Tiger Triple Play: A return to Central India's Tiger Parks, March 2024

[janzin]

4 minutes ago, JayRon said:

So many stunning pictures of tigers, very impressive. How many sightings did you have in all ?  . But my favorites are the black leopard and the dholes. You must have felt very lucky with the leopard.  Looking forward to Bandhavgarh  

Thanks! Gee I haven't actually counted up the sightings. In Pench, unfortunately only the one. I think in Tadoba 11 or 12. I'll do a final count at the end

[janzin]

Our final morning at Pench.  I'd hoped for another tiger, of course...but what we got was even better.

 

We came around a bend and...

 

There was an absolutely gorgeous male leopard right in the road.

 

 

He turned and headed towards a large boulder.

 

 

Jumped on top.

 

 

What is he looking at?

 

 

We follow his gaze and lo and behold...there is another male leopard, a younger one...further up the road.  Perched on another boulder.

 

They are not happy to see each other.

 

 

The second one continues to snarl at the first...

 

 

 

The sound is fantastic. I've never heard snarling leopards before!  (This video is taken by Rajen, used with permission.)

 

 

But what was all the excitement about?  Hold on...there's a THIRD leopard! Look behind the rock!

 

 

A female!  Now it all makes sense.  Mature leopard vying for the attention of the female with the young male, who knew he didn't stand a chance against this older guy.

 

But what a beautiful leopard the young one was.

 

 

 

Leopard #1 starts heading down to the road.

 

 

Leopard #2 resigns himself to watching

 

 

My favorite shot of leopard #2. The light behind him was amazing at this point.

 

 

Would we get to watch mating leopards?? Would there be a confrontation??

Edited June 15 by janzin

[KaliCA]

What amazing luck to just meet a leopard in the road! And then two more and in great light. 
Looks like you had an arrangement with the Leopard god!

and your husband is missing this great sighting. 

[janzin]

The female plopped herself down right at the edge of the road right in front of our vehicle! You'd think she'd want a little more privacy!

 

And yes, mating was definitely on the menu!

 

 

 

They never look that happy...

 

 

 

She's had enough!

 

 

More? maybe not.

 

 

 

Another video of Rajen's. Please ignore the woman making idiotic comments (me )

 

 

 

 

Meantime, poor leopard #2 just had to watch from afar. He finally gave up and came down from his perch.

 

 

He came sniffing around where the mating couple had lain.

 

 

Just a couple more shots of the "victor." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honestly that beat almost any tiger sighting I could have imagined! Three leopards! By the way, there was only one other vehicle at this sighting initially, a few others came towards the end but did not have the amazing position we had.  I was only bummed that Alan had missed this!

 

Edited June 15 by janzin

[AKR1]

That’s a double wow on the leopard(s) sighting. Extremely good luck. Stunning leopard portraiture!  

[KaliCA]

Loving this! The tortured look on this female is priceless. 
Victor is very handsome indeed. I think you could call the female Victoria. 😜

Also thanks for posting a video which really shows the action before and after. 
Thanks for sharing this amazing sighting. Who needs tigers if you get three leopards in action. 

[Zubbie15]

Great leopard shots, what a fun and exciting sighting.

 

I notice in the video the sound of a shutter, is that from your camera?  Do you use electronic shutter at times? I’ve pretty shifted to electronic full time when shooting wildlife, to get the higher shutter speed despite the cost in terms of the bit depth.

[janzin]

@Zubbie15The Nikon Z8 and Z9 only have electronic shutters...no mechanical shutter at all. You have a choice of different shutter sounds, or you can make it completely silent. But I don't like completely silent, I suppose if I were shooting in a church it would be useful. Otherwise I keep mine very low, it may sound loud in this video but you can really hardly hear it (and the animals don't notice.) If it's silent I just can't get used to the limited feedback that you've taken a photo (there is a flashing indication in the viewfinder, but it's not enough IMHO.) There's no impact on frame rates whether silent or not.

Edited June 15 by janzin

[michael-ibk]

A triple wow for that sighting! Awesome!

