Leopard sighting at Nagarahole National Park

Jan 6th 2014 evening Jeep safari at Nagarahole National Park ,my first safari during my stay at Kabini River Lodge was quite memorable one for me personally since this was the day i sighted the first big cat in the wild and it was my 19th safari in the forest regions of Mumdumalai, Bandipur and Nagarahole (3rd one in Nagarahole in the last 12 months). Our jeep had 3 wildlife photographers and it was a focused drive into the forest with the aim of sighting big cats since there has been a spurt in sightings of Leopards and Tigers in the past two days. A hour and half into the forest with no sightings everyone in the jeep keeping their fingers crossed and at that point of time our jeep driver got a call that a leopard had been sighted by another jeep and immediately we had a fast bumpy ride to the spot and here are few shots of the majestic and elusive Leopard resting on a tree nearly 30 meters away.

he moment we got to the spot it was a bit difficult to locate the cat since it was in a clutter of branches. Few snaps of the Leopard (out of numerous pictures taken) are posted. I am sure a professional wildlife photographers would have taken much better pictures than what has been captured, edited and cropped by me....but then these images are imprinted in my mind forever.

Visit to Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary

During my visit to Mysore during the first week of November i made it a point to visit Ranganthittu bird sanctuary which is near the historic town Sriranganpatana about 18 kms from Mysore city. During this period there were hardly any migratory birds which normally come around mid December to January, however was able to see considerable numbers of White Ibis, black headed Ibis, egrets, bats, crocodiles. Here are few pictures of the same

Crocodile basking in the sun

Bats having their nap

Crocodile in the river just beside the boat

 Black headed Ibis

Greater Thick Knee or the Stone plover or Great Stone curlew

Open billed Stork

Black Cormorant

Group of Cormorants, Black headed Ibis









The sanctuary consists of six islets which are lush with vegetation where there water birds nest and whenever  excess water is being released from the KRS dam these islets are generally flooded and during these times there is no boating and you would be forced to view these birds from the river bank only. The main attraction of this sanctuary is the boating ( row boats only) which is operated throughout the day by Karnataka Forest department staff depending on the crowd and you get to be up close with these birds. An interesting news is that this sanctuary came into existence in 1940 due to Dr Salim Ali the famous ornithologist when he requested the king of Mysore to declare this area as a sanctuary. A great place to be for bird watchers and lovers.

Mysore Zoo ... a colorful time spent there

Mysore trip is incomplete if you have not visited the Zoo that is located in the center of the city. Mysore zoo is one of the oldest and well maintained zoo of India and during my recent trip visited the zoo with an aim of capturing few good photographs. here are few colorful photographs of the inmates

Mandarin Duck (normal photography)















Mandarin Duck photographed with Vivid color setting

Giraffe

                          Gorilla

Zebra

African Elephant

Variety of Parrots



















Lot more pictures have been captured but am sure i am the millionth guy posting them here.

Turkeys !!!

Recently had been to a jungle lodge where the management has couple of turkeys moving about the camp

Looks great !!!

Indicators of rains !!!

It is said that if you see a dragonfly in the surrounding then it means that rains are on the way !!! I really do not know if its true but then photographs of these dragonfly is quite beautiful. Here is couple of photos taken in Chennai just before the onset of monsoon few days back

Grand old Langur !!!

The road from Masinagudi to Mysore passes through Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Bandipur Tiger Reserve and if you are traveling early morning or late evening the chances of seeing various wild animals are much more than in the other times of the day. Here is a picture of Langur relaxing majestically enjoying the early afternoon sunlight at Bandipur forest

Dog day afternoon

I am not talking of the 1970’s movie here but about the incident that occurred with me and Tazzo, my sister’s pet dog at their place this afternoon. Reached their place to hand over my father’s medical report and as I opened the gate Tazzo as usual barked but on hearing my voice subdued and once my father opened the door he was wagging his tail and wanted to be petted , which I did. Then as I followed my dad to his room Tazzo also was walking beside me and I patted him and suddenly he bit my hand and for a moment I did not understand anything for the pain was intense. I saw that I was bleeding profusely and also something was hanging out of the bite wound. To stop the bleeding I immediately put my hand under the running tap in the sink and with one hand was trying to call my sister who was away from the house on errands. After some time the bleeding abated considerably I took leave of my father and drove down to local clinic where I was informed that the wound is pretty deep with artery sticking out and it needs to be stitched, also I need to be vaccinated for dog bite even though Tazzo is a pet and has been immunized. So an ATS injection plus anti rabbis vaccination in addition to 3 stitches on the back of my right hand …..between the middle and ring finger was administered .

I believe pet animals also have moments of craziness and it is my misfortune that I was around Tazzo today. I only hope that it not become any more serious than this for reading about a dog bite on the net does send a shiver down my spine !!!