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First Tiger Sighting, Bandipur NP - 11, 12 Oct 2003
Thanks to a very generous friend, I was able to borrow his camera for many of my previous outings. However, I thought I should have one for myself, so after some thought decided to buy the Samsung Vega140S. It had a 140mm zoon lens, and many features like portrait, panorama, step, snap, bulb, sports, landscape shooting modes, self timer etc. Previously I was contemplating buying a SLR camera but the price was just a bit too much for me and I was not able to afford the zoom lens etc at the time.
I wanted to take some good photographs of wildlife as best as I can, so I decided to visit Nagarahole NP during the weekend and try out the camera. I tried to book rest houses but due to the weekend I couldn't procure one. Hence I decided to find accommodation at Kutta or somewhere nearby. Aiming to reach Nagarahole - which will open at 6AM - at daybreak for good animal sighting, I left Bangalore at 12.45AM on Saturday, 11 Oct. I had once previously been through the road in Nagarhole NP along with a trekking party in a van, but wasn't sure if a two wheeler will be allowed inside. However I just thought I'll go there and find out.
There were slight drizzles upto Ramanagaram and the ride was slow. After that the skies were clear and a full moon gave me company as I enjoyed the early hour smooth ride to Mysore. In and around Mysore security was tight, and I was stopped and enquired at several places by the police. At 5.45AM, I was at the gates of Nagarahole NP. Another van had also arrived and was waiting for the gate to open. At 6AM, the guard came to open the door, but said two wheelers aren't allowed inside, making my fears come true. Nothing else can be done, so I decided to go to Masinagudi in Mudumalai, and spend the two days at Mudumalai and Bandipur, as I've done several times previously. A little before Hunsur I took a shortcut that took me to HD Kote handpost on Mysore-Karapura-Mannantoddy road, crossed the road and passing Sargur, Nugu, reached the Mysore Ooty road at Begur and thereafter entered Bandipur NP at 9AM. I was a bit tired after the rough ride through the villages, and hence went straight to Masinagudi and booked myself into a familiar motel.
After sleeping through the day, I decided to take the safaris at Mudumalai and Bandipur in the evening. It had rained for some days last week and hence the forests were fresh. The Mudumlai safari was a fruitful one and we had good animal sightings, though the usual ones. I took some snaps too. After Mudumalai safari, I went to Bandipur, my favorite. Due to the weekend there was a good tourist population. I never thought the safari is going to be such a fruitful one for me. Before the safari, I entered the reception to see the 'Last Tiger Sighting' board, which read - 27 Sept 2003.
The safari started off as usual, and 10 minutes into it, just near the tourism zone, suddenly the driver stopped the van whispering 'Tiger is there' and switched off the engine. I looked at where he pointed, and was pleasantly surprised and shocked to see a beautiful tiger lying down with head up in between some bushes, some 50 meters away. It was a sighting that I was craving for more than 2 years. But very unfortunately, there were many women and children in the van, and started making noise at sighting the tiger. The tiger after a few seconds of watching us, got up and disappeared behind the bushes gracefully. I was very engrossed in watching it that I forgot to take a snap within that short span of time - some 10 seconds. The driver reversed the vehicle a little, but the tiger wasn't visible. It just disappeared. After waiting for sometime there, hoping that the tiger will show off again, the safari continued on.
I was very thrilled and happy. Maybe it was the luck that my new camera brought me, or was it the small boy Jayant who was sitting next to me and chatting lively with me. He was on his first safari, and has just sighted the elusive tiger, while I after numerous visits to Bandipur, many safaris, many treks inside the park, nights in forest camps, spanning two years, was just fortunate to have a glimpse of the magnificent cat that eluded me all this time. But I will attribute this sighting to the skill of the driver of the safari van. If he had not spotted the tiger in between the bushes, none of the rest would have seen the cat.
After the safari, I reported the sighting at the reception center, and wrote down a report in the register kept for the purpose. The 'Last Tiger Sighting' board was updated to 11 Oct 2003. There after I did a very pleasant and slow ride to Masinagudi, and spent a pleasant evening alone.
The second day I visited Ooty, and went to the Wildlife Warden's office to enquire about accommodation at Mukurthi NP and Mudumalai NP Forest Rest Houses. I then visited Doddabetta. Visibility on this highest peak south of the Himalayas is very good, but today it was misty and nothing could be seen. On a clear day, one can see as far as the Mysore plains. The government has also installed a telescope here for the public.
Afternoon I returned to Masinagudi for lunch, but it was drizzling and I got wet. After lunch, doing a slow ride in pouring rain, I passed Mudumalai and entered Bandipur. Bandipur was receiving heavy rains at the time I crossed the border, so I stopped at the Karnataka checkpost to wait for the rains to slow down. Had some light chat with Forester Gururaj at the post, and watched a peacock amble up and down the road in pouring rain. Thereafter the rain eased, and I continued on my journey. However it was raining heavily near the northern border of Bandipur and at Hangala, and I carried on dripping wet. From Gundlupet to Mysore it was dry, so I was able to do a fast ride. At Mysore I stopped for some vada and tea; it started drizzling from then on, and upto Ramanagaram the drizzle continued, and I had to do a very slow and careful ride on the busy and dangerous Mysore Bangalore highway. Thus in a wet condition I reached Bangalore at 11pm safely. This wet ride on the Bangalore Mysore highway did give me some anxious moments, since being on a two wheeler I am very helpless in wet conditions, and get blinded by headlights of oncoming vehicles and virtually cannot see anything before me, so have to slow down to a bare minimum speed, and the cars behind pass me at breakneck speed sending a chill down my spine. However, the ride was seen through without any incident.
Birds Seen & Identified:
Animals:
Two weeks ago I had been on a trek inside Bandipur along with the YHAI trekking group. The forests around the tourism zone were then dry, and water scarcity was severely felt. Thankfully, there has been some rains during the Dasara days and I was glad to see all ponds, waterholes and salt licks full of water. The situation seems to have improved a bit, but still the rains are inadequate. Only very good rains will solve the problems faced by the park, such as illegal grazing, as rightly pointed out by DCF Yatish Kumar a couple of days back in Times Of India Bangalore Edition.