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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Birding In Uttarakhand - Part I

My birding trip was on hold for quite sometime.  Firstly the  place was undecided. A friend of mine suggested Ganeshgudi but getting there from Lucknow seemed tedious ; flight to Goa and then again a 3 hour long drive to the destination from the  airport. I wasn't encouraged for the time being and decided to look for some other place.

Lucknow's weather turned murky  in the last week of October. A depressive yellow - black smog engulfed the city. I stopped my morning walks but staying confined in the home was another challenge . So I decided  a trip to hills  with  camera.

A call to Rohit Nayal got me going. Rohit runs a birding outfit near Sattal which is famous as Himalaya Birding Tours. His establishment - the Damayanti Hotel and Resort is located near the famous Nal - Damayanti pond on way to Sattal. Rohit informed that the weather there was absolutely pristine and I may come in.

I left Lucknow on 1st November morning and reached Rohit's resort around 5 in the evening after an eight and half hours drive. I took an early dinner and decided to catch some sleep in order to be ready with the next day's schedule which was to begin early from 6 o'clock  in the morning.

Met Rohit in the morning over tea while he was preparing to leave for Chopta along with a party of 3 birders. Rohit owns a set up there also . His younger brother Sandeep was to be my guide for  my entire birding trip.

Sandeep took me to the nearby Christian Ashram where he had build a bird hide which is now owned by the Ashram. This place is surrounded by a verdant virgin forest and  an excellent place for watching birds. The bird platform is about 20 feet distant from the hide chairs ; an ideal distance for super - tele lenses up to 500 mm and shows that it has  been built keeping  photography needs in  mind. However it is good to take another standby  camera with a 70-300mm zoom lens in order to cover close group shots which otherwise may not be possible with a tele lens.

Sandeep requested the caretaker to place the  feed and then the magic began. The first to arrive were the White Crested Laughingthruhes followed by White Chested Laughingthrushes. They came in flocks. They departed after 5-7 minutes and then entered the Red Jungle Fowls and with them the much sought after Khaleej Pheasants.

Sunlight had started streaking in by this time and with that flew in the Greater Barbet

and the Scaly-bellied Woodpeckers. It was such a wonderful sight that after sometime I put down my camera and started enjoying the surreal drama  being played before my eyes  by a myriad of stunningly beautiful winged creatures.

In search of Black Partridge, Red - billed Leiothrix , trip to Chafi and Pangot. Read  in Part II.

