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Your wildlife experience in India
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Kanha always switches sightings in zones. Mukki usually is a great sighting zone and for us it was empty both trips, but the next safari had an umarpani sighting, sarhi which is usually harder to spot gave us the best sighting and Kanha somebody which has 4 male sub adult Cubs and th their mother, link 7 female Is a great choice, that's where we spotted link 8. Kisli is also very good right now but you will drive through it to go to most zones from the kisli gate.
The male we spotted may be the sangam male not Rhonda, I'll get confirmation once I am able to post images I'm sure
 (05-10-2017, 11:59 AM)Pckts Wrote: The male we spotted may be the sangam male not Rhonda, I'll get confirmation once I am able to post images I'm sure But you said the male you spotted was a big beautiful male. Sangam or Rhonda, eitherways every male is a huge and beautiful specimen in Kanha we now know that for sure. Can't wait to go there soon. Yes we are all waiting for you to return to the states and post all the pictures from your trip. :)
Ok guys, I'm finally back and have my pics downloaded.
It takes a while to go through them all but I'll try my best. First up is Tadoba Tadoba is much smaller than Pench and Kahna and it's much hotter as well. It's not in the mountains the way the others are but it has some spectacular views. From the tigers I saw there, the females aren't as large except for the Devoada female and male, both of them are very large. Believe it or not, Choti Tara and Maya are almost the same size and both couldn't care less about the presence of gypsies. While I was there, Naveagon male was also seen pairing with Maya but we weren't able to spot them but I saw many photos. Pictures Below Naveagon Gate entrance  *This image is copyright of its original author We spotted this male  *This image is copyright of its original author sloth bear on our very first safari!Extremely lucky to see him then to get a crossing shot was amazing.  *This image is copyright of its original author Next Safari we decided to give the Naveagon Buffer zone area a try, we knew the 2 sub adults were there and we managed to spot the male. Also something to note, the buffer zone tigers are noted to kill gaur much more often than core zone tigers, gaur aren't seen as much in the core area, probably due to the traffic. You can see him yawning below  *This image is copyright of its original author Our next safari was once again through the core zone We saw that there were vehicles piling up and we knew that they heard calls, we also knew that there was the deveado female and cubs in the area so we figured we'd wait and see. What happened next was unexpected, the Big Male came out of the woods and crossed right in front of the jeeps, maybe 50 yards ahead of us, it happened to fast for us to snap any shots then he was gone, but I got a great look at him. Then the female was roaring and roaring so we waited to try and spot here, then it happened, she came out and crossed about 50 yards ahead of us, this time I was able to get some good shots of her. She was also a large female, much larger than Choti Tara  *This image is copyright of its original author We were also able to spot a leopard on the afternoon safari (very rare) He was a large male laying on the hot floor panting  *This image is copyright of its original author Here is Bull Gaur we saw, he was large but nothing like we would see in Kahna  *This image is copyright of its original author Here is a landscape shot with a boar  *This image is copyright of its original author On the final day we finally got a close up shot of a tiger and it was Choti Tara and she didn't disappoint. We were driving a long then the huge road block. We had to drive backwards to snap her and her two male cubs, but I was able to get some great shots. First is my favorite one and the other one is the only one where I got all 3 together.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author All 3 together  *This image is copyright of its original author This is just a small portion I have, I'm just posting a few of my favorites, I'll be adding much more for each park. Next up will be Pench
Next Up is Pench.
Pench is massive and very hilly, its also dry but not nearly as Tadoba this time of year and it's much larger. Even though the Touria zone was having great sightings we got no luck there but that wasn't the case in the Khusapar zone, we had maybe the best luck you can imagine so most of my pictures will be from there.  *This image is copyright of its original author On our first safari in Khusapar we were able to spot two sub adult siblings, they aren't quite two yet but some of the best looking tigers you'll ever see. Their father is the Handsome male and mother is the Durga female I believe. Here's the male and female from the first day  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author They got upset as more gypsies showed up and left, we heard that all 4 were spotted later in the day but it was ok because the next safari in Khusapar had an amazing sighting in store for us. Day 2 We finally got all 4 in the same watering hole. The mother is on the far left, she's big and beautiful but absolutely hates gypsies. She was growling and even lunged at us a couple of time before leaving This was her entering as the 3 cubs were already in the pool, you can see the hatred in her eyes  *This image is copyright of its original author Her letting us know how she felt about us  *This image is copyright of its original author Full body of male cub, he was probably the same height as his momma but much thicker and will be a big fella when he grows up. He was quite dense for sure  *This image is copyright of its original author Next up is Kanha.
