Random Thoughts from Calabi Yau Space: After 12 Long Years!!!

Whatay weekend! The image is frozen in my mind and will probably stay with me for a long long time. It was about 7:40 AM on a misty morning at Nagarhole National Park (now called Rajiv Gandhi National Park) and there she was..an adult tigress lurking in the undergrowth about 50 or 60 feet away from the bus.

I saw her beauty for all of 3 or 4 seconds (before the other idiots in the bus started yelling and clapping causing her to retreat further into the bushes and disappear) but it was a wait that I had endured for 10 or 12 years..to see a tiger in the wild.

Apart from that the trip was a totally enjoyable one. Mom, Sujeet and Supriya (friends) were all on their first ever wildlife escapade and they got to see a tiger. What luck I say!

Spotted a lot of Elephants, spotted deer, barking deer, Sambhar, Bisons etc. All in all a fantastic trip. My heart is really in the forest and I keep thinking (albeit never seriously) if I should be in a different profession.

For anyone who wants to visit Nagarhole, I highly recommend a stay at the Jungle Inn (www.jungleinnnagarhole.com). Room rates vary from 1800 Rs to 2000 Rs per person per night (inclusive of meals). A wildlife safari into Waynad (the Kerala side of the sanctuary) will cost you Rs 600 per person. Jungle Inn does not take you for a safari ride into Nagarhole as they do not have a contract with the Karnataka Forest Department which apparently asked for a sum of Rs 9 Lakh per year to renew the contract. (At least that's the story the Jungle Inn owner told me). The Karnataka Forest Department conducts its own safari and a very affordable Rs 98 or so per person and has safaris at 7am,8am,9am,3pm,4pm and 5pm everyday. You will need to take your vehicle into Nagarhole park to the visitor center and will then have to board a mini bus (with about 20 other people) that takes you for a one hour ride inside the jungle. (BTW we saw the tiger on such a safari after expecting to see nothing at all when we boarded..Lady luck sure has her own strange ways).

Enough of text..now for the action:

Snap 1: A female Elephant (Elephas maximus)
Location: Waynad
Date: 28 Feb 2009
Camera: Canon EOS300 ISO 200 film
Lens: Canon EOS EF - 70-300 mm

Snap 2: Early Morning Mist Through the Trees
Location: Nagarhole
Date: 1 Mar 2009
Camera: Canon EOS300 ISO 200 film
Lens: Canon EOS EF - 70-300 mm

Snap 3: Female Muntjac a.k.a Barking Deer (Muntiacus reevesi)
Location: Nagarhole
Date: 1 Mar 2009
Camera: Canon EOS300 ISO 200 film
Lens: Canon EOS EF - 70-300 mm