Trip to Kenya and Tanzania -- Part I - Masai Mara .

 Finally the day came for the long awaited trip to  Masai Mara and Serengeti  .   I took off on 29th September 2023 . I was to be there for 11 days.

The late night Indigo flight from Bombay landed at Nairobi at about 6 O'clock in the morning.  Millicent and William of Go Africa were there at the airport to receive me. William , a Masai , was  to be my driver and game guide for three days at Mara and then to drop me at Isebania immigration post  for crossing over to Tanzania.

Millicent gave me a small briefing of what to expect at Masai Mara.  She told me that reverse migration, from Masai Mara to Northern Serengeti ,   has taken place a bit early this year due to scant rains in Kenya.  Migration is totally dependent on rains but I was not to worry . Masai Mara  has  lots of wildlife to explore during my sojourn there. And  October being dry season there , visibility will be good with less number of tourists.  William , decked up in his traditional Masai attire , gave me a thumbs up with a broad smile. He spoke English.

Nairobi-Mara drive by  4x4 safari Land Cruiser took more than 8 hours including 2 midway stops at Rift Valley and Narok. The distance was only about 230kms but most of Kenya roads are dusty macadams which by modern standards are primitive . Therefore long drives are very uncomfortable.  Modern tar paved roads are few but maximum 50kmph rule is fallowed on them very strictly despite of scant road traffic. In a way it's good. Over speeding needs to be controlled.

My stay in Mara was at Mara Crossings luxury camp. This is the only permanent tented camp in Masai Mara right on river Mara. You can sit in the camp's lounge and watch Hippos and Crocodiles right below in the river. From  evening  six  to morning six , Masai guards escort you when you need to go anywhere in the premises . Its a safety protocol as the Camp is located in the forest.  Hyena and Hippo calls may disturb your sleep in the night..

                                                                                   

     Masai Mara is beautifully scenic. Miles and miles of green rolling plains mesmerize you. Lone           acacia trees standing in the middle add further to the scenic beauty. However photography from the Land Cruiser safari vehicle is a bit odd. One has to stand up in the seat and place the camera on the rails of the open roof of the safari vehicle . There is total loss of eye level unless one is happen to click large animals like Elephants or Giraffe. The side open safari vehicles , which are ideal for photography, are run only by Conservancies for their guests. Since they don't provide airport pickup , one has to either take a bush flight or taxi to reach them.

African wildlife parks allow game drives from morning six to evening six. But the morning and evening hours are the only good times for photography. The mid day hours are not suitable due to strong sunlight and atmospheric haze and dust. 

I was lucky to get a Lioness sitting on an earthen mound watching a group of Cape Buffalos across the road . My vehicle was in the middle so I could get shots of both by moving from one side to other.

                                                                              

The next day morning drive was beautiful. It had rained in the night which had a cleaning effect upon the entire area but with a light blue haze . However as the Sun rose , the haze was gone and it became picture perfect . I met a lone Tusker and a pair of Ostriches resting in the ground after having taken their dust bath.

I found  whole day game drives a bit tiring and moreover the best time for photography were  mornings and evenings . Therefore I decided to come back to Camp by 11.00 - 11.30 and then again go for drives in the evening around 4.00 p.m. And these drives proved to be best for photography as the animal movement was most during these hours. A Giraffe and a beautiful African Leopard were clicked.

Masai Mara is the place for appreciating natural beauty and enjoying the  abundance of its fantastic wildlife visually . One need to give his camera a rest for sometime and capture visuals from the eyes. It's equally enjoying. The sunsets are so beautiful that you get completely  mesmerized with the nature. It happened with me. I was lost enjoying a sunset and it was William who reminded me to pick up the camera and click it. Thanks to William . But for his remind I would have lost the shot.

Serengeti and Ngoro Goran in the next the blog which I will try to post soon.  Thanks in the meantime. And do put in your comments.

Tadoba April 2022

 I was planning  a Tadoba visit in early 2022 but spurts of Covid  followed by park closures and travel restrictions spoiled the schedule. As a result my February program was cancelled.

