Naturalist Training Program by Jungle Lodges and Resorts

Recently based on recommendation from my friends I decided to register for the Naturalist Training Program conducted by the Jungle Lodges and Resort. Since the course was popular I was advised to call them immediately and confirm my participation.

Until I went for the session I would always wonder why my friends during all our treks would keep running behind birds, after all what can you see that you didn’t see the first time or at a distance. It wasn’t that I didn’t look at birds or notice them, but why would I keep looking at them for? I was hoping for NTP would help me understand that better.

The session was for 3 days and hence had to take off from work on a Friday and I was looking forward to a good break from work.

Having reached a little earlier had enough time to relax and talk to the other early birds (Sandip, Ganesh and Shafi). Karthik our trainer and the Chief Naturalist for JLR was already there and spent time with us while we waited for the others. Soon the rest of them arrived and it was time to start.

The ice breaker session was very different; we had to give our selves names of animals starting with the same alphabet as our names. It was fun and tied in beautifully to the remaining session.

The course was designed to have some sessions indoor and some outdoor ones. Though the indoor sessions were informative and interactive I preferred the outdoor ones more. Not that the indoor session was bad, it was interesting with anecdotes and beautiful photographs by Karthik but the outdoor sessions were more practical.

Though the session touched upon various aspects of Nature and what it meant to be a Naturalist, the focus was on birds. During 8 hours of outdoor session (nature walks) collectively we identified about 80 species of birds.

It started off by us making notes of the features we noticed (beak, chest color, rump color, tail shape). Until we had the details on our notebooks we were not allowed to mention names of the bird. While I could easily spot birds, had a tough time recognizing them, I always missed the most critical features. Guys with Bazooka would capture the birds beautifully in their cameras and this was used as reference points when in doubt about a bird.

Karthik is a walking encyclopedia on any topic related to nature. He could look at a silhouette or listen to a call and tell which bird it was. Listening to his encounters with wildlife it seemed like the sanctuary was in the site next to his house. Most of the pictures were of animals, reptiles, insects and birds around his house.

When not in class we would be sitting around talking, considering we had a mix of people like a doctor, lawyer, Techies, Chef, Entrepreneurs and Coffee Planter the conversations were always interesting. I was always found around the group that was discussing food. Along with birds I discovered new places to eat biryani.

I didn’t realize how the 3 days went by. Getting back to civilization and work didn’t seem appealing but that’s the life I lead and had to return.
Now that I am back from the session there some changes in the way I do things. Earlier when I spoke to someone I would look at the person’s face, now if I am outdoor I tend to look out for birds, some movement somewhere and not at the person.
Instead of looking out for autos and bikes I look for feathered bi-pied. While walking I will stop suddenly in the middle of the road and look at the tree (a bird) and the people around wonder what I am upto. But I have no complaints, for I have realized that I don’t need to go to the jungle to look for wildlife, I am surrounded by it.

PS: Names as I recall them – Antelope Aishwarya, Ant Ashwini, Vulture Vikram, Kingfisher Kanchuki, Rabbit Rohit, Civet Chandramouli, Seal Serisha, Snake Sameer, Robin Rajlakshmi, Viper Vinay, Vampir (Bat) Vivek, Gaur Ganesh, Sambar Shaif, Nilgai Naveen, Shikra Saandip

When the Hunter was hunted

In a general conversation it came up that a trip to the wildlife sanctuary was due, especially since it was the season to spot the Big Cats. A quick call to JLR confirmed that they had few vacant rooms and thus the trip to Bandipur National Park materialized.

Since the road to Bandipur was in good condition, the distance of 220 Kms was covered in 5 hours. This included a stop at Kadambam for some yummy South Indian breakfast.

Since we had arrived early, I decided to catch up on sleep before lunch. The lunch was simple buffet that served South Indian food (We had similar food through out our stay). After lunch we had sometime before the evening safari started. Spent this time sitting in a hammock under a fig tree. The spot was ideal to watch birds as the figs attracted a wide variety of them. We spotted Koel, Lesser Coucal, Copper Smith Barbet, Purple Sunbird, Grey Hornbill, Ashy Drongo, Brahminy Starling, Pale Billed and the Jungle Crows.

Soon it was time for the safari and the expectation was to spot atleast one of the big cats. The conversation in the jeep was around stories of earlier spotting of cats; people didn’t pay much attention to the spotted deers that grazed along the road. Once we entered the jungles the conversations died, everybody was on the look out. Luckily the jeep we were in had some bird watchers. We would stop now and then to look at birds; for me the highlights were the Red Muniya, Crested Serpent Eagle, Honey Buzzard and White Bellied Wood Pecker.

30 minutes into the drive the jeep came to a halt, the sight that greeted us was 2 Male Sambar fighting and at a distance there was a female. With the jeep engine switched off, one could hear the antlers clash loud and clear. After watching them for sometime we carried on with our hunt for the Cats and as time went by we started hoping we would atleast see some gaur or elephants. As the safari was coming to a end our wish was granted we saw some elephants, but that was the end of it.

Back in JLR we exchanged notes and realized no one else had seen much that day. One could see disappointed faces everywhere. Early dinner and we retired to bed. We had to get up early for another Safari

6.15 a.m the next day everybody was ready to go. This time we had requested our naturalist to stop even when he spotted birds and not just for animals. 20 mins into the safari we came across a pack of wild dogs resting by a water hole. There were 29 of them including puppies. While we watched and followed them around they tried hunting a deer. Some of the she-dogs suckled their young. These were sights that I hadn’t seen before and thrilled to have witnessed this. But I was still hoping for a Cat.

Just as we gave up hope, the driver received a call; a sleeping tiger was spotted on the other side. He quickly reversed and headed there. All this while I think we were driving at a speed of 40/kms suddenly it was upto 80/Kms. Our fingers were crossed; in our excitement we ignored the bumpy road and kept praying that the Tiger would continue to sleep. The first exit gate was closed, we had to drive another 2 kms before the next gate, our prayers continued, and finally we were there but didn’t see the tiger. “Did he walk away, did we miss him?” These were the first thought and then a closer look into the bushes and there he was. We were hardly about 20 feet away, watched his every move without batting an eyelid. Suddenly he decided to move and what a sight it was to see him walk. He took 3 steps and settled closer. These 3 steps he took towards us made us realize that this might be as close as we could get near a Tiger in the wild. After watching him for some more time we decided to leave him in peace.

The conversation on the way back was about how each felt, what we liked about him. At the breakfast tables we could hear tiger mentioned after every 2 words. The excitement was evident. Since the check out time was at 11 we quickly finished breakfast and started back to Bangalore. I don’t have to specify what the conversation all the way was about.

More Pics in the link below
http://picasaweb.google.com/aishwarya.belliappa/Bandipur#