Blog 12. An embarrassing number of tigers and a successful eviction
Day 10 – Saturday 23rd November 2019 – Bandhavgarh
Morning: Wide awake and raring to go at 05:15. We were headed for Tala gate this morning which is only 5 minutes drive from the Hideaway. Before we left we were greeted, fed and watered with coffee and cookies. Adwait guided us down to the Gypsy and were helped in. We had a third Gypsy as our original was still not fixed. We were offered blanket ponchos and hot water bottles. I declined the bottle but took the blanket as extra padding. The ever lovely took both. It is very cold in Madhya Pradesh in Mid November and soon the ever lovely was reveling in her snugness. I felt cold and succumbed to the blanket poncho. In reading Tigers Of the Emerald Forest upon return home I found out that minus temperatures are experienced at Panna, so presumably also at Bhandavgarh at this time of the year.
I have made a point of not itemizing the animals, birds and nature we saw on each previous drive but will go through those we saw on this adventure. A full list of spots is contained in the appendix.
On the way to the gate we met with another jackal, a good omen that our luck was in.
We picked up Nalan as a guide and off we went into the reserve. Our early start meant we were third in line at the gate.
Our first sighting was of an Indian scops owl hidden in a crack in a tree, closely followed by a Rhesus Macaque unconcernedly wandering down the road.
Then great excitement! Adwait asked me to get my camera out as we shot down the road following a bird slightly ahead and to the left. He explained that this was a Malabar pied hornbill. As the name suggests they come from the coastal area of northern Kerala and Goa. Some sightings have been made this far inland and there is little proof that there is a breeding colony this far from the sea. Adwait stopped the gypsy and asked ‘did you get a click?’ Looking puzzled he said ‘did you get a picture?’ ‘Blurry’ I answered but yes, enough to identify and I showed him. “Good capture” he said.
We then had a racket tailed drongo on a quick fly-past – no click possible.
Again, we stopped and Adwait told us to look to the right in the undergrowth and wait. After five minutes of tension we saw movement. A slim young tiger appeared. Every tiger has a different pattern, and just like fingerprints they are unique to that animal, allowing us to identify this one as B3. We watched B3 walk alongside us, ahead of us, across the road and into the bushes on the far side. Two drives and three tigers so far – we were happy!
After our tiger sighting we found fresh pug marks but this second tiger eluded us.
Adwait saw signs of a wild elephant but there were no tracks to follow. Whilst we were in Bandhavgarh one of the three zones, Khitauli, was closed to the public. A sizeable herd of wild elephants had appeared in this sector. They were being monitored closely to see how they react to contact with humans before the sector is reopened to tourists. There is no reason why a stray from the herd would not be in the Tala sector.
We then had a good sighting of a pair of rose ringed parakeets. They are beautiful birds and to see them in their natural habitat is lovely. These birds were introduced into the UK as pets during the time of the Raj. Some escaped and they are now so numerous and widespread that they are officially listed as a species indigenous to the UK. I have seen them in Queens Park in Southampton and there is a large flock by the M4 as you head into London passing Windsor.
At the side of the road suspended between the branches of two trees was an enormous spider web and smack bang in the middle a giant wood spider. This must have been a female as it was some 13 centimeters from tip to tip. Males are much smaller than the female, perhaps a quarter the size if lucky. Females can grow up to 20cm, that’s 8 inches in old money! The ever lovely did not look closely at this specimen.
It was now heading towards 08:30 and we stopped at the side of a small pond in the shade of some trees. Often animals can be seen here early in the day taking a drink. The scene was most beautiful; in front of us across an expanse of grass stood the Bandhavgarh fortress on top of the hill. It was resplendent in the early morning light. Sadly, I had overdone drinking chai before we left the Treehouse and was now desperate for some facilities and we had to make a move before any wildlife of note had shown itself.
We drove to a large picnic area just a stone’s throw from the pond. They are very strict in India that once in the reserve you should only exit your vehicle in an approved picnic site, where there are usually toilets of some kind. The facilities are of variable quality but never ideal. Yesterday morning I entered the toilet block to find a urinal against a beautifully tiled wall. On the floor below was a hole. A pipe came from below the urinal bowl for about five inches and then fell the remaining distance to splash on your feet. A genuine feat of engineering genius!
