YET ANOTHER INDIAN TRIP REPORT February-March 2023!

[AKR1]

Saw this short video today on the Tigress Babli and her sub-adult cubs in Todoba. The video was particularly nice to my eye so thought others would like. 
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cvzb9-nND8u/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[johnweir]

Before arriving at Nagarhole, after leaving Tadoba we took our only internal flight of the trip From Nagpur to Bengaluru (Bangalore) and stayed 2 nights at the Taj Bangalore (see Tiger Trifecta) here we met up with our private guide who would stay with us at Nagarhole and a few days in the Western Ghats. Our guide was Vineith Mahadev, we had first met him in 2020 in Satpura Tiger Reserve, so we knew we were getting one of the best. On the second day late in the afternoon we teamed up with Vineith to try for a Slow Loris sighting, they used to be common around Bengaluru particularly in the university grounds but not anymore. Vineith had certainly done his home work, we drove 60km to the town of Nagavalli.

 

We knew we were in the right area for a sighting as we spotted the sign above in the grounds of the local school. Following the advice of several locals who knew exactly what we were talking about, we visited several wooded areas on the outskirts of the town, to no avail. Vineith made a phone call and we moved to an outdoor pursuits camp, Camp Shristi 15 km away, near the village of Tumkur. By now it was 23.00, after several walks in the grounds we eventually hit the jackpot, with 3 brief sightings. Talking a decent image was impossible as by now our torch had faded badly and Lorises are far from slow.

MYSORE SLOW LORIS.

The day after we moved to Nagarhole with a cultural stop in Mysore for the palace, which was spectacular. Most of this trip was by road transfer, we only had 2 different drivers which was good. Some of the longer drives were broken up with cultural visits involving overnight stops.

 

WESTERN GHATS.

Firstly  I would say how much I enjoyed @janzin's recent Western Ghats report, the quality of photography was simply outstanding. I wish she lived in the UK I would book some lessons! I would point out that my main areas of interest lie around mammals although I record all the bird species that I observe on my travels. Vineith is good on birds so it was pleasing to get an accurate bird list which included several endemics. Prior to the trip I sent him a list of mammals I was interested in, particularly the primates. I also told him I had read an article somewhere which mentioned frequent leopard sightings on an estate, and that I would expect him to have some idea where it was and that we should visit that area. An estate in Scotland is clearly different to one in India so it was surprising to learn that we would spend time scouring some quite steep hillsides on a tea estate.

After Nagarhole we headed to a town in the Nigiri Hills called, Kotagiri. We stayed in a homestay called Raven's Nest. It was the first time we had stayed in a homestay it was excellent, and we will certainly use them in the future. It was owned by a consultant surgeon who worked in Mumbai, he rang up to make sure we were comfortable, a nice touch. It was fully staffed and the food was great, we took our own beer. The gardens were beautiful as were the views.

Raven's Nest, gardens midday.

Same shot early evening.

This is where we enjoyed breakfast.

This corner of the bungalow housed our large bedroom, very spacious and meticulously clean.

 

At 16.00 out of the blue Vineith took a call, a leopard had been seen close to a track on a local tea estate. We attended, by the time we got there it had gone, we made contact there however with a local naturalist, who informed us that in the extended valley 8 leopards had their territories and that 4 of them were black (melanistic).

This was typical of the terrain in the tea estate we visited, the rocky outcrops above the main tea growing areas looked like ideal leopard country. There was plenty of food about, boars and deer. The higher terraces had been abandoned. We spent a couple of hours leopard hunting and then as we turned to leave, the naturalist ran off and eventually shouted for us to join him further down the track, he was very excited and was pointing into the hills.

INDIAN LEOPARD (MELANISTIC). Record shot. Clearly a black leopard, centre of the image. Not the world's best sighting but I am more than happy to take it. We watched it for about 30 minutes before it got too dark, great with binoculars. It was a subadult male about 18 months old. The local naturalist showed us several images of black leopards taken recently much closer to the track and they were individuals that would rival 'Blackie/y' in Nagarhole. They were all very dark with only faint spotting. Later that evening we visited another estate and secured a sighting of a rare Brown Palm Civet which was on our target list. Back to leopards, the image below is of the frequently seen Tadoba black leopard, which has its normal pattern clearly visible.This image appears with the full permission of Bhautik, who was our guide in Tadoba in 2020. There is also a rarely seen black leopard in Pench. (guide 2023).