[janzin]

Thanks @AKR1@michael-ibk@Zubbie15and @KaliCAfor your kind comments!

 

We weren't 100% done with Pench yet. Although nothing could top the leopard sighting (well, MAYBE a mating tiger--still on my wish list!) we did come across a small group of Dhole bounding through the forest.  They were running over some rocks so it was a bit of a different background than we'd had at Tadoba. Plus, there was a young pup.

 

 

 

 

Again, we shortened the morning drive a bit as it was a really long drive to get to our next destination, Bandhavgarh...could be close to 8 hours and we would surely arrive after dark.  So after a quick return to Jamtara to pick up our things (and Alan!) we headed on our way. Fortunately Alan was feeling much better at this point, although not 100%, and still rather wiped out.

 

Bandhavgarh next stop!

[janzin]

It was indeed a long drive to Bandgavarh, but we arrived just about in time for late dinner. We were shown our room and dropped off our bags, but when I went to turn on the A/C, we couldn't get it to work.  Plus the room itself was very basic and small, not what I'd expected from the photos on their website. I called the front desk and told them about the a/c and they sent a handyman but he couldn't get it working either. Well, I wasn't eager to stay in this rather claustrophobic room--with Alan not feeling 100%--and with no A/C.  We decided to try and request a change of rooms, so we didn't unpack anything and headed to dinner.  When we got to dinner and I found the manager before I could even say a word she said "we've upgraded you to a deluxe room, at WWI's request."  Yay!  Luckily we hadn't unpacked anything and they moved our bags to the new room, which was lovely and very comfortable!

 

The new room.

 

 

A/C that worked great, whew. (In Africa I know we never have A/C but in India it's very welcome.)

 

 

With a patio with a view out to the forest (we never went out there, too hot!) But it was nice having the big windows, lots of light.

 

 

The lodge itself was very nice although for some reason I have no memory of the dining area. I think it was just to the side of the lounge, seen here. They also gave us dinner one night up on the roof of this building.

 

 

While I'm at it, let me mention the food on the trip, in general. We absolutely love Indian food, and we like it somewhat spicy as well. Let's just say that on the plane on the way home we both remarked that we couldn't wait to get home and get some GOOD Indian food (plentiful in New York City.) We know of course there is some great food in India, but seemingly not at these lodges which are really geared for tourists (I'm not sure what the Indian tourists think! From reading reviews on TripAdvisor, they don't find the food very good either!) Nothing had enough spice, and everything was very repetitive. There were always multiple vegetarian dishes, but they always seemed the same in all of the lodges. There was always one non-veg dish, but it was ALWAYS chicken. Chicken in a variety of non-spicy sauces. Oddly we never even got lamb/mutton. We swore we wouldn't eat chicken for a month when we got home! Jamtara did have somewhat better food but because of Alan's illness we really didn't get to appreciate it.  We had a much better variety of food in Southern India on our last trip, and when we've eaten in restaurants in Indian cities we had some excellent food. But not at these lodges   Actually the very best meals we had were the lunches on the road at the equivalent of their "truckstops." We had a great biryani (chicken of course) at one lunch.

 

Okay, back to safari after that interlude.

 

We had booked three full-day safari's in Bandhavgarh.  The full day here gives you a couple of advantages. First, you get to enter 15 minutes earlier and leave 15 minutes later than the other gypsys.  Secondly, you have no restrictions on zones and can go wherever. Finally of course you have the full day.

 

Here's a map of Bandhavgarh; the red arrow shows the location of our lodge and the red circle the gate (Tala gate) which was a good 15 minutes from the lodge; but here you were driving through the buffer zone and there was a chance of seeing something (although I don't think we ever did.)

 

 

The park is quite large and reminded me of Ranthambhore, in terms of the variety of habitats and the terrain, although there are no large lakes. There is a fort and at one point it was a private hunting reserve of the Maharajas of Rewa. There are a few remnants of buildings and monuments scattered about.

 

Some typical landscapes (shot with my phone.)  Lots of very high grass for tigers to hide in!

 

 

Cliffs

 

 

The remnants of what once were stables of the Maharaja.

