Sampoorna Tadoba Trip Report

 

Hello, lovely readers hope you and your family are doing fine. I know you are waiting for a blog for a month but let me tell you that the best thing takes a little more time. Yes after a long wait, I got an opportunity to travel to one of my favorite forests, and thereby the opportunity came for the best trip report. With this trip report I will take you to the virtual safari, so be ready to meet the King and Kingdom through this blog.

This trip is different from all other trips in terms of the kind of fun and sighting we had, I will open the cards one by one in the next section. The craziness/madness of 16 wildlife lovers blasted like anything because all were out from “Jail” 😝 after a long time and it turns into a unique level of the trip. The challenge is to replicate the same on the virtual world for this blog, but trust me the idea came to mind during the trip itself instead of me thinking after the trip. So let me present a unique trip report in a filmy style.

The LUDO begins

There are two reasons for narrating the story in LUDO style, firstly, because similar to the four token/color of LUDO the trip has four different stories, and secondly, the song referred in OTT LUDO (Originally from Albela movie) which is very much applicable to our trip. So let us see the lyrics to understand connections between the song and us and then we will jump to the wild LUDO stories. 

ओ बेटा जी, अरे ओ बाबू जी, किस्मत की हव कभी नरम, कभी गरम

कभी नरम-नरम, कभी गरम-गरम, कभी नरम-गरम नरम-गरम रे ओ बेटा जी

This song became the anthem of the trip because in wildlife Tiger sighting is based on luck means “Kismat” now sing the song  "Tiger sighting की हव कभी नरम, कभी गरम. 😜😜 Sanket keep repeating this and Saurabh you can use this in every trip when travelers ask a question about Tiger sighting probability. 

Story 1 – Chhoti Tara

Story 1 starts from the time we planned the trip, we were eagerly waiting to go to the forest to get relaxation and to get some freshness from all kinds of frustration. Saurabh came up with the Tadoba plan, the only thought in mind was like should I repeat 5^th visit or wait for a new place but then Saurabh explained that it is Sampoorna Tadoba trip, that means covering unexplored zones of Tadoba so I opted to take the opportunity with both hands instead of waiting for something new. 

Finally, the day came to reach the airport, it started with a confusion of T1 and T2 because Go-Air did not inform the change in schedule to T2 but we were ahead of time so no issues were faced. Things were mostly routine at the airport and there were no unusual things noticed, just that you need to keep some time buffer in case you encounter some schedule changes. 

We reached Nagpur and had lovely South Indian food at Uttar Dakshin and move ahead to Tadoba. Upon reaching we took quick lunch and were ready to enter heaven with a lot of excitement to enjoy the wilderness after such a long gap. 

We sent around 1 and half hour and search was still on for big cat, a lot of calling and pugmarks were there but no sighting yet. In search of a Tiger, we got a sighting of the cricketing tiger “The Wall” I mean Rahul Dravid and his family, we were convincing ourselves that now luck will turn, Dravid’s sighting might bring the luck. 

After running all around we saw few vehicles were standing and looking into one particular direction with the camera, we immediately realized that yes this is the spot we will get something, the moment we reached the spot Chotti Tara (tigress) came out from nowhere with a small Sambar kill, she started walking across the vehicles and in the middle of the road with the kill. This was the first-ever sighting where we saw a tiger walking on the road so boldly with a kill, out of our 4 gypsies we were the only one who got these pictures (baaki log ko Jalaane ke liye tha yeh statement 😝😝)  

Nature is beautiful and cruel at the same time where little sambar got killed but at the same time, it was food for others. Another point to notice is to see how animals manage food for their cubs and how they ensure that food is kept away from Scavengers. Chotti Tara kept the kill inside somewhere and came back on the road to take her cubs to feed them. This time she was close and head-on, this was just an amazing sighting and a wonderful opportunity to capture the beauty so close. She was bold enough to walk in between so many vehicles without panic. 

See the sequence, she came with a kill to feed cubs, she hides the kill, coming back on road to bring cubs to the place of kill and walking with the cubs to reach towards the place where kill is kept. Cubs are 6 months old so they follow the mother’s instructions, so understand how the communication happens, the mother will growl softly and cubs will follow once they hear the growling. In case cubs stuck they respond back to mother with a cute little growling. This was one of the best moments I have ever seen, animal behavior is no less than what human follows. Story 1 ended on a very high note and increased the expectations as well for balance 7 Safaris. it’s human nature of greed that if you get better you need the best in the next so let’s see what we got in the story 2. 

