India Nov (2020 - postponed) (2021 - postponed again) 2022: First time (for Alex), mostly birding (for all)

[Kitsafari]

sorry to hear about your tummy rumbles but i hope they got better by the second day PM drive? 

 

[xelas]

I am not sure why on this map of Tadoba Andhari Tiger reserve there are two Zone-III sections; anyway, we have explored mostly Zone III : Kolara. Most of the roads inside this zone are red dirt roads and sometimes only tracks. There is one tarred road sprinkled with speed bumps which makes this otherwise scenic road not also the comfortable one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[xelas]

Wildlife can be often seen very close to the roads/tracks and sometimes right on them. 

 

Sambar

 

 

Barking Deer

 

Jungle Bush-Quail

 

Gray Junglefowl

 

Indian Scoops-Owl

 

Changeable Hawk-Eagle

 

Sirkeer Malkoha

[Toxic]

Have just caught up with the entirety of this report. I'm not much of a bird person but even I am in awe of the beautiful colours and fantastic photos here.  Really enjoying the TR @xelasand the addition of a dual narrative from @Soukous (even if at times it has been not great news - sorry for all that frustration at the beginning of your trip!) has made for a real fun read.

 

I've picked up a lot here - heading to India next month for the first time and it's good to know about the dust roads and that people chase the tigers (would anyone liken this to Mara sightings of big cats? That was my least favourite part of my Kenya trip so I might try the same thing and suggest we don't chase the wildlife if so...).

 

Thank you - following along now! 

[xelas]

Thank You, @Toxic, for your kind words. My "chasing the tigers" are a bit too strong words. After all, all vehicles needs to stay on the roads, and tigers and other wildlife has all the area for themselves. But truth is, people come to this (and probably also other Indian parks) to see the tiger ... and tiger only! The are "tigerholics" and both drivers and guides will do everything to facilitate their thirst (some more examples will come in next post).

 

If being firm with the guide and the driver then you should be able to avoid the worst situations ... not completely but still enough that those bad moments will not ruin your overall experience. 

[Soukous]

While the main attraction for most visitors to India's parks is tigers, there are other mammals to see as well. Leopards are my favourite, but I didn't see any of those.

 

We did get a couple of good sightings of Sloth Bear. Our first was in the late afternoon as we were on our way back to the gate, a male sloth bear was snuffling along beside the track. He seemed pretty relaxed with us driving along beside him. 

 

 

Unfortunately, we were in a bit of a rush to get to the gate before curfew and so we could not linger. Alex & Zvezda had other ideas 

 

However, next morning, not far from the same spot, we saw a Sloth Bear, almost certainly the same one, poking around in some straw, looking for food. If you can't see it, look harder

 

 

 

 

Then, as we watched, he stopped moving and it looked as though he had just fallen asleep in the middle of his breakfast.

 

The other mammal that is high on many people's list, is Indian Wild Dogs, or Dhole.

 

We had a nice sighting of those as well. There was a small (family?) group of 4 dogs in the road ahead of us. 2 older dogs and 2 younger. We approached slowly, a few metres at a time and were able to watch them for a decent time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by Soukous

[xelas]

@Toxicreply is a good introduction to my next chapter from Tadoba. Much was already written by Martin, and below are some examples of a "bad situation" that we have encountered during our game drives. Despite our naturalist, rangers and drivers were doing a great job to avoid "tiger traps", it is almost impossible to avoid them all. There are one-way tracks, narrow tracks, and if a bit too late to react, one gets stuck and it is very difficult to get out.

 

Tigers are creatures of habits, and guides knows their territories and where they often rest or walks. Although using of mobile phones and walkie-talkies is not permitted inside the core zone, the word of a tiger sighting spreads with the "speed of a gypsy". Once people starts pointing into the grass, they attracts fellow visitors like honey attracts bears. They are willing to wait for hours only to see the ear of the tiger (and probably whistling The Eye Of The Tiger while waiting). The ear in below photo belongs to celebrity tigress Maya. There was also a cub there, judging by the movement of the grass. Photo taken on 17/Nov and was our second tiger sighting.