Kanha:
Kanha is massive, hilly, lush and beautiful. The wildlife there is abundant, much more gaur and a ton of Barahsinga, sambar, boar, chital and more. The tigers I saw were very large and powerful. The hilly terrain makes them strong, they are more powerfully built than the tigers I saw in Tadoba, pench tigers are also strong but I never got to see a prime male there but the female was powerful for sure.  *This image is copyright of its original author You can ride elephant back if you want and out of no where this MASSIVE elephant comes strolling up the track, he was gigantic. A big cow came a little after, they had just spotted a tiger but we were never able to see it.  *This image is copyright of its original author After two safaris through Mukki and Kanha, our spirits were low but still had hope then finally it happened, I got to see my first Male tiger up close and personal. He was roaring loud and deep, I had no idea how deep they actually could roar. We heard him roar then nothing then all of a sudden a sambar call and immediately this loud roar followed and then we spotted him... The male is called Sangam and was spotted in the Sarhi zone, prior to him there was the Rhonda male and female seen mating there for a couple of days but no luck spotting them for us but we did spot Sangam  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author A huge bull Gaur we saw on the way out, he was gigantic!  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Then on the final day I saw this massive female named Link 8, she's huge!  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
So awesome that you were able to see tigers in each park! That too all kinds - males, females and cubs! You also saw mostly unknown tigers. I don't think I have seen or heard about Sangam or the Davedo male before your posts. Funny enough, when I went to Kanha, I did not see a single Sambar in 4 drives. And I thought the forest would be full of them, as in Ranthambore.
Did you see any other creatures? Dholes, Nilgais, blackbucks (there are a few in kanha)? Also, kudos to you for braving the intense Indian summer. Must say you are doing a great service to this forum by going out and actually seeing the animals you care about and then sharing your experiences with us. Most of us spend years just thinking and planning while you went ahead and took the plunge by visitng Africa and India all alone in the space of a couple of years. (05-10-2017, 08:26 AM)Pckts Wrote: Kahna always switches sightings in zones. Mukki usually is a great sighting zone and for us it was empty both trips, but the next safari had an umarpani sighting, sarhi which is usually harder to spot gave us the best sighting and Kahna somebody which has 4 male sub adult Cubs and th their mother, link 7 female Is a great choice, that's where we spotted link 8. Kisli is also very good right now but you will drive through it to go to most zones from the kisli gate. Did you visit that little museum in the middle of Kanha zone? They have some nice skeletons of tiger, leopard and Gaur. They also have a video of a tiger jumping on a Gaur's back and the gaur running around trying to throw the tiger off. Very old footage.   *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Very nice photos and description @Pckts Tigers are so visible in these parks its amazing, sightings of Sloth bear, big male leopard and that kanha's male Tiger was just spectacular. Kanha must be so diverse to have gaur, barahsinga, blackbucks etc-very different assortment of herbivores.
(05-12-2017, 05:50 AM)Shardul Wrote:(05-10-2017, 08:26 AM)Pckts Wrote: Kahna always switches sightings in zones. Mukki usually is a great sighting zone and for us it was empty both trips, but the next safari had an umarpani sighting, sarhi which is usually harder to spot gave us the best sighting and Kahna somebody which has 4 male sub adult Cubs and th their mother, link 7 female Is a great choice, that's where we spotted link 8. Kisli is also very good right now but you will drive through it to go to most zones from the kisli gate. I did but we were in such a hurry that we didn't investigate further, very dumb that I missed that. But the archway with all the chital antlers was very cool. We spotted dhole in Tadoba but really far off, I'll post some photos next week. I saw a few nilgali, some huge bulls but couldn't photo them, they run off quickly. Never got to see blackbuck, my guide said they prefer really dry terrain. There is quite a bit of talk of reintroducing cheetah to India according to him as well. 
Pckts, congrats, you are our first member, who have completed 2 tours, one in Africa and other in India in back to back year. We feel proud to have you as a member on WildFact. we know you from AVA days when sometime you used to involved in L vs T debates and your image was like a fan boy of tigers.
But now you are complete different personality with lot of real experience of wild animals and you have added lot of great and valuable information to the forum. what I like about you is that, you have little feud with almost everyone (including me and moderator ) but you never crossed the limit and always remain civilized. With time, either you proved your points or you accepted your faults. And that what life is all about. Your value as a member of WildFact forum has increased lot and now many of us think you are one of reliable and good source to get real information. Great going and keep rocking. About your trip, Though, you might we little disappointed with Male tiger sighting, as you were not able to grab picks of famous name in tiger domain. But it was your first trip and you already captured lot of great shots with plenty of information with Guide and drivers. Since your more about getting information rather than becoming a photographer therefore I think it was great experience for you. We expect, you will share more of your experience, a comparison of Africa and India wildlife and hope you will explore more places of wild earth. All the best buddy (05-13-2017, 09:20 AM)sanjay Wrote: Pckts, congrats, you are our first member, who have completed 2 tours, one in Africa and other in India in back to back year. We feel proud to have you as a member on WildFact. we know you from AVA days when sometime you used to involved in L vs T debates and your image was like a fan boy of tigers. Wait till June 7...My cousin might get lucky.
Thanks @sanjay I appreciate the kind words. I'll have much more to share on my experience and comparisons between Africa and India on Monday. If any one has a particular questions they'd like to ask, I'd be happy to answer them then as well.
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