Bandhavgarh Bloom
As winter bids farewell to Bandhavgarh, mild showers continue to breath a fresh life in a forest which is all set to face a tough summer ahead. The mahua bloom is on the swing and damp smell of the mahua along with the fresh budding on the saal tree tops adds a fresh flavor to the park just before the onset of the summer.
Having said this, Bandhavgarh springs are fascinating to shoot the striped wonders of this tiger country. The soft morning and evening light along with breathtaking backdrops of colorful saal, tesu and cotton silk flowers give the edge to images which are normally very bland during summers.
Here are some images from the 2013 Bandhavgarh spring:
Nature’s Touch – A Nature Wanderers Wildlife Photography Show (8th Dec – 13th Dec)
Lokayat Art Gallery, New Delhi
New Delhi, December 8, 2012 : Nature Wanderers – the leading wildlife photography training organisation – launches Nature’s Touch : A wildlife photography show that would showcase the work of a talented bunch of 25 photographers from across India at the Lokayat Art Gallery in New Delhi from December 8th to 13th, 2012.
The exhibition is the first of its kind to promote wildlife and nature photography in the capital city of India. The exhibitors are a mix of senior corporate executives, school kids and entrepreneurs who have seriously pursued wildlife photography as a passion and have worked really hard in creating these wonderful images across forests like Bandhavgarh, Ranthambhore, Corbett, Tadoba, Yala (Sri Lanka) and Masai Mara.
Leading wildlife film-maker Mike Pandey would be inaugurating this show in the presence of top notch nature photographers of India.
Venue : Lokayat Art Gallery
Opening Ceremony : Dec 8th at 5pm
Exhibition Timings : 11am to 8pm from Dec 9th to 13th
For Queries Please Contact
Kahini Ghosh Mehta – kahini@naturewanderers.com, +91 9871367945
Attika Jain – +91 9953240242
Magical Saatra (T17)
In June 2012 when the forests of India were about to close for monsoons, T17 – the lady of the lakes – at Ranthambhore National Park gave a much awaited news as her tiny little cubs were seen for the first time in Rajbagh – an area which she acquired from her legendary mother Machali who ruled this kingdom for over a decade. Tiger lovers, photographers and wildlife enthusiasts across India anxiously waited through the monsoon quarter for the park to reopen. The popular belief was that the era of Machali would be back in Ranthambhore with her daughter raising a little of 3 in the majestic backdrops of the palatial ruines of Rajbagh and the Ranthambhore fort. The stage was looking set for the drama to begin but T17 had other ideas.
T17 during one of her territory patrols
Pressure from dominant males encroaching into her territory forced the inexperienced first time mother to move her cubs out of the prime locales of Ranthambhore as she found a new home in the upper terrains of Kachida. The lady of the lakes now made short and quick visits to her palatial property and started spending more time in an area which was dense and unaccessible by tourists. After the initial glimpses of her cubs through the months of October and November, the protective mother who has always been a photographer’s delight made brief public appearances.
However one fine morning on Dec 3rd, the queen was back in action after a silence of more than a fortnight. Drama unfolded on Kachida hill tops today morning as T17 emerged from nowhere and speeded across the golden hills responding to sambhar alarm calls for a leopard that had stationed itself on the top of a cliff. With the valley resounding with alarm calls for the 2 cats it was an anticipated wait. Suddenly T17 emerged out in the open with a stolen sambhar which she gracefully draged in beautiful morning light…
T17 on Dec 3rd, 2012
8 Hours on a Machaan
June 2006
Deep inside the heavily wooded forest of Corbett National Park rests a Machaan that gives shelter to hundreds of photographers, naturalists and tourists visiting Corbett every year. Approximately 30 feet in height, this old machaan gives a panoramic view of the picturesque Dhikala grasslands and the Ramganga river that supports a multitude of life forms in Corbett National Park. “The forest is always buzzing with activity,” the statement holds true once you spend a quite afternoon on this structure in the heart of wilderness.
It was the month of June when Kahini and I set off from the Gairal forest rest house in Corbett early in the morning in search of the dominant male tiger in the Khinnauli belt. We had been tracking the striped beauty for the last 2 days and our chances were becoming brighter as we saw fresh tracks early that morning along with frantic alarm calls of spotted deer. However luck was not in our favor again as after waiting for over 2 hours near the river side (where we were expecting the arrival of the tiger) the beast still eluded me and my camera.
As we continued our journey by heading towards the Dhikala grasslands the passing vehicles informed us about tiger movements on the Sambhar Road and we rushed towards our beloved Sambhar Road watchtower which gives the perfect view of the area in which the tiger was prowling. We boarded the machchan at 8:30 am and strained our ears to listen to the faintest of sounds of the alarm calls that would announce the arrival of the king. In the next couple of hours the forest went silent and the cool breeze put me to sleep. A watchtower can be a wonderful place for catching some sleep as the calmness and tranquility of the forest is very relaxing indeed.