Finally it materialized in April.. Reached Nagpur at 12 midnight , thanks to Indigo which kept advancing flight departure on and on,  and by the time I reached Svasara it  was 2.00 a.m. There  hardly was any time left for a good  sleep and  by 5.00 a.m. it was again time to get ready for the safari.

My safari was in Kolara buffer from Madnapur gate . For me, visiting Tadoba after a gap of 2 years , it was a new gate. I drove around Madanapur lake in search of Lara and her cubs but in vain. Finally around 9.00 a.m. a returning jeep informed that Matkasur has been sighted at Lainbodi water hole. All jeeps then headed to the destination described.

And there was Matkasur, the famous and fearsome erstwhile King of Panderpavni area in 2016-2017. Now driven out from his native territory, he seem to be living in exile. But it was good to see the battle hardened Matkasur resting under the shade of a wild Jamun tree.

The next day safari was in Kolara core and as luck would have it , a tigress was sighted at a waterhole just 10 minutes after start. Light conditions were poor but nevertheless a record shot was taken, She came out in open for a few seconds after finishing her sip.

                                                                                 

                                                                                       

That was a good start. My guide, a local girl, was very enthused. We then headed towards Panderpavni #2 and  hardly had driven for about 10 minutes  when she asked the driver to stop. On the bifurcating road, that we had  passed a little,  there was the famous Tadoba tigress Maya with her beau Balram in a mating courtship sitting some 20-30 feet apart from each other. Later Maya came to her beau and went in to sleep

                                                                                  

The couple sat there for about 45 minutes or so . There was a long line of tourist vehicles on the jungle road. Then Maya got up from her slumber and started walking towards  Pandrpavni #2 with Balram in tow. Experienced photographers anticipating the opportunity rushed to the waterhole in order to secure vantage points for photographing the duo when they descend to  waters. After some time that moment arrived  and then shutters clicked continuously for sometime.

In the  afternoon I was advised to check Teliya lake area . In the morning a tigress and her cubs were sighted there. The dominant male tiger of that area known as "Bajrang"was also seen .  So I proceeded to Teliya lake.

Teliya lake is quite far off from Kolara gate and due to prescribed vehicle speed limit of 20 kmph the distance felt never ending . The slow drive soon became boring. But fortunately I met tigress Lara sitting under a tree on the roadside. There were two other tourist vehicles also. The tigress seemed to be warding off April heat in her short slumbers . She yawned and revealed her age. A broken canine , missing incisor and yellowing teeth line surely indicated of her getting old. I had seen her first  in December 2012 when she was a sub-adult.

                                                                                

My next and last safari was at Alizanza buffer of the tiger reserve. I drove past the Kinichua waterhole ;which once used to be central point of the photographers because its being the favorite place of the male tiger called 'Rana'.  Besides it was a  green shaded area and close proximity to water provided many birding opportunities in the summers. However some 3 years ago forest department's development work in the area changed the entire facade of Kinichua. It  lost is old charm.

My guide opined that we stop on the jungle road by the side of a flowing narrow nala where he said male tiger "Chota Matka" was seen in the morning. I stopped there and waited for about 3 hours and then out of sheer boredom  asked the jeep driver to move ahead. There was some bird activity in the nala vegetation and I  clicked a Paradise Fly Catcher. I had driven for about 2 km form the previous halting point .
                                                                                

Then all of a sudden some activity was sensed in the wild and my guide told the jeep driver to reverse and rush to the old spot. All tourist jeeps standing dormant so far came to life and started making a beeline 

towards our going.

I had cautioned my jeep driver not to go too close as I was was using a 400 mm lens but the driver, in the haste of reaching to the animal first , lost the caution and stopped too close to "Chota Matka"who after crossing the nala, was trying to come on the jungle road.

I lost a wonderful photo opportunity and be content with a record shot. ' Chota Matka' is a huge 10 feet male tiger. Watching him walk just 3 feet away from the jeep was a thrill of super kind.

