Pench - the trip to Mowgli's World

Hello friends, I know you were waiting for the blog but I could not make it because of my travel but to compensate delay will take you to Mowgli's world to reveal the best experience and some very good pictures of a fantastic journey. So today, I will update you on my latest visit to Pench Tiger Reserve, the experience was such that you will feel why you were not there and it will force you to plan a trip to Pench in near future, so let's move to the next section to feel the heaven through pictures and words.

मैं अकेला ही चला था जानिब-ए-मंज़िल मगर लोग साथ आते गए और कारवाँ बनता गया

This sentence narrates how the trip started, Amish/Sanjay/Parag/Mahesh/Abhinav and Yogesh are true follower of my blog and after reading these blogs they motivated Sarang/Ashwin/Ratan and Vishal as well to plan a nature trip to the forest which all agreed and I took responsibility to plan out the place and other things. Before I start let me acknowledge three more people for the trip without which the success was not possible, the none other than Vishnu and Team Book My Safari (Jogi and Saurabh’s Team)

It was a difficult task to make the right choice, how can I finalize the place it was a big challenge but my challenge was made easy by Jogi by helping me to finalize the Pench. The complete responsibility of arrangements was outsourced to Book My Safari who is best or I would say champions in wildlife travel. Everyone agreed for the place at once without any debate and we booked the dates for November 23, 2018, I know all of you are eager to know what happened on trip, let me tell you good things come with investment of time, if you wait; the best thing will come in the next section.

The Mowgli’s world 

Finally, the day came for which we waited since September; we reached the place on November 23 where we got a warm welcome at Village Machhan. We all were charged up for the best time, even more charged up 8 debutants of 12. With a lot of expectations we entered the Mowgli’s world, the moment we entered, the feel of the forest with supportive weather made us crazy, green trees, dusty road and pure cold air what else one can demand. Though we all wanted to enjoy the forest with all animals and birds comes to us in our way but somewhere in our heart, the hidden greed was to sight the Big Cats. Even Vishnu and I wanted our new travelers to see Big Cats in the wilderness and one more greed to keep our record of cat sighting intact (that is too without Saurabh/Jogi with us). It was greed or request from heart difficult to judge but yes it worked when we were blessed with a super sighting of Leopard on day one itself. 

The date with wilderness

The shining star Leopard was sitting on a rock as the head of the area and was looking at everyone in a style, all of us were lucky to sight him at the same time at the fag end of the safari. The craziness and greed got doubled now to see the King in the wild with which we ended the day with super tasty food served by Village Machhan team. Chicken Saoji for Non-Veggie and Gulab jamun for all of us was like treat from the hotel. This was not the end of the day, here we had one more reason to celebrate, it was Birthday of Amish sir, how can we forget the birthday of our beloved Sir the day ended with cake cutting (Sarang and Vishal still clueless on who ordered the cake😜and finally we made Amish sir to awake beyond his routine 😅

After wonderful day one the expectation was on high to find the King, we made all the effort to find but it is said that Tiger has seen you during the journey but you may not see him because of dense forest. However, we are nature lovers we are like never say die and search continued till the end time which turned rewarding when we meet the sub adult cub of the queen (lungdi tigress’s cub). The madness was out of control it was difficult to digest that on back-to-back safari we got double lucky. Now what next was the question for other safaris but an answer was simple, enjoy whatever comes your way, with this principle and continued madness we booked night safari, we were as if we want to stay in the forest itself forever and away from the concrete and digital forest (I mean City life). let's take a tour to a night safari then.

Night Safari a Unique Therapy

The night safari experience was unique in itself when we closed car's light for a couple of minutes, the experience was out of the world, which you will never get anywhere. The full moonlight, closed eyes, sparkling stars of a galaxy and unique sound of forest mosquitoes there no words to describe the heaven on earth. It was like natural medicine for relieving the day to day stress, though sighting is always difficult and taking a chance instead of sighting the USP was unique therapy of night view of the lovely forest. 

