"Haan, rhino hai, udhar," said Bakul."Rhino?" I repeated. I had to have misheard. He could not be so calm. He could not tonelessly say 'rhino hai udhar' and leave it at that. In my head, though, I was saying, Rhino! Oo, rhino! Rhino! Where's the rhino? I want to see ...And there it was. Across a lake, eating away to glory. Rhinoceros unicornis. The real thing.Thoughts tumbled one after the other. Does it get cock-eyed looking around its horn? It really has a horn! It's so big! It's slaty-grey. It's ... it's a rhino!In my experience with forests so far, you don't just go away. You don't say, "Ah, there's a rhino," and peacefully drive off. I once watched a bear eat for almost half an hour. Because that's the way it is.Or so I thought."Chalein?" asked Bakul."Hmm?""Shall we move on?" someone translated for me, as if language was the problem.It was unheard of, unthinkable … [Read more...]
Mihimukh, Kaziranga
How different Kaziranga is from the other reserves I've visited! For one, you can get off the jeep in several places. In each zone, there's a watch tower which you can climb to look at the world around you. And the zones don't have complicated, circuitous routes. There's no decision to make about what path to take, where to go ...The gate to the reserve opens at 7:30, much later than at Tadoba. Expecting the cold of 6 o'clock safaris, I was armed with a beanie crocheted by a friend, in addition to my jacket, shawl and socks. I was set. Safaris in December are just something else.Birds. They just blew me over."What is that?" I asked. "Pulley-necked stork," was the answer I understood. Pulley? I wondered. Why pulley? Maybe bully? Who-ly? It was only in the evening that I had my Aha! moment. Woolly-necked stork. That's what it was!A huge stork, much bigger than my pulley-necked … [Read more...]
Nightjars
When I think of nightjars, I think of poetry. Was it in "Fern Hill" by Dylan Thomas? Or did I come across a nightjar in something by Keats or Byron? I think of nightjars and I have the sense of something I do not know. Something that I can only imagine.And then we saw them - both earlier this year in Nagzira, and this time in Tadoba.In the pre-dawn light, little, brown birds sat on the red road. The jeep's headlights fell on them as they sat there. We watched wide-eyed, as unblinking as the small, round birds with their black eyes. We held our breath. It was breathtaking, but hugely stressful.What if they don't fly? What if we run over them? What if they don't fly? What if they don't fly?They waited, unfailingly, until the last possible moment. My heart was in my throat as I watched them finally taking off. In the bright light from our jeep, they flew, their wingspans seemingly … [Read more...]
Back from Tadoba
We were famous, the talk of the town. Everyone knew us; the official at the gate wrote my name down each morning and each afternoon without having to consult the safari ticket. He grinned at us, exchanged a few words, and wished us luck. "Now at least, you must ..." At the end of each safari, as we signed out, he looked up hopefully. We shook our heads, almost delighted at being so difficult, and he let out his breath and gave us a crooked smile."Everyone is talking only about you," said our driver Ashish. "All the time, everyone in Navegaon - the guides, the drivers, everyone - is only talking about somehow showing you a tiger. Yes, it's a jungle, and yes, it's unpredictable, but how is it possible that after seven safaris, you still haven't seen the tiger?"We smiled. The people at the forest gate and the hotel seemed more upset than we were. We felt tempted, over and over again, to … [Read more...]
Leopard II
It was nearing the time to leave the forest, but we headed back towards the rest house in old Nagzira. The guide needed to use the washroom.There are lots of deer and monkeys near the rest house, so tourists invariably stand around taking photographs.On that day, there were people standing in their jeeps, looking fixedly in one direction."There's something there," I said, frowning. "Must be deer. People are always excited to see deer." "No ..." I insisted. "People don't stand to see deer."And that's when someone gestured to us frantically. "Leopard, leopard!"It was right there, at the rest house! And it was in the mood to hunt.A leopard's camouflage is excellent. It was in plain sight, but a little distance away. We could make out that it was there only when it moved. We watched. A herd of deer was grazing just beyond.And then a doe and fawn emerged.The leopard eyed … [Read more...]
