TIGERS & CULTURE: FIRST TIME INDIA FEB/MARCH 2024

[KaliCA]

The journey continues and we are off on our transfer to Kanha NP, driving through rural, central India. As we get closer, we notice that the style of houses has changed. We see dwellings with blue stucco walls and red tile roofs. CB is telling us that different tribes inhabit the area, many of whom had to relocate after the National Park was founded on their land. One can scarcely imagine such a fate, and indeed, there is a well left inside the park that testifies to human presence in the park long ago. 

We check into the Kanha Jungle resort, which is neither in the jungle, nor a resort! But it has a row of simple bungalows, a Lappa, and a pool. Our bungalow is quite basic, but I like it right away since the bathroom is nice, it has Aircon, and a fridge. The weather is getting warmer and especially in the afternoon, it's wonderful to relax with the AC going. The only draw-back are the paper-thin walls and we can hear every footstep and word from outside. This will be a problem later on...

 

After an Indian-Chinese lunch, we embark on our first game drive. Our driver is a young man, and he will be driving us for all five game drives. We drive for about 10 minutes through the village to check in at the Mukki Gate.

 

I'm getting a little nervous with FOMO, since we are the last ones in line and all the other Gypsies have already entered the park across the road.

 

This is where the forest guides assemble.

 

Finally, we enter full of hope. What is waiting for us around the bend?

Well, nothing too exciting at first, but I thought this termite mound deserved a picture since it looks quite different from the ones we know from Africa. 

 

 

After driving through the forest, we reach an area with small lakes. Very pretty here. A few Barasingha and Spotted Deer deer are grazing near there. All of a sudden: Alarm calls sound loud and clear. The deer stop feeding and lift their heads.

 

 

 

CB is certain the calls originated in the back of us, and so we back up and wait. Not two minutes later, I detect orange and black stripes in the tall grass... and it has a head to go with it! It is such a thrill to be sure, that, yes, it's a tiger.

 

He keeps walking parallel to our road and steps into lower grass, a fire break.

 

 

Then he looks curiously in our direction. What a cooperative boy! And how handsome is he?

 

 

Then he contiues with his walk, enters taller grass again and sniffs something on the ground.

 

 

We are of course hoping for him to come to the lake to drink, but no, he continues walking behind the berm to where the guide says, there is another water source. 

 

We try so see it from different vantage spots, but the berm is just too high.

But wow! After 20 minutes inside the park and we spot our first tiger. Hey, sometimes it pays to be late! Who knew?

I give CB one hundred percent credit for finding this tiger. The forest guide? He probably was checking his phone... worth 0.0

Every time we pass this spot on our future game drives, we smile and I call it "our happy place."

 

In the meantime, the deer around the lake have no idea that there is mortal danger behind the berm...

 

Edited May 20 by KaliCA

[KaliCA]

Here are some more sightings from this first game drive in Kanha:

 

Barasingha Deer

 

 

 

Juvenile Gaur

 

 

 

 

We got to this Dam and enjoyed the peace and beauty around us. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would say this was a very nice beginning to our time in Kanha National Park.

Edited May 20 by KaliCA

[Galana]

13 hours ago, KaliCA said:

a very nice beginning to our time in Kanha National Park.

Could it get better? You met 'stripes' within 20 minutes which is enviable indeed. Kanha is one of my favourites as I have had some outstanding encounters without crowds.

[KaliCA]

Starting today, Phil is feeling worse from his cold and coughs a lot. My cold was never as bad as his is now. He is also increasingly frustrated with the game drives because without tigers, it’s repetitive with deer, birds, wild boars, and monkeys. For some reason, we don't get the same feeling in Africa with repeated Zebra, Giraffe, and Impala sightings! Why is that?
Our first full day in the Kanha NP is starting nicely with a layer of fog over the meadows and the lakes and there is a chill in the air.

 

 

 

We are assigned the Mukki sector today. For a while, we go into a side road where a female tiger was spotted minutes before. According to the people present, she went down into a gully. We wait a while, but there are no alarm calls, so we decide to leave.
Somehow, we get word of two other tigers further in and close to the road and we hurry to this spot and see them easily. They are both flat and sleeping. The one on the right is behind a tree with only head and tail visible

 

and the one on the left is facing the forest.

