Karnataka is blessed with some of the most magnificent tropical forests of the Indian sub-continent. The state is endowed with varieties of forest vegetation with an enormous diversity of species the floral diversity is so wide and varied that in some districts, all types of forest from wet evergreen to dry thorn forest are encountered within a crow-fly distance of less than 100 km. About 60 of Karnataka’s forests are situated in the Western Ghats, one of the mega biodiversity hotspots of the world. The remaining forests situated in the Eastern Plains - although these have limited coverage - exhibit high degree of plant diversity including varieties of medicinal plants.
Nagarahole and Bandipur Tiger Reserves are the best forests I got to visit. Tigers are shy, elusive animals, which is why the thrill of spotting one in its natural habitat is unmatched. Nature lovers from all over the world throng India’s many reserves each year to spot this majestic cat that can intimidate even the strongest with its piercing gaze. Although the biggest feline on planet, Tigers were classified as critically endangered not so long ago. Photographing these wild, needs a lot of patience and persistence. My first tiger sighting came during my 17th safari in the forest, and it was the most memorable moment of all times. I was so impressed by the stripes that I took very few pictures as I got engaged in looking it live. It’s a blessing to spot a Tiger.
Naresh and I had planned to visit the Bandipur Tiger Reserve during 5 – 7th Dec 2022. A thought came to my mind and I decided to ask Naresh to utilize 3rd and 4th being Saturday and Sunday. And we decided to visit Naragahole Forest. With all required permission from Forest Department, we entered the forest area through Metikuppe forest and drove towards Nalkeri Forest (Nagarahole Range) where we stayed for 2 days without any network connectivity. We had rounds in the forest, accompanied with the Forest department personnel and had spotted a Leopard, Tiger and Sloth Bear in just a duration of 30 minutes which was totally unexpected. Many a times moments are so special that you forget that the camera is in the hand, and you tend to forget taking picture and memories stay in the mind. And the same happened with us. After a great stay at the Nagarahole Range we headed to Bandipur. The first 2 safaris at Bandipur were with all variety of wild except Leopard and Tiger. During 3rd safari we were lucky enough to spot a Leopard during the first 10 minutes of safari. 4th Safari was the most special as we spotted the most beautiful Tigress of Bandipur named “Sundari” (named after hear beauty) along with her Cub. It is hard to write down the feeling I had on this sighting. I had waited to spot her for 2 years!! December 7th 2022 will be the most memorable day for me. Every picture has a story in itself. Make sure you spend some time reading through my experiences. I hope you enjoy the pictures as you scroll down.
The wildlife I witnessed during this trip included Tiger with Cub, Leopard, herd of Elephants, Indian Gaur, Sambar, Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Sloth Bear, Wild Boar, Common Langur, Bonnet Macaque, Monitor Lizard, Mongoose, Turtle, Brown Fish Owl, and a variety of Birds.
All the images were captured using Nikon D850 + Tamron 150-600mm G2 Lens.
She is has been named as Sundari by the forest department for being the most beautiful tigress of Bandipur, with her few month old cub.
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Introducing Sundari, the most beautiful tigress of Bandipur along with just a few week old cub.
The journey of a tiger is actually a tricky one. Right from birth, cubs are brought into the world as frail and blind balls of fluff. Even though cubs can open their eyes within 10 days, they remain helpless and often fall easy prey to other animals like leopards or even male tigers. The onus, therefore, is on the mother to be a guardian for her litter for the next few weeks. There are also risks when the mother goes out to hunt; the cubs then become easy picking for even smaller predators like leopards and dholes.
She has been very bold to get her cub out in open for about 15 minutes. Spotting the little one was a blessing. Being there at the right time at the right place is something happens very rare. It would take a few more weeks for the little one to emerge out of the sanctuary. The mother initially would not let the cub out of her sight but would soon take it hunting with her. Hunting is the most crucial skill a cub must learn from its mother. Even here, a clumsy beginner’s mistake on the cub’s part means no food for the whole family! Female tigers, in fact, require over 70sqkm of hunting grounds/territory for both her and their litter. The tigress stimulates the cub's circulation and bowel movements by spending large periods of time licking them. The tigress may also eat the cubs' faeces in order to protect them from potential predators detecting their scents. Cubs begin consuming solid food when they are six to eight weeks old.
 A Majestic Walk. Amazing beauty with stripes. I have waited for 2 years to spot her. I learnt that her territory extends up to the adjacent forest of Madumalai, and she was not found in Bandipur range for a long time. I also got to know that there were 2 cubs captured in the camera trap device by the forest department. But only one cub has been seen around.
