The opportunity to spot these master Hunters came to me this sunday and it was quite unexpectable. Myself with with two of my friends Adarsh and Anjali planned to survey BR Hills ( My favorite wilderness place ) and other places in Nilgiris. The main intension was to photograph a few endemic Birds. Birdlife at BRT was pretty much normal.Malabar parakeet and rufous backed shrike were amongst the first to welcome us. We left straight to masinagudi as the chances of Evening safari at Bandipur and Mudhumalai were ruled out coz of the heavy rush on weekends.. Masinagudi is known for leopards and Black Panthers. My senses are always alert when im driving in this part of the forets.. specially after seeing a cute leopard cub on my previous visit. As almost any wildlife lover would say.. " The initial days were really dull but the surprise was packed for the last day " so did it happen to us.. We were alarmed by the leopard calls on the last night at Masinagudi, and the next moment we were off tracking the calls, on and off roads till 2.30 midnight without much of a success. Could manage only a couple of hrs of sleep as a Leopard call woke me up at around 5 in the morning. But this was strong, distinct. without wasting any time, i stepped out silently with a torch in my hand. I wasnt amazed to see all the spotted deers had come very close to the cottage for shelter..This was a clear indication about a cat movement closeby.
As i proceeded towards the water hole nearby, I was surprised to see Anjali following me slowly !! Cheers to this girl's spirit of Wildlifing !! I flashed the the torch light at the water hole which was close as 15 - 20 ft, to spot a few fireflies all around the place..
And Suddenly out of no where there were two "BIG FIREFLIES" on the surface of the water... I kept a close look ... They raised up togeather and looked straight into our eyes.. Anjali shivered and let out a loud whisper " OH FREAK !! WHAT THE HELL'S THAT !!! " That was when I realized and replied " Yeah Yeah you are right... Thats a Leopard ! " .. It was a fearsome look.. The fun of spotting these cats in wild is just Amazing ! Words cant explain the feeling.. The "Oh Freak.. Oh Freak.." whispers continued to come for a long time :-)
We both were Excited ! It was the First Cat sighting for Anjali in the wild.. She was more excited to run back and scream into Adarsh's ears that she saw a Leopard ! He missed it by a minute, I must say.
And the surpises were not over yet.. On our way back, we stopped at Bandipur and took a safari.. For the first time i got to see the Dholes or the Indian Wild Dogs and Photograph them.
The reason why i called them as master Hunters at the beginning of the post is beacuase of their Hunting success rate which is just above 98% .. No other predator has such a high success rate.
(This looked very serene in my view Finder.. So clicked it)On our way back to bangalore, we pulled over at Ranganthittu to call the trip off.. Spotted a few waterBirds like Plovers and Herons and managed to photograph em !
As this Stone plover was interested in my Camera, and cooperated... I was surprised to see this huge Marsh Crocodile making its way up to this Bird
But the Plover was smart enough to escape the Croc's Attack !This lovely pic of a River Tern made my day ! Last time when i had visited Ranganthittu, this was a very small chick. I was so excited to see this bird grown up :-)
And this Cute Looking Thunti ( Mischevous ) from mysore, while enjoying the evening boat ride wanted to stone the Crocodile and see its reaction !!Hearing her say this to her mother, I turned my cam to her and clicked.. Later she came running to my car and said "Im sorry" with a cute smile.. I smiled back and explained that there are lot more things which are much Beautiful and exciting than stoning a Crocodile :-) She got the message and replied back with another smile " Ill become a conservationist !!! "
15 comments:
Hey awesome pics buddy..:)
Hey thanks Adarsh.. Thanks for a wonderful trip.
Hey,even am interested to join with you guys.Will you give a chance for me also??
@resh20, sure.. Sometime... Anytime ! :-)
The pics are good.. Especially the way you narate the incident, makes me feel like as if I was there with you during the incident... It would have been better, if you have carried your camera along with you, when you spotted the Leapord in the early morning..
@john
Oh yes, Next time im visiting that place.. Always will make sure i carry my flash pack.. I'd have made an interesting photograph!
hey avi.. godd job as usual... trust me the way you narrte thigns make us feel tht we were with you when these things happened... :)
@rachana
Thanks.. I just try to make this page as interesting as possible, by keeping it more natural and lively.... I feel thats the key to make a trip report interesting
Nice Pics and amazing narration :)
Anjali
Looks like an amazing trip :)
Good narration, though it makes me feel like being there i'm sure it'd have been better to actually be there... :)
Lovely snaps !!!!!
Your work shows your interest n dedication for photography.
Great job Avi :)
Thanks a lot for your comments Sandeep and Mr.Anonymous.. It'd ve been great if you'd ve given your identity ! :-) Thanks anyways..
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