2024 Travel Diary
November
I and Sampath went on a guided tour with Philip Ross on a custom trip to Kanha tiger reserve. Kanha was a beautiful forest, with evergreen Sal trees and large meadows. It was a very fruitful trip too, with Barasinghas being the unique species not seen before.
First day we did both safaris at the Mukki zone, where we saw Wild dogs, Indian Jackals, a few birds and several Barasinghas. Second morning was also spent at Mukki, where we waited for a long time for a tigress to appear. After a long wait she did appear, just to give a glimpse before disappearing into the thick vegetation very quickly. Saw a herd of Barasinghas in a pond. Second evening was spent at the Kanha zone, which is probably the most beautiful - full of large meadows. Unfortunately the tiger still eluded us.
Third day was full of action - in the morning we went back to the Kanha zone, where at first we saw a sub-adult tiger inside the bushes. Unfortunately the tiger did not come out, but we got decent photography opportunities for Barasinghas. But the highlight was a huge male tiger called Junior Bajrang, who spent a lot of time with us, walking head-on and crossing very close to our jeeps.
Elated by this, we went back to the Mukki zone in the afternoon, where we saw one male tiger. But inside the bushes, without a clean photography opportunity. While returning, we were able to see and photograph the elusive and secretive Spot-bellied eagle owl on an open perch.
Fourth morning was our final safari, when we went back to the Kanha zone. This time our luck was truly with us, and we were able to witness a mating pair of tigers with beautiful winter mist in the background. The huge male we had seen the day earlier had probably been looking for a mate, and had found her!
We exited the park early, as the airport at Nagpur was nearly 5 hours away from Kanha.
September
I went on a solo trip to K Gudi, for a weekend visit. This was my maiden visit to K Gudi. Interestingly, jungle lodges here are inside the B R Hills tiger reserve, and one has to drive through the forest for the last 8-10 Kilometers. Facilities are also basic. However, wild animals come very close to the property, with deers and wild boards roaming around very close to the tents.
The safaris were fairly dry, with some rain. Forest was lush green and very beautiful, but apart from a few pugmarks, we did not see any mammals - not even elephants!
August
I went with Harsha for a 2-night trip to Nagarahole, on the Coorg side. This was a very good trip with 3 tiger sightings in 4 safaris.
In the first afternoon, late in the safari we saw a tigress in the distant hills. It was a beautiful landscape with a tigress, which brought the phrase “Malegalalli Madumagalu” to mind - “Bride of the hills”. She saw a herd of deers from the distance, and walked a long way to hide in the bushes close to the deer. But as soon as the deers sensed her, they all ran helter-skelter all over the place, denying her a chance of a hunt. So she returned to her previous hideout.
On the 2nd morning, we again encountered the same tigress, this time walking on the road, but away from us. But fortunately she turned a few times to give us a few good glances, and finally crossed the main road going through the sanctuary. A couple of cars who were driving there were super lucky to sight a tigress close-by!!
While the 3rd safari was washed away with heavy rains - but there was a surprise at the end. At the very end a tiger crossed the road, and we missed it by a few hundred feet.
On the final and 4th safari, we sighted an adult female drinking water on the road - the well known Kunthur female. A beautiful head-on sighting. While returning to the resort we saw a King Vulture perching right next to the door - an endangered bird critical to our ecosystem.
In addition, there were a few elephants, crested serpent eagles, peacocks and other common animals.
June
Went with Harsha to Tadoba, along with Sampath and Smriti. This trip covered the areas of Kolara core, Alizanza buffer, Sirkada buffer, Belara buffer. We also did one safari at Umred-Karhandla tiger reserve.
On the first safari we saw Choti Tara, the oldest tigress in Tadoba, and her two tiny cubs, at a waterhole. Cubs were barely two months old! It rained heavily overnight, and we did not have any sightings on the second day.
After the third morning also resulted in a dry safari, we changed our plans to half-day safari at Sirkada buffer, where we saw two tigers: The handsome and huge male, X-mark, and a male cub of Choti Rani tigress. The fourth morning (final morning) also went dry, but we made some really cool wild boar images in grasslands.
On this trip I did cross the 50-unique tiger count!! Other than this, we saw three sloth bears as well as a Chousingha, or a four-horned antelope, which is a rare sight.
Umred-Karhandla visit also went dry in terms of tigers and leopards, although we did see a lone wild dog (Dhole) and a very handsome Nilgai. While there were calls and activity, we failed to sight a big cat.
May
I went with Shwetha and kids to Bandipur on a family visit. This was a quick weekend visit - It was already raining by this time, and on the first safari all of us were covered in raincoats!!
We had a good sighting of an elephant family in water, and heard of a tiger sighting at the top of Bolagudda. Our driver spent nearly all of our last hour scouting in this area, and on our fifth patrol of the area we finally sighted a beautiful tigress walking by the road. This was the well-known Moorkere female - a good sighting for nearly 5 minutes.
Second morning we tried to search for Meesekari leopard, but no luck. But we sighted a few very beautiful peacocks on nice perches, which made for a few good shots.
March
In March, I travelled with Sampath, Karthik and Swagat on a weekend trip to Kabini. It was a quick 2-safari weekend visit, which we had booked ourselves. In the first safari we sighted a female tigress named TT female and one of its cubs from a distance. Got some nice backlit shots of elephants.
Second safari was in A-zone, where a tigress named temple female was on the move. We spent most of the safari searching for it, and after a while sighted it crossing the road. After a while we got some really nice shots of wild dogs. Finally, close to the exit time, we got the tigress again, which walked head-on in the open landscape, and crossed the road right next to our jeep. This was one of the better sightings we have had.
February
I went to Thattekadu, Kerala, with Philip Ross on a 1-1 private tour. This was a destination I had wanted to go for a long time, and was looking forward to seeing Srilankan Frogmouths. Thattekadu is 1-hour from Kochin, and is an easy to reach place. We stayed at a nice camp with AC-tents in a glamping setup.
We spent the first afternoon focusing on white-bellied treepies, flame-throated bulbuls and other birds. We also did night birding, focusing on a few owls. Second morning was largely dry, with not many sightings. But we did get our first Srilankan Frogmouth. Second afternoon was spent at a different place, giving us some good shots of flycatchers and racket-tailed Drongos.
Third morning was very productive with us getting very good sightings of Malabar Trogons, Blue-eared Kingfisher and a nice pair of Srilankan Frogmouths. We decided to use the third evening also in search of frogmouths, and managed to sight two locations: A single frogmouth at its nest and a pair together. Fourth morning we waited for hill mynas, and managed to get some record shots.
Overall a very satisfying trip indeed!!
January
The year 2024 started at the Nagarahole forests, on the coorg side. My cousin Vani was visiting with her family from the USA. We scheduled a bespoke tour with Harsha at Nagarahole, along with my father.
This part of Nagarahole is very beautiful - it is home to a unique grassland, called Hadlu grasslands. These have some water at the base which support the tall grass, so the grass is always green - even in the summer.
First safari had us meet a magnificent tusker and his family of elephants, and on the second we saw a very shy female leopard, as well as a mother sloth bear with two cubs.
In the third safari we glimpsed the gigantic male tiger, Mooga, who rules this land. In the final safari we met a pack of wild dogs, although it rained a bit - so it was a bit wet!!
The core safari area is nearly 20-30 mins away from the lodge - although the route is fully forested. In fact, we saw the leopard, hordes of Gaurs and deers on the route leading to the safari area. We also saw a few wild boars, Sambars and birds.
Also went to Ranganthittu with his photography group on 14th of Sunday to photograph some pelicans and other birds.
