Kanha National Park Part I - Kanha Zone

After a restless night full of meflaquine dreams (nightmare-inducing malaria prophylaxis), I wake to a knock on the door. Thinking that Ahmed will leave our coffee on the table outside the door, I just shout out “thanks” to him. It is several minutes later that I realise he is still standing outside waiting for us to open the door, and I feel really guilty about leaving him there.

Kipling Camp has its own Gypsy (specially converted safari vehicle), driven by Rahim, who is not just an excellent driver, spotter and identifier, he speaks good English too and is a thoroughly nice person. This morning we are also accompanied by Jeswin, the resident naturalist at Kipling Camp, whose enthusiasm is highly contagious.

Rahim ensures we arrive first at the gate, in the pitch black, some 50 minutes before they open. As time goes on, a huge queue forms (but unusually for India, it remains orderly), and by the time we are allowed in (after having passports checked and tickets issued), there are dozens of Gypsies behind us.

Drivers queuing for tickets

Long line of Gypsies behind us

We are finally let through the gate

Kanha National Park is divided into four zones, and visitors must drive the circuit stipulated on their tickets. This morning we have been allocated Kanha Zone, The first animals we spot, just inside the gate, are a pack of jackals and some cheetal (Indian spotted deer). It is still very dark, so the pictures are extremely grainy as a result of the high ISO (ISO 32,000 for my photography friends).

Sunrise

And then the sun comes up, and what a sunrise it is, culminating in an elephant and mahout appearing out of the mist. Such a magical moment.

We continue driving, seeing more animals and birds along the way.

Cheetal (Indian Spotted Deer)

Eurasian Golden Oriole

Hanuman Langur

Cheetal

Tiger

Before leaving the UK, I had warned Lyn and Chris that seeing tiger is not easy, and to expect maybe one tiger sighting for every five game drives. And here we are, before 07:30 on our very first drive when we spot a tiger in the undergrowth. Wow!

The tigress strolls along, taking no notice of us whatsoever.

She heads straight for us initially, then veers off to her left, pausing briefly to turn towards the elephant that has appeared behind her.

As the tigress saunters down the path, Rahim manoeuvres the Gypsy to a better position, anticipating the she will cross the road right in front of us.

He is right, of course.

You can see from the fact that I have caught part of the car in the bottom corner of the photo, just how close she is.

And then she's gone. After nearly four minutes of sheer adrenalin and excitement, we are left with just one word on our lips: “Wow!” “We can go home now” says Chris, “we've seen what we came to see.” What an amazing experience and such a clear and close encounter. What a beautiful animal!

How can you top that?

We continue on our game drive to see what else the park has to offer. At least the pressure is off now as far as finding tigers go.

We get quite excited seeing these Blackbucks, as they are a new species to us in the wild.

The male is black, while the females are a more neutral fawn colour. Here seen with a male cheetal.

Hanuman Langurs

Red Wattled Lapwing

Gaur (Indian Bison) sticking his head above the long grass

At up to ten feet long and seven feet tall, the gaur is the world's biggest wild cow. They are HUUUUGE

Scaly Breasted Munia

Wild boar

Indian Peafowl

Jackal

Jackal

Cheetal - apparently there are some 22,000 of these spotted deer in the park

Cattle egrets flying

Stonechat

Stonechat

White Rumped Vulture

Scaly Breasted Munia

Paddyfield Pipit

Indian Roller

Common Kestrel

Green Bee Eater

Female Stonechat - very much more dull than her husband

White Fronted Kingfisher

Breakfast picnic

At the Visitors Centre, we stop for a picnic. Kipling Camp made us some lovely scrambled egg wraps, plus fruit and juice - the best packed picnic on the whole trip.

The monumental arch is made from antlers from cheetal, sambar and barashinga deer. Very impressive.

Back on the road again for a little bit more game viewing before returning to the lodge for lunch. Unlike African safaris, Indian national parks only allow visitors to enter for a few hours in the morning and again late afternoon.

Black Storks

White Rumped Vulture

Indian Roller

Sambar

Changeable Hawk Eagle

What an amazing morning's game viewing, not just a tiger, but also quite a few lifers (new birds to us) to add to our bird list. Well done Rahim and Kipling Camp.