This cub was anxious on seeing our vehicle. A new world for the little one. Cubs would spend the majority of their time playing with their siblings and their mother around fifteen months of age. Playing helps the growing tiger cubs develop useful life skills such as stalking, pouncing, swatting and climbing. Tiger cubs are born with a membrane covering their eyes. This membrane will cover their eyes for around 5 days until it eventually breaks open. When tiger cubs open their eyes at around 10 days old their vision will still be hazy. Their vision will slowly start to improve over a period of weeks.
When the little one poses for a photograph!! Like humans with brown eyes, tiger cubs are born with milky blue eyes. As they develop their eyes will slowly change to their signature gold colour. The only tigers that maintain their blue eyes are white tigers. White tigers are not albino or a separate species but are white due to a genetic mutation which also causes blue eyes.
So Anxious on seeing the people around. It goes without saying that our jeep driver and naturalist had put in a lot efforts in tracking tiger. But sometimes, despite a lot of efforts, patience and waiting time the Tiger doesn’t show up. When all the hopes are lost, suddenly you spot a tiger walking right in front of the vehicle, or the silent jungle becomes active with alarm calls. These things happen mostly when we would think about going back home thinking the beauty of the forest while exiting the forest.
Playing Hide and Seek in the Jungle! It was a memorable moment to see the little one hoping around the bushes. A sight I never imagined.
Marking her Territory (notice the spray in the picture). Tigers are highly territorial and they use different ways of keeping the rivals out of their territory. They mark their territories by spray marking the trees with urine, or scratching the tree with their claws. They will also defecate in the middle or side of pathway and later scrape the ground, so the scat is visible to other rival tigers. These signs help in tracking the tiger. Naturalists and guides usually look for scat, or spray markings on the tree. If it’s fresh and wet it is easy to know that the animal might have passed few minutes ago.
This was the first time I had an eye contact with a tiger. Look at those Signature Golder Eyes. Those bought goosebumps while watching it live. A feeling which cannot be explained. I spotted this during my 4th which was the last Safari of my trip to Bandipur. Before the tiger sighting, I was wondering why would our jeep driver drive in the same route almost all the time during the this trip. I later realized, it is all about Tiger Tracking and the driver’s ability / experience which led us to this successful sighting. There was news for forest department that Tiger has been residing in these surroundings. And the frequent visits paid off.
Even if the tiger walks silently through the jungle there are always other prey animals keeping a watch. As the jungle is dense, most of the time you spot the animals by hearing them. So, the naturalists and guides are always on an alert, tuned to the sounds of jungle. Once the tiger is spotted, the Langur monkeys and Deer start giving alarm calls. Langurs are like watchmen of the jungle, sitting atop trees and keeping an eye on their surroundings. If you feel nothing is happening in the jungle, it’s better to watch langurs and deer, as their chances of spotting the predators are high.
We all were at the top of the World when we saw the Tigress and were following it for a while now. There was a time for few seconds that she became restless and was in an attacking mood. May be because she felt insecure for her little cub!! This is a habitat picture form the forest with a huge anthill and dense bushes, when she looked at me in a charging mood. A hair-rising moment for sure.
A closer look. Watch out her Golden Eyes, focused towards me!
I will always follow your footsteps.
After all the above pictures, it was time to say good bye to the beauty of Bandipur and let them live in harmony. This was the best ever tiger sighting I had. December 7th 2022 will always remember a special day amongst all the memorable moments i had photographing the wild since past 13 years.
While we started with our 3rd Safari, one of the naturalist's was staring at a tree, and that was a shining golden bark like structure with spots when observed with naked eyes. I quickly grabbed my camera, extended the lens to 600 mm and there was a Leopard find, just after 10 minutes of our 3rd Safari start. This was totally unexpected. The Leopard was sitting way behind and I had to take the focal length to 600mm to reach this view.
A full frame Habitat Picture of the Leopard resting at its favourite place (@600mm no crop). At first, it was very difficult to spot this because of the camouflage it creates against the trees. What a beautiful place to rest around!!
This Leopard was spotted in the Nagarahole range. It was deep inside the woods, and could be spotted only with a binocular or a lens above 400mm. I learnt that this leopard was found sitting on the same tree till the next day morning!
It was about 6:20PM in the evening of our 3rd safari, and while returning a person in our jeep shouted bear bear… and we all were searching and was very difficult to find as it was too dark. I spotted, quickly grabbed my camera, and captured it unbelievably. I had to increase the ISO to 25,600 with an exposure of 1/40s at f/5. I know the picture is not clear as it was captured with hardly any light, but still chose to keep this picture as this was the first time I spotted a Sloth bear.
We encountered a herd of Elephants during our safari. Elephants have around 150,000 muscle units in their trunk. Their trunks are perhaps the most sensitive organ found in any mammal - Asian elephants have been seen to pick up a peanut, shell it, blow the shell out and eat the nut. They use their trunks to suck up water to drink – it can contain up to 8 liters of water. They also use their trunks as a snorkel when swimming.