 

 

 

 

 

If the road is wider, and would allow us to drive by, jeep drivers can be very inovative how to block it. And when the canters (a truck converted into an open-sided bus) joins the fun ...

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes waiting for the tiger is not a complete chaos.  The morning drive on 19/Nov and this was our 4th tiger (Rudra, a male and current King of Tadoba) and there were "only" 3 other vehicles and they all were positioned in a way to give space to both jeeps and tiger. Although huge, a tiger can get lost in tall grass very efficiently. Most would love to see at least the rear of the tiger but alas, for us this sighting did not qualify as a memorable one . Spoiled?!

 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by xelas

[Soukous]

24 minutes ago, xelas said:

Most would love to see at least the rear of the tiger

 

Yes 

[Dave Williams]

Great trip report, the food looks tempting , never mind the wildlife!

The road jams remind my of Yala NP where I gave my driver/guide the same instructions. Don't go near them if possible. My idea of hell.

I have to say though Martin, you have my sympathy. You do all the work then suffer the losses too.

[xelas]

On 12/26/2022 at 3:44 PM, Soukous said:

Alex & Zvezda had other ideas 

 

We did not !

 

But our driver suddenly stopped, and after a brief inspection of the vehicle, he said something about shot suspension or similar. That gave us a very slow and careful drive back to the gate. We were late already, and sun has set behind the trees, so there was nothing special that we could benefit from extra 30-45 minutes in the park, right?

 

Wrong! As we have reached the road going from the core zone towards the gate, both driver and park ranger said that magical word "Tiger!". In fact it was a tigress by the name of Hema, as we have learned back at the lodge.

 

Jeswin seemed to be unsurprised by yet another tiger sighting, #3 in as many game drives. And a second one without other onlookers that would spoiled the fun. Maybe he knew about the territory of Hema, or her evening walks, or he simply accept that the clients he has been guiding that week were just amazingly lucky clients. Ones that went for birding to find the tigers .

 

It was almost dark, and below photos are heavily redacted, but memories are not, and they are as vivid or more as the photos taken. One downside of this encounter was that we do not have any video of it. 

 

Hema emerged out of the grassland, and she slowly walked towards the road and us. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once she approached us the driver started to drive away. I have looked back and saw she followed us for a while.

 

 

 

 

 

And we were not yet finished with Tadoba tigers .

Edited December 27, 2022 by xelas

[janzin]

wonderful sighting of Hema all to yourself, the best kind!

 

[Toxic]

What a special sighting of Hema (even if she was following you for a while ) and such beautiful photos against the dirt road and grasslands.

 

Thank you for the info re sightings and traffic surrounding them. I will be mindful of this and try to avoid where possible though appreciate it will not always be possible.  There will be quite a lot of "firsts" for me, even with the antelope and if lucky to be blessed with a sloth bear sighting as well, that too! I will also hopefully have the vehicle to myself (apart from drive, guide and to use Soukous term - a sack of potatoes ) so there shouldn't be as much pressure on speeding past what I'm sure others aren't as interested in... 

 

Looking forward to seeing some more of your Tadoba tigers!

 

[Atravelynn]

Hema did not give you her back end as the previous tiger did.  Those rear shots are always appropriate for the final trip photo before

The End. 

I see the sloth bear in the distance and the tiger cub! 

[Kitsafari]

you had such amazing open sightings of the bears! we saw them but they were actively hiding in the tall grasses and would not show. Dholes were a highlight for us too, they're such gorgeous mammals.

u lucky fella @xelas!!. 

[Soukous]

14 hours ago, xelas said:

he simply accept that the clients he has been guiding that week were just amazingly lucky clients

I'd certainly come to that conclusion. 

[Soukous]

International flight schedules and routes being what they are, my flights and those of Alex & Zvezda were rather different.

