Kabini Explored

As always the case, it had been a while since my visit to the Jungles, my last trip there being the Brahmagiri Trek. So when a trip to Kabini JLR was suggested I quickly agreed. Luckily since it was a weekday the tents were available.

Left at 6 from Bangalore and other than for breakfast there were no stops or breaks in the journey. The last 12 Kms stretch to JLR was a nightmare to drive as the roads are very badly maintained.

But once I reached JLR itself all that was quickly forgotten and I was excited to be there. I had vague memories of Kabini JLR, from my visit here in my teens, but the property looked prettier than what I remembered.

Since I was hungry, quickly dumped my bags and headed for lunch. The food like in all JLR properties was awesome, simple and tasty. After tucking in more than the usual amount of food, I was ready to explore JLR.

The gardens were in bloom and this gave me a chance to capture butterflies, spiders and bees.

Time seemed to have passed really quickly and soon it was safari time.

With great expectation we boarded the jeeps. Of course the hope is always there that we get to see the cats, but I had also requested for stops when any bird was spotted. I didn’t know then that the naturalist in the jeep (Shivanand) was a great spotter and knew names of birds and animals.

Encounters with wildlife started right in JLR, the gardeners handed over snakes in a bottle to be left in the forest. Shivanand pointed out birds as the jeep drove past them

Once in the reserve Spotted Deer/Chitals and Langurs were plenty, there was a lone guar near a watering hole who posed for a while. Then there was an elephant that crossed the road. As we drove along, another jeep from the forest department mentioned spotting a Leopard going for a drink at GK bunk. We quickly headed in that direction, drove around for sometime, but with no luck. The other spotting that evening was another lone female elephant and sambar.

Back in the resort, hot pakodas and coffee gave me company as I read a book. Dinner was again very good and I ate more than my share.

The safari next day started at 6:15, initial sightings were only birds, but as we got closer to water we got to see some elephants and strip necked mongoose.

The highlight of that safari was seeing the Crested Hawk Eagle at close quarters. It was a beautiful bird that let us watch him for good 5 mins. The other bird I was excited about was the pygmy woodpecker. It was so small it mistook it was a warbler till Shivanand pointed it out.

Back from the safari took a short boat ride and once done with breakfast, I was ready to leave. Since the sun was out there were a lot of butterflies around so spent time chasing them. And then I was back on the road to Bangalore. So ended a peaceful trip into the wild.

More Pictures in the Link below

https://picasaweb.google.com/110258699064065442660/Kabini?authkey=Gv1sRgCMPbh5qrmtXeSw#

List of Birds

1. Crested Serpent Eagle
2. Crested Hawk Eagle
3. Black Kite
4. Brahminy Kite
5. Black Shouldered Kite
6. Jungle Crow
7. House Crow
8. Greater Coucal
9. Asian Koel (Female)
10. Little Cormorant
11. Little Grebe
12. Little Egret
13. Purple Moorehen
14. Common Moorehen
15. Common Coot
16. Spot Billed Duck
17. Pheasant tailed jacana
18. Black Ibis
19. White Ibis
20. Common Hawk Cuckoo
21. Cuckoo Shrike
22. Pied Cuckoo
23. Racket Tail Drongo
24. White Bellied Dronga
25. Black Drongo
26. Flamebacked Woodpecker
27. Streak throated Woodpecker
28. Pygmy Woodpecker
29. Imperial pigeon
30. Laughing Dove
31. Spotted Dove
32. Green Bee Eater
33. Chestnut Headed Bee Eater
34. Orange Headed Thrush
35. Blue Winged Parakeet
36. Ashy prinia
37. Pied Bush Chat
38. Scaly Breast Munia
39. White Throated Kingfisher
40. Peafowl
41. Great Tit
42. Nut hatch
43. Purple Heron
44. Pond Heron
45. Jungle Babbler
46. Red wattled lapwing
47. Grey Jungle Fowl
48. Painted stork
49. Grey hornbill
50. Magpie Robin
51. Pied Wagtail
52. Jungle Myna
53. Hill Myna