Unknown Tracks: Jungle Lodges and Resort

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Monday, 31 October 2011

Kabini: Yet Again

What can one write about Kabini JLR that is not already written? I personally believe that it’s the most beautiful property among the ones that I have visited. The staff here is amazing and ensures you have a comfortable stay. The naturalists are patient and are always ready to answer questions thrown at them. Most being: how many leopards or tigers have you seen? Have you seen a tiger kill? Will the leopard attack us? There was also a question where someone wanted to know if the Crested Serpent Eagle would attack the jeep. Of course they answered all with a smile even though I am sure they have answered these a million times.

So this time I thought I will write about my most memorable sightings and observations.

There is always an expectation of seeing wildcats when in Kabini, the sighting is purely a matter of luck. This time around lady luck was kind to me, I got to see leopards in two out of the 4 safari I went on. While the first was a fleeting glimpse during the jeep safari; the second was on a boat safari, where I was running from one end of the boat to the other to get pictures. The second sighting is more memorable just because of the people involved. While the safari started most of us were lost in our own thoughts, some looked at the birds while other asked about the lone tuskers on the banks. Suddenly on the way back, someone shouted leopard and everybody on the boat was alive and looking out. Once we saw him the cameras were out, fortunately or unfortunately my camera had a slightly better zoom. Soon everyone was making way for me to get atleast one decent shot. Once done e-mail IDs were exchanges and copies of the picture was requested for. But this also helped make new friends and the evening was spent narrating the leopard sighting.

The other exciting sighting for me was to watch the Osprey fish. While the bird was too far away to take pictures, the whole episode will remain in my memory forever.

Seeing an otter pup was the other highlight. We were on the jeep safari along the backwater and had stopped to observe an elephant and we noticed there were 4 otters on the bank. Looking through the binoculars we noticed the group had pup. It was about half the size of the adult and kept following the group. When the group got into water one adult stayed on the bank waited till the rest went in and followed them. They swam close to the shore and soon went out of sight.

While I looked forward to the safaris, time spent between the safaris turned out to be quite interesting as well. Since JLR had 100% occupancy on both days, there were a lot of people around.

The group I observed the most were a bunch of 5th graders from a school in Bangalore. It was amazing to listen to them talk. The girls mostly spoke about mid-night party they had, while the boys spoke of different things the saw during the day. One particular conversation I remember is about stopping Tiger Poaching.

The 2 boys were having dinner, they had just come back from the video screening at JLR. From the conversation I assumed that the topic of poaching was touched upon. One of the boys wanted to have electrical fence around the forest so that poachers would not be able to get in, on hearing this the other boy dismissed the idea saying the tiger’s coat could also get burnt by the ectrical fence and hence they needed a better plan. They finally decided that they would build walls around the forest. This way the tiger could jump over and cross when it needed to and the poacher would not get across. Even if the tiger crashed against the wall since it’s big and strong it will survive and a human would break his bones. The smile on my face must have given me away because the boys realized I had eve’s dropping and changed table.

The other quote that I heard as we waited for the safari jeep was “ I am not perfect but I can run”

Nature walks were another place where I got to interact with people specially kids. There was one who wanted me to name animal he had just seen. When he finally found his animal and pointed it to me it was a pill bug. The kid was so excited when I touched it and it curled up. But he didn’t want me to hold it as he thought it will bite me. It was fun answering his questions and clarifying things.

Then there was a couple fascinated by the kingfisher. Every time we saw the bird we would stop so that they could get a picture.They kept calling it the blue bird

I also met a couple whose interests were so different, while the wife loved outdoor and nature; the husband loved to sit indoors and take office calls or play games. It was interesting to watch both. While one was excited about birds and spiders, the other wanted only the wild cats.

Kabini JLR has never failed to impress me and it lived up to my expectation but this trip also gave me a insight into people and their thoughts.

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

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.

Thursday, 22 April 2010

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

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