The enthusiasm of all of us was unbelievable, after back-to-back three safaris people were ready for the next early morning trip. We all were ready to explore the forest with the same feeling even we had big sightings in first two safaris itself but we did not wanted to stop here and wanted more and more, we continued 3^rd and 4^th for exploring another part of the forest for lovely birds and other animals which we could not sight in the first two

Now while ending the blog let me update on the list we sighted during the trip: Tiger, Leopard, Jackals, Wild dog, spotted dears, Sambar deer, Blue bull, peacock, grey hornbill, Rufous Treepie, scops owl, Palm civet cat, Eurasian Thick-knee, monkeys, Bison and many more, will leave you with some pics to end the blog

Salute to the Nature lovers

Apart from Vishnu and me, others were not frequent travelers like us and were not used to back-to-back safaris but kind of enthusiasm and love towards nature they had was actually out of the world and unbelievable. While ending the trip they said they want more of such trips in near future to some other forest, this few words to repeat the forest trip itself explain the kind of experience all of us had. I salute each one for such lovely words and continued interest towards the wilderness.

Thanks a ton for your kind co-operation for making this trip the great one, many more to come. 

The special appearance

Be it a Project or a travel plan, it will succeed only if the complete support system is in sync, we all know that 12 people were at the front enjoying the wilderness but let me applaud for the team who at the backend managed so well that we enjoyed without any kind pain during the journey.

Team Bookmysafari.com includes, Deepak, Amey, Saurabh and Jogi, guys amazing work for arrangements, the food, the place, the safari arrangements, transport everything was absolutely in place. You guys are master of wilderness. Best of luck and continue the best job

Vishnu, your expertise of wilderness and knowledge sharing was really great and enjoyed by everyone, thanks once again.

A message of the Day 

Wildlife is Mother Nature’s greatest treasure, To protect it, we must take every measure

Author:BT Wild Art
Life is Safari. Enjoy it.

 Photo shootout 

Pretty Pelicans

Hello readers, hope you all enjoyed the time with Bird no. 1 I mean our national bird peacock and see now yet another Sunday is here knocking the door to deliver one more unique topic, with due respect to readers introducing beautiful and one of the best hunting bird. So let's go to explore the world of Pretty Pelicans

Do you know me?

Exactly do we know anything about Pelicans? I am sure the answer will be no, so let me give you the introduction of this wonderful bird

Pelicans are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. A long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped up contents before swallowing characterize them

Pelican is an amazing bird that can be found on all continents except on Antarctica. There are eight species of pelicans. These birds are usually located in warm regions, near rivers, estuaries, and lakes

Pelicans are known for their breeding colonies composed of hundreds of pelicans; they feed principally on fish, catching them at or near the water surface. They are gregarious birds, traveling in flocks, hunting cooperatively

Pelicans eat fish mainly. Other than that, they can also eat turtles, crustaceans, and tadpoles. Very hungry pelicans will even attack and eat seagulls

After knowing basic details, you would be eager to know the uniqueness of this bird hence bringing you interesting and unheard details in the next section

Incomparable Character

Pelicans are awesome. They have interesting feet, spectacular hunting habits, and throat pouches that can trap a lot more than fish. Here are a few things you might not have known about these eccentric birds

• The Pelican family is at least 30 million years old; the earliest pelican fossil on record is a 30-million-year-old skull that was found in the Oligocene deposits of France. Paleontologists have also uncovered younger material from places like Germany, India, Kenya, Peru, Australia, and North Carolina. Today, there are eight living species and you can find some combination of them dwelling on every continent except Antarctica

• Pelican has the largest bill of all birds. It can reach 18 inches in length. Underneath the bill, pelicans have a throat pouch that can hold 3 gallons of water. His beak can hold more than his belly can, they can hold in his beak enough food for a week