Leopard
We did our research before we went to Nagzira. We knew there were barely any tigers, but we also knew that many, many tourists saw a leopard in Nagzira. Surely, in eleven safaris, we would see one too.The first, second, third, fourth (in Koka) and fifth safaris were over. We were restless. Much as we enjoyed each safari, we wanted something more. Something to write home about. I love bison. I love monkeys, deer and birds. I love trees and sunshine. But I wanted more.In Nagzira, we often felt as if we were the only people in the forest. Unlike in Tadoba, we did not have constant communication with other guides about where the deer and langurs were calling out to one another. Often, I felt like we were lost souls wandering in the jungle: alone and without any sense of purpose.We passed a rare car going in the opposite direction - and found what we wanted.There he was. He emerged … [Read more...]
Starry, Starry Night
"There's nothing in new Nagzira." "Why don't you go to Koka?" "It's about 35 km from here." "Anyway, Nagzira is closed on Thursdays." "You could go to Koka on Thursday." "Maybe you'll see a sloth bear." "Or bison."We didn't agree that there was nothing in new Nagzira. There were fewer animals; we did not deny that. Yet, New Nagzira is the most beautiful forest I have seen. A green forest, with sunlight filtering in through the leaves. Birds everywhere, weaving their way around all kinds of trees. That does not count as 'nothing' in my book.We went to Koka anyway. Koka, an extension of the Nagzira forest, was a jungle that did not send ripples of delight through me. Forest, then main road. Forest, then village. Forest, then farmland. That does not fill my heart with gladness, the way dense, green, endless forests do.We were out of Koka by 5:20, even though the safari officially ends … [Read more...]
Nagzira
Ten days away from the city. No internet. Phone connectivity for about an hour a day.Eleven safaris into the beautiful jungle.Three leopards.A leopard making a kill: whose side are you on? The leopard's or the fawn's?Wild dogs in the distance.A herd of bison. Flycatchers, thrushes, drongos, night-jars, parakeets, hoopoes.A ride in an open gypsy through the forest at night.Starry skies that I remember from my childhood.Nagzira. … [Read more...]
Wild Dog Hunt
No one will ever believe that it's not very easy to see wild dogs in the jungle if you spot them three times during the course of the same safari.At first, we saw five. Then we heard wild fowl crying out to one another - alarmed that the dogs were nearby. We then saw another dog. How domestic it looked, standing there, ears cocked. The only thing missing was the wagging tail.And then, returning by the main road, I saw something white being dragged into the jungle, away from the road. That 'something white' was the belly of a spotted deer.Yes, we watched the dogs tearing the deer to pieces and eating it. We heard them whining to the others, calling out to the entire pack to share the meal. We watched the dogs eat violently, aggressively. I was disturbed, yes, but I could watch. I was able to watch and think, "Well, that's the law of the jungle." I was surprised at how they shared … [Read more...]
Back from the Wild – Again
Green forests. Dense.Tall grass. Just a few metres away, a tiger could be hiding and we wouldn't even know. Anticipation is thrilling.Spider webs glinting in the sunshine. A huge black spider poised on her web eats a grasshopper.The black ibis with its red hood and impressive beak pecks away in the grass.Sambhar - first the doe, then the stag - cross the road in front of us. They pause in the middle of the road to look at us. The way we go look at the animals, maybe they thought they'd step out today and look at humans.A yellow oriole flies above us, below the screeching green parakeets.The chestnut-headed bee-eater, flies and lands, flies and lands. In Marathi, they call it a 'crazy parrot' because of its peculiar habit of flying so briefly and perching again, time and time again. It doesn't seem to know what it wants.A crocodile, still as a log, floats in the water.An … [Read more...]