I would leave Tadoba on afternoon of 20^th Nov, transfer to Nagpur and fly to Delhi where I’d overnight before flying on to London. Alex & Zvezda had a more convoluted route back to Lubljana; they would leave on 21^st, transfer to Nagpur and fly back to Goa. From there they would fly to Dubai and then back to Slovenia.

 

As our last game drive was to be on morning of 20 November, Alex arranged with his guide that they would do a birding trip in the surrounding farmland on morning of 21^st.

 

When I heard this I thought it sounded like a brilliant idea and decided that I would love to do that as well and would happily forfeit my last dust ingestion session. The birding trip was therefore – very kindly - re-scheduled for the morning of 20^th Nov.

 

Instead of the usual Gypsy we all comfortably fitted into the lodge’s Tata safari vehicle. A wonderful upgrade.

 

Apparently this vehicle could not be used inside the park because it is diesel powered. Once again National Park rules in India left us bewildered; how can this vehicle be excluded while lumbering, fume belching Canter (diesel) buses are allowed in?

 

This brief excursion was an absolute delight; birding in comfort, at a leisurely pace and with no dust. Once the early morning haze had cleared the light was pretty decent as well.

Best of all I got to see why Alex & Zvezda rated their guide Jeswin so highly.

 

There was plenty to see as well.

 

Common Hawk Cuckoo

 

Parakeets feeding on the hayricks

 

Our route took us through a local village - Chaili Tukum - to a large waterbody, which I think has the same name, where we found an excellent variety of birdlife, even though some of it was quite distant.

 

Jeswin picked out this Red-crested Pochard on the far side of the lake

 

 

I also got to see my first Pheasant-tailed Jacana

 

Bronze-winged Jacanas were there as well

 

Plenty of Swamphens too which, until a coupl of weeks ago I would have called Purple Swamphens, but which I am now informed have been re-named, Grey-headed Swamphens

A little further on was another waterbody where some birds were quite familiar

 

whilst others were distant and needed Jeswin's keen eyes

Indian Spot-billed Duck

 

Away from the water we saw Shikra

 

 

Painted Storks

 

Spoonbills

 

our first Yellow-wattled Lapwing

 

and many smaller birds, like this Ashy Prinia

 

I was surprised, not just by the number of resorts tucked away amongst the fields but also by how many new ones were being constructed.

 

My time at Tadoba was pretty much done. Back at the lodge it was time for me to pack and prepare to depart for Nagpur. Meanwhile, Alex was busy negotiating to replace the game drive we’d skipped this morning for one tomorrow morning.

 

If I had any doubt about the luck of the Strazars it was dispelled the next day when Alex sent me a photo from his morning drive in the buffer zone.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Soukous

[janzin]

Great assortment of birds on that birding drive, a wise decision! It's good to know that's even an option at Tadoba, although I'd be truly conflicted to forfeit a tiger drive.

 

[Soukous]

23 minutes ago, janzin said:

Great assortment of birds on that birding drive, a wise decision! It's good to know that's even an option at Tadoba, although I'd be truly conflicted to forfeit a tiger drive.

 

 

It was an easy choice for me. 

As you'll discover, while Alex & Zvezda had some great tiger sightings I had nothing better than ears in the long grass and a backside disappearing into the long grass. 

Also, I really did not get on with my guide. It's not a problem I've encountered before, in India or Africa, but this guy - no names - just rubbed me up the wrong way. So much so that I had already skipped the previous afternoon's game drive. A very rare occurrence for me.

I think that maybe if there had been other people in the jeep with me it might have been different, but spending 4 hours at a time with only him for company really sucked the enjoyment out of my game drives. 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Soukous

[xelas]

That morning gave us also an opportunity to experience the rural part of India. This is what we saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by xelas

[janzin]

22 minutes ago, Soukous said:

 

 

Also, I really did not get on with my guide. It's not a problem I've encountered before, in India or Africa, but this guy - no names - just rubbed me up the wrong way. So much so that I had already skipped the previous afternoon's game drive. A very rare occurrence for me.

I think that maybe if there had been other people in the jeep with me it might have been different, but spending 4 hours at a time with only him for company really sucked the enjoyment out of my game drives. 

