We arrived in Bandhavgarh at King’s Lodge around 4 in the afternoon. They gathered us for a briefing about the lodge and the park before showing us to our “rooms” – this will do…
Another beautiful outdoor space that I never had the opportunity to use; when we did have down time, it was far to hot to be out there. Such a shame…
The routine here was pretty much the same except the morning start was even earlier – we gathered at 4:15 and headed out at 4:30! The park didn’t open until 6 am, but the goal was to be first in line when they opened the gate.
The 105 square km Tala range was once a Shikargah, a royal game preserve used by the Majarajas and their guests to hunt tigers. In 1968 the area was declared a national park and became Bandhavgarh. In 1993 the Khitouli, Magdhi, and Kallawah ranges were added and the the current 624 square km Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve was born. Of the 4 ranges (or zones) we visited only Tala and Magdhi in search of the amazing Bengal tiger.
Once in the reserve, you quickly realize how difficult it will be to spot a tiger.
Tigers are territorial animals. The females have a range that is theirs alone, although they may overlap on the edges with another female. The males have a larger range, typically encompassing multiple female ranges.
The first morning we were assigned Maghdi Sector and we were looking for Dotty, a female with three 11 month old male “cubs”. Expecting that she would go to the water hole to cool off, we sat and waited. The guides heard growls and warning calls from the other animals, so we waited. Took a break for breakfast and then back to wait some more. People were napping everywhere, I was enjoying the peace and quiet and the birds and langurs.
I’m not sure if these langur were just playing or if they were fighting for real…
The biggest problem with Bandhavgarh is the size of the zones. They are huge and the tigers always seem to be at the farthest spot. That means driving 45 minutes to an hour each way to get to the area you want to be in. In the morning that’s okay – there’s a little more time. In the afternoon it becomes an issue, with only 2 1/2 hours inside the gate.
After lunch we headed back out, this time to Tala sector. You can buy a day pass for the reserve and a group that had done just that saw one of the tigers go into a cave in the morning and she hadn’t come out yet. So, that’s where we went and we waited. The guides figured she would come out around 5-5:15, finally, just after 6 she came out.
Meet Bonwehi, a four year old female…
The chaos that ensues when a tiger is spotted is unreal – all the vehicles jockeying for the best position. Luckily for us, our drivers (from King’s Lodge) were very good at this…
We had to high tail it to the gate to get out in time, but we made it.
King’s Lodge is run by the same company as Denwa was, so the food and service were also very good. By the time we got back at night it was usually around 7. Rather than rushing to get cleaned up when we returned, we’d sit and relax, have a beer, enjoy the appetizers and skip dinner entirely. It actually worked pretty well, especially when you’re getting up at 3:45!
The next morning we had better luck. Back in Tala zone, our driver got a call from a friend – they’d found Spotty! (the sister of Dotty that we looked for the day before). We took off to get there before everyone else realized she’d been, dare I say, spotted.
We did get there before the other vehicles, but they weren’t far behind. This is what you don’t see – all the people and vehicles watching as she crossed the road.
After she crossed the road, she looked back at us as if to make sure we weren’t going to follow her…
Once Spotty disappeared into the woods we headed off. The reserve has very strict rules about all vehicles staying on the road. As a result, they have some of domestic elephants that they use when they need to do work in the bush. One of the mahouts (the elephant trainer/rider/keeper) had seen Kajri, a 4 1/2 year old female and one of Spotty’s grown cubs.
We drove down the road a bit and the male elephant was trying to race us! So fun. Once we stopped the elephants came by and reached out to me with their trunks – it was pretty surreal. Then Kajri came out of the bush…
Tigers ambush their prey so they hunt mainly at night. During the day their stripes provide very effective camouflage.
It was such a great morning we didn’t even have breakfast!
The afternoon was Maghdi sector again and we didn’t see anything – I took only 2 photos all afternoon!
The next morning we were back in Tala sector feeling hopeful because Tala had been good to us. But not today. No tigers, but we did see a few other things…
Taken while waiting at the water hole
There was also a pea cock who was courting a pea hen, unsuccessfully I might add.
