The curious Tiger and the curled up pangolin!

Pangolin the scaly ant eater!!!

PANGOLIN AND TIGER

Pangolin is the rarest animal one can come across in the central indian jungle, and here I saw this Pangolin all rolled up like a soccer ball and being rolled around by two sub-adult Tigers who were just too curious about it. They tried biting did not succeed they tried to use claws still no use, one of the tigers got tired and left it alone the second Tiger still continued to try killing it, after some time even this tiger left the pangolin alone this is when it took its head out and started to escape, the tiger saw this and pounced on the pangolin and it again rolled up like a ball.The tiger did not manage to kill this pangolin till I was there. This was my luckiest day out in the bush so far, a once in a lifetime sight may be.

First Glimpse of the jungle

Morning of 1st October 2008 I was excited to enter the Bandhavgarh jungle as for three month I was away from my office the bandhavgarh national park.
As I entered I was totally enticed by the jungle which was lush green, much greener than how I had left it when I saw it last, this was all the result of good rains during the monsoon months.
It was for five minutes I had entered the park and what was to come was unknown to me as I was just engrossed viewing the beauty of the jungle, as I moved ahead I saw a small group of vehicles gathered at one place and few of the drivers and guides waved out at me to come up ahead as I pulled up close to where the jeeps were I heard a short growl from the bushes to my right, there I saw my first tiger sitting under a bamboo bush! There was more to come suddenly I saw some movement in the bush behind where the tiger was sitting and there emerged the second tiger which was a female.I waited patiently for a few minutes as both tigers disappeared behind a bush and heard a lot of growls from both the tigers. Evidently it was a mating pair and the male was trying to court but the female was growling and pushing the male out of the bushes. I took this picture when the male was pushed out by the growling female and it paid a little attention towards our vehicles which were witness to its ongoing struggle.

Back in jungle after the Monsoon

Its a great feeling to be in the jungle after the monsoon, its lush green and water all around and its totally opposite from what we left it as, when I left from bandhavgarh it was dry and the whole jungle was yellow bamboo leaves were all over the forest floor the only tree which was green was the sal tree which gave the jungle different shades from yellow to green with some red in the middle. Now when I came back i saw a complete change the jungle is green from top to bottom there is lush green grass on the forest floor and the bamboo is green too, the rivers are flowing in full bloom and water bodies are filled with fresh rain water.

Great closing to the summer of 2008, this is my classic tiger shot for the season! a male tiger posing in perfect golden light.........

White rumped Shama

The white rumped shama is very rarely seen at bandhavgarh that makes it even more difficult to photograph i was lucky to get this shot of the Indian song bird it has a very beautiful and melodic call.

curiousity

You can see the curiousity in his eyes he came six feet from our jeep and just stared at us!!

This cub din't follow the mother but walked towards our vehicle curiosly looking at us!

The mother cautiously looking to cross the road

We waited for twenty minutes and then we heard alarm calls of chital and monkeys and within a few minutes we saw this tigeress and her two cubs come down the hill this was the first clear view we got of them, this was the beginning of one of best tiger sightings this season, bandhavgarh this summer is booming with tiger sightings many more to come.

This baby rhesus macaque was trying to hide behind its mother and at the same time was curious to see whats happening.

Mirchaini female

she walked right in front of my jeep

Baby langur

A baby langur staring straight at my lens

The rock agama displaying its colors posing on a rock.

The second cub came out in this fashion, just caught it in the air.

CUB 1

One of the three, four month old cubs of the vanvai female tigeress crossing the road in a dash. I had this wonderful sighting some days back, saw all the three cubs and mother for a good twenty minutes before they crossed the road and went in the jungle canopy.

The Angry Snarl!

I have named this image The Angry Snarl! This is the mirchaini female tiger, she has two cubs.

Curious Cub

A curious 7 month old cub of the mirchaini female at bandhavgarh, this cub was deep inside in the bamboo but as my jeep approached the spot this cub came out curiously to see wat was happening, this cub stayed there for ten minutes till another cub and the mother came with a small chital kill, seeing which he went in the bamboo clumps again, then we heard them play for another half hour.

Cinnamon Bittern

This was my first sighting of a cinnamon bittern at bandhavgarh , this bird is not very common around this area.

The Colourful Waterhole

Anyone who has been to bandhavgarh would recognize this place, yes this place is the Gopalpur waterhole which is situated next to the Chakradhara grassland. When I parked my jeep near this waterhole the first thing I noticed was the red water and at once i thought that may be a tiger has made a kill in the waterhole but soon i realized that the red colour was from the algae on the water, another thing i noticed was that the canopy of trees and bushes behind the waterhole have varying colours too, that's mainly because the bamboo leafs are drying and falling and so are some of the other tree leafs. I love this picture because it potrays the actual beauty of the jungle and shows how colourful the jungle can become.