Made a quick trip to the forests of Bandipura and Mudhumalai as a Naturalist [;)] this saturday with my cousin harsha and his collegues. Though the morning session was not all that good for mammals, I was glad that the company enjoyed birding around the forest. As rookies, they were quick and smart in identifying around 25-30 odd species of Birds.
These guys had something much more exciting in store than what they had expected out of this one day Nature Trail. During the evening safari, A huge male tusker gave a mock charge and everyone in the jeep started screaming ! I had a tough time in calming them down. But they really dint take a lot of time in realizing that it was a mock charge and enjoyed the show as they learnt the science behind it. It starting raining and the hopes of seeing anything else almost faded as we decided to head back towards the camp. But on the way, something crossed the road in a giffy and entered the bushes. My instincts told me that it was a Tiger. we drove quickly to the bush and got lucky enough to see a Big cat standing and giving us a fierce stare. It was a Tiger Indeed ! What can the First timers ask for ? A Tusker charge, A tiger, Ruddy and Striped necked mangooses, Peafowls, Sambars, Lots of spotted deers, all in the time span of 2 hrs !
It was one of the best wildlife trips ive made offlate ! Here, i leave you guys with a picture of an elephant playing in the water hole behind the bandipura Range office, shot with my cousin's Fujifilm digital camera (max zoom ( 10x )). Alhough i took a few pictues of the tiger, couldnt really manage to get a sharp one.. Ill have to wait till the next time.