 

 

[wilddog]

Familiar views and ......the bat caves. 20 hrs ago we went in but now that is no longer allowed, probably due to the huge increase in tourism in the park.

Fabulous sightings, so pleased for you and, of course, superb images.

Loving your report.

Edited June 18 by wilddog

[madaboutcheetah]

@janzinWOW on the Leopard !!! 

[janzin]

Thanks @wilddogand @madaboutcheetah!

 

We headed off on our first full day safari of the trip, with packed breakfast and lunch. Thankfully Alan was feeling better although I was a little wary of if he'd make it through the full day.

 

The morning started off slowly with mainly birds and the usual suspects.

 

A fine Chital stag.

 

 

 

A Red-headed Vulture, considered Critically Endangered, with the remains of...something.

 

 

A stork that vies for ugliness with the Marabou of Africa. Baboons behind. Corrected:  I think Macaques! I have Africa in my head

 

 

Before we knew it, it was getting close to lunchtime and quite hot, and we were getting a bit discouraged about finding a tiger this morning.  We headed down a narrow track, actually looking for a shady spot to eat our lunch, when suddenly a tigress emerged from the forest and plopped right in the road!

 

But wait...there was a cub coming out to meet her!

 

 

This was a shy, young tigress and the guide told us she had four cubs. We needed to be very quiet and maybe more would emerge. 

 

OMG but even the one cub was just too precious.

 

 

 

They were situated in the shade and we were actually on a little rise above them.

 

 

Little tiger being fierce! Mom is looking back to find her other cubs, which have started to dart in and out of the forest behind her.

 

 

Looking adoringly at Mom.

 

 

While this was taking place, the other three cubs did come out one by one up the road.  I took hundreds of photos, but I really wasn't happy with any of them as the cubs were in the dark and I just couldn't get them all in focus.  So I didn't really process any of these. But I'm including this one shot just so you can see the situation.

 

 

As you see, Mom got up and they started wandering back into the forest.

 

Luckily at this point Mom came into the sunlight for a brief moment. I learned later that her name is Chakradhara (also sometimes called Bhadodi), which means "shy one."  We were told that we were the first tourists to ever see her come out with the four cubs. Note that this is NOT the same tigress with four cubs that @KaliCAsaw in Bandhavgarh! I've compared the photos and this is definitely a different tigress. Her tigress had a spotty nose; this one doesn't; and the facial markings are quite different.

 

 

 

She headed up a dry streambed and the cubs followed through the forest.  Here's my one half-way decent shot of all four cubs at once.

 

 

 

So very content with that sighting we found a cool(er) spot to stop and have our lunch. High-fives all around!

 

 

Edited June 19 by janzin

[Ginny]

@janzinLove the adoring look photo!  You always take such wonderful pictures!

[Zubbie15]

4 hours ago, janzin said:

Baboons behind.

Is this correct?

Great photos of the little cubs, super precious and how nice to have them without the hordes of vehicles.  

 

[janzin]

21 minutes ago, Zubbie15 said:

Is this correct?  Arrgh good catch, of course they are not baboons. One monkey is the same as another to me (I dislike them all LOL.)  But I think these are actually Macaques.

Great photos of the little cubs, super precious and how nice to have them without the hordes of vehicles.  Indeed, we were the only vehicle there the entire time as it was midday. There were only a few other full-day safari vehicles we ever came across, mostly photo tour groups.

 

 

Edited June 19 by janzin

[janzin]

The rest of the day's safari must have been uneventful as I have no photos!

 

Next morning one of the first critters we saw was a Sloth Bear! But as usual, because it was so early, the light was non-existant, and also as usual, he was snuffling around behind lots of twigs and leaves and even though they go slow, they seem to always go away from you deeper into the woods. So I'm just posting here the best of the terrible photos I got--just as proof!

 

 

Some day I hope to get a decent photo of a Sloth Bear, one that I can actually put on my website But it wasn't to be this trip.

 

Otherwise, the morning was mostly more birds. Of course, we are always looking for tigers but finding none this morning.

