The Tiger Safari: Day 5

Tigers, leopards, jungle cats and hyenas! What a day! We started off by finding a large male tiger right at the gate. He was relaxed, and gave us a good look at our first large male tiger of the safari. We spent most of the morning with him, and our patience was rewarded with some good photographic opportunities. As luck would have it, we found the same male tiger in the afternoon, in a different section of the reserve, but he was being less obliging and slept through the heat of the day under a tree quite some distance away. The real action started at the end of the day however, when we spotted a leopard walking along one of the cliffs. We managed a solid half an hour with the leopard, and got some good images of a difficult species to photograph in India. A second leopard was seen not long afterwards, sitting on the boundary wall of the reserve. It was a little more nervous than the first leopard, and moved off quite quickly. On the way back to camp though, we still had 4 striped hyenas and 2 jungle cats appear in front of our cameras!

Major sightings of the day:

  • 2 sightings of a male tiger
  • 2 sightings of leopards
  • Golden jackal
  • 4 striped hyenas
  • 2 sightings of jungle cats

To join us on safari, click here!

The Gorilla Safari: Day 4

Despite a similar start to the day, we had a new adventure in store. We were after a different quarry: the beautiful and exotic golden monkeys. Like the gorillas, these rare monkeys also only occur in the Virunga Mountains and can be quite difficult to find. We had great success though, and spent some quality time with a family of around 100 members – that translates to loads of monkeys to photograph! This we did with some pretty cool results. Another highlight in an already great day was the large male of the family (he is twice the size of the females) who showed himself right at the end of our time with the monkeys. The bamboo forests we were trekking through were as unique and beautiful as the animals we came to see, so we spent a bit of time photographing some different compositions. Overall, it was a fantastic day!

To join us on safari, click here!

The Tiger Safari 2013: Day 7

The final day of this amazing safari started off with great excitement, as we saw the first of four new mammals for the safari, a leopard walking along the wall of the fort.  The other new species of mammal were the Indian gazelle, the rhesus macaque and a golden jackal.  We had no luck with the tigers, but did find a fresh tiger kill; an unlucky spotted deer.

Overall we saw 6 different tigers, a sloth bear, leopard, golden jackal, several species of mammals, and over 100 different bird species!  I am already counting down the days until The Tiger Safari 2014!

Major sightings of the day:

  • Leopard
  • Golden jackal
  • Nilgai or blue bull
  • Samba deer
  • Spotted deer
  • Langur monkeys
  • Indian spotted owlet
  • Many different bird species

The Tiger Safari 2013: Day 6

An absolutely amazing bit of luck saw us face to face to with a (very difficult to find) sloth bear!   This fantastic bear was going about its business when it noticed us, and to the extreme joy of the cameras, stood up and had a good look at us.  Great shots of the sloth bear were the definite highlight of the day, and a very entertaining hour with a large family of langur monkeys was a close second.

Major sightings of the day:

  • Sloth bear
  • Nilgai or blue bull
  • Spotted deer
  • Wild boar
  • Crested serpent eagle
  • Many species of birds

The Tiger Safari 2013: Day 1

Day 1 – always exciting!  We started off this amazing safari with a good look at the rest of the players in the tiger reserve.  Loads of spotted deer, barking deer and indian gaur, or indian bison, filled the cameras’ viewfinders, as well as the brilliant and ever-present langur monkeys.  As for the tigers themselves, the best we managed was a fresh set of tracks for a female, heading to a nearby waterhole.  We were confident she was in the area but she didn’t show herself – this only brews excitement, as the hope of seeing a tiger increases!

Major sightings of the day:

  • Spotted deer
  • Barking deer
  • Langur monkeys
  • Indian gaur
  • A variety of birds, including peafowl