Story 2 – Dry Fruit

Why dry fruit? Is someone eating dry fruits? Or just because it is healthy or fruits were dry? Let me think about what to answer. The answer lies within the story itself, so let me start the story. 

With 1^st time right the greed, the wants, expectations whatever we name, it reaches sky high. Now everyone wanted Maya with cubs, only Saurabh’s vehicle got the glimpse but without cubs. All others were searching for leopard or tiger but no luck, the day ended without sighting for most of us, we were like it’s ok if one of the safaris is without luck we will get something special in Alizanza zone or in Madnapur zone we will get Male tiger, etc... High hopes because human is the most greedy animal 😆. Even 3^rd Safari at Alizanza, 4^th at Madnapur 5^th at Moharli, 6^th at Agarzari remained dry. It seems after 1^st safari we got Vishnu’s shrap as he was not traveling with us. Back to back safaris were going dry and hence the title is Dry, now let me take you to the other part of the title "Fruit"

After five dry safaris everyone’s mind dried up and fruits of dried mind started coming out. It started with Sanket who realize that he is Sunil Shetty of Dhadkan because dialog suits his tiger luck “Aye tiger me tuje dekhu yeh ho nai sakta, or tumhe koi or dekhle yeh mai hone nai Dunga”

Next, PJ came from DR. DJ, while me and Deepa was clicking Mormon butterfly, he said “Morons clicking Mormons eating Bourbons” see the kind of fruits of dried minds. 

I was the one who made Ohh Betaji song viral and Sanket adopted the same and thought Kismat ki Hawa will be Garam so he selected one particular tree and spent almost the whole safari near that tree. He thought he is Sunil Shetty and Sonam is Anjali, she will come to her 😝😝😝😝

Alternate songs were coming out like Zindagi ki yehi reet hai, Haar k baad hi jeet hai” self-motivated fruitful mind that next round we will surely see the Tiger. 

Nevertheless, we were lucky to see some fantastic birds and surprisingly butterflies which in real term were fruitful, this is how story 2 proved to be Dry Fruit. 

Story 3  - Sampoorna butterfly Marathon

Now LUDO blue means story 3, it turned out as Sampoorna butterfly marathon, let me explain, our singing star Deepa who knows butterflies better started finding varieties and in very good numbers. She got Banded Peacock which I believe was in the race of becoming a national butterfly and that is too in very good numbers. During the dry safari time, we realize that unseen butterflies are becoming lifer in Tadoba. Maybe because safaris were going dry we started focusing on butterflies more and maybe the great variety got our attention. Even Suma and I got attracted to the butterflies and started clicking and discussing with Deepa. During the discussion and while checking the pictures we realize that we have clicked butterflies the most instead of tiger making the story 3 as Sampoorna butterfly marathon

Story 4 – Male tiger jinx

Now we are on the climax of the trip, last two safaris left Devada and Mohrli, mind not accepting that we had such bad luck but hope was still there because both zones are impressive and have a record of accomplishment of super shots; with a forcefully positive mindset, we entered the Devada. Combination of sitting, clothes color, etc to change the luck got discussed and tried as well, but once again, butterflies started buttering us, like Menka they were trying to divert our Tiger Tapasya. 

Time was passing and hitting towards yet another dry day hence we were doing butterfly shoot. While TP was going on amongst us suddenly guide got a message that the male tiger has entered the Ambezari area. Our expert guide said now no stop in between and let's go to the Ambezari, excitement started running in blood, positivity came on the face with the expectation that soon we will meet the King. Meanwhile, my devil mind reminded me that I have a jinx of male tiger, will you be able to reach? I checked with the guide that how far the place is. How much time it will take? The answer was 15-20 minutes, I was like are you sure we will be able to see? He said sir no choice but to take a chance. 

Now blood pressure started shooting up because I had a jinx of not sighting the male tiger since I started wildlife (2015). 15/20 min looks a short time but when it comes to tiger sighting even 5 min is very long. I started counting minutes and was checking with the guide regularly, at one place we had to cross the highway road where some stupid car owner was standing on mid of the road just to see deer. We shouted that it is a road and he should not stand in the middle of it, with such incident negativity started hitting mind that it is too late and the tiger would have left.

Upon reaching we saw many vehicles and expressions of people were like a tiger has moved inside. Deepa and I could hardly saw a glimpse and the tiger got inside the cluttered area. The famous song of Houseful where Akshay Kumar is "Panauti" started coming to mind, male tiger and my luck will not match types. Still, we were trying to see if we can sight from somewhere, Deepa was trying by standing on the seat and suddenly gypsy took a start, DR DJ was very quick to support her to get back to balance herself and settle down. Thankfully no damage was done but the event brought a lot of laughter and good luck as well. 