 

The ubiquitous Crested Serpent Eagle.  If anyone needs a life Crested Serpent Eagle, central India is the place to go!

 

 

A pair of Egyptian Vultures were in a field, a bit distant, but this was the only time we've seen them on the ground! I didn't realize how small they were (there was a Hooded Vulture nearby, and you could see the difference.)

 

 

The breakfast area actually held a great number of birds---of course the more common ones, but at this point in the trip I was taking more bird photos as it seemed there wasn't much else going on. And, it's always these common ones that you end up failing to take--for instance in all my travels to India, and all the times we've seen Common Myna, I never bothered with a photo. And it's really a handsome bird!

 

 

 

Even more handsome is the Brahminy Starling. They were plentiful around the breakfast area.

 

 

 

This pair was doing what I imagine was a courtship ritual, the male puffing himself up quite impressively.

 

 

The omnipresent Jungle Babbler.

 

 

Later on, all we came across was this Gray Mongoose, who did stop right in the middle of the road very cooperatively (for a change.)

 

 

It was quite hot and dusty and Alan (and me too, to be honest) was feeling quite exhausted and so we opted to go back to the hotel for lunch, instead of eating in the park.  When we got out of the vehicle back at the lodge Alan said he was feeling a bit light-headed, so we opted to go back to the room for awhile before going to eat.  We ended up both just taking a nap in our air-conditioned room--at one point we both looked at each other and agreed that we couldn't face another lunch of boring chicken! so we had a few granola bars and lots of water and went back to sleep until it was time to go out for the afternoon.

 

We both really needed the rest and felt a lot better afterwards--well, I wouldn't go as far to say energetic , but definitely less exhausted!

 

So off again we went for the afternoon drive.  We were told we would go to another, more distant zone in the hopes of--well, of course, finding a tiger or two.  Apparently a tiger had been seen there in the morning. I don't know where we went but it was a bit a longer drive, at one point along a fence line. We were looking for the tigress "Dotty", a mature female.  We drove around and around this zone, I wish I remembered the name---but it was more forested and a bit cooler than where we'd been earlier.

 

Finally, close to the very end of the day...we found her!

 

 

Alas, she was just lying in the grass, and not facing us. We waited in the hopes she'd get up, but it was getting late, and the light was getting lower and lower.

 

Every once in awhile she'd grace us by looking up, but that was about it!

 

 

Finally we had to leave, in order to get back to the gate before it was too late--it was a long way back and even with our extra 15 minutes we just about made it as they were closing the gate.

 

So at least we had one tiger for the day, but not that satisfying.  Tomorrow was our last day of safari...fingers crossed we'd have a tiger or two to send us off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Atravelynn]

Page 1

Terrific tigers and that nearly black leopard is fascinating.   Mottled Wood Owl is a mysterious looking creature. You have me wondering about the Italian guy now.

 

 Page 2-3

Jamtara is such a special place.  I hope you could use the nearest gate, unlike when we were there and had to drive way around the park to another gate due to flooding.  Another water-level question...  Several years ago in Pench we were able to drive through spectacular expanses of green with rock outcroppings.  Last March the flooding made all of that inaccessible.  Do you have any info on water levels and parts that are off limits?  Moving from water on the ground to monsoons from the sky, can you comment on rain or rain clouds? Your dates are very close to what we did in 2023 and we got to experience the start of monsoons on Mar 12 I think.  Very strange.  You mention heat when wandering around the property taking shots, but how about heat in general?  We had lots of clouds and surprisingly cool weather, requiring a jacket for much of the day at times.

 

Near camera disaster.  Oh my!  Now I see how the Italian guy comes into play.  I hope he gets his adapter back eventually. 

 

Could you even fit one more chital in that drinking-from-the-river shot?

 

The multi-leopard experience is exceptional.  As usual Rajen to the rescue with the camera, this time video.  Never fun to feel ill on a trip but glad your husband recovered.

 

"High-fives all around!" could be your subtitle.  It is applicable to more than the 4 cubs and mom!  Great combo of parks! Each delivered in grand slam fashion, to use your baseball terminology.