 

Eventually, the one on the right gets up and heads into the bushes.

 

The tiger on our left is looking up when he realizes his friend is leaving

In the meantime, we learn that those two are brother and sister and are about one year old.

The brother comes back and touches noses briefly with his sister and then continues walking.

 

Edited May 23 by KaliCA

[KaliCA]

Now mayhem ensues as all the Gypsies turn and follow the walking tiger.

Our driver has trouble getting going, CB is yelling at him to move already, and then he bumps into a neighboring Jeep. We end up in second position. The tiger then comes out into the road and walks to a culvert where he disappears before he reappears.  

 

Then he walks further back to where we can't follow before disappearing into a grassy dry and narrow riverbed. We wait and hope, but the tall grass swallowed him up.

But wait, there is more! What happened to the second tiger, the sister?

We drive two minutes and luckily, she is still in the same spot, but sitting up now and facing the road and us.

 

 

She looks up into the trees.

 

She scratches herself

 

She yawns and shows her teeth

 

She scratches herself again

 

She yawns again and we know from other big cat behavior what this means

Yes, she gets up

 

walks a little

smells a tree

 

and then she veers to the back and walks in some greenery before the tall grass swallows her up.

 

Now the brother is visible again and we watch him walk in the shade mostly behind long grass, along the dry river and then he lies down behind a mound. 

 

 

Now it’s time for us to leave as we need to be at the exit by 11 am. Wow! That was a great sighting and our first tiger sighting in the MORNING!

Just before we get to the exit, cars are standing along the road. Someone tells me where to look and I can just make out a tiger’s head under lantana bushes far away. This is the female from the gully we narrowly missed seeing in the morning. 

 

This gives me pause: a tiger is roaming around not two kilometers from the park boundary...There are dogs, cows, and humans very close by... 

 

Finding three tigers and watching two of them for a long time really puts a big smile on our faces. Now it's time to leave, rest, and have a nice lunch at our "resort."
 

 

 

Edited May 23 by KaliCA

[KaliCA]

At 2:30 it’s back to the park again.

A farm with the typical house look in the area

A blooming Flame-of-the-Forest tree

 

We need to wait in line at the Mukki gate for check in and it’s hot sitting in the open Jeep. Kanha is so far the hottest place we have visited in India. 

We see the usual suspects as we drive the Kanha Road sector again to the dam and back. No tigers this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All during this game drive, Phil is feeling worse and worse, and his cough persists.
As we get home, Phil is truly sick now with a wet cough and is running a fever of 100.3 F. I text my doctor friend at home, and he advises which antibiotic to start and to take Tylenol to reduce fever. It pays to travel with a well-stocked travel emergency kit. And we were anticipating stomach issues!
Later, we hear constant talking like we did the first night here, and its coming from the bungalow next to us. CB and the manager are having a great time laughing and hollering together. Well, because the walls are paper-thin, we can’t fall asleep, even with earplugs in, and we start to get mad. They both know that Phil is sick, and they are not aware that their loud talking is keeping us up. After 10 pm I send CB a text, but there is no response.
Phil thinks that he will be too sick to go on a morning game drive tomorrow...

Edited May 24 by KaliCA

[KaliCA]

For the first time ever, I will be going on a game drive without my husband. He is too weak and sick to go on safari. It feels really weird to go by myself. 

in addition, I'm the only photographer now, so you will have to tolerate my poor pictures since I'm usually making videos and not stills.

There is fog over the lakes and valleys again. I really like the early morning atmosphere in Kanha.

 

 

 

 

We are back on the Kanha track and there are some birds close by and in good light along the way to the dam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up in the forest we see some pug marks and an imprint of where a tiger was lying down. 

 

 

We stop at the dam, and I ask if we are turning around now, but CB says not today, because there are big meadows ahead where animals and tigers are found. Hmmm, why didn’t he say that to us the last two times we were here?

We get to the meadows, a big open area interspersed with tree islands, and there is talk of a female tiger that has been seen and Gypsies are waiting for her to come down an incline. We wait a little but by now it’s 9 am and I’m getting really hungry. We drive 10 minutes to the Forestry Rest area. For some odd reason, everyone has to be eating inside. 