After such an attempt, we got a BUMPER sighting of a heavyweight mysterious hunk. It was like a god gift, animals hardly come back once they prefer to move ahead but this bold huge male tiger came out again in open and this time came head-on. Jinx ended in a royal style, handsome tiger walked head-on, gave laughing expression, yawning expression, sitting in the water, and stayed almost one-hour. The name of this tiger is still unknown and identification is yet to be confirmed by the department, meanwhile, we have kept the name as BUMPER (Deepa and DR. DJ you can explain this better). This is how jinx and story no. 4 ended with bumper sighting, all of us were lucky to enjoy the long-lasting day. Now we greedy animals wanted more but the last safari too went dry but overall with little satisfaction of White-eye buzzard and Osprey. 

Summary

Now let me summarize, 16 people, 4 gypsy, 6 zones, this was one of its kind trips because of the kind of conditions we are in plus 16 travelers together for 8 back-to-back safari and getting absolutely unique sightings. The outcome like of Tiger walking on the road with a kill and long 1-hour sighting, it's just a rare and kind of moment of life. 

All travelers mixed so well with each other adding to a lot of fun and lifetime memories. Food and stay added to the flavor, no chance of complaint at all, we enjoyed like never before, hope to see many more trips like this. 

Lastly, let me give you list of other sightings  - White-eye buzzard, Osprey, Wild Dogs, Common/pied/white-throated kingfisher, Yellow footed green pigeon (state bird), Deer, Sambar, Monkey, peacock, Green bee-eater, golden oriel, woodpecker, Bison, and many more

I hope you liked this blog, keep blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Vote of Thanks

Mumbai Travelers and Team – Many thanks, Saurabh, Jogi, and team for managing the tour so smoothly, you guys are rocking, keep it up.

Co-Travelers  - Saurabh, Deepa, Dr. DJ, Suma, Sanket, Nishank, Amol, Kshipra, Amit, Dolly, Ashish, Pomila, Mihir, Eshan, Chaitanya sir – You are awesome, enjoyed the company of each one of you, many thanks

Hotel stay – Tadoba Tiger King Kolara and Pug Mark Moharli  - Yummy food and a nice place to stay.

Driver and Guide – All of you are doing a great job, your knowledge of the forest is really strong, keep up.

 

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section

 

Bhigwan trip report

 

Hello friends, hope you are safe and doing fine, before I start let me apologize for the delay in posting the blog. For a couple of weeks, I was busy with work and then I was waiting for the trip to happen so overall it took time. 

Today I am presenting the trip report which has come after a long time, a first-ever overnight trip in this difficult time. A lot of things were in mind while planning the trip, how to go, what all precautions required etc. after proper planning and discussion with local people we decided to go on with a trip. Somewhere we have to start, people's earning/ livelihood comes from travelers, it will adversely affect small places so with this thought and taking all precautions we unlocked ourselves and jump to our favorite place Bhigwan. So let us see how this trip helped us to energize ourselves from so-called jail 😂

The Report card

For a long time, we wanted to go for an overnight trip to enjoy the field again so we were asking Saurabh to evaluate a place that we can enjoy like never before. After a long wait, the champion came out with the suggestion of Bhigwan, without wasting any time we agreed to backpack and drive down to heaven. To ensure safety we decided to go self-drive and we added Pankaj to handle driving so we 3 can focus on photography. 

With Mask, sanitizer, and medicine we started off to Bhigwan, unlike the earlier times we avoided outside food and crowded places and reached the destination with minimum stoppages. At Bhigwan Sandeep Nagre and his family managed all necessary arrangements along with a stay and lovely food. 

Food was just awesome, it was typically local food such as Thecha, Pitlay, Jawar Bhakri, Patal Bhaji, and fresh fish for Vishnu and Saurabh. After such tasty food (feel of AMRUT on earth) we took a rest a bit and got ready at 5 am to reach heaven. Let move to the next section to feel the trip, to meet exciting species, and one of its kind experiences that we noticed on the field. 

Ground report

From Bhigwan grassland BT Wild Art reporting live 😜  
The day started early because the distance was a bit long from the place we stayed in. This time we opted for grassland because the target was raptors plus we had never been to the grassland before. I know you are excited to know more about "Adbhut" onfield experience with birds so without taking more time let me start with unique birds and its stories. 