An Elephant’s calf enjoying the mud bath. This layer of mud or sand not only protects elephants from the heat but also relieves them from insect bites. After bathing in a river, elephants often indulge in a mud bath to form the protective layer on their skin. It also prevents sunburn.
Playing in the greens amidst the flowers. It's never too late to enjoy a happy childhood. Calves begin to experiment with their developing trunks between four and six months of age by picking grasses and leaves to supplement their diet. Weaning from milk gradually follows this process. Calves are not completely weaned until they are over two years of age and may weigh between 850-900 kg.
Mothers, aunts, and sisters, are very important to calf development. The pace of the herd is adjusted, so the young can keep up. Calves learn which plants are edible and ways to acquire them, by watching their elders. Mothers and aunts are in almost constant affectionate contact with the young, offering guidance and assistance. Calves nurse for the first six months of life. Elephant milk is high in fat and protein (100 times more than the protein contained in cow's milk). On average, calves drink about 10 L (21 pt.) a day.
Just before we encountered the Tiger, we came across this huge Indian Gaur. For the first time I heard the loud calls of the Indian Gaur. Later I learnt that that was actually the mating call.
A portrait image of the Indian Gaur sub-adult.
Noticed a Gaur hiding in the bushes. The habitat with colorful flowers made this image special.
The Indian Muntjac is also called "barking deer" due to the bark-like sound that it makes as an alarm when danger is present.
The Sambar - male is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe hunting, local insurgency, and industrial exploitation of habitat. Adult males and pregnant or lactating females possess an unusual hairless, blood-red spot located about halfway down the underside of their throats (clearly visible in the picture). This sometimes oozes a white liquid, and is apparently glandular in nature.
The Sambar - female
The Chital or the Spotted Deer with Velvet Antlers. Each of the antlers has three lines on it. The brow tine (the first division in the antler) is roughly perpendicular to the beam (the central stalk of the antler). The antlers, three-pronged, are nearly 1 m (3 ft 3 in) long. Antlers, as in most other cervids, are shed annually. The antlers emerge as soft tissues (known as velvet antlers) and progressively harden into bony structures (known as hard antlers), following mineralization and blockage of blood vessels in the tissue, from the tip to the base. A study of the mineral composition of the antlers of chital deer showed the mineral content of the chital's antlers was determined to be (per kg) 6.1 mg copper, 8.04 mg cobalt, and 32.14 mg zinc.
Monitor lizards are considered to be the most intelligent of all lizards and some of the most intelligent reptiles in general. Monitors do not blink and they have very good vision. Unlike many other reptiles, many monitor lizards have high metabolisms and burn energy like mammals.
It is rusty brown to grizzled grey, has a stout body and short legs, a black stripe that runs laterally on both sides of its neck. Its short tail is mostly black, but grey at the base. Head to body length is 46-50 cm with tail length of 32 cm. Males are larger and heavier than females with the weight of 3.1 kg. Females weigh about 1.7 kg.
Brown Fish Owl
A turtle resting during the early morning at Nagarahole.
Colors of our National Bird.
The Mallard or wild duck is also called a dabbling duck.
A Gray langur
Crested Serpent Eagle
It was very disappointing to see plastics reaching the core forest areas. The effect of plastic in forests and wildlife is devastating. This thought then raises the question: Should something we use for a few minutes be allowed to pollute our oceans and rivers and affect wildlife and forests for the future? Plastic, the pesky substance that it is, manages to sneak into and damage several bodily functions of animals. Hungry animals usually smell food in plastic containers and bags. If they manage to eat the plastic, it can also cause intestinal blockages and can become fatal for that animal. “The really sad thing about this is that they’re eating plastic thinking it’s food. While a lot of wildlife and forests are protected as National and State Reserves across the world; several unprotected areas are still vulnerable to negative effect of plastic on forests and wildlife. Plastic affects our wildlife and forests greatly. Our job as informed citizens of this planet is to do our bit to ensure the safety of rapidly declining and highly endangered flora and fauna. It’s not too late to make a difference.
Crimson-backed sunbird (female) is olive-brown but the rump is distinctly red.
Crimson-backed sunbird (female) is olive-brown but the rump is distinctly red.
Crimson-backed sunbird (male) has a glossy dark green cap, a red back and chest, a dark purplish throat, and an off-white belly.
Crimson-backed sunbird (male) has a glossy dark green cap, a red back and chest, a dark purplish throat, and an off-white belly.
Crimson-backed sunbird (male) has a glossy dark green cap, a red back and chest, a dark purplish throat, and an off-white belly.
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