Category Archives: fauna

Svalbard (7) the way home Islfjorden and Longyearben

Posted on by

0

When : August 2026 Weather: 0to5C

OM1mk2 Zuiko 150-400mm

Sailing back into the Islfjorden estuary, we were surprised by more sightings and interesting landscapes….

As we entered the estuary leading into Islfjorden the weather clear, the sun was shining…
Beluga! was the call
spouts from three belugas
Our only view was at this angle…this is when a drone would have done better but we were within the Spitzbergen drone exclusion zone…
and one of my favourite moments of the whole trip was this classic sighting of a puffin with fish in its beak…true it’s only 2 fish but I never thought I’d ever see this scene
Puffin
The hills fringing the fjord had really interesting colours!
after docking, we spent our last night on the boat…and were able to engage a local wildlife guide to bring us out….I really wanted to seek out the ptarmigan but alas we failed… this barnacle goose would have to do…
An arctic skua accompanied us
a flight of migratory barnacle geese!
Reindeer in the setting sun on Longyearbyen
Reindeer
one of our target animals was the arctic fox and it took a while but our guide then thought she saw some movement up the slopes…..
Indeed it was our arctic fox! It didn’t get close enough for us to take better shots and we thought that was that….
But just as we were leaving in the evening light….one of our group spotted something by the road…..
Indeed it was another arctic fox, much closer !
our final arctic wildlife experience was this lovely arctic fox bidding us goodbye…

So our great Arctic adventure finally ended…Singapore-Bangkok-Oslo-Longyearbyen, Arcic Icepack and back on our ice breaker. A unique wildlife trip…highly recommended!

Svalbard (6) Zodiacs to the water….

Posted on by

0

When: August 2026 Weather: 0C OM1mk2 150-400mm Zuiko On our penultimate day, when we had crossed back over the Arctic Ocean to the Svalbard archipelago, we finally got a chance to get into our Zodiac equivalent Pioner boats to explore … Continue reading →

Kabini/Nagarhole Tiger Safari/Birding

Posted on by

2

When: January 2024     Weather: 20 to 30C

Leica Q3, Nikon P900, Sony a7II 70-400G

After our meeting in Bangalore, we did the 4.5 hour drive down a very nice highway for a 2 night 4 safari break in Kabini Jungle River Lodges to do our tiger safaris and the famous Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, about 200km from bangalore. Arriving at lunchtime, we headed straight out for a pm safari from 3 to 6pm….

our cottage at Kabini Jungle water Lodge
our cottage at Kabini Jungle water Lodge
our jeep with driver Muddu drove us to the Kabini entrance to Nagarhole Tiger reserve
a magnificent male GAUR welcomed us at the first waterhole
beautiful spotted deer were abundant
spotted deer
beautiful grey langurs were everywhere
we stopped by this wooded area in zone A to wait to see if a tiger would show
after half an hour, we saw some movement behind the thicket
and from afar, the unmistakeable tiger appeared afar
she started walking toward us..
what a magnificent beast!
she sauntered casually nearer..admire the tail detail
and settled comfortably, her orange upper pelt contrasting with the pure white underside…
her stunning pelt from the back
posing
the back view of her ears…black with white tufts

After this wonderful encounter with the striped feline, we drove on to see the rest of the reserve…

we then found this waterhole where a family of tuskers were bathing
frolicking babies
This area is the elephant capital of India with the highest numbers of pachyderms per sq km in india
we had a close encounter with this tusker who took exception to us and charged us, stopping just a few meters away thankfully
imperial green pigeon
we had time to do some birding…here the common hawk cuckoo
wild boar
indian pond heron
common flameback woodpecker
a group of scampering spotted deer
a female gaur on our way out
a spotted deer having a nightcap
and back to the resort, the sunset welcomed us

A brilliant first safari with an excellent tiger sighting…..thanks to our driver guide Muddu!

Highly recommended