Stripes of Wild India

[michael-ibk]

@@elefromoz

 

 

How hot was Tadoba, this would have been early to mid-April, did you miss the "real" heat of the day with safari times or did you find it unbearably hot out there?

We did miss the real heat of the day at midday but what we experienced was hot, probably 30-32 C out in the Gypsy.

Lynn, I think this is a typo? I looked at the thermometer at the lodge, and it definitely was 40+.

 

On that point, you had such extra-ordinary numbers of and quality Tiger sightings, pretty well everyday, did you, at any point, get just a little 'jaded" or blase'?

 

Never! Nothing like seeing a Tiger in the wild! But, given our striped success, on our last day we agreed that we wanted to prioritize looking for Dhole, Sloth Bear and/or Leopard, even if that meant deliberately "ignoring" possible Tiger sightings.

 

@@Galago

 

I gave up on this Harrier when labelling my pics. They just look too similar, and it was too far away to tell for sure.

 

About the Namdev madness:

 

 

This was when it was still quiet. All hell broke loose when he was spotted. And ... ahem, just need to point out that on this sighting it was me who first delivered "TigerTigerTiger!".

Edited June 7, 2015 by michael-ibk

[elefromoz]

@@michael-ibk, aahh, to have the luxury go "ignoring" possible Tiger sightings. Things are looking pretty hectic in the last shot, pity the poor folk in the enclosed vehicle.

 

@@Galago, lucky, lucky to see that Tiger in Satpura

[Atravelynn]

We did miss the real heat of the day at midday but what we experienced was hot, probably 30-32 C out in the Gypsy.

Lynn, I think this is a typo? I looked at the thermometer at the lodge, and it definitely was 40+.

 

Right, back at the lodge by midday it was oven-hot at 40. Our outings in the am and pm were not quite that level. The last minutes of the morning drive could have been 40, though. Thank goodness the rooms were comfortably cool between the fan and the A/C.

[Galago]

Hah! I'm in your photo Michael - well, sort of. Vehicle on the right, just next to the lady with the blue hat and scarf, obscured by leaves and just an inch of hat showing!

 

Yes, it was very hot midday but it was a dry heat and it cooled down a lot late at night, so really fine.

[Atravelynn]

Hah! I'm in your photo Michael - well, sort of. Vehicle on the right, just next to the lady with the blue hat and scarf, obscured by leaves and just an inch of hat showing!

 

Yes, it was very hot midday but it was a dry heat and it cooled down a lot late at night, so really fine.

I knew you had to be in one of our shots somewhere.

[michael-ibk]

The next morning was pretty slow. We intended to go down South to Telia Lake, but alleged alarm calls around the Panderpauni areas kept us waiting there. Nothing showed up this time, though - only the regulars.





Rosy Starling



Fighting an itch.

We were told about a Maya on a kill sighting and raced there. And yes, we saw her for about a minute, but she was deep inside the forest and barely visible. Even less visible was her "kill", a monkey. No photos, and she soon moved off completely. What disturbed me a bit that one man was walking between all the cars, no 50 metres away from the Tiger. But as I was told (and observed on several occassions) the park guides do this pretty regulary, apparently to supervise the behaviour of cars.

Finally, we were on our way to Telika lake and used the connecting tarmac road down there.



Drivers are really speeding here. The "good" roads are probably also the reason why Panderpauni is so crowded, it´s easy to get there fast even from Moharli Gate. Previously, sightings have been more evenly distributed, Telia Lake also used to be a hotspot for Tigers. As of the last few months this has changed, the famous Wagdoh male (a huge Tiger) has moved more outside into the buffer area, and others in the Moharli range are not as bold as Maya or Namdev and are therefore not seen as regularly. So everybody is getting up North, congesting that area.

We didn´t see much on the way down (where we also used a loop through the forest) - Langurs, Sambar, Chital, Wild Boar.



Grey Junglefowl. Regularly seen, but very skittish and hard to get photos of.

The highlight of our morning was a Common Kingfisher with a kill.









I´m generally happy with my 400 lens, but with Kingfishers I always long for better reach - Lynn´s Powershot is very handy in these situations.





Telia lake, much smaller than Tadoba lake. It was a bit of a pity that we arrived there so late, I´m sure the place would have looked lovely in the morning. Now it was already 09.30.



White-Eyed Buzzard





Not completely sure about this one - Changeable Hawk-Eagle?



Little Bee-Eater



Savanna Nightjar

Of course we all told each other that the Kingfisher had been very nice, and the area beautiful, and how much we appreciated the regulars and the birds and that it was absolutely ok not seeing "special stuff" for once and we didn´t mind one bit - but we were all lying to each other.

And hoping the afternoon would be more action-packed again.

[michael-ibk]

Again we walked to the gate - and had our car nicely waiting there for us first in row.

 

 

Poor Cattle Egrets - so ubiquitous they are mostly overlooked.

 

Again we went to the Panderpauni area, waiting what could happen this time.

