Nagarhole National Park

Day 10:

 

We reached early morning at Mysore. Our destination was not really Mysore. But to the Nagarhole national park in the Cauvery river basin, about 90 km from Mysore. We had a light breakfast at the bus stand and caught a taxi to the park from there. It took around 1.5 hours to reach the park. Immediately I fell in love with the place. Very calm, quiet, green and well maintained. The park is on the side of the Kabini river and we booked the 2 days/1 night package at the Kabini River Lodge. It included in addition to the food and accommodation two safari’s – one jeep safari in the evening and a boat safari in the morning.  The park is a dry tropical forest and was the exclusive hunting grounds of the rulers of Mysore. The main attractions of the park are the tiger, elephants and gaur.

Kabini River Lodge

Once we checked into our cottage in the beautiful banks of the Kabini river we went for lunch in the beautiful restaurant. We had nothing else to do other than just immerse in the wonderful atmosphere and the surroundings there. We took a small walk around after lunch. There were a lot of monkeys around the cottage displaying their acrobatic skills. I was worried whether they will try to steal the clothes that I left outside the cottage to dry. 

 

After a quick snack and tea we started our evening safari in the jeep. There was only two more people in the jeep other than us. The gentleman was a wildlife photographer along with his daughter. As the jeep entered an array of wildlife species  was immediately visible especially the antelope, peacock , wild boar, different varieties of birds etc. As we travelled deep into the forest closer to the water bodies the ellies started appearing. The wildlife guy photographer along with his pals in other jeep with their massive lenses was quickly in action. I had my own gear, but not as impressive as theirs and Gela and I got busy with watching the birds and animals with our binocular. There was an instant when I got extremely irritated with the so called animal expert photographers. One thing that any ranger will teach you is when you are in an animal kingdom you are the guest there and you are not supposed to interfere in their lives. Or in other words you have to respect them and are not supposed to disturb them.  The idiots, when they were not getting the correct shots of the ellies were making noises and moving the vehicle closer to them which was clearly irritating the ellies.  The ellie at one point was moving away and then moved the jeep to block its path. Absolute nut cases and they had an air of arrogance that they know everything!

 

We moved further to the river side and parked the jeep there and waited. It was evening time and we hoped the animals will come down for a drink. There were lots of antelopes on the other side of the river. Suddenly we heard an alarm call from a gaur and all of us were looking around for the reason for the alarm call. And then Gela spotted a tiger behind the antelopes. It was visible only for less than a minute, walking slowly from one of the bushes and disappearing behind another bush. I think we got extremely lucky there to catch a glimpse of the king of the jungle in the first safari itself. What a beautiful animal it is. We didn’t had any more luck that day. But we were very happy with what we witnessed on that day especially the ellies and the tiger.

Day 11:

 

The day started with an early morning boat safari. We had a quick snacks and tea from the restaurant and then got into a boat parked on the Kabini river. It is a beautiful sight with the sun rising on one end with the golden rays reflecting from the calm river surface. We could watch different varieties of birds in the water and also on the river front, though I I didn’t had any idea what their names were. After  a while we started seeing the antelopes, herd of ellies, bison, gaur etc. Most of the time the motor was switched off at a distance from the river front and the guide explained about the animals we saw.  That gave us enough time to take photographs and also watch them without disturbing them.

 

 

 

The highlight of the trip was when we saw a pack of Indian wild dogs. The wild dogs, be it the Indian or the African, are one of the most difficult species to spot as they operate over a very large area and also they are constantly on the move. So we were extremely lucky to have spotted them and not only that we saw them hunting a stag. Though an unsuccessful hunt, it was still an amazing show. We initially saw only a group of antelopes on the river front and then we saw the stag running right into the water. It was clear that it is running for it life and then we saw the animal chasing it – 3 wild dogs. The dogs didn’t go into the water and they simply waited in the river front. A waiting game started with the terrified stag in the water and the dogs waiting in the river front. After a while stag slowly moved towards the shore with the dogs watching it all the time without moving. Once closer to the shore the stag sprinted forward and the dogs started to chase. But the stag was too fast for them and finally the dogs gave up the chase. It was an amazing scene. I was happy that it didn’t end up bloody.