                                                                              

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Panna Tiger Reserve

 My Singapore based friend  was very keen  visiting Panna Tiger Reserve for long but due to   COVID restrictions placed by Singapore government he could come to India only in December 2021. I made arrangements then and we are were off to Panna.

We drove to Tenduleaf Resort , our stay at Panna ,   which is about 312 km from my place. Leaving early in the morning we covered Kanpur in 90 minutes but thereafter traffic up to Ghatampur and 30 km beyond was horrible. We wasted about 2 hours in the traffic jam, reaching our destination around 5 pm.

Panna Tiger Reserve is located in north MP and spreads in districts of Panna and Chatarpur over an area of 1645 km of which about 542 km is the core area. Only 20% of the core is open for tourism. River Ken meanders through  for about 55 km from South to North acting as a lifeline to the Reserve and dividing it in to two. It is a picturesque deciduous forest with large open Savanna grasslands.

Panna enjoys a very special place in the history of tiger conservation in India. From zero tiger count in 2009 to 70 tigers of now ,  Panna is the testimony of  brilliant and determined work done by the forest personnel under the leadership of Mr. R S Murthy , the then Director of PTR. It became a Project Tiger Reserve in 1994. 

PTR houses a very rich and varied wildlife right from Tigers to Leopards , incidentally Panna has richest concentration of Leopards among all wildlife parks in India , around 270 ,  Sloth Bears, Wild Cat, Dholes, and a variety of Deer . Some of the most healthy Sambhar Deer specimen can be seen here. It is also very rich in avian life and is a breeding place of red billed King Vultures.

My 27th December morning safari started from Madla gate with the sighting of a male Leopard who was on the prowl in the  early hours.

                                                                      

That was a good sighting. Moving further and after about 25 minutes we came across Tigress T-151 with her two 10-11 month old cubs. She came upon the jungle road and sat down hardly some 15-20 feet distant from our jeep. One of her more playful cubs climbed up upon a nearby tree branch.

                                                                                  

                                                                                        

We met Tigress T-151 and her cubs again in the late evening near Chauka Rapta area . They were crossing the river on their way to the other part of the jungle.

                                                                            

                                                                                  

                                                                                      

Thus the first day was quite entertaining. But the weather God brought rains in the night and that wet spell continued for the next two days. Rains and poor light made photography difficult. However on the the third day morning, when the rains had subsided a lot and day light  improved somewhat ,we met the cubs of Tigress T-141. These two cubs are almost adults but still accompany their mother. So the expectation was very high that the Tigress T - 141 may also be somewhere in the vicinity.

                                                                         

                                                                                    

                                                                                  

In the afternoon, search for the trio continued and ultimately all were spotted in a thicket by the side of the jungle road. In no time all safari jeeps converged near the spot on the narrow  road in order to have look of the T-141 family when they cross the road.

My Guide did some smart thinking. He estimated that it would be some time before the T-141 family comes out of its hide and cross the road and in the meanwhile he would approach from the other end of the road so that we get a front view when the tiger crossing takes place.

I must admit his estimation was 100% accurate. In 10 minutes we made a turn around positioning ourselves on the jungle road about 25 feet distant and just opposite the rest of the safari jeeps waiting for the grand spectacle to happen.  And lo, the family crossed the road after about 10 minutes ; first the mother T-141 followed by her two cubs.

That moment I decided to rest my camera and give a chance to my phone. Enjoy the video. Click the blue.

                                                                             

Tiger Family

                                                                          

                                                                          
                                                                    

                                                                     

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The First Tiger

                                                            

My love affair with nature and wildlife photography started with a chance head-on encounter with a Royal Bengal Tiger in the narrow winding ghat roads of Amarkantak. It was way back in late eighties. I was working then with Raymond at their cement plant at Bilaspur. The company had given me a new Padmini car under their 'Own Your Car Scheme' and that facilitated my journeys to Lucknow , my home town, on annual leaves which I  used to take usually at the year end in the month of December. The  Durg - Sarnath  Express, the present day daily train between Allahabad and Durg, was a weekly train then sans any air conditioned coach.