• Pelicans are heavy birds, but thanks to air sacs in their bones floating is not a problem. They can fly to the height of 10,000 feet using the warm wind currents

• The brown pelican is a keen-eyed predator that can spot a fish swimming under the ocean’s surface even while flying 60 feet above and catch it by accelerating toward it with great accuracy

• Unique toes of Pelicans, water birds tend to have four toes on each foot along with some degree of webbing. But in geese and ducks, the webbing is only present between the three toes that point forward but Pelican's totipalmate feet, which means that on each foot, there’s webbing that connects all four toes

I am sure you will be thrilled by knowing such incomparable character of this Pretty bird, now take a tour of DSLR section to see how this bird looks like as well

Conservation status

Pelicans are threatened by water pollution, chemical pollution and major ecological catastrophes such as oil spills. Bycatch is another reason why the number of pelicans is decreasing: while diving for fish, pelicans can end up in fishing nets

A Message of the Day 

Do visit a place, which gives you the exposure to the wilderness, encourage plantation and put some efforts to save our Mother Nature

Author:BT Wild ArtLife is Safari. Enjoy it.

Deadly DSLR:

Peaceful Peacock

Hi friends, hope you all had a fantastic time during the festival days. Happy to notice the reduction in decibel because of crackers in Mumbai, this would have certainly helped in controlling the pollution. Apart from pollution, it was very much helpful for wildlife especially to birds, the sound and smoke of such high decibel crackers takes away life from such lovely creatures. I urge each one of you to support the cause of saving wildlife in whatever way you can contribute, thanks once again

Last time Bar headed entertained us with its unknown and difficult to believe habit, I hope you too enjoyed it. While thinking about the topic I realized that we never talked about one the most beautiful bird who is known for its beauty as well as mythological importance, who else it can be, it has to be Peacock. The National bird of India what a colorful bird with elegance deserves to represent the Country, let’s move further to know more about Peacock in details

What do I Say? Peacock, Peafowl, or peahen

I am sure you will be confused with the correct name since we use peacock commonly for both male and female I need to clarify the fact related to it, the fact is the collective name for peacocks is peafowl. Only the male of the variety is called a peacock. The female peafowl is called a Peahen and the baby peafowl is called a peachick, I hope you will now use the correct terminology. Now let me ask another trickier, do you know how many species of peafowl are there? There are two Asiatic species the blue or Indian peafowl originally of the Indian subcontinent and the green peafowl of Southeast Asia. Is it not surprising, of course, it is. I guess now we have complete clarity so let me tell you some unique facts about habits, features, courtship dance etc that makes this bird of a National category

The Dancing Star

I am sure we all know that Peacock dance well but do we know the reason, let see the details about the dance, it is very much interesting. Peacock dance for courtship display, it is like a boy is trying to impress a girlfriend😅. There may be nothing more beautiful than the courtship display of the peacock, with its blue-green plumage it looks beautiful and it becomes awesome and artistic when it presents itself to peahen to impress her. Its tail feathers open up to form a long spectacular train spread out like a fan that touches the ground on either side and makes up about 60 percent of the bird's total body length. The train is not actually the true tail but is made up of tail coverts adorned with a colorful "eye" at the tip. Such an eye on full flowing feathers is a treat to watch, this helps to impress Peahen

Peacocks gather in groups called "parties," and females seem to choose mates based on their dance performance as well as their strutting and vocal abilities. This not only unique but rare as well, you have to be extremely lucky to sight the same. Let me share a tip, the place is purely for Peacock and Peahen, the place is Morachi Chincholi, here you can follow them exclusively for the full day and if you are lucky, you may get a chance to see the dancing peacock. Now lets read some facts as well

The Flawless facts

They are one of the largest flying birds. Their length (including tail) can reach 5 feet. They can weigh between 8-13 pounds

They are omnivores (eat both plants and animals). They like to eat insects, arthropods, amphibians, flowers, seeds

