Jhalana Trip Report

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