So on one December morning we four - my wife, her mother,  my five years old son Akash and me, left Bilaspur early in the morning. The idea was to reach Allahabad before sunset in order to avoid the winter evening fog which one finds enveloping the road on approaching U P border. I was keen to pass the Sohagi Ghati area before sunset.

By 8 a. m. we were on the Amarkantak plateau. I was happy to maintain time. In the next 15-20 minutes the winding ghat road was to come to an end.  Thereafter road was mostly straight and I could speed.

Anyone who has driven in that sector will recall Amarkantak plateau's straight road turning into a deep incline at its end towards Shahdol. That very steep gradient runs for about 800 meter or so with two equally extreme hairpin bends in between marking end of the first and start of the second leg of that dangerous road section. It demands total concentration on the part of the driver. Any slip can send one down into the deep khadd.

I had driven past almost half of the slope. Driving slow in 2nd gear I was concentrating negotiating the first steep hairpin bend which was ahead and to come in a minute.  I then felt my wife's hand pressing my left shoulder, a  light press followed by a quick hard one like  dits and dahs of the Morse code. "Don't worry. I see the bend " said I to assure her.

"Oh , don't be silly. Stop and look to your left". There was a note of alarm in her voice. Applying brakes gently I pulled the hand brake lever backwards to the full lest the car rolls down the slope and turned my head leftwards as commanded. The car engine was running.

My searching eyes glanced the leftward area but failed to find anything noticeable. "Where, where", I asked Damini, my wife. Pointing her finger across the windshield she guided my vision to a point which was about 20 feet distant from the car. "Look there in the grass"she said.

There, at the spot amidst green - yellow 4-5 ft tall flowering jungle grass  I noticed a faint rustling movement and then something round in shape of orange-yellow  color with black markings and double the size of a number five football  peeped out. Nest appeared a white-yellow striped leg ending its suspension from the air to terra firma very slowly like the start of Michel Jackson's moonwalk. That round massive head turned slowly first to left and then to right , in our direction , as if doing a reconnaissance.

There was a strange kind of eerie. Frankly admitting my brain's information processing function went for a toss for a few milliseconds . "What is that " I asked Damini in a state of utter confusion.

"Don't you see that Tiger. You dimwit " came back the retort. A tiger. Oh my God ! A fearful realization hit me instantly. I wanted to speed away. Instinctively my left hand reached to lower the hand brake lever.

"Don't do anything silly. Cut down the engine" said Damini. By that time  the tiger , out of the grass cover, had started walking slowly in our direction perhaps to to see the jokers who were about to cross his path encased in some nonsense looking white metal contraption.

Car windows rolled up in a jiffy and doors locked hurriedly, our eyes got fixed at the beast walking head on in our direction. My heart thumped in a fearful apprehension. Will the brute attack our car? Why not to frighten him before he does that! My fingers reached for the circular horn pad in the steering wheel only to be brushed away by a swift forceful sweep of Damini's hand.

"Sit tight . Horn my startle him and he may charge" came the stern advice.

The tiger, its head down, kept walking majestically in the middle of the road in our direction. In the diffused sunlight its shimmering winter coat looked magical. His stout body with its rhythmic rippling of shoulder and neck muscles at every step that he took, presented a cat-walk of a totally different kind.

Öh , he is very near " exclaimed Damini taking me out of the trance. I kept mum, as anyone could imagine , for after all what could I say in that state of mind. Next happened the unexpected. The feline stopped in its tracks for a second. Then lifting the  head up he gave us a brief visual inspection as close as about 7 ft from the car. And perhaps not finding us worth to his stature , the King walked down the road vanishing in the woods. 

"Hey bhagwan. Aaj to merte-merte bachey " ( O'God. What a close escape from death today ) The voice from the back seat broke the pin drop silence in the car . That  was my mother - in -law trying to regain her composure with a swig from the water bottle. But the best came from Akash who I thought was asleep. "Daddy can I step out and watch the tiger going"!