Colors of the tail will look different every time you change the angle of looking because of the reflection of the light. Tail feathers have eye-like spots, surrounded with red, green, gold and red feathers

The family of peafowl is called "Bevy" and Group of peafowl is called "Party"

Peacocks are polygamous (mate with more than one female) and usually form a harem that consists of 2-5 females

Indian Peafowl and Green Peafowl both types are endangered because of the habitat loss, smuggling, and predation

Vote of Thanks

Mini/Sandy/Subu/Amu hope you all remember our wonderful trip to Chincholi

A Message of the Day 

Do visit a place, which gives you the exposure to the wilderness, encourage plantation and put some efforts to save our Mother Nature

Author:

BT Wild Art

Life is Safari. Enjoy it.

Photoshoot

The Mountaineer – Bar-headed Goose

Hello readers, wish you a very happy festival week, be safe, and enjoy the festival to the fullest. Today before I start the topic would like to urge that while you enjoy the festival please take care of the environment. The festival is of lights do enlighten people with the importance of saving Mother Nature by avoiding crackers, this will be a great help to conserve our environment, in turn, it will contribute to wildlife conservation as well

After back to back animal blogs now it’s time for lovely birds, I always believe that birds are more beautiful than the animal, you will surely agree with me when you will read about the best flying bird. The name is Bar-headed Goose, the ability to fly at the highest point makes the bird one of the best bird, let's know more about the bird in the next section

Fly high like a Goose 

Do you know how high Bar-headed Goose can fly? I am sure you have not even heard the name of this bird, but when I will disclose the answer you will never forget the name. The answer is Bar-headed geese have been seen flying well above the peak of Mt. Everest – more than 29,000 feet above sea level! This is what makes it the highest consistent flier of all bird species. This species travels directly over the Himalayas on its route between its nesting grounds and winter quarters in India, surely this bird deserves the award of the highest-flying bird. Such capability surprised everyone including the scientist who did research to understand how it is possible for such bird to reach huge height. They found that their blood cells contain a special type of hemoglobin (a blood protein) that absorbs oxygen very quickly at high altitudes. They also noted that due to small blood vessels extend especially deeply into their muscles, thereby improving the transfer of oxygen to their muscle fibers. Isn’t it very special quality? Off curse it is, and there are many more things we should know about Bar headed; let us move to the next section

The Flawless facts 

This handsome stout-bodied goose gets its name from the double bars of dark feathers that wrap around the back of its white head. Its body is light grey and its legs and bill are bright orange. Males and females are identical

In the colder months (October through March), bar-headed geese live in low-lying swamps in northern India and Burma. When the weather warms up, they take to the skies on their annual migration to their summer breeding grounds in the high mountain lakes and wetlands of central Asia

During its annual migration, this species travels directly over the Himalayas on its route between its nesting grounds and winter quarters in India

Bar-headed geese are mainly vegetarian. They feed primarily on grasses, roots, stems and other plant parts, as well as on grains

The birds usually nest in dense colonies. A female lays from four to six eggs, which take about a month to hatch. Chicks leave the nest after about 53 days

After knowing such unique facts I am sure you will remember this beautiful bird forever, you can visit Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary to meet Bar-headed Goose, do visit during winter to enjoy many more migrated birds

A Message of the Day 

There is an urgent need to understand the core reason of human and animal conflict to resolve in such a way that we don't cut down our resources for short-term benefit. We should understand that we are occupying the animal/bird territory for our comfort which is creating conflict. Such conflicts are then resolved by blaming/ killing animals. Avani Tigress (killed recently), Jai tiger (missing since 2014) and Ustad tiger (in captivity) suffered due to such conflict. Please wake up and open your eyes to understand the need to preserve such resources otherwise concrete forest will lead us to hell 

Author:

BT Wild Art – Bhavesh Thakkar photographyLife is Safari. Enjoy it.

Photoshoot