular shooting. At the end
of the day they followed the brother of the Leopard we’d seen earlier as it walked across a field, then disappeared in grasses and brush just yards from the clearing.
Larry and I had a Sloth Bear, too, which eventually crossed the road for some good shots. A Malabar Giant Squirrel fed on flower blossoms of a tree, and a blond Gaur and several bulls posed nicely. We heard alarm barks from Langurs, and later saw fresh tracks, and at the end of the day had the same Leopard as Donna and Ron, when it came out of hiding for some very low light level shots.

At the time of this posting I am waiting to recover the remainder of this trip report, which covers our last great day in Satpura and our extension to Tadoba for Tigers is

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