The silence was broken by a black jungle crow that woke us up with his hoarse calls and to our surprise we sighted a beautiful collared falconet right in front of us. The atmosphere was filled with excitement yet again as a pair of pallas fishing eagle took off from inside the forest and stormed past the watchtower making a screeching sound giving us a great shot of the flight of the eagle. Following this Kahini spotted a pair of pied kingfishers hovering over the river in search of their lunch. Their close cousins – the white throated kingfishers – followed them and looked stunning with their colorful wings wide open.
Amidst the birding action, a small herd of spotted deer inched closure to the river and boosted our chances of tracking the tiger. The weather was perfect for a tiger to approach a water body as it was getting hotter and humid as the clock ticked. And then the spotted deers in front of us made a low alarm call. We could see that all the deers were pointing in one direction and stamping their feet in the water in nervousness.
The excitement was at its peak as this is what tiger tracking is all about. This is why the tiger sends shivers down the spines of the jungle folk when it moves fearlessly in forests of India. It was only a matter of time now and we were anxiously waiting as everything was falling into place… 10 minutes went by and by now the alarm calls became louder. Our eyes were glued to a patch of lantana from where we were expecting the tiger to come. My sleep had vanished and I was ready to shoot with my fingers half pressed on my camera shutter. It was 4 pm and with a slight disturbance in the lantana, out walked the tiger. Those magical stripes were shining brightly in the sun and the tiger walked past the deer herd majestically to choose his preferred spot in the river.
It was a big male and he rested royally in the middle of the sparkling Ramganga for the next 20 minutes!
Vijaya brigade & their play…
Vijaya’s young battalion of 3 cubs were very quite for the past few days. They were giving brief appearances in the Sidhbaba grassland and in the presence of Mom and Dad (Sashi) loitering around in the Jumuniah area the cubs were lethargic and did not indulge in any major play as the sun went down. However yesterday the scenario was different. Dad headed of to the badi gufa and Mom was out on a hunt. 5pm in the evening, the cubs made an appearance from the cool swamps under the jamun trees in front of Sidhbaba and for the next 45 minutes they displayed some extraordinary play which have not been witnessed in Bandhavgarh for ages.
Punches, chases, arial fights, bonding, love – it was a mix of emotions and the spectators were spell bound seeing the energy level of these cubs. The grassland had become a boxing ring for these young guns as they played merrily for the whole evening and continued to enjoy the session event after the tourist vehicles called it a day.
A Royal Walkabout
Tiger Diary – Published by Tiger Nation
BANDHAVGARH, MAY 2012: Vijaya, like all mother’s, has up till now taken a careful approach to bringing out her gangly 6 month old kids in any formal way. She has preferred to keep them off roads skirting forests and meadows in her bid to protect them.
Not anymore. She set out to lead her family on a distinct Royal tour, sauntering contentedly along the very road that she has watched thousands of pilgrims move on high days and holidays, as well as countless visitors every day.
Her merry band of youngsters followed her quite contentedly, often stopping to play with one another, bite each other tail, or sideling up to mum to complain that they are bored of walking.
Mum though was on a mission, and from the Chakradhara meadows, she proceeded up the hill towards the fort’s main entrance and then up the 10th century carved stairs at Vishnu’s temple before vanishing into the forested hills behind.
Vijaya’s Royal walkabout suggest that she is perfectly comfortable with her ‘Princess’ status in the Tala range.
Bandhavgarh @ 50mm
My 50mm hysteria continued after the first bit of experimentation in Corbett and this time the decisions were bolder for the subject and opportunities in question were rarer and the risk of missing out superb tight frames was higher. However trying this on the striped cats was great fun never-the-less. The reactions of the people around me was very amusing whenever I mounted this mini-glass on my camera. I remember that while I was creating a 50mm perspective of the devoted one eyed beauty Vijaya (Kankatti), someone in the crowd of tourist was murmuring in the background – “Seems he has forgotten to put his lens in excitement !”
Pleased to share some of the images created during my recent trip to Bandhavgarh National Park:
The King of the Meadows
Unseasonal rains, misty mornings and extreme cold were making Kanha National Park a tough destination from a photography perspective this January. The cat action had gone done considerably so I had diverted my attention to landscapes and swamp deers (barasingha). I was particularly interested in swamp deers as I was yet to get that good perspective of a swamp deer stag in the ever beautiful and scenic Kanha meadows. Unfortunately in my previous visits to Kanha, a stag was something which I had missed.
Seeing the weather and shooting conditions, I decided to focus my attention on the meadows and grassland and the hunt for swamp deers were on. Every round in the park yielded some nice swamp deer perspectives and it was a smooth sail. That particular evening drive however had something different in store.
With minimal cat expectations and engrossed in the thoughts of capturing Kanha’s in its mystic and damp spirit, Kahini and I set out for the evening round. We were as usual chasing the evening light in the meadows as I wanted to work on swamp deers in the typical evening mood of the meadows. As our vehicle speeded through the narrow forest tracks, I nearly dozed off post the heavy lunch. The sleep was however short-lived for the driver gave me a big jolt by putting the breaks on. The jolt in front of me was bigger!