This site was big and as well as toilets there was a row of street food vendors and hat, scarf, sunglass sellers. Gypsy breakfast was excellent, fruit, samosa, parathas, boiled eggs and biscuits washed down with masala chai. The shortbread cookies were so popular other drivers and guides came over and grabbed one or two, mainly at the behest of our park guide, who, despite being incompetent at his job, certainly knew how to create a crowd of hangers on. Amongst the crowd was a variety of stray dogs and a lady from Madrid who was travelling India on her own.
Before we left the rest area Adwait took the ever lovely and I off into the bush about fifty meters from where we were parked. Lying on the ground and more than six foot in length was the sloughed skin of a spectacled cobra, one of the most aggressive and poisonous snakes on the sub-continent. Adwait said it was “one maybe two hours old, it was still slightly damp”. “So the snake could be around here,” I asked nervously. “Oh, yes, it is probably down this hole by the root of the tree”. Unsurprisingly, we left promptly.
On the way back to the exit gate we saw a crocodile bark tree, which, as its name suggested looked just like a crocodile but on a vertical plane. We also saw a grey wagtail, a common wood shrike, a bar eyed flycatcher, a large cuckoo shrike, more rhesus macaque, a still unidentified dove/pigeon and a green bee eater. I like shrikes. They catch food and then impale it on a thorn or sharp twig for later, a sort of larder.
Back at the Hideaway I took the opportunity to get my head down for a couple of hours. The ever lovely took 40 winks, woke me for lunch apparently, I declined lunch to continue sleeping so she ate alone.
Afternoon: And off we go again this time back to Magdhi gate , in our original and Adwait’s favourite Gypsy. While we waited I did a very quick sketch of Adwait standing at the gate talking with the other guides.
Highlights this afternoon: a jackal and three, yes three, tigers; Solo, Bamera’s Son and Dotty. The tiger sightings were all within a few hundred meters of each other but entirely unconnected.
We slowed next to a field of waist height grass. About 100 meters away, straight ahead, we could just detect the top of the head of a tiger. She sat up for us, it was Solo. After a while she started to show interest in the low bushes to our left.
After a further ten minutes a large male tiger came walking through the bushes parallel to the road, he then crossed behind us and still parallel walked up through the slightly more open wooded area. Eventually he broke cover across a clearing and crossed the road again. If he was making for Solo he was taking a very circuitous route.
Adwait then said that he knew where Bamera Son was headed. We broke off from the 10 or so other gypsies all waiting patiently for him to reappear up the road and turned off on a left-hand track. We stopped, waited and waited some more but no sign. We could hear the other gypsies moving off and assuming the sighting was over we too moved on.
Around the very next bend in the road stood a large female, facing us in the middle of the road. Adwait identified her as Dotty. He explained that above each eye was a distinct letter D. After a while she growled at us, turned and sauntered down the road eventually exiting stage right into the undergrowth.
Now heading back to the gate, a common buzzard posed for us at the top of a young teak tree.
Back to the Treehouse. My cold aggravated by the dust was resurgent despite my wrapping up like Nanook of the North. I needed to rest, my cough was starting to tire me. I lay on the bed and dozed as I waited for the ever lovely to exit the shower.
Now awake I became intrigued by a knot in the dark mahogany of the wardrobe. I stepped in for a closer look and it moved. It was a big hairy spider with a body an inch across. I stepped into the bathroom to remove the contents of the large earbud jar and to warn the ever lovely to stay where she was. Armed with the jar and an A5 sized notepad I took battle. Once caught the spider was evicted via the front door tumbling down the rickety stairs. The ever lovely was free to emerge.
The ever lovely wrote up her version of the day’s excitement while I showered. I was hoping the warm water would do me some good but in truth I felt like death. I was tempted to say to the ever lovely that I would escort her up to dinner but would then come straight back and sleep. But then I thought I needed sustenance to fight this and as much as the whole jar of the delicious cookies sitting by the instant coffee and kettle was tempting, they were empty calories. So up to the central hub where we met by Adwait.
“Come with me, I have something special to show you” he said. We were led down a path into the jungle and there in a clearing was a candlelit table for two. We now realized why the Australians had disappeared last night. The meal was delicious, the waiters scampering up and down the path to the kitchen and bar. I manfully struggled on trying to put on a brave face so that we could enjoy the experience. Apparently, my attempts were poor as I fell asleep several times. I don’t even recall when or how I got back to the room, but I slept like a log. I was feeling cold and dined next to the brazier wearing a safari poncho/blanket.
Join me next week as I track leopard, go pond dipping and experience a Bandhavgarh sunset to die for.