 

 

Nothing for a time, but then some Chitals and Sambar approached. A peaceful scene.

 

 

Then some of them became visibly alert, and all of a sudden they frantically jumped in all directions at once and dashed off. Because ...

 

 

Namdev again!

 

 

The heat was our friend, he really was in dire need of a wonderfully cool bath. Backside first, as they always do.

 

 

After some cooling off and quenching his thirst he moved to the shades again.

 

 

Felt a bit guilty taking this one.

 

[michael-ibk]

Excitingly Namdev chose to come out a little later and approached us through the long brown grass.

 

He obviously wanted to cross the road, but was unsure because of the number of cars, many were only arriving now and driving back and forth all the time.

 

 

Namdev came very close, and we greatly enjoyed this cool setting which really demonstrated how effective a camouflage a Tiger´s stripes are.

 

 

 

Namdev decided that it was all a bit too much of a spectacle here and retreated again. We (and all the rest of Tadoba) moved off a bit to give him some space. I doubted that the Tiger would use this small corridor, why in the world would he choose to go right between all these people when he very easily could just go the other way into the forest?

 

 

Well, being a sceptic is fun - one is often pleasantly surprised, here he is:

 

 

Come to Tadoba, we have cars! Oh, and Tigers.

 

[michael-ibk]

Namdev had given us a great show, but this afternoon he only played second fiddle when we came "home" to the lodge and talked with others about our sightings. Because on the way there we had the most surprising sighting of the trip - our Honey Badger! I know he´s already featured in this report, but Honey Badger don´t care and neither do I - here he is the little guy again.

 

 

 

[Galago]

I reckon it's a Changeable Hawk-Eagle too - and that's a superb shot of it taking off from the branch. The photos of Namdev are wonderful (what me, envious?)

[Atravelynn]

I reckon it's a Changeable Hawk-Eagle too - and that's a superb shot of it taking off from the branch. The photos of Namdev are wonderful (what me, envious?)

Agree on that take off shot. And welcome back!

[elefromoz]

The last photo of Namdevs face, just too beautiful. All the jeeps lined up behind the Tiger crossing....I guess all you can say is, hopefully such enthusiasm and love of this animal, continues as an incentive to offer it the protection it deserves.

[janzin]

Yikes, the sight of all those jeeps at once is (more than) a little discouraging! I guess I just have to adjust my expectations for India...after all, if its the only way to see tigers...I'll have to deal with it. And I thought I'd read Tadoba was "undiscovered." Was this the most crowded of all the parks you visited?

[Atravelynn]

Yikes, the sight of all those jeeps at once is (more than) a little discouraging! I guess I just have to adjust my expectations for India...after all, if its the only way to see tigers...I'll have to deal with it. And I thought I'd read Tadoba was "undiscovered." Was this the most crowded of all the parks you visited?

Yes, it was. But if the tiger sightings are more widely dispersed in the future, then the vehicles will be as well. All the tiger action was concentrated in one area during our stay, and the cars followed.

[madaboutcheetah]

Very good additions, Michael ............ Love the badger and Ramdev photos...

 

PS - glad you had a great time in Kenya ......... Lookforward to that report.

[madaboutcheetah]

@@janzin - Tadoba was pretty much under the radar until maybe, 2008/2009 ....... Suddenly it exploded one year with Tiger sightings. Subsequently, two Tiger families drew a lot of attention from photographers from around the world in perhaps 2010/2011. Now it's uber commercial like Ranthambore or Bandhavgarh.

[Kitsafari]

Just caught up with the report today. gypsy musical cars! was she the only person jumping off and on cars or were there others doing it at that time? the things people do - drunk with excitement in seeing a TigerTigerTiger. i think I might have done the unthinkable crazy act too if others were doing it!

 

the honey badger was icing on the cake! i can't believe that that same cute little creature is a tenacious, fierce fella that can fight off lions and kill snakes.

 

Love all the photos. but which was the ghost tree? i seem to have missed it.

[wilddog]

Hi @@Atravelynn @@michael-ibk and @@AndMic. I have come a little late to the party but I have just managed to find the time to start reading this thoroughly rather than skimming through the pictures . At the moment I am still in Kasaringa, which certainly delivered the wildlife for you. Rhinos (almost an epidemic of rhinos!) and ellies and the otter and so many other great sightings.

 

I will probably comment further as there are lots more pages for me to study yet. So thanks for it all so far. The 3 of you make a good TR team.

[TonyQ]

The photos of Namdev in the long grass are really beautiful - what a magnificent cat.

The photos with the jeeps also give a flavour of some of the reality (we didn't go to Taboda - but I remember the jeeps when we went to Bandhavgarh - sometimes you just have to laugh!)

 

It is certainly worth giving the honey badger a reprieve - good to see it again. Great report - you have us looking at India again

[Atravelynn]

Just caught up with the report today. gypsy musical cars! was she the only person jumping off and on cars or were there others doing it at that time? the things people do - drunk with excitement in seeing a TigerTigerTiger. i think I might have done the unthinkable crazy act too if others were doing it!