 

 

Edited June 21 by Atravelynn

[Atravelynn]

On 6/8/2024 at 9:53 AM, janzin said:

OMG I'm so embarrassed, I just realized as I was looking at older India reports that the report by @Atravelynnand @wilddogwas also titled Tiger Trifecta   And I thought I was being so clever. I have to apologize, I did not mean to steal it!! So sorry!!

 

 

UPDATE TO SAY: I was able to change the title, in case you are confused by this post (can't delete it.)

@wilddogand I will just have to return to India and visit 4 parks, so we can distinguish our report from yours with term QUAD in the title.  Hey...you've got me thinking now.  That's not a bad idea.

[janzin]

 

10 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

Page 1

Terrific tigers and that nearly black leopard is fascinating.   Mottled Wood Owl is a mysterious looking creature. You have me wondering about the Italian guy now.

 

 Page 2-3

Jamtara is such a special place.  I hope you could use the nearest gate, unlike when we were there and had to drive way around the park to another gate due to flooding.  Another water-level question...  Several years ago in Pench we were able to drive through spectacular expanses of green with rock outcroppings.  Last March the flooding made all of that inaccessible.  Do you have any info on water levels and parts that are off limits?  Moving from water on the ground to monsoons from the sky, can you comment on rain or rain clouds? Your dates are very close to what we did in 2023 and we got to experience the start of monsoons on Mar 12 I think.  Very strange.  You mention heat when wandering around the property taking shots, but how about heat in general?  We had lots of clouds and surprisingly cool weather, requiring a jacket for much of the day at times.  We didn't use the very closest gate--Jamtara Gate--because as we were told, the bridge in the interior of the park which joined the two sections (west and east of the river) had been destroyed (I guess by floods) and not rebuilt. So there would only be a limited area to traverse through that gate. However we went to the the next nearest gate which really wasn't too far, maybe 10-15 minutes? I recall we drove over a concrete "bridge" over the river. So I don't think it was the same gate you used. There was no flooding at the time we were there, in fact the rains hadn't come at all yet, so everything was dry, and water levels low. We had no rain at all during the trip and weather was consistently hot and dry. Not a cloud in the sky! In Pench it was a bit cool early in the day, I see in the photos we are wearing jackets, but those came off after breakfast. Below is a panorama showing the low river level, and maybe this is the grassy area you recall.   (Okay I see here there are a few fluffy clouds in the sky, LOL! But not rain clouds, for sure!)

 

10 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

 

Near camera disaster.  Oh my!  Now I see how the Italian guy comes into play.  I hope he gets his adapter back eventually. The adapter is still somewhere lost in customs, I've actually put in an inquiry but have to wait another two weeks before I can put in a claim. Meantime Mr. Italy has refused to take payment, which I've offered a few times. 

 

Could you even fit one more chital in that drinking-from-the-river shot?

 

The multi-leopard experience is exceptional.  As usual Rajen to the rescue with the camera, this time video.  Never fun to feel ill on a trip but glad your husband recovered.

 

"High-fives all around!" could be your subtitle.  It is applicable to more than the 4 cubs and mom!  Great combo of parks! Each delivered in grand slam fashion, to use your baseball terminology.

 

Thanks Lynn as always for your insightful reading and commentary!

Edited June 21 by janzin

[janzin]

Our last safari day started off with a bang. In fact--a Bajrang. Yes, that's the name of the gorgeous male tiger we saw within minutes of starting our safari. The name means "Strong man" and is also one of the many alternate names of the god Hanuman, known for his strength. He is about 8 or 9 years old.

 

Unfortunately, we were not the first ones there and this was actually the only truly "crowded" sighting of our trip. We were behind other gypsies--in the second row, so to speak--and so I had to stand on the seat and try to get photos. To compound things, he was in the tall grass.

 

But he was magnificent!

 

 

He was in and out of grassy patches and a few times he came out a bit into the open. Of course all the gypsies were jostling and trying to follow but at times we couldn't move.

 

 

 

I kept hoping he would look our way, and finally he did, for a moment.