Oh that's really a shame. We had that experience once at a lodge in South America and it really colored the trip for us. The guide can definitely make or break a trip!

[Galana]

Same about the misguide, Martin. Intolerable. I hope you complaned loudly and long to his boss. I have never experienced this in India but did once in Tanzania. One Yellow card and he was gone! His replacement was wonderful.

[Soukous]

17 hours ago, janzin said:

The guide can definitely make or break a trip!

 

so true

[Soukous]

13 hours ago, Galana said:

Same about the misguide, Martin. Intolerable. I hope you complaned loudly and long to his boss. I have never experienced this in India but did once in Tanzania. One Yellow card and he was gone! His replacement was wonderful.

 

I did not complain. 

I cannot state absolutely that he was a bad guide, just that he was not the guide for me. I am sure other guests would have found him fine.

I think he found the situation - and me - difficult. I had laid down some ground rules before we started our first game drive and this clearly made him nervous. He obviously wanted to please but the 'find tiger' mentality was so ingrained in him that every time we heard of a tiger sighting he asked if I wanted to join the circus. 

He also found it difficult having to coordinate with another guide who he clearly considered junior to him - even though we all could see that the other guide was better.

 

Just one of those things I put down to experience.

[Soukous]

18 hours ago, xelas said:

That morning gave us also an opportunity to experience the rural part of India.

@xelasto the rescue again. I did not take many photos of subjects other than wildlife whereas Alex, comfortable in the knowledge that Zvezda had the birds & mammals covered, could pay attention to what was going on around us. 

[xelas]

After coming back to the lodge after the birding drive, Martin has to leave us for his flight back to UK. We have had a full afternoon to relax, Zvezda even booked a massage session. I have tried to be brave and to swim in the pool but the water was just too cold. Another early dinner and to the bed as there will be one more game drive for us the next day.

 

Our return flight to Goa was the same "midnight express" that we took on the way to Nagpur and Tadoba. That gave us one extra full day at the lodge. The management was kind and let us use the room almost until 3pm. However, to fill up the rest of the day we have booked one more game drive in Tadoba. This time it was a different area, a different entry gate and also a different guide as Jeswin already had other clients. He gave our guide a detailed instructions of what we love, like and dislike.

 

The Belara Gondmohali gate is a new one. It give acces to the Belara buffer zone, and although there are a couple of "resident" tigers, it is not in the same league as is Kolara core zone. Therefore also much less visited. As we have seen almost everything Tadoba has, we did not mind just driving around and trying to get a bird or two for our BY count. Our ranger was trying hard to find us more birds but the morning was one of those "butterfly day" mornings. Not many birds around.

 

 

 

 

Indian Pond-Heron

 

Plum-headed Parakeet

 

After a while both the ranger and the driver started to have a conversation with our guide. After finishing what they have to say, the guide asked us if we are really not wanting to see any tigers?! Birding was slow anyway so I replied somewhere along the lines of "why not just don't get us into a crowded "tiger trap".  They smiled and drove to another part of the buffer zone. They stopped where there was already a Nilgai female staying, who looked a bit nervous. Rightly so as after about 5 minutes the first tiger emerged out of a small ditch. A fully grown male named Xylo scanned the area first.

 

 

 

 

 

Then a visibly smaller female named Veera followed him. We were in that perfect position, head on to the approaching two beauties of the nature. As they were moving towards us our driver skilfully reversed keeping the distance so they had no need to get of the track into the bushes. 

 

 

 

 

This time we were not completely alone as there were other two Gypsys on the wrong end of this sighting. They both also kept the distance from the tigers which was quite a difference from the pushy drivers from Kolara gate. One last look from Xylo and after about another 15 minutes of tiger bonanza they turned into the bushes not to be seen again (although both the driver and the guide tried hard to find them).

 

 

 

Now everybody in the jeep was happy. We did another two hours of birding and left the Belara buffer zone with one more tiger sighting.

Edited December 29, 2022 by xelas