BY : KAMAL MISHRA

Nagarhole National Park, Kabini is counted among India’s best wildlife parks. It is spread over 247 square-mile and provides safe heaven to wildlife including large mammals such as tiger, leopard, wild elephant, dhole (Indian wild dog), and gaur (Indian bison) and over 250 varieties of birds.

Nagarhole National park derives its name from the combination of two Kannada words. ‘Nagar,’ meaning snake, and ‘hole,’ meaning streams. True to its name, quite a few serpentine streams fork through the rich tropical forests of the park. Nagarhole Park was set up in 1955. In 1975, its area was increased to include a greater expanse of forest reserve. The original forest was once an exclusive hunting ground for the erstwhile Maharajas of Mysore. The park has been recently renamed as Rajiv Gandhi National Park after the late Prime Minister of India.

Being a wild life and photography enthusiast, I always had this park in mind for my next photography tour. I along with one of my friends planned to go to Kabini in April 2015 with the sole objective of spotting Tiger or Leopards in the wild. It was a photography tour and we booked morning and evening safaris for both the days we stayed at the Kabini River Lodge.

Our trip started with Evening Safari on Day 1. We took an 8 seater jeep in the jungle and our driver – a very experienced person was coordinating with other safari vehicle drivers so that we can quickly move incase any vehicle spotted the big cats.

We spent about 3 hours in jungle for our first Safai with no luck. It also coincided with first seasonal rains and both animals and birds choose to stay deep inside jungle and we were not able to spot anything major. However, I was able to capture a Serpent Eagle and a pack of 2 Dhole.

DAY 2

Morning Safari

It started early morning at around 620am. We could see sunrise through the dense forest.

The morning safari was little more eventful that the previous Safari and we were able to spot Dhole (again), White Bellied Woodpecker and Malabar Giant Squirrel. The sound of White Bellied Woodpecker hitting the wood was nothing short of a hammer hitting the nail. We could hear it very clearly even from about 20 feet distance.

Evening Safari

Two safaris over and with only two more to go, we were getting a little anxious to spot the big cats. We were deeply observingany clue/sound that could lead us to them. We went near the Kabini river to check if they will come out to drink water. We couldn’t find the big cats but I was able to spot Darter, also known as snake bird with a very long neck.

After spotting snake bird, we decided to go deep into the jungle and look for the big cats. While we were driving, we saw Serpent Eagle with a catch. True to its name – it was a snake and on a closer look – it was a Cobra. The snake was still alive – you can see the coiled body in the picture below and also see how Serpent eagle caught snake by its fangs. It was fabulous to see fight for survival and as they say it – it’s survival of the fittest. Wildlife at its best. It was a very rare moment and I knew that this definitely rarer than spotting a Tiger or Leopard. We stayed there for about 30 mins watching in awe!!!

After watching the rare event of Serpent Eagle with Cobra, we moved ahead in our quest for the big cats. We were not able to spot them but we saw two adult Elephants with a baby elephant. Both of them were protecting the baby Elephant from both the sides. I was not able to get the shot I wanted – I wanted to take the picture of baby elephant in the middle and adults on both the sides. After waiting for about 30 mins, Elephants moved a little and I quickly composed and released the shutter to get the pic I wanted. That was end of Day 2 and we were still looking for Big Cats but had a satisfaction of witnessing a rare event.

Day 3 Morning Safari – The final one

This was it. Our last safari of the trip and the hope of spotting the big cats were fast diminishing. We started the trip and saw a few Gaurs standing and staring us.

We quickly took a few pictures and resumed our search for the Big cats. There were quite a few signs that day, we even got a call from other Safari that spotted an old leopard who came out of the jungle, drank water and went inside. By the time we reached the spot, the Leopard was gone. With that our last hope of spotting a Tiger or Leopard was gone. We were sad but we saw a peacock dancing and seeing peacock dance in the wild was an amazing experience. Our trip ended on a dancing note 🙂

I will go back to Kabini for sure till the time I spot the big cats and even after that. It was an amazing experience and it taught me a lot about wild life and photography. I now have great memories and it will remain with me for all my life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:-

Kamal heads operations for a Bangalore based startup engaged in providing strategy and consulting to fortune 500 companies. Kamal is an avid photographer and grabs whatever chance he gets to take the camera out to take some shots. He focuses on wildlife and portrait photography. He has traveled to many national parks within India and plans to cover at least 2 national parks every year.