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A DEAF TIGER

The Major followed the direction of my gaze and remarked, whimsically :
"Admiring my deaf tiger."
"Deaf tiger?" I queried.
"Never heard the yarn ?" interposed the Colonel, looking at me over the match lighting a wheezy briar.
I turned inquiringly from one to other of the two men. We had just finished tea in the glazed drawing room of the Major's bungalow, situated at the summit of a ghat in the Nilgiris, commanding an exceptionally fine panorama of the Mysore jungles unfolding its velvet green expanse 4,000 ft below. My attention had been attracted by a large tiger skin - one of many skins and trophies of the jungle - adorning the walls of the drawing room.
"No," I answered.
"Tell him, Bill," suggested the Colonel.
The Major is a man to whom big game shikar is an obsession. The solitudes of the jungle hold far more attraction to him than the giddy whirl of social life in a hill station. So that, once started on his favourite theme, he does not require much persuasion to continue.
"V a r i u m   et   m u t a b i l e,"  commenced the Major, lighting his own pipe, "is as true in regard to tigers as in its original application. It adds not a little to the excitement of pursuit, because one never can tell just what a tiger will do in any given circumstance. A few years ago, I was in camp at Pirmund in the Kundahs, twenty-five miles from Ootacamund. One afternoon, finding time hanging heavy on my hands, I took my shikari and four other men and left the camp, with the intention of beating likely sholas or ravines, for woodcock. As one never knows what my turn up on excursions like these, I also took a rifle, a .423 Mauser.
"Woodcock failed to materialise. After a three hour trudge my bag consisted of a single snipe, one or two bird seen. It was nearly 5 p.m. , and we commenced disconsolately to return to camp. We had not gone far, when a gun - bearer drew my attention to  reddish, fawn - coloured animal , of vague outline, standing on a grassy spur about 1,500 yards away, on the farther side of the big swamp. I focussed my glasses, and discovered the animal to be a tiger. I watched him stretch out in knee - deep grass, head turned in our direction, the rays of a declining sun showing up his golden flanks and white chest. I quickly took stock of the situation, and decided to stalk him. Leaving others where they were, I changed my gun for the rifle; and , accompanied by the shikari, dropped into a watercourse. Hidden from view , we made a detour towards the spur, until we were confronted with the choice of two routes leading to the top. Selecting the one on the left that passed on the outskirts of a small shola, we hoped to attain a position on the tiger's right. The side of the spur was steep, and the pace was slow : especially, as I anticipated a quick shot when I reached my destination, and hurried climbing up a hill side never makes for good marksmanship.
"When I reached the edge of the summit, I peered cautiously over ; hoping to see the tiger lying about 80 yards away, and much on the same level. I was not able to locate him, and was faced with the conundrum as to whether he had gone or lay hidden in the grass. A closer approach revealed that he had moved, but the wiry grass retained no tracks. What had actually happened was that as we climbed up the left side of the spur, the tiger had come down the right, passing unseen by us within fifty yards. The men left behind had watched the whole proceedings.
"Hearing monkeys chattering in a big shola nearby , from which the tiger must have emerged in the beginning , I feared he had returned and I had lost him. Still, there was a chance that he might fallow a game path over an open spur, leading towards a waterfall in the vicinity -- a favourite line with tigers in these hills. I sat down, and commanded the path. I waited ten minutes; then, as it was growing late, decided reluctantly to abandon the pursuit.
"Rifle slung over one shoulder -- with the shikari fallowing -- I led the way to the small shola, along a path I knew would bring me to the spot where I had left the men. We made no attempt at concealment, thinking it very unlikely to meet friend stripes. Yet, we had scarcely covered fifty yards when, rounding a bend, we came upon what appeared at first sight to be a reddish ant-heep on the path ahead. It was only twenty yards away, as we measured the distance later. A hurried, searching glance in the darkening light showed it to be tiger, head turned in the opposite direction, ears cocked forward, a little of the white of the right cheek showing.
"It was the work of few seconds to unsling the rifle, slip back the safety-catch, and fire. At such close range it was practically impossible to miss, and he fell over on his side. Calling to the shikari, I clambered up hill so as to get above the tiger; from where I pumped in a second shot to make assurance doubly assured. I then dispatched the shikari to summon the men; and , while awaiting their arrival, fired a third shot when I saw the tail twitch in a last muscular  effort. Afterwards, we found that this shot had been deflected by a sapling.
"When the men arrived it was obvious that the tiger was dead. We went forward , and dragged him into better light. He taped 9'-5" between pegs ( without stretching ), and possessed a remarkably fine coat. In build he was disappointing, being lanky.
"While standing near the body, I was puzzled. That sixth sense of a shikari struck me that something in the tiger's behaviour had been incomprehensible. But it was not  until my chauffeur, Bob, who was with the men, called my attention to an old wound in the head, between the eye and ear on the left side , from which pus was oozing, that I realized suddenly I had omitted all precautions to silence. I remembered then that I was wearing heavy hobnailed boots of a type not conducive to silence, and that the shikari and I  had strode carelessly along the path, calling to mind the crackle of a twig under my foot when we had stopped at seeing the tiger ahead. Also, that I had made a certain amount of noise when unslinging the rifle and clicking back the safety-catch. Yet, though normally a tiger's hearing may be likened to a microphone, this one had given no indication of our presence. It was strange , and the only conclusion I can arrive at, unique in my experience as a big game shot, is that the tiger was stone deaf ! It was interesting to find afterwards, that the old wound covered a crack right across the skull : though the impact of my first bullet had smashed up the vertebrae of the neck, and re-opened the fissure.
" How the wound was caused is matter of conjecture. Most likely,  the tiger ran into a spike of wood, though in that case one would have expected to find splinters remaining in the wound. Possibly, it may have been caused  by a bullet fired from some old muzzle-loading gun, whose powder was not sufficiently strong to cause proper penetration, and the bullet dropped out when the wound suppurated. Less likely, the injury may have been due to the horn of a sambhur which the tiger had killed. It is an interesting speculation the truth of which we shall never know."
The Major ceased speaking. The Colonel stretched himself, and said : "That was thirsty work, old man. What about a drink?"
                           