Drongo

Let me start with Drongo first, though it is a very common bird and found almost everywhere still it is part of the key sighting. We decided to keep our focus on uncommon birds and big raptors and if time permits, we will go for common birds. While we were looking for rare birds, Drongo forced us to shift focus towards it by doing a super daring activity, let me describe in detail.

Little Drongo of around 28cm in length was challenging much larger bird (almost 3 to 4 times of its size) Drongo was behind Shot Toed Snake Eagle to shift its place and was not allowing Eagle to settle down. At first instance, it was chasing Eagle and pushing the eagle to go to another place. This little bird has so much courage and confidence that it was going behind eagle all around the place. 

Another instance was even more shocking, Eagle was settled on top of a tree but Drongo was not liking it and hence so it was flying overhead to pass on a message to Eagle to move on but Eagle was not in the mood to pay attention to it, after a couple of failed attempt Drongo even dare to hit Eagle on its head (kind of Chamaat) this continued till the time Eagle got irritated and took a flight. 

The aggressive and fearless attitude of the bird was just mind-blowing, we were lucky to witness the whole activity live and could not believe more that such a small creature is taking the large raptor directly without any fear. Drongo's daredevil attitude forced me to keep it on top of the list.

Short-Toed Snake Eagle

This bird’s favorite prey is a snake, the area rich with snakes becomes the habitat of this eagle. They are famous to battle larger snakes on the ground and eat them swiftly, it swallows snakes with ease (as if people eat noodles 😆). We saw around four Eagles in two days that means the place is certainly rich with snakes. 

Harriers

Another attraction of the trip was two different types of Harriers, Montagu Harrier, and Pallid Harrier. Montagu is known for its graceful flight with powerful and elegant wingbeats, which gives an impression of buoyancy and ease. 

Pallid Harrier is known for hunting its prey by surprising them as they drift low over fields and moors. Both migratory species are best on grassland and look so graceful and elegant for a photoshoot, you can check the DSLR section to feel the same. 

Common Kestrel

A common kestrel is a killing machine, the attack on prey is so deadly that prey is killed in the air itself. With sharp talons, it hit the prey in the air to ensure that mission is accomplished on the spot. They are known for keen eyesight. Even in extremely poor light, allowing them to hunt almost until dark. With such quality, the bird deserves to be on the lucky list. 

Other attractions

However, I have mentioned mainly raptors in the above list you just cannot rule out the charm of other birds we sighted there, they were equally beautiful and charming; certainly, details will be published through various blogs from time to time. 

The list includes – Indian Courser, Sand grouse, Singing Quail, Hoopoe, Shrike, Eurasian hawk cuckoo, Blackbuck, Shikra, Bonelli's eagle, Ashu crowned sparrow, Green Bee Eater, Dove, Francolin, Lark Eagle Owl (fooled us and flew away without giving pictures) and many more. 

Caution alert

We need to be cautious about the reality that COVID is not over, just because of unlocking we should not take the liberty of forgetting about wearing masks, using sanitizer, and maintaining social distancing. If you don’t follow rules then Virus will follow you. The choice is yours to follow rules or to invite viruses. Take care but don’t take chances.

I hope you liked this blog, keep blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Vote of Thanks

Pankaj for being a calm and safe driver throughout the journey

Sanju Bahu for wonderful knowledge of grassland species and excellent driving skills on difficult roads of grassland, thanks for supporting us with your car as well

Agni Pankh Flamingo Point - Sandeep Nagre, Nitin, Ganesh & family). For enabling all necessary items for stay. The food was just amazing, specially Thecha. 

Vishnu, lovely friend as always, your realistic GYAN and Vishnu Vani is out of the world

Saurabh, the champion will remain champion, guidance in improving photography skills, planning the place and knowledge sharing remains the best part of this trip 

Learning of the day

State Bird of Kerala

Great Indian hornbill –

Its impressive size and color have made it important in many tribal cultures and rituals 

 

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section

Daredevil Drongo

Short Toed Snake Eagle 

Short Toed Snake Eagle

Montagu Harrier Male

Montagu Harrier Male

Montagu Harrier Female

Pallid Harrier

Killer Common Kestrel 

Killing machine

Indian Courser

Sandgrouse Male

Sandgrouse Female

Quail  - Singing song

Hoopoe

Shrike

Eurasian Hawk Cuckoo

Blackbuck

Shikra

Bonelli's Eagle

Ashy Crowned Sparrow