In the afternoon, back in Maghdi, we sat where Solo was laying in the tall grass sleeping near a small pond. More waiting…
and finally, just as we had to leave, she emerged…
We made it back through the gate with about 40 seconds to spare. As we approached the main “road” through the park it was littered with parked safari vehicles – the big male, Bheem, was about to cross the road! It was almost dark and I grabbed the wrong lens, but here he is – the biggest male in the reserve.
The next morning, back in Maghdi, we went in search of the elusive Dotty and her cubs (again) before having an early breakfast and heading over to where Solo was spotted.
There is a ridiculous amount of downtime with wildlife photography, there is a lot of waiting. We arrived at Solo’s spot just before 8 and spent over 2 hours watching.
Watching her sit in the shade…
Watching the other people watching her…
Watching a spotted deer walk right past her…
Watching her stalk a deer…
She did eventually pounce and I missed it. The deer got away – apparently tigers are only successful with their hunt 5-10% of the time. Hopefully the Disney crew got the chase on film and I’ll be able to watch it later!
After the chase, she walked through the forest and was heading back to the den. Ramesh (our driver & naturalist) anticipated this and got us in great position to get some shots of her as she walked towards us.
In the afternoon we were back in Magdhi zone. By 4:30 we were watching one of Dotty’s boys relaxing in the shade.
Around 5 pm he was up and on the move.
Once again Ramesh got us into the best position to watch (and photograph) the youngster cross the road.
By 5:15 it was all over…
The next morning was our last and we were assigned Magdhi. We started the day by looking for Dotty and her boys. Our driver / guide had to make a bathroom stop, so we got separated from the others. We came across the Mahouts who had seen Solo sleeping in the bush.
Before long she came out and walked right past us, and we had her pretty much to ourselves.
Then we drove past a number of safari vehicles parked near the cave where Solo’s 4-5 month old cubs were sleeping. You could see the orange of the fur, but not much else so we moved on…
We caught up with the rest of our group (and the majority of the vehicles in that sector) at a water hole. Two of Dotty’s boys were sleeping in the bush and the general consensus was that one of them would come down for a drink and a swim, but probably not until around 10 am. So, we went for breakfast…
Back at the water hole by 8:30, we sat and waited with the vehicles gradually moving into the shade as it got hotter and hotter. Just before 10 (apparently they have a schedule to keep) one of the boys headed for the water.
Tigers can be identified by their stripes; each tiger is different. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure this was the same young man that we’d seen the day before.
Unlike the other big cats, tigers actually like water – perhaps its because they live in such a hot climate. While he was drinking, he was also there to cool off.
It’s possible that this buck had bad eyesight or maybe he couldn’t see danger because of the haze on the water, but he clearly did not see the tiger in the water.
He had a nice long drink of water, at least a couple of minutes; all the while completely oblivious to the young tiger watching him intently.
When the deer finally saw the tiger (who didn’t move a muscle by the way) he let out this ungodly shriek as he turned and ran off up the bank. I’m not why the tiger didn’t attempt an attack – maybe he figured he couldn’t get out of the water fast enough, maybe he lacked the experience and confidence to try, or maybe he just wasn’t hungry. Whatever the reason, it was the buck’s lucky day.
In the afternoon we were back in Tala for our last drive. Just inside the gate was this jackal, a member of the canine family…
We drove to the area where we had seen Bonwehi the first afternoon and waited… There wasn’t much going on, in the heat of the day even the birds are quiet.
In the end we did see one of the tigresses, they said it was Bonwehi, but she was in the bush and it was too dusty (from the vehicles) to get a decent picture. On the way out of the park, we stopped briefly to see this Jungle Cat
It was another wonderful trip and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see these amazing animals in their natural habitat. Until next time…
Brilliant. Glad you had so many successful sightings in Bandhavgarh. I did not have the same success. Fun to see though and tons of great moments captured! A pleasure to see.