Kabini/Nagarhole Tiger Reserve Revisited

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When: October 2024 Weather: Cool 22C

Nikon P900

Back in Bangalore for the third time in a year, we made the 4+ hour journey to Kabini/Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka once again…..this time we stayed at the excellent Serai resort hotel where there were only 20 rooms. Arriving at lunchtime, we set off after lunch to the main Jungle Lodge premises where we boarded the safari vehicles for the 3-6pm safari. One disadvantage of staying at the Serai is that you have to take the serai vehicle to the Jungle Lodge and then change to the safari 4WD and do the reverse at the end of the safari.

The Serai resort
whilst waiting for lunch this handsome fellow welcomed us…the white browed fantail
a crested treeswift watched over us
Brahminy Kites lined the road to Nagarhole
The entrance where each vehicle is allocated a zone for the safari…we got A zone
A small tusker with the longest tusks ever stood right beside the road
And then a close encounter with a red headed vulture
stunning red head contrasts with black body
A black hooded oriole brought some colour
female plum headed parakeets
a grey wagtail entertained us for a while
we had been warned by our guides that seeing tigers and leopards would be very unlikely and to just enjoy the birds and safari experience …this did not bode well….for sure there were loads of spotted deer
Brahminy starling
wild dogs which look a lot like foxes were the next sightings…
wild dog
common flameback woodpecker
a magnificent crested serpent eagle posed
crested serpent eagle…dark morph

It was getting dark and we were working our way back to the entrance, disappointed that we hadn’t seen either tiger or leopard and accepting our bad luck when we came across a group of 5 vehicles….someone had spotted a leopard earlier and everyone was waiting….the minutes passed….after about 20minutes the others began to leave, when the guide in the jeep next to ours gesticulated vigorously to a bush about 30m away……after what seemed an eternity….

I saw a glimpse of a spotted head with the typical rosettes sans central spot of a leopard! The light was very poor and it was challenging in the extreme to even find the animal….our guide told us that the leopard was likely to cross the dirt track about 40m away….but I wasn’t fast enough to shoot it and only got a blurry tail….fortunately my pal was more alert than me and got this shot…
large leopard crossing the road…..the animal was far away in dim light and moving across….credit to HB Fam for this picture.

So at the very last minute, what had been a perfectly decent if unspectacular safari turned into a rather special one with the leopard sighting….there are fewer leopards than tigers in Nagarhole so seeing one made the whole day worthwhile.

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