 

the honey badger was icing on the cake! i can't believe that that same cute little creature is a tenacious, fierce fella that can fight off lions and kill snakes.

 

Love all the photos. but which was the ghost tree? i seem to have missed it. This may be a joke in and of itself. If so, ha ha, very good. At the risk of not getting the joke or in case you really did miss the ghost tree, here is the shot of it again. These trees were not real rare.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Atravelynn

[Atravelynn]

The next morning was pretty slow.

We didn´t see much on the way down (where we also used a loop through the forest) - Langurs, Sambar, Chital, Wild Boar.

 

Here's that Wild Boar; and since it is so hard to photograph, one more of the Grey Jungle Fowl.

There used to be commercials in the US to encourage drinking milk that showed famous people with a milk mustache and the caption "Got Milk?" This reminds me of that ad campaign.

Grey Jungle Fowl

 

Common Kingfisher with a kill--also using kill as a verb. The bird was smashing the fish against the log. If we had gotten pictures of that act, it might have livened up our afternoon.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Atravelynn

[Atravelynn]

Namdev had given us a great show, but this afternoon he only played second fiddle when we came "home" to the lodge and talked with others about our sightings. Because on the way there we had the most surprising sighting of the trip - our Honey Badger! I know he´s already featured in this report, but Honey Badger don´t care and neither do I - here he is the little guy again.

 

Everybody was holding up their lighters and hoping he'd return for an encore performance. He could not disappoint his many enthusiastic fans. I, myself, am a groupie.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Atravelynn

[Atravelynn]

 

 

Poor Cattle Egrets - so ubiquitous they are mostly overlooked.

 

Maybe in pairs or triplicates they increase their interest quotient.

Felt a bit guilty taking this one.

 

 

In contrast, I proudly consider my tiger squatting under the Flame of the Forest Tree to be a high point of my travels in India.

A Flora and Fauna Spectacle

Flora and Fauna under more respectable circumstances

Before the arrival of Namdev, peace at Panderpauni

Does the young chital on the left detect Namdev's presence? We were hoping he did because Rajan said he believed Namdev was resting on the island.

That exciting "Tiger Tiger Tiger" moment when Namdev bursts onto the scene.

 

I do so appreciate the tiger-in-the-long-grass scenes as opposed to the tiger-on-the-road-with-many-Gypsies scene. The grass in Namdev's element. The road is ours.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Atravelynn

[Atravelynn]

The final morning drive in Tadoba

to be leaving, but thrilled with all we had seen in both Tadoba and the entire trip. Tadoba had more yet in store.

 

The wild boar assembled to bid us farewell.

The most wild boar I have witnessed in one place - in the buffer zone of Tadoba

 

The male chital had other interests beyond acknowledging our departure, such as sparring with the other young stags. It is the younger chital that engage in sparring most often. The older boys prefer to establish their dominance by horning (rubbing their antlers on vegetation), pawing the ground, or scent marking.

Young sparring chital stags

 

Then the start of Tadoba's grand finale for us began.

 

Alarm calls sounded and after a long wait, a fleeting glimpse of orange and black stripes moved through the distant dense foliage. Nothing photographable, nothing prolonged, then just nothing.

 

We all preferred to leave the traffic jam that had developed in response to the hint of tiger, but Rajan suggested we wait a few moments. We detected a wave of excitement that murmured through a clump of congested vehicles and found out a sloth bear had been seen entering the jungle. Andrew had really wanted a better view of the sloth bear because our first brief sighting had been just a black blob for him, but we resigned ourselves to having missed it. Nonetheless, our vehicle repositioned in case the sloth bear came back out.

 

And suddenly the sloth bear re-emerged from the forest for Andrew and all other onlookers to see in all its glory!

 

Within 15 seconds of the sloth bear disappearing, out popped Pandu, a male tiger about 4 years old. Speculation was could be Maya’s grown son.

Pandu in Tadoba, checking out the excitement over the sloth bear

We went to Tadoba Lake for a final view.

Tadoba Lake

 

We had our last views of the birds that inhabit Tadoba Lake.

Red naped ibis

 

Black headed ibis, Little egret, Open billed stork

It seemed only proper that we should see a mugger in Tadoba Lake and not just in a big muddy puddle, as we had days earlier.

Mugger - Tadoba Lake

 

 

The sambar were saying sayonara to us.

Indian Golden Oriole

 

During our breakfast stop, we joined some birders who were admiring an Indian Golden Oriole. Also admirable were the eco toilets available for breakfasters.

Indian golden oriole

 

Biodegradable eco-toilets available at the stop for dining. An attractive spot for a photo, far from the eco-toilets.

 

The final breakfast stop in Tadoba - good view of the vehicle. We had a different vehicle and usually a different driver almost every outing.

 

The grand finale was not yet finale.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Atravelynn

[SafariChick]

Wow - fantastic! What a last day - but not even done yet?!