Lovely
readers let me apologize for two weeks long break, busy schedule and travel plan forced me to stay away from the write-up. Now I am back and back with a big bang trip report for lovely followers. Today’s special is the Jhalana trip
report, a place which I love to visit again and again for two reasons, the
first is of course Leopard and other is the beauty of the small forest. So let me
take you to Jhalana through this blog, GET SET GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Drawing
the reference to what our respected PM said we should visit at least 15 places
in India in next 5 years, I would love to add that out of these 15 places at least 5 should be forest visit, with this humble request moving to the next section
for a digital visit to the Jhalana through the blog.
The Trip Report
The unplanned trip, it just
happened for me because I wanted to celebrate my birthday in the forest so just
around 20 days prior to the trip I decided to join Jhalana trip with Mumbai Travelers and the presence of Vishnu and Saurabh made the trip even more special and memorable. This is how the trip happened accidentally, let me tell you that accidental trips are more memorable than the planned one. This time the gathering happened directly at Jaipur instead of the train but the time we meet we had super fun.
The reason I opted Jhalana is because of Leopard, Leopard is special for me because my journey of
wildlife started with glorious sighting of Leopard so whenever I get an opportunity to sight a leopard I don’t miss that. Now with all these things in
mind we reached Jaipur and started with evening safari on Friday. The moment we entered our we started
focusing on the calls of peacock for an hour but it was without luck, Leopard sighting requires a lot of efforts and patience then only you can get sighting rewards.
We
know that sighting a leopard is more challenging compared to other big cats
hence we were still relaxed and had hope that “hum honge Kamiyab” with this
thought suddenly we noticed some movement, it was a hint that the king of
Jhalana is nearby. It was difficult to sight but we had our champion Saurabh
who notice that Leopard who was trying to bypass us silently. This was a wonderful
sighting by him, which helped us to see a leopard on the first day itself, though it
was in the cluttered area but sighting and feel were more important. This is how the
first day was exciting and fruitful with leopard and some wonderful birds
After super day 1, it was time for next safari,
during morning leopard played hide and seek with us and did not meet us. However,
during the third safari, we managed to find him after a long wait and a lot of
running from one place to other chasing various calls from peacock and
langurs and this blessed us with some special moments as well.
One
of the golden moments of the trip came during the fag end of the third safari,
as I said somehow we managed to find leopard but it was again in clutter and
dull lights. Suddenly we notice that leopard ran away from us but the place was
not far from us so we reached the place in anticipation that it will cross the
road. Most of all the cars were anticipating a move towards us from the front but
somehow my six sense was telling me that it will pass from the backside, I told
Sidharth that keep an eye behind else you will miss the shot. In just 2 minutes of
this leopard moved from behind in no time, Saurabh and me were the luckiest to got a super moment of this lovely running event but due to bad light, we could not
manage snap of running shot. Sometime sighting becomes more important than
photo opportunity because you need to feel the forest and it jewel from your
real eyes and not only through dummy eyes.
With the end of four fantastic safaris, we
managed to capture lovely birds and some other animals as well. Apart from Leopard, the sighting list
includes Shikra, White eve buzzard, Eurasian Sparrow Hawk, dancing Peacock, deer,
Blue bulls, Langurs, Bee-eaters, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Nightjar, Treepie,
Drongo, coucal and many more
Now
you know why this forest deserves affection let me give you little snap of facts
of the forest in the next section.
The Fantastic Forest
Jhalana Reserve Forest Spread over an area of
21 Sq.km picturesque forests covered from the city from all sides provides ample
opportunities to have a glimpse of its splendid elusive Apex Predator The
Leopard. The forest is located in the heart of the city itself and very close
to the Airport. Combination of lush green area with typical Rajasthani outlook surrounding makes this forest all the
more beautiful.
Apart from the sighting list mentioned above some of
the other key attractions of Jhalana are - Striped Hyena, Desert
Fox, Golden Jackal, Mongoose. Not only animals but it is also rich with various
category of owls, other raptors and good reptilians. The best part of this
forest is that it offers great combination of wildlife and Rajwadi Architecture,
I strongly recommend visiting the Jhalana forest to feel nature.
Extra but not ordinary
Apart
from forest visit, we managed to find some time for some yummy local specialty
such as tandoor tea, paan, Pyaj Kachori, Chole bhature, Malpuva etc and yes
Vishnu and Saurabh tried some shopping as well. Yummy food snaps you can feel on DSLR
section
I hope you loved the details of this jewel
place; we should explore such wonderful places to learn about conservation of
our mother nature. Please share your feedback on btwildart@gmail.com
Vote of Thanks: The blog cannot end without a
vote of thanks, the contribution of each one is crucial, without which the
journey is incomplete
Trip Captain – Saurabh,
only one word Champion
As always, Lovely Co-Travelers – Vishnu, Sidharth, Gayatri
and Sachin
Jhalana captain – Sumeet
Juneja for all safari arrangements and Kuldeep for driving and sighting efforts
Stay & food – Red Fox
hotel
A Message of the Day –
God loved the birds and created trees,
humans loved the birds and created cages. Don’t Cage birds, let them enjoy the sky
BT Wild Art
Deadly DSLR
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| The Lovely forest outlook |
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| My love Leopard |
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| Dancing Peacock |
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| Shikra |
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| Green Bee-Eater |
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| Green Bee-Eater |
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| Eurasian Roller |
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| Eurasian Roller |
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| Eurasian Sparrow Hawk |
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| Francolin |
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| Laughing Dove |
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| Typical habit of Peacock |
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| Night Jar |
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| White Eye Buzzard |
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| Mayur pankh |
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| Tandoor for Tea making |
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| Royal Tandoor Kullad Tea |
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| Paan Meri Jaan |
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| Pyaj Kachori |
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| Malpua |