 

 

Wow what a great way to start the day!  We (and it seems everyone else) more or less played hide and seek with this tiger most of the day; returning to this area where he was still somewhere hiding in the grass. A few times we caught glimpses and heard from others that they saw him again, but we never got a better look.

 

At this point, we were more relaxed about finding tigers and stopped more often to photograph birds.

 

We'd seen many Green Bee-eaters during the trip but this time I finally asked to stop and get some photos.

 

Back...

 

 

and front.

 

 

Likewise, stopped for these common birds.

 

 

 

 

 

Since we were leaving early the next morning, and still had to re-pack, we decided once again to return to the lodge for lunch. We also didn't want to be too exhausted. Now you might think it was a waste of money to pay for the full day and return for lunch anyway, but we still found it to be advantageous--that extra 15 minutes in the morning and afternoon really made a bigger difference than you'd expect; and the ability to go between zones made it worthwhile as well. And we did return to the gate after the lunch break somewhat earlier than the afternoon safari-goers were allowed in.

 

After lunch, we again checked the grassy area for Bajrang; ran into a photography group that had been parked there pretty much all day (they had a full-day permit as well); but they had only caught glimpses.  He was still in there, but not showing himself. So after a bit we moved on, deciding to return late in the afternoon when it was cooler and he might start moving. 

 

Meantime, more birds.

 

We'd seen many Jungle Owlets but here for some reason they seemed more skittish than in other places, taking flight at the first sight of the vehicle. This one however sat for a moment for a portrait.

 

 

I can't leave you without one more Crested Serpent Eagle LOL!

 

 

A Sambar in nice light in the marsh.

 

 

Late in the afternoon Rajen asked if we wanted to go see the famous statue of Lord Vishnu which is situated up a small rocky hill.  Sure!  we climbed the hill in the gypsy to a small parking area, where we then climbed some steps to the statue, situated in a forested glen alongside a murky pond.

 

 

The statue is abut 35 feet long, and is known as the Sheshshaiya statue. It is a holy site to Hindus who come to pay tribute to Lord Vishnu. The statue, carved out of sandstone, dates back to the 10th century and symbolizes the origin of the Charanganga River, which flows through Bandhavgarh. Here is the plaque which gives more details.

 

 

Rajen told us a funny story of a certain proprietor of Wild World India who drank from the water here, and got violently ill. We won't mention names

 

Rajen and Alan pose.

 

 

After this interesting interlude, we headed down for a last look for Bajrang. Arriving at the grassy area there already were several other gypsies with the same idea.  Apparently now there was word of another tiger, a female, also in the grass!

 

We actually caught a glimpse of her but impossible to photograph.  We drove around the area a few times, when suddenly we saw several vehicles going at high speed up ahead. Well, you know what that means! Sure enough there was a tiger...I don't think it was Bajrang but can't even be sure...moving up the hillside at a rather rapid pace. There was no way to take any photos as he was moving fast, as were we...bounding along...we tried to get ahead where we thought he might come down off the hill, but instead, he (or it may have been she, don't know) went deeper into the forest. Sigh. That was our last tiger sighting.

 

By now it was almost dark and we soon had to exit. But there was one last treat. This Brown Fish Owl was hunting right by the road, and in the near dusk his eyes shone bright.

 

 

Saying goodbye to Bandhavgarh...

 

 

 

The END.  All in all a successful trip, despite the lows of Alan getting sick and the near-disaster with the camera. Next time though, it will be back to Ranthambhore, my happy place, no matter what!

 

 

Edited June 21 by janzin

[Zubbie15]

Thanks for sharing @janzin, you had challenges but lots of rewards too! 

[wilddog]

On 6/21/2024 at 4:41 AM, Atravelynn said:

@wilddogand I will just have to return to India and visit 4 parks, so we can distinguish our report from yours with term QUAD in the title.  Hey...you've got me thinking now.  That's not a bad idea.

@AtravelynnNow there's a thought

[Abhishek Sharma]

@janzinAs always, the pictures are fantastic! Loved all of them. I am eagerly looking forward to seeing you and Alan soon.