Trip Report - Classical Kanha

 

Lovely readers, hope you and your family are doing fine, please take care of your loved once and ensure all safety measure, don’t go out without mask and sanitizer. We have seen many people are roaming around without masks which adds fuel to the virus. it is said that “Jaan hai, toh Jahan hai” but if you don’t wear a mask “Zindagi COVID ko free me Kurban hai.” so please follow the rules and stay safe. 

After the piece of advice let us get into the world of wild, firstly my apology for taking little long to publish blog this time but I am sure that this trip report will not only compensate the delay but will make you crazy. This time the trip report is about one of India’s finest forest, beautiful forest is nothing less than a heaven, so without taking more time let’s move to the next section to meet the king and its kingdom. 

The journey begins

Kanha is amongst my dream places, I believe that for wildlife lovers Kanha is like one of the Char Dham. Every year I used to try to visit this lovely forest but it came after a long gap of six years but when it came, it came with unforgettable memories. Let me explain the whole story in step by step manner so at all the points you feel you were part of the journey. 

It came as a golden opportunity because it came during the long weekend schedule, I grab the opportunity and booked it immediately in the month of February itself. It was booked at a time when COVID cases were much lower but suddenly it went wild and created tension with the possibility of strict travel restrictions or maybe another lockdown. 

Waiting for the COVID test result was 100 times more painful than waiting for the results of the exam because in the exam you know what you have answered but in COVID you never know which way result will come. 

Initially, I and Vishnu thought the flight we will be better and had done booking long back but when night lock-down announced we changed our mind and decided to go by train.  After all these dramas we reached Nagpur on Friday morning and started a long road journey towards Kanha with a total of 14 people in the group. By taking a couple of breaks in between, we reached Kanha without any trouble. We were warmly welcome by Camp Dev Vila under the leadership of Saily. This is how we reached Kanha with a lot of fear of travel restrictions in mind but the same got erased within a minute we reached. Now after the travel story it is a time to know Kahani Kismat ki or you can say Kahani Kanha ki, let's move to the next section to enter heaven. 

Kahani Kanha ki

We entered the forest with a lot of excitement and expectations to feel the forest and to capture anything and everything offered by this lovely place. Here in Kanha apart from Tiger the key attraction is Barasingha (Swamp deer) because of its distinct antlers (twelve-horned). Forest Department has launched a mascot “Bhoor Singh” to value this lovely animal. With the very first safari, everyone started picturizing dream shot but the question is did we get? let us see the success ration 

First two safaris we could not meet Tiger but it offered variety in terms of Barasingha, Jackal, Indian roller, Oriental Honey-buzzard, Vultures, and dancing peacock multiple times. Two safaris without tiger reminded me of Sanket’s kismat, which remains always Naram when it comes to tiger 😜😜😜

BABA THENGA ROCKS

Now it was time for the third Safari and that is to in the evening time, evening safari timings are nearly half as compared to the morning but Irfan Bhai our driver was very confident about probability maybe he had some clue. At the start, he took us to the place called “Baba Thenga” when I heard the name I laughed and thought Baba Thenga he dega kya? 😝. But the moment we reached it was a surprise instead of “Thenga”. Two sub-adult cubs (18 months old) of Tigress Dhawa Jhandi” entertained us for more than half-hour. During these 30 minutes, both cubs performed various activities like drinking water, sitting in water, walking around, sleeping for some time, and after that sitting near the tree in typical style. We captured everything and allowed them to take a rest and decided to move on so as we can evaluate the leopard, we were not lucky to get the leopard but we came across another dramatic situation of the unsuccessful run chase which is equally memorable.

THE RUN Chase

Now let me tell you what happened next in the run chase, we had no idea when we moved out from Baba Thenga. While moving on towards the gate, we saw 8-10 vehicles were standing and were looking in one particular direction. The moment we reached the female tigress “Tedhi Punchh” came out from nowhere to catch a deer, by the time we pick our camera, we realize it is a run chase. Tigress took a quick run but it was not enough to beat Deer. 

Deer somehow managed to run away and survived, it was just a fraction of the distance where deer took a turn and got a second life. The whole drama was too quick for us to capture that is to in evening's dull light but yes to see this kind of live-action was one of its kind experience and it will always remain in our heart. So the equation is like 3 tigers in 3rd safari, so how many in 4th? With this question, we ended 3rd safari with full-on party mode and had a small party as well. 

Aur yeh mara Chouka 

4^th Safari we were in a relaxed mood because of the previous day’s wonderful sighting, to start with we were stopping for every small thing, we spent 20 minutes on Barasingha's activity. While enjoying and stopping everywhere we realized that we missed Dhawa Jandi tigress just by a minute. Once you know that you missed a tiger your inner greed will not allow you to relax and your mind pushes you to find another tiger or a leopard. 

So again focus shifted to Tiger, meanwhile, we were searching tiger, one vehicle helped us with information about cubs of Tigress Naina. We followed the direction provided by another vehicle, the moment we reached, we saw a sub-adult cub of around 20 months was sitting in the middle of the road with an attitude, again drama started, it walked head-on and after that 3 siblings joined him. One by one reached towards the lake, It was a treat to watch 4 semi-adult tigers together. This is how our luck hit four runs on the last ball, we got more than what we expected. Now let me update you with what we saw during the trip. 

Lucky list

7 Tigers, Leopard, Sloth bear, Barasingha, Sambars, Deers, Peacock, Mongoose, Indian Gaur, Jackal, Vultures, Indian roller, Night Jar, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Green Bee-eater, Shikra, Black-buck and many more. 

I hope you enjoyed every bit of it, please shower your blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, and at the end, do not forget to share feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Vote of Thanks

Mumbai Travelers and Team.  After a long time, I got the opportunity to have a trip under Jogi’s leadership. Many thanks for the flawless arrangements, it is one of the best trips of my life

Special Appearance – In a movie, a special appearance is a role, which steals your heart even in presence of a Hero. Similarly, Saily in this trip is a special appearance who deserves a special mention in this blog. Forest is her first home; you just cannot take away forest out of her. Thank you so much for treating us so nicely. Impressed with the way you managed single-handedly

Co-Travelers  - Many thanks to all of you, wonderful to have you all as part of my memory book

Camp Dev Vila – Yummy food, lovely cottages and humble staff and captain like Saily, just amazing, many thanks to each one of you

Guide and Driver – Irfan Bhai because of your knowledge and award winner guide Ram Kali we were able to manage such a great sighting, many thanks. 

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