Munna – the dominant male of Kanha meadows – suddenly emerged out on the right of the road ready for an evening stroll towards the Kanha meadows. The giant male lazily did a scat marking on the side of the road and strolled in grand fashion in front of the vehicle.
Rather than picking up the biggest lens to shoot the mighty beast, I decided to experiment with habitat perspectives which is something I always like to do. Unfortunately, this was a Nature Wanderers event and the participants have the first right on my equipments. I had given away most of my equipments to the Canon Wild Clicks equipments and was left with just 1 camera body to shoot. So the choice had to be swift…
The decision was in favor of a Canon 24-70 f2.8 and a 70-200 f2.8 and I juggled between both these lenses to capture the king’s walk. Shooting big cats that have ventured close to your vehicle with lower focal lengths capture’s the mood of the forest. It differentiates a Kanha picture from a Ranthambhore image for both are different terrains with their own unique features.
A tiger is a tiger… from a photographer’s perspective it becomes imperative to think and create frames that transports a viewer to that particular forest. I have seen some superb habitat perspectives of tigers in the wild taken by my counterparts and I respect the instant creativity shown by those photographers.
For now, dedicating this note the charismatic Munna and his majestic forest…
Mesmerized by the Mangroves
(Memorable encounter with the only Sunderban tiger I have seen till date)
Aug 2010: As I left my car after witnessing the beautiful and green Bengal countryside and boarded my boat for Sunderbans, I had mixed feelings… I was loaded with expectations. Expectations to shoot some of my most memorable shots and ofcourse having seen the largest mangrove forest of the world through the eyes of my wonderful fellow photographers I was expecting to see some of the most outstanding landscapes of the country. With every bend and turn that the boat was taking my expectations and beliefs started turning into a reality and as I crossed the last village to enter the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, I was amazed to see this remote and hidden nature treasure of India and yet again India’s natural beauty filled me with pride.
Having tracked tigers for years in the dry and deciduous forests of the plains and the thick forests of lower Himalayas, we knew that this terrain would not be that easy as here you don’t track tigers and just hope that you are being tracked by the Royal Bengal Tiger. Tigers would no longer be like a needle in the hay-sack for us. Rather the needle here is somewhere there and can see you but you really need to have some stupendous luck to find it.
Not worrying about the tigers and just spellbound by the beauty of the place, I started my Sunderban expedition by perching myself on the Sudhanyakhali watchtower. Protecting my equipments more than myself from the intermittent rains that we were facing time and again, I dozed off in the shady comforts of the strategically built watchtower. Suddenly some commotion behind me disturbed me and I realized that Kahini had caught hold of a beautiful ornamental flying snake that was hanging above my head while I was asleep. She dragged the striped beauty out and as soon as it found its escape route towards the roof-top of the watchtower, I was wondering whether I should feel excited about shooting this awesome looking reptile or thank Kahini for saving me from the snake bite. The locals had something to smile about… “The snake knows that your name has a connection with Lord Shiva,” remarked the boatman as we were laughing at the incident. Far below on the swampy river beds I could see a flurry of red and yellow spots which turned out to be the fiddler crabs that were glowing bright in daylight.
It was an eventful day indeed and early next morning, I headed off to a small temple to seek the blessings of the Bandevi (forest goddess). “Need just that one moment I can cherish forever!” I told myself and headed off for my cruise. As I was setting my camera doing the routine early morning camera settings check, I noticed a small object on the right hand creek. The suspect escaped our eyes as well and we assumed it to be a stone. Within seconds something struck Kahini and she asked the boat to go back towards the creek. A collared kingfisher was sitting at a close range and my irritation levels grew high as the boat was back gearing at full speed not allowing me to focus on the kingfisher shot. “Dada… BAGH… BAGH! (Tiger, tiger)” Kahini shouted standing on the edge of the boat holding the rod with hand and looking through the binocs using the other.
I was still concentrating on my kingfisher as I was sure it would be a stone. From the corner of my eye, I saw the boatman along with Kahini and the guide hurling the anchor so as to get a clear view of the creek. The boat swayed from one direction to the other and so did the creek! As we gained stability I strained my eyes and was not ready to believe what I was seeing. I pointed my 400mm lens towards the creek and was wondering if this was a statue as a young Royal Bengal Tiger sat still at the edge of the creek. I concentrated hard and saw the tiger moving its head and looking straight towards me. For some reason I was just looking through the view finder and was not pressing the shutter. Having taken hundreds of tiger shots from a distance as close as 8-10 feet, my hands were going numb because of a Sunderban tiger that was sitting more than 500mts away. The lens had turned into a mere telescope for me and I stood still frozen and shaken.
“Shivang, are you shooting?” I could faintly hear Kahini’s voice when the boatman came and shook me. I took a few seconds to regain my composure and started shooting this beautiful Royal Bengal Tiger as he majestically approached the river and swam past in true Sunderbans style in just a few seconds.
The 25 minutes I spent with the beautiful predator would be edged in my memory for time immemorial. After all this was a Royal Bengal Tiger in true sense!