 

On the way to the washroom, I see a huge arc made of antlers just like the ones in Jackson Hole. 

 

 

Edited May 24 by KaliCA

[KaliCA]

Then there is talk about a female and three cubs resting in a ditch. We stop and peer into the ditch, but we don’t stay long and then we see many cars hurrying to the edge of a fenced area. As we are driving fast, CB is pointing to a tiger walking along the fence. I see it clearly, but by the time we stop and I have the camera ready, the tiger has disappeared into taller grass past the fence. But hey, it’s a tiger and it counts! Word is that this is one of the three cubs that was in the ditch with the mother and indeed he seemed to be walking away from that spot.

 

The amount of cars in front of us

 

and in back of us.

 

We return home without any other major sighting, and sadly miss seeing a leopard crossing the road by a minute!

 

Phil has been sleeping and is a little better with lower fever. He is even able to eat some noodles, but he is not well enough to go on the afternoon game drive. 

Later, I ask to see the manager. I tell him how we couldn’t fall asleep last night because of loud talking. He is very sorry and contrite and bows low several times, apologizing and saying how it won’t happen again. 
In the evening, we find out that CB has moved to the last cabin in the row, far away from us….

. 
 

 

[xelas]

On 5/23/2024 at 2:35 AM, KaliCA said:

For some reason, we don't get the same feeling in Africa with repeated Zebra, Giraffe, and Impala sightings! Why is that?

Could it be because in Africa you do your own game drives and in India you are driven around by others?! 
 

I have a feeling that CB’s tip amount was gone down each day 😊.

 

[Botswanadreams]

@xelas I have the feeling that a Safari without tigers is a wast of time and money because I can't see any interest on other mammals and birds first time seen in India.  

[TonyQ]

Sorry to hear about Phil being ill. You had some very good sightings 

[janzin]

So sorry that Phil got sick, Alan got a similar illness on our India trip and was also laid up for two days. There was definitely something going around India that month.  But I'm glad you went out on your own (as did I!)

[KaliCA]

At 2:30 I’m going out alone again on my last game drive in Kanha NP.  At first, Phil is thinking about joining but he is still very weak and sleepy, so he is staying in the cabin to rest and sleep some more. 

We are assigned the Kisily track, a new one. We see a few birds, and it's quite a rollercoaster ride as it is steep up and down and around bends in deep forest.  

We stop for a few Barasinga Deer grazing in a waterhole.

and there is a “toilet” as well. The driver points to a woven fence put into a semi-circle with an opening. Inside there is the dirt floor covered with leaves and toilet paper and some wet spots. Well, that's a first...

I mention to CB that there is not that much to see along this track. 

We stop at a bridge and there is an alarm call by a Barasinga Deer, CB says. 

Not 5 minutes later, a female very muddy tiger appears and walks parallel to the water and then disappears behind brush. Well, that was very nice, but also very short. We wait a little longer, but then continue driving.

(Again, I'm bad at taking pictures with my Lumix, so I'm showing you equally bad video stills. I really miss Phil and his photography skills in what is to come...so the pictures are mainly there to illustrate the story)

 

Soon, there is another alarm call by a Barasinga deer and CB says,”Tiger in the road!” Sweeter words were never spoken, and I see a huge male crossing in front of another Gypsy. He walks up to our right into greenery and lies down behind a tree trunk. I can just make out his ears moving once in a while and can see the black spot on one ear.

 

We wait for him to get up. Then all of a sudden, there is an alarm call behind us and the five Gaurs across the road who have been grazing peacefully, lift their heads and stop eating.

 

When I look back at the male, I see him moving, sitting down and peering intently into the undergrowth. What has caught his attention?

 

 

I follow his gaze and see a second tiger approaching through the trees.

 

I see it wallowing in the dead leaves, sit up, then stepping out into the road.

 

 

The tiger is marking a tree and then steps out into the open. 

 

 Wait a minute: I see a muddy tiger.... as CB whispers, "It's the dirty female." Yes, indeed, it's the muddy female tiger from earlier on the bridge.
She walks in the road towards us for a while and I can finally see a beautiful tiger face without any obstructions! She may be dirty, but she is beautiful none the less.

