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Bandipur National Park, Bandipur - 20th to 23rd January 2005
The long weekend was coming up and I
made the booking at Jungle Lodges and Resorts much in advance. I left
for Bandipur quite early on that morning. The lighting was good and I
stopped in between for some photography. I normally take the
Bangalore-Kanakapura-Malavalli-Kollegal-Chamarajnagar-Gundlupet road as
that is very scenic compared to the regular Bangalore-Mysore road. I
reached Bandipur by noon and was greeted by Harsha (Naturalist at JLR)
with his usual pleasant smile.
We had lunch and set off into the forest in the afternoon along with a
couple of other guests. The lighting was excellent and just perfect for
photography. We did see a lot of elephants during this safari, and many
of them were in charging mood. Though we knew it was a mock charge, it's
pretty scary when they charge towards you. That evening safari was like
ticking a checklist. Before we started, Harsha asked me what all I
wanted to see and I gave him a list, and we did see most of them except
the Tiger. Well, we did manage to get a glimpse of the Leopard.
The forest was fast drying up and most of the trees had shed their leaves.
Around this time of the year, the forest department is very alert,
looking out for forest fires. Most of the forest fires are set by the
locals settled around the fringes of the National park. Also by
some vehicle drivers who throw around cigarette butts while driving
through the main road which cuts across the Park. To avoid the latter
kind of problems, the forest department deliberately set fire to the
dry grass beside the road and clears off that patch of dry grass.
The next three days were quite eventful with some good wildlife
sightings. Of course, I missed seeing the Tiger, but Harsha was lucky
as he was in another jeep during one of the safaris. The Tiger and
Leopard sightings at Bandipur were very frequent (almost every day)
since Christmas. That was the main reason I decided to come here. I have
never seen a Tiger in the wild in these 7+ years of wildlife
photography. Hope to see/photograph one soon.
Here are some of the images I captured during this visit. Enjoy them.
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| Brown Shrike |
Brown Shrike |
Purple Sunbird |
Grey Francolin |
Coppersmith
Barbet |
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| Changeable Hawk
Eagle |
Changeable Hawk
Eagle |
Bandipur Safari
Route |
Plum-Headed
parakeet |
Elephant |
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| Elephant |
Elephant |
Elephant and
Sambar |
Elephant |
Forest Fire |
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| Forest Fire |
Crested
Treeswift |
Crested
Treeswift female |
Sambar |
Chestnut
Shouldered Petronia |
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| Elephant |
Elephant |
Deer |
Indian Roller |
Indian Roller |
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| Water Lily |
Wild Boar |
Bonnet Macaque |
Indian Pond
Heron |
Elephant |
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| Elephant |
Brahminy
Straling |
Booted Warbler |
Chestnut Tailed
Starling |
Malabar Parakeet |
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| Moyar Gorge |
Moyar Gorge |
Bonelli's Eagle |
Bonelli's Eagle |
Sambar |
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