 

The following morning at 06.00 we were out again in the tea estate and managed to spot an old male leopard from distance.

INDIAN LEOPARD. Male 9-10 years old. Record shot just about visible on top of the rock. Taken from distance in poor light. I am fairly sure that if black / normal leopards are your thing this area has great possibilities, they are clearly there in good numbers. 

 

That was the end of our leopard exploits despite going out again until late in the evening, we spent the afternoon in the homestay garden and took a few images of some interesting but common birds.

INDIAN WHITE-EYE.

PURPLE SUNBIRD.

The following day we moved on to another homestay Sinna Dorai's Bungalow (Valparai) in the Anaimalai Hills, which was equally as impressive as the first and was situated on a tea estate, the only drawback was that it was a considerable distance from the main road. It was the old estate manager's bungalow. We were there for the two primates that most enthusiasts visit the area to see the Nigiri Langur and Lion-tailed Macaque.

Unfortunately things didn't quite go according to plan. Unlike @janzinthe langur proved very difficult to locate and the main sighting area for the macaques was devoid of any. The main road into Valparai is famous for the aerial walkways made from car tyres that have been installed to help prevent roadkills, they usually figure in documentaries with the macaques crossing safely.

Macaque aerial walkway, not a macaque in sight. However we did observe a couple of endemic mammals the Nigiri Striped ( Palm) Squirrel and several Travancore Flying Squirrels at night.

Breakfast time at the tea picker's cottage, see the background of the previous image.

TRAVANCORE FLYING SQUIRREL. We actually saw this individual fly which was impressive, possibly a 50m leap and a safe landing. They are quite large mammals.

Another FLYING SQUIRREL.

The following day we bumped into this 'wildlife hero' Dharma he has dedicated many years of his life to slowing traffic on the main road near Valparai to prevent roadkills, he often figures in the same wildlife documentaries as the walkways, he told us about a location where a large troop of macaques could be found.

Dharma.

Around midday we arrive at a small pocket of dense forest and it was immediately apparent that primates were present, we walked about 100 m's  from the road into the forest and quickly realised we were surrounded by Lion-tailed Macaques, so we sat on a log and observed them for about 4 hours taking the occasional image. Their time was mainly spent feeding in several large jackfruit trees which were covered in fruit. The troop numbered about 40 which is quite large. Their behaviour followed the usual pattern feed, rest, feed, rest..., there was very little squabbling and when feeding, sentries were posted. It was a real privilege to sit and watch them for so long, they were curious about our presence but generally were more interested in feeding. We were never threatened, I certainly wouldn't sit anywhere near a troop of Rhesus Macaques which tend to be aggressive and unsociable towards humans, however these macaques were very calm. There was a dominant male and it was noticeable that some of the younger males had parts of their tails missing and one had obviously been wounded in the face. In the late afternoon they approached the tarmac road as there was a well fruited tree next to the road, at one stage there must have been 20  on the road feasting on fallen fruit but the traffic was very light and approached the area with care. Lion-tailed macaques appear equally at home on the ground as in the trees. They were all in great condition sleek, glossy coats, this experience was possibly the highlight of our 5 week trip for me. Beautiful animals. There definitely is more to India than tigers. 

Subadult male, obviously he has been in the wars.

Young macaque tackles a jackfruit, several trees were heavily laden. The fruit was often bigger than the macaque.

The characteristic mane is usually white or silver, however it is the tail that gives them their common name.

 

Several had a brownish mane, which is not mentioned in species accounts.

Female with her infant.

Gluttony.

Lookout 1.

Lookout 2.

The dominant male, what a specimen.

This individual seemed to prefer to eat some flowers rather than join in the jackfruit feast.

This is possibly my favourite shot of the whole trip.

This is our guide Vineith he took some very unusual shots.

We also recorded several Indian Giant Squirrels whist watching the macaques.