 

Story to be continued...

 

 

 

Edited May 26 by KaliCA

[wilddog]

Just fabulous 

[KaliCA]

The story with the two Kisily tigers continues...

 

(Sorry for the poor pics from my videos, but as you remember, my photographer is sick at home. Of course, I'm sorry now that I didn't bring along his long lens and learned the basics of using it, but no use crying about this now)

 

The dirty female tigress is walking towards us, then stops to check us out before veering off behind us. She is walking below the road, looks in our direction and then comes back into the road.

 

 

 

At one point she is looking up into the forest for quite a while.

 

The male tiger is now becoming visible on a rocky outcrop. He is peering intently down to the road in the direction of the tigress. It looks as though the two tigers are looking at each other, but I can't be sure. 

 

 

The lady is moving cooly down the road, and we follow. Then she lies down in a submissive way and looks up into the forest.

 

 

 

She moves her tail aside and I’m guessing that she is ready to mate. She moves along the road for another few steps and is whipping her tail from side to side.

 

Clearly, she is ready to mate, but the tiger on the ledge is not understanding her message, or he is too shy to come down with the three gypsies around the tigress. In any case, he walks through the forest and marks a few trees, before he sprints across the road and climbs the hill in back of the Gaurs. It all went too fast for me to catch it on video.

Sadly, there is no meeting of the two tigers as I had hoped. CB is joking and says the male didn't want her because she is too dirty!

Later, the female veers off the road as well and lies down about 20 meters from the road looking intently in the direction the male tiger has left.  

 

 

 

 

We wait a few more minutes and then it’s time to leave for home. That was a wonderful last Kanha Tiger sighting and I’m so sorry Phil has missed this. It was extremely interesting to see the behavior of those two adult tigers and I felt privileged to have witness that in the wilds of India. 

On the way home, CB is teasing me and says, "Do you still think there is nothing happening in this zone?"

He keeps saying, "You just never know when a tiger will pop up." I guess he is right about that. 
It’s a long way back through the forest and we get home in the dark with the headlights on. 

Phil is much better and without a fever. I tell him the story and show him the videos of the two tigers. He is happy for me that I had a last good sighting here. He decides that he is well enough to have dinner together and tonight it’s outside under a Banyan tree. We get served our usual food, vegetable fried rice, sautéed veggies, and Manchurian chicken which never looks the same and never tastes the same.  It’s become a joke between us.

 

Tomorrow we will fly back to Delhi and then start the third leg of our trip to Haridwar and the Jim Corbett NP. More tigers to come...

Edited May 26 by KaliCA

[janzin]

Fantastic sighting! Wow it would have been incredible to see tigers mating, I was just thinking the other day we've seen lions and leopards mate, but never tigers.  But even so, a great sighting, too bad Phil missed it!

 

[KaliCA]

@janzinThank you so much for your KIND  words, Janet. Just think what you would have been able to do at this sighting with your photography skills!

Yeah, it would have been glorious to see that. I had a feeling that this male was very shy as he kept running twice across the road and was probably bothered by the presence of three Gypsies. But it certainly was not a crowded sighting, which was great. Also, I have seen Tigers walking in the road in many safaritalk TRs and for me this was the first clear walking of a tiger in the road. I thought this was the norm, but it wasn’t  for us. 

Has anyone reading here seen mating tigers and can show us a pic?

Edited May 26 by KaliCA

[xelas]

Excellent tiger sightings; and there is nothing wrong with your photography skills!

[KaliCA]

 

Today we say good-bye to Kanha NP and I liked this park a lot, since we had good tiger sightings and the landscape with lakes and meadows is also appealing to me. We have a long road transfer to the city of Jabalpur where we catch a local Indigo Flight back to Delhi. (I like the double meaning of the airline's name) Kanha and Bandhavgarh NP are both located in central India, Madyah Pradesh, so getting back to Delhi is taking all day. 

 

In Delhi, we go back to the Radisson Blu Hotel (a highlight) and are upgraded to an executive suite. How wonderful! and we have continental food in the restaurant. No more Manjurian chicken.Yay!

