We had one of our best weekend getaways during our stay at Orange County, Kabini. This really was the highlight of our holidays from New Zealand. Previously, I have been on four previous wildlife getaways, mostly in and around the south of India. I was, therefore, sure of some elephant and deer sightings along with a good number of birds. One thing that has always eluded us and many like us, were sightings of the big cats. The only difference this time was that I was better equipped to hold on to posterity if I did get some good sightings irrespective of what it was.
We booked ourselves in for two safaris not wanting to miss a chance of an important sighting if it so happens to be on any one of the two days we were there. The first day’s jeep safari started with a crossing of the Kabini River. We were warned that since the monsoons had begun and the bushy undergrowth had started to green up the forest, it would do some good to dampen down our levels of expectations of a good sighting.
All of us had our eyes on the lookout for possible sightings. As luck would have it our first sighting was of a Peafowl.
Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus)
I guess this was an indication of the good luck to follow. When you are so excited about a trip into the forest, you tend to see things that are not there. The imagination of a child’s mind takes over. This was reflected in my son’s imaginative sightings of moving orange and black stripes between the bushes and checking to see if the cattle hoof prints in clay were the quintessential triangular oval paw prints!
Soon enough we spotted a couple of elephants on one side of the dirt tracks. We stopped our vehicle and waited for their movement. One was a young tusker.
Elephant (Elephas maximus)
Soon enough their friends joined them and there was a herd of six elephants who majestically passed behind our jeep. Having rented the Canon 100-400 USM lens for the safari, this was the best chance to let my son have a go at the camera and let him try out the new lens. I think he enjoyed the experience.
Moving along, we reached the riverbank and was starting to have clear sightings of spotted deer.
Spotted Deer (Axis axis)
Spotted Deer (Axis axis)
As I was getting my camera manually focused on to a reasonably close spotted deer with big horns, another safari jeep raced past us and asked us follow them.
Spotted Deer (Axis axis)
We were advised to sit down and hold on to the bars tightly. The driving skills of covering the next few kilometres of the road had made our driver an ideal candidate for a WRC rally!
Ours was among one of the first jeeps to reach the spot. To our right, on top of a tree was our dear friend, the leopard, having a siesta possibly after a big meal.
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
The place was starting to crowd up with other safari jeeps joining in for the sighting. We spent about thirty to fourty minutes there. I suppose it was a Freudian representation that I had the longest telephoto zoom lens in that group, even though its was rented! Trigger-happy I was. And so I clicked on!
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
My little daughter, all of six years, was finding it difficult to spot our little cat resting on the tree trunks. She has a pink nightdress with leopard spotted design. Soon our good friend moved to another branch and positioned himself on the tree with his legs outstretched.
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
His white legs stood out against the darker orange skin.
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
I explained that the cat had borrowed my daughters dress to keep himself warm. How wonderful it is, to reflect on the workings of a child’s mind! She was able to spot him straight away and enjoyed the sighting as much as every one else on the safari.
As we moved on, we spotted a large herd of elephants at a salt pit and even saw them demonstrate their one up-manship by threatening to charge the jeep.
Elephants (Elephas maximus)
Elephants (Elephas maximus)
There appeared to be a cacophony of many animals – the Langur crying, a big Owl on one of the trees, the Hawk Eagle (or Hockey Eagle as my daughter would say!). Amidst all this, the fleeting jump of the barking deer was too quick for my reflexes to turn and get a good focus, though it still remains etched in my memory.
All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day and a great wildlife safari experience. I had to drive home the point to my children that it took me fourty years and four safaris to spot a big cat! They should be counting their lucky stars that they were able to do that on their very first wildlife safari.
This entry was posted
on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Herbivores, Predators.
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