This trip was planned only one week in advance. The first choice was obviously Kanha Wildlife Sanctuary but one month waiting time for safari booking skewed my decision elsewhere. Some options that came up were Dehradun, Ganeshgudi and Bandipur. After a lot of contemplation finally decided on Bandipur National Forest. Also, clubbed together the Nagarhole National Forest as they were nearby.
I’m not sure whether our luck would have accompanied us to Kanha – however the lady luck for sure was showering from all quarters when it came to either Bandipur or Nagarhole.
I didn’t add significantly to my Life List of birds, with only two additions this time. Still I’m not complaining – because the kind of wildlife sighting we got, was hard to beat. We took 4 safaris in Bandipur and only in one safari we got to see almost everything - Bear, Wild Dog, Leopard, Gaur, Mongoose and of course the Tiger. I couldn't click the Leopard as the kids in my safari jeep got excited and started shouting - which made the leopard run away. A point to debate - whether kids should at all be allowed in safaris or not.
For now, enjoy the pics below.
TRIP 2: 07-FEBRUARY-2020
This was another im-promptu booking. We were supposed to drive back from Conoor to Bangalore. Since we anyway had to go past Bandipur, so while in Conoor we thought of checking about the room availability. And to our surprise, it was available. So we took a driving break in Bandipur from Conoor and resumed our drive to Bangalore the next day.
There was however another advantage this time. For some reason the cops blocked the jungle road through Masinagudi while coming back from Conoor and we couldn't go through the Ooty road, instead we had to take a detour through Gudalur. But this detour was such a wonderful drive, with those Bamboo Forests initially followed by Mudumalai National Park, the entire drive was worth the extra couple of hours.
Below id the Trip Report downloaded from MY AUDI app.
I’m not sure whether our luck would have accompanied us to Kanha – however the lady luck for sure was showering from all quarters when it came to either Bandipur or Nagarhole.
I didn’t add significantly to my Life List of birds, with only two additions this time. Still I’m not complaining – because the kind of wildlife sighting we got, was hard to beat. We took 4 safaris in Bandipur and only in one safari we got to see almost everything - Bear, Wild Dog, Leopard, Gaur, Mongoose and of course the Tiger. I couldn't click the Leopard as the kids in my safari jeep got excited and started shouting - which made the leopard run away. A point to debate - whether kids should at all be allowed in safaris or not.
For now, enjoy the pics below.
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| Tiger! |
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| Sloth Bear |
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| Sloth Bear |
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| Sloth Bear |
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| Wild Dog |
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| Wild Dog |
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| Gaur |
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| Spotted Deer |
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| Spotted Deer |
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| Mongoose |
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| Blue-bearded Bee-eater (lifer for me) |
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| White-rumped Vulture (lifer for me) |
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| Indian Peafowl Female |
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| Indian Peafowl Male |
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| Indian Peafowl Male |
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| Grey Jungle Fowl Male |
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| Grey Jungle Fowl Female |
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| Grey Jungle Fowl Male |
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| Streak-throated Woodpecker Male |
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| Streak-throated Woodpecker Female |
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| Lesser Goldenback |
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| Lesser Goldenback |
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| Yellow-crowned Woodpecker |
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| Serpent Eagle and White-browed Fantail |
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| Serpent Eagle and White-browed Fantail |
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| Serpent Eagle |
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| Oriental Honey Buzzard |
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| Spotted Owlet |
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| Jungle Owlet |
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| Common Hoopoe |
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| Indian Roller |
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| Indian Roller |
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| Bay-backed Shrike |
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| Yellow-footed Green Pigeon |
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| Yellow-footed Green Pigeon |
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| Red-whiskered Bulbul |
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| Purple Sunbird Female |
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| Asian Paradise Flycatcher |
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| Asian Paradise Flycatcher |
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| Common Hawk Cuckoo |
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| Sambhar Deer |
This was another im-promptu booking. We were supposed to drive back from Conoor to Bangalore. Since we anyway had to go past Bandipur, so while in Conoor we thought of checking about the room availability. And to our surprise, it was available. So we took a driving break in Bandipur from Conoor and resumed our drive to Bangalore the next day.
There was however another advantage this time. For some reason the cops blocked the jungle road through Masinagudi while coming back from Conoor and we couldn't go through the Ooty road, instead we had to take a detour through Gudalur. But this detour was such a wonderful drive, with those Bamboo Forests initially followed by Mudumalai National Park, the entire drive was worth the extra couple of hours.
Below id the Trip Report downloaded from MY AUDI app.
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| Bandipur to Bangalore (1st leg) |
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| Bandipur to Bangalore (2nd leg) |
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| Leopard |
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| Elephant herd |
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| Elephant |
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| Green Bee-eater |
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| Brown Shrike |
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| Jerdon's Bushlark (lifer) |
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| Oriental Honey-buzzard |
Excellent bhaiya! Why do you call the bird Peafowl. Pardon my ignorance but is it not peacock and peahen?
ReplyDeleteMaggie - yes it is indeed peacock and peahen. Nothing wrong in that. Peafowl is more acceptable in birding community. Like for instance - parrot is not parrot - it is Parakeet.
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