The next day, we drive to the holy city on the Ganges river, Haridwar. The ride takes us North through rural India again and we see a cow patty “factory”, and according to CB many people use those as fuel for making Naan bread in the Tandoor. We see more sugar cane fields than wheat fields along the way.

 

 

 

Tea break along the way. Our driver never sits with us for some reason...

The town of Haridwar is a holy city and therefore eating meat and eggs is not allowed in its vicinity. We are greeted by a giant statue of Shiva.

Many monasteries built on hills surround the area. A little further upriver is the town of Rishikesh, where, famously, the Beatles spent time in an Ashram.

After checking in, we visit the bazaar area and are immersed into the colors of a bustling city full of pilgrims.

Many of the poorest stay in tents in the flood plain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haridwar... to be continued...

Edited May 28 by KaliCA

[KaliCA]

We are strolling through the holy city of Haridwar together with many Hindu Pilgrims. For them it is the fulfillment of a life-long wish to be here, to immerse themselves in the river, and bring a sacrifice of flowers to the river goddess Ganga. Containers of all sizes are for sale for those who want to bring some of the holy water home and share. There are also many religious articles for sale.

 

Old ladies have fashioned baskets out of reeds and filled them with a candle and flowers. Many of the Pilgrims will buy those flower baskets and then offer them to the goddess Ganga during the Arti Puri ceremony which we are about to witness and the reason for our visit.

 

Vendors are selling sweets, nuts, and other snacks to the pilgrims.

 

 

 

 

CB can tell from the way the pilgrims dress from what region of the country they are from.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 29 by KaliCA

[KaliCA]

We observe how two very pretty cows walk from one footstall to the next, begging for food. Many vendors feed them flat bread, then bow in front of the cows. Why? It could be that the spirit of their uncle or grandfather has been reincarnated in a cow and for this reason, they revere the cows. Once fed, the cows move on to the next stall. A man tells us that this is a daily ritual!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enterprising kids selling paint for....? We don't know.

 

Here is a side arm of the fast-flowing Ganges River. We cross the bridge and are looking for a place to sit. Not easy, thousands are already here, sitting ten deep.

But capitalism is flourishing in religious ceremonies, and CB is finding a man who is selling us two seats on a box covered with a blanket and with a pretty good view for 400 Rupees. 

 

[KaliCA]

It is now dusk, and the religious ceremony Arti Puri is about to begin. We sit on our box under an umbrella, closely surrounded by many local people. Soon, the priests dressed in orange across the river begin to sing, chant, and pray and sometimes the crowd answers in unison, sometimes they raise their hands and chant with the priests. Then the priests light fires and there is more singing and chanting. The man who sold us our spot is sitting next to us in front of a shrine with idols and is swinging a burning fire ball from side-to-side chanting. 

 

 

 

 

Sadly, the meaning of the ceremony is a little lost on us, except one thing: Towards the end, many people light the candle in their flower basket, drip water on their head, step into the water and let go of their flower basket. In the semi-darkness, little flower boats are floating downriver to honor the goddess, Ganga. 

 

 

 

 

 

As flower boats drift down-river, many pilgrims immerse themselves into the water of the Ganges River, many holding on to chains to be save despite the strong current.

 

 

 

 

As we leave the ceremony, I'm reminded that we witnessed this religious ceremony in a very authentic way. There may have been five tourists present, but thousands of believers made the pilgrimage to Haridwar for their religious reasons. 

On the way home, we stop at the lit-up statue of Shiva who happens to spear the moon with his trident! CB's idea.

 

 

At the restaurant in our hotel, we get served a Vegan meal that looks like this:

 

Edited May 29 by KaliCA

[Treepol]

@KaliCAwow - what a varied and interesting itinerary you put together. Everything from tigers to Arti Puri, I've really enjoyed your holiday cross section of Indian life and experiences.

[Kitsafari]

you had fantastic tiger sightings, and Kanha which I really liked, performed for you. I'm not sure if I would return to India anytime soon. So i'll just enjoy India viscerally through your and others' trip reports! looking forward to more. 

Edited May 29 by Kitsafari

[TonyQ]

A really interesting set of posts from Haridwar - it looks like a great experience