Something from Bandipura

Some images from Bandipur National Park

Meet the monitor...

Sambar stag deer - nice that we saw more numbers than any of our previous visits

Jungle fowl - Yet to get a decent capture of this, well i've missed 'n' number of chances!

Well, the story of the tiger we saw but still didn't see!

As our hired jeep approached a narrow road in the jungles of the Bandipur National Park, with the surroundings in absolute silence, and no soul nor sound on the track, we had to stop to allow the approaching jeep to pass by. The drivers exchanged pleasantries and with the passage of information posing the question "Aakade enu illa, eekade? (no sighting in that part, what about this side?). A minute passed by and the other jeep passed over to scan the other areas of the jungle. As we had to ascend an elevation, the jeep started moving slowly and in a moment of shattering silence, the driver excitedly screamed - sir, tiger nodi tiger! (thoughts of our good luck and a hope for a nice pose enveloped my mind as my eyes struggled to locate the huge stripes ahead of us, but just could not figure out where it was!) After moments of disdain, finally my eyes landed on that majestic beast hurriedly darting away into the bushes ahead of us with me getting to see the tiger from the stomach to the hind legs as it entered the bushes to the right of us (still no sounds and complete eerie silence in the jungle, i'm still surprised). But the tiger (not sure of the gender) was an hulk and majestic and it was all that we were entitled too in the safari ride. The next 90 minutes of ours went from excitement to disappointment as we tried to track where the tiger could have gone, rounded up the entire area couple of times, but as it turned out to be, we had nothing to cheer for!

Its been an year since our last sighting and this one was more like a trailer show for us, hope we are due for a full movie soon and I personally hope its 'very soon' :)