INDIAN GIANT SQUIRREL. ssp. maxima, virtually black. The ssp. found in Nagarhole is indica. I have seen ssp.centralis in Satpura.

As their name suggests these squirrels are quite big.

So that was it for our short stay in the southern Western Ghats, we will hopefully return at some stage to visit other locations. One mammal we did miss out on was a Nigiri Taur, at the usual sighting locations officials were moving people on following the appearance on Facebook of images showing some halfwits physically interfering with several Taur close to the road. However as we descended to the coastal plain we did eventually record some Nigiri Langurs.

NILGIRI LANGUR.

We saw just a few besides the road just before we left the hills.

The scenery in this area of India is breathtaking and worth a visit just for that. During our time here we spent several night drives trying for a Leopard Cat sighting, the only medium sized cat we saw however was a Jungle Cat.

 

16 species of mammals were recorded during our stay in this part of the Western Ghats.

Our records indicate that we have observed 69 different species of larger mammals during our 2020 and 2023 trips to India.

 

We stayed for a couple of nights in an excellent hotel, Brunton's Boatyard in Kochi on the coast before flying back to Scotland from Kotchi (Cochin) via Doha and then directly to Edinburgh. Five weeks just flew by, as mentioned earlier this trip represented excellent value for money by today's standards. We would like to explore in more detail both the north east and north west of India at some stage soon.

 

I / we were very concerned about this, the local fishermen in Kochi were all selling juvenile sharks presumably caught in the Chinese fishing nets that seemed to be everywhere along the coast.

Chinese fishing nets, they seem to harvest? any fish in the river shallows, which unfortunately appears to include young sharks.

Brunton's Boatyard, not a real one!

[AKR1]

Excellent wrap up. Also stayed at Brunton’s Boatyard in Kochi several years ago and it was very good. 

[TonyQ]

Very enjoyable report. Great sightings and photos of the macaques, and your favourite photo is very special indeed 

[offshorebirder]

I am very jealous of the Slow Loris, Flying Squirrel and Indian Giant Squirrel @johnweir!   Great Leopard sightings you had as well.

 

[Treepol]

@johnweirthanks so much for this TR, very interesting and your photos are great. I particularly liked the Lion-tailed Macaques and its wonderful to see Vini again and looking so well too. We missed you by a day or 2 at Forsyth Lodge in 2020, such a wonderful wildlife lodge and safari experience.

[Kitsafari]

i'm so envious of your time spent with the stunning lion-tailed macaques. awesome TR. thanks much for bringing me on your adventure.  

[michael-ibk]

Thank you for an excellent report, I enjoyed it a lot. The LT Macaques are so, so cool, I really need to see them. I've been interested in this area of India for quite some time now, but there's always something that gets in the way. 

[janzin]

Great report, very interesting to see how your time went in the Ghats...glad you found the Lion-tailed Macaques, I wonder if the first stop (where they weren't) was the same settlement where we had seen them. I imagine they travel to where the trees are fruiting. Jackfruit seems to be their favorite!

 

And thanks for the kind words about my photos

[madaboutcheetah]

On 8/26/2023 at 7:01 PM, michael-ibk said:

Thank you for an excellent report, I enjoyed it a lot. The LT Macaques are so, so cool, I really need to see them. I've been interested in this area of India for quite some time now, but there's always something that gets in the way. 

 

@michael-ibk- You'd better look me up when you come here for the LTM.  It's literally my backyard!!! 

[michael-ibk]

58 minutes ago, madaboutcheetah said:

You'd better look me up when you come here for the LTM.  It's literally my backyard!!! 

 

I will Hari - promise! 🙂

[Atravelynn]

 What an outstanding trip, including our unexpected brief encounter in Pench.  You saw the brutality of nature that often goes unwitnessed. But what resilient creatures those tigers are.  Did not know Maya had been responsible for attacks and deaths of humans.  Fascinating Lion-tailed Macaques!

[Sangeeta]

Really really enjoyed reading this report @johnweir- you have showcased India’s biodiversity so beautifully here! I def need to do a lot more than just visit family every time I go home  

Your photos are great and that tiger fight must have been epic, even just to hear! So glad Rudra’s still going strong.