                                              _____________________________________
                                                                                   
This story had been reproduced from my book ' WILD ANECDOTES FROM THE SHADOW OF TIME ',  a  fine collection of  wild life memoirs and articles taken from the issues of a British era magazine that published in India from 1920 to1938.

Foreword by Dr. Asad R Rahmani. Former Director - Bombay Natural History Society.

Available at Amazon.in , Amazon.co.uk , Amazon.com and Kindle.

                                                                            

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Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary : A Wilderness of Paradoxes

Imagine a wildlife sanctuary whose entrance is through a village and which houses another village also deep inside in its core and by which it draws its name - Kishanpur , whose land stands badly encroached and where humans and vehicular traffic of all sorts ; tractors with their oversize trolleys , cycles, motor cycles and bullock carts , ply daily almost day long on the sanctuary road and yet it's being home to an astonishing variety of wildlife including the famous and only of its own kind of feline- the majestic terai tiger , the highly endangered Swamp Deer aka Barasingha, Blue Bull, Wild Boar, Spotted Deer, Barking Deer and about 400 species of migratory  avian during the season besides the local ones which include the rare Bengal Florican, the Swamp Partridge and Bonelli's Eagle. Yes this is Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary , a living example of thoughtless  human abuse vis a vis  the most resilient and forbearing side of mother nature.

Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary , a part of Dudhwa National Park , is located near the tiny township of Bhira in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. It is 13 km away from Bhira and about 196 km from the state capital Lucknow. Distanced by 30 km from Dudhwa National Park and dotted with Sal, Teak, Rohini, Mahua and Jamun trees, the sanctuary is spread over an area of 23000 hectares. The entry is through village Kattaiya and the signs of illegal encroachment become visible as your jeep rolls, past the barrier, on the bumpy earthen road leading to the sanctuary.

The first attraction of Kishanpur WLS is Jhadi Taal ; a vast wetland created by the flood waters of river Sharda which flows adjacent to sanctuary's northern boundary and flanked by an equally vast meadow. Jhadi Taal is home to about 1000 plus heads of the highly endangered Swap Deer. Their herds can be seen resting on the small islands in the water body. Climb up the nearby Machan or the viewing tower for a birds eye view of Jhadi Taal. From here you may also watch bevy of smooth coat Otters chasing and hunting fish.

During winters Jhadi Taal becomes home to an amazing variety of migratory birds. For birders therefore it is an excellent place. A round around Jadi Tall will also show the Blue Tailed Bee Eaters, Grey Fish Eagles perched high patiently in wait  for  fish , Swamp Partridge coming in the open on dusty road from their thick grass hideouts in order to pick insects and of course the noisy flocks of Parakeets taking sharp acrobatic flights from one tree perch to another.

With luck favoring a drive on Beldanda road of the sanctuary may reward you with the sighting of  elusive terai tiger. It was here on one April morning this year that I met a huge male tiger on his morning territory patrol.The tiger was busy picking up scent from here and there and also scent marking his territory around. We had spotted him from quite afar and went near him maintaining a safe distance so that he may not feel disturbed. My Guide knew his movements pattern very well and thus we got him again after fifteen minutes in another forest block while the feline was crossing the road.

From a distance  an antler watched its nemesis pass by with a nonchalant curiosity. In route I met a tiny Barred Jungle Owlet perched deep inside the woods in a Rohini tree. A Crested Serpent Eagle was also met while it was busy foraging on the ground. However the most significant sight was that of a Bonelli's Eagle perched in a drying Sal tree. Sightings of these two Eagles confirmed the robust and very healthy Eco- system of the sanctuary despite its being abused by we, the humans.

My Guide advised to wait for the tiger at the Beldanda waterhole hoping that since it was quite hot , the tiger may drop in for a drink. Thus I waited there for about an hour but without any further luck. The sun was getting harsh and unbearable. And directly in front of me was a little monkey spread leisurely on a tree branch watching me with his little eyes and perhaps wondering  what I was up to in that sweltering heat. The hint was well taken and I called off the safari.

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