Kanha National Park Part III - Moki Zone

I slept very well last night, and wake up this morning to an alarm call by the lake: a deer of some sort making a lot of noises to warn other animals of impending danger.

When Rahim arrives, he tells us he saw a leopard when he was on his way to the lodge this morning on his bicycle. Gulp. I guess everyone here must learn to co-exist with wild animals.

Kanha National park

This morning we are allocated the Moki Zone, which is a long drive from the gate, almost an hour. But of course we can game view on the way.

Wild boar
It seems the wild boar we saw just inside the gate last night is still here this morning. And there is still not enough light to take a decent photo.

We hear desperate warning calls from the langurs, and can safely assume there is a tiger in the thicket of bamboo. We cannot see him/her, however, so when the calls stop we move on.

A few minutes later we spot a pug mark in the road. This is looking promising.

The sun is staring to come up now, teasing us with warm rays through the mist and the trees.

Spider
We've seen a number of pretty impressive spider's webs these last couple of days, and the largest belong to the Giant Wood Spider (Nephila pilipes). This is the female, who is about the size of a small dinner plate. Chris is not happy – he hates spiders with a passion.

We also see a lot of these odd shaped webs belonging to the funnel spider. We never see the spider itself though, as they are hiding in the bottom of the funnel.

Morning are really quite cold here in the park, we are all dressed up with hat and gloves and Kipling Camp provides a blanket for our legs. I love the effect the cooler temperatures has on the weather: creating some beautiful early morning mist, esepcially over water.

Cormorant

Tiger
Three game drives, three tigers. We can't believe our luck when we spot another one this morning. He is very much hidden behind the vegetation, so it is not quite such a good / clear sighting as the presvious two, but we are still very excited.

When he makes his way towards the road, Rahim races ahead to see if we can get closer for a better view.

The tiger is certainly very much nearer, as he explores the undergrowth in great detail.

There are now a number of vehicles on the road, but he doesn't seem to be the least bit bothered.

He crosses to the other side of the road and continues his exploration.

He sniffs and sprays and sniffs again.

And continues his early morning stroll.

Making funny faces while yawning.

It looks like the tip of his right front tooth has been chipped off.

And spray...

This is a most amazing sighting in terms of distance, activity and time span: we are so close, the tiger is not just walking in a straight line, he is actually doing things, and it has been several minutes already.

He certainly is a pretty boy.

And then he was gone.

Wow! 18 minutes in total from the first spot until he disappeared out of sight again.

We continue our quest.

Collared Scops Owls, beautifully camouflaged in a tree

Male barashinga with their magnificent antlers

At a designated site, we stop for a breakfast picnic. The toilets here are somwhat unusual – a fence made from