Happy ending. We reached Allahabad before sunset. Liberal doses of tea and tips on driving manners from Damini helped.

                                                                                 II

 That brief meeting with tiger ignited my passion for wildlife photography but I had  no camera. So I requested Capt. Prabhakar, the Chief Pilot of Raymond to get me one. As luck would have it Capt. Prabhakar was to leave soon for Singapore for  fitting of some new avionics in the company's aircraft and when he landed back at Bilaspur a month later I was  presented an   Olympus OM-2N body along with  Zuiko 50 mm and 100 mm telephoto lenses. I frequented Achanakmar forest  regularly on every Sunday thereafter hoping to see a tiger and taking a shot from my new acquisition. But the animal did not oblige. In the meanwhile my job had started demanding time and therefore camera had to be put back in its bag. Nevertheless I learnt and my understanding of photography gradually improved. 

In 2001 I came to Indogulf Fertilisers , Jagdishpur. There in its verdant campus my bungalow abutted a 6 acres of man made forest and home to about two dozen Peacocks, many Monitor Lizards, a pack of Jackals,  few Pythons and a variety of birds. Sort of a mini zoo. Beautiful roses and other seasonal flowers were another visual delight. I started thinking of picking up camera again and thus while returning from one of my foreign jaunts I picked up a DSLR and a telephoto lens.

All this went on fine but deep somewhere  in the heart the dormant longing to click tiger in its environs got live again. Unable to suppress any longer I ranged up a wildlife photographer friend on mine for advice. After hearing me patiently he gave me some appreciable tips. He said that I shouldn't be "tiger - centric" but aim for the entire gamut of wonderful fauna that our country is endowed of and before embarking I must read as much as I can about tiger to know the animal. He said that wildlife photography was arduous and time taking . He doubted I was really ready for it. In a way he was right.

As advised I went for the wildlife literature whatever I could lay hands on. Books by Prater, Champion, Kipling, Sterndale, Jim Corbett and Anderson et al were read. That gave me lot of awareness about nature , tiger and biodiversity. 

After retirement in 2011 I had lot of time. So giving a start to my long pending desire I started visiting tiger reserves. Bandhavgarh, Tadoba and Pench are my favorites. I tried the neighboring Dudhwa also but gave up after sometime finding it not photographer friendly. A beautiful park but needing professional management.

 Photographing tigers has been a  memorable phase of my life and the feline  impressed me thoroughly. Suffice to say that tiger is the most majestic animal  both in appearance and personal traits. No other wild animal can equal tiger.  In 2017 I authored a book on tiger titled "The Vanishing Stripes". The book was rated as 'most authentic' work on Royal Bengal Tiger in India.

                                                                         III

Of late wildlife and nature photography had become very popular in the country. The advent of digital cameras  and rising income levels have made this possible. More and more people now are drawn to tiger reserves to see the Royal Bengal Tiger and click him in his natural habitat. That is very heart warming. But simply being a wildlife photographer is not enough. The increasing number of tiger lovers in the country must  advocate the cause of conservation also as our jungle are being cut mercilessly in the name of infrastructure and development. Our greed and destructive genius both combined together are destroying nation's flora and fauna . We are losing our wilds and wetlands at an alarming rate. Wild denizens are short of living space and falling prey to snare , poison and bullet in search of home. And now that the words "poor"and "adivasi" have acquired a strong political connotation , tiger and jungle both  face an aggravated danger of being destroyed in the name of "public welfare" as we saw it happening in the recent past in Maharashtra. On the other hand we have not been able to prevent large scale  poaching  that  goes on unabated , unreported and assuming form  of a lucrative profession. This year we have lost about 400 Leopards, 80 Elephants and more than 100 Tigers , the ratio of natural vs. unnatural deaths being 40:60 respectively. It is very sad to read that  we are left now  with less than 150 Great Indian Bustards or that our unique One Horned Rhino is being killed at the rate of one animal per month for its horns, The present trend continuing , India may be devoid of its jungles and wildlife in the next 50 years. Generations coming after us will see the wild animals only in photographs. Books may read like "once upon a time there used to be forests and tigers in India". With that thought , as a wildlife and nature  photographer, I seem to be doing a good job - for the posterity.

                                                           ___________________________

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Testing Canon 5 D mark IV with Canon Extender 2x iii and 1.4x iii with EF 300mm F/2.8 L II telephoto lens - A field Report

 Though I had received my Canon 5 D Mark IV body and Extender 2x iii in February 2020 itself , I couldn't test them due to Covid 19 lock down that followed soon after. It was only in the first week of November , when the Covid spread stood contained quite a lot,  that I decided to head for Himalayan foothills for field testing my newly acquired imaging gears.

I spent 2 days in Chafi  and Pangot forests near the hill station of Nainital in Uttarakhand. .  These two areas are known for being the finest places for all those who may wish to click a wide species of  Himalayan birds. My idea was to capture some challenging objects in their native environs so as to understand the technical capabilities of the equipment while testing one's camera skills and physical fitness too. Himalayan forests were the perfect place for it.

As we know that Extender 2x reduces light by 2 stops. Thus my 300 F/2.8 L II lens became F/ 5.6 . I clicked a Himalayan Black Partridge to start with at F/5.6 , 1/800, ISO 6400 with minus 0.7 compensation. It was shot in RAW and converted to JPG after processing with Canon DDP 4 software. The result was quite acceptable. ( All other images also are shot in RAW and converted to JPG as explained above. )

Next I shot a Greater Yellow-nape Woodpecker at F/7.1, 1/200 at ISO 6400. Again the image didn't disappoint.

Next I tried some shots with Extender 1.4x. Here the results were excellent . I shot in AV, TV and P modes just to find out camera performance and I must admit that it gave me no cause to complain. Even in most trying light conditions, low and back light, results were very nice.

             F/5 , 1/1000 , ISO 3200 

                                                                   F/4, 1/1000 , ISO 4000

F/6.3 , 1 /1000 , ISO 3200

The test was satisfying. Extender 2x iii performs well on EOS 5 D Mark IV body provided it is mated with a prime lens. With Extender 1.4 x it is as sharp as the bare telephoto lens that I was using. Also EOS 5 D Mark IV has got good resolution and  its low light performance remains very good.

Please leave your comments.

                     

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Birding at Ganeshgudi and South Goa

My birding trip to Ganeshgudi was getting postponed since long for one reason or the other. But after the Uttarakhand trip in November 2019 I promised myself to visit Ganeshgudi in the new year. And thus I was at the famous Old Magazine House,  the so called Birder's  Mecca  at Ganeshgudi, in the first week of February 2020 for a 2 day birding trip.

The Old Magazine House is located amidst verdant forest.  The   set up there  is basic but comfortable as it should be at a jungle lodge. The surroundings are absolutely serene giving you the much desired relief from the cacophony and huff that a urban dweller gets 24x7 in the city. And so is the air : pure sans poisonous mixture of fumes of various origins. Very  good for the lung detoxification.

 The Old Magazine House has a simple photography set up. There is a hide, of about 30 feet in length turning to the right at the end, made of green net cloth with aperture cuts or openings  at the height of about 4.5 feet. So the  camera must be mounted on a tripod or  heavy bean bag if one is using a long lens. Since the birds are not fed here, their arrival is sporadic. That means long waits . As the photographer must  stand all the time while at the hide, it is tiring and  telling upon  leg muscles. The perches and bird baths, about 10 in numbers,

are at about 20 feet distant from the hide. Another peculiarity there is  the light conditions. The perches are in the shaded area while the background gets strong natural light. That results in lot of focus hunting.
My first day, started at about 9.00 am after breakfast, ended well . There were hits and misses. In the final tally  were  Mrs. Gould's Sunbird,  ,  Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, Blue-capped Rock Thrush and Giant Malabar Squirrel besides many record shots.

The second day started rather early. Led by the resident naturalist-guide Mr. Vinayak we walked  a birding trail. About 1.5 km away, by the side of construction site near the main road , we found a Grey Malabar Hornbill perched in a tree in the morning golden light. There were many other beautiful birds and the fellow birders enjoyed clicking them.  The regular photo session at the hide started by 9.00 am after breakfast. By the session end I had Black - lored Tit, Paradise Flycatcher, Yellow -browed Bulbul and  Black-naped Monarch.

That brought  my Ganeshgudi sojourn to an end. I had an early dinner and retired for the night. I needed sleep and rest to my swollen  ankles.

My next stop was Nature's Nest , a resort at Sacordem, South Goa, owned and managed by Shreerang Phadke . Shreerang himself is an avid wildlife lover and conservationist and that reflects at his resort which is so green and eco-friendly. Nature's Nest offers many birding opportunities . One can find Sunbirds of various hues and colours  in great numbers in the resort compound. Bulbuls, Blyth's Starlings, Black Birds and Woodpeckers can be found at its hide. I spent one day capturing these beauties.

Nest day I headed for the Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary, which is about 18km distant from the Nature's Nest , in search of the rare Malabar Trogan. I was lucky to get them but unfortunately the male bird was perched on the electric wires. I got a full view  of the bird and have kept it as a record shot only as generally I do not snap birds perched on wires /railings etc. But the female Trogan was in the  natural habitat and she made a good pose.

A pair of Chestnut Shoulder Patronia was also there perched in a tree.

In the evening I headed for the Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary in search of the Blue Eared Kingfisher and the Srilankan Frogmouth. The first one didn't oblige but the second one did. It was sleeping but as luck would have, it opened eyes as I was about to click.

South Goa is very green . However it does need a lesson or two in keeping the environment unpolluted. Empty beer bottles and edible packets  littered on the sides of the sanctuary road do not make a good sight and show our poor civic sense. And so is the restaurant located on the right hand side of the bridge whose litter finds disposed off in the  beautiful stream flowing below. Will Goa Forest Department look in to it? Please leave your comments.

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Birding in Uttarakhand -- Part II

The birds next on my wish list were the Red Billed Leiothrix and the Black Partridge. I wanted to go  searching  them the next day but Sandeep advised me to finish Pangot first where chance of finding Cheer Pheasants was there. So next day  we left for Pangot very early in the morning , a drive of about 38 km from where I was staying. We reached Pangot at about 5.30 in the morning and drove further for about 30 km beyond Vinayak point from where Cheer area is said to start. The topography there was amazing.  On one side  were the cliffs and  the deep valleys on the other. We walked about 10 km searching for the Pheasants but luck didn't favour. However it was a very pleasant experience. Breathing pure air there was like an elixir to the lungs and the view of Himalayan range from Kosya Kutauli transformed the mood. The  Himalyan range looks majestic from that point.

                                                                                                                                                                     In the afternoon we drove to Chaffi where Pied Kingfishers are found by the side of river. However we found lot of human activity on the river banks due to which birds were not there. The jungle trail was occupied by a group of picnickers. It was sad to find lot of leftovers and garbage there - used  plastic cups and plates, plastic bottles and empty beer- whisky bottles. Why we are  so poor in our habits ? I wonder sometimes. However on the road side I found a Grey Bush

chat and a Black Headed Stonechat.

On the third day morning Sandeep took me to Hari Lama's hide at Birders Den where he said Black Partridge is found. Yes, it was there but only the female. The majestic male didn't oblige.

                                                                

Now was the turn to find the last most wanted bird on my wish list - the Red Billed Leiothrix . Sandeep said that we will follow a  trail in the woods by the side of a dry rivulet and also visit a private hide where these birds could be found and I was lucky finding one there.

A beautiful Grey-headed Woodpecker was also there .

That brought an end to my Uttarakhand birding trip. Needless to say  I enjoyed it very much. Sandeep was a great company and his knowledge about local  birds and their possible locations was amazing.

Sandeep can be contacted  at 70882 25369.

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