After 38 years ..... again



I have been in India visiting family & friends after 5 years.

I got the chance to take 2 days off to visit Nagarhole National Park, on the Kabini side. Low cost basic trip. You would not believe that the whole trip including bus fares, accommodation, food, 2 vehicle safaris & tips cost me less than US$400!!! But that involved riding pillion on a small motorcycle for 30 km on real bad roads & tracks, 3 trips - to and from safari pick up!





Young female. Saw the tiger at about 8 am - at about 100 meters walking towards us. She walked right up to us and past the vehicle. She was about 10 feet from me!



After the rainy season, the bush is very thick. The gaur have moved else where. Just saw this one young bull. Not yet jet black!



Tusker no 1 with front tips crossing. Very long ivory - extremely rare in India today



Tusker no 2 - different area - even more rare to see such big tuskers in the same area today in India. On careful observation of the 2 photos, I am sure it is the same animal seen morning and evening. Hundreds of tuskers have been poached in the last 30 years. Indian cow elephants do not have tusks.



Kabini farm stay - 13 km from park gate







Best onion pakkodas I have had in a very long time. Great home style food. Chicken kababs with my own beers in the evenings!



Crested serpent eagle



Grey jungle fowl. These are very exquisite birds, particularly if you have a mature rooster in hand. I used to shoot them in the tea plantations in the 1980s



Saw only one sambar hind. Thick bush & rains I guess.

I saw over 1000 chital but no great pics of stags.





One very interesting point I observed in 2 trips to this park is the small size of most animals. The chital, sambar, gaur, elephant et are much smaller in body size and antler. The tusks are huge in the elephants. Also animal density is very high. This area was the former hunting preserve of the Maharaja of Mysore.

Just 100 km away the animals and antlers are much bigger but density is far less. But again - former hunting area 70 years ago.

The leopards here are big - I saw a large male last time. Tigers are average size I guess - 9 foot 6 inch for an average male. Female tigers are not that big in this area.

This region is in the Western ghat plateau - 3000 feet elevation with no big hills. Just rolling landscape.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing that.

Naki you have pissed me off..I`m now jealous as can be seeing your photos of your experience.
Its been on my list since I read JC`s books as a young boy.

This is pay back time Gryph for all your hunting photos, buffalo, sambar etc

quote:

Originally posted by gryphon1:
Naki you have pissed me off..I`m now jealous as can be seeing your photos of your experience.
Its been on my list since I read JC`s books as a young boy.

Added a couple of the better pics of the tiger.

On second thoughts the elephant may be the same animal on different trips. I just looked more carefully at the right ear and I think the veins and folds are the same.

Outstanding,I would love to visit some of these areas, thanks for posting the photos

Regards
Aziz

I think you were shaking with some excitement with the tiger 10' away Naki.

Aziz we should make a plan for next year.

It would be a great idea to do 10 days of "Tiger Trails" - go to 3 parks out of Thadoba, Bandhavghar, Ranthambore, Kabini & Bandhipur

All of them have high density of tigers and sightings are common. But nothing is guaranteed of course.

Thanks for posting.

I noticed the tiger had a porcupine quill stuck in its mouth! Is that the lodge owned by saad bin Jung?

Good spotting Arjun

I noticed the scar on the right paw first off. But I noticed the quills only a few days later but have not had the time to post.

I also noticed that the tiger looked rather skinny.

There are a few quills stick on her left cheek and they can be seen in most photos if you look carefully.

Not sure if the park officials will intervene. She could die of starvation or infection.

In the old days she would have been a candidate for man eating but now wood collection & cattle grazing in the park is banned.

quote:

Originally posted by reddy375:
I noticed the tiger had a porcupine quill stuck in its mouth! Is that the lodge owned by saad bin Jung?

What a great place to visit! Thanks for sharing. Those gaur are impressive.

Hi Arjun

Saad bin Jung is the nephew of the Nawab of Pataudi.

The place I stayed at is a basic Farm Stay about 13 km from Nagarhole National park - on the HD Kota / Dammankatte side. The owner is one Deepak from Mysore.

This place is called Kabini Farm Stay.

quote:

Originally posted by reddy375:
I noticed the tiger had a porcupine quill stuck in its mouth! Is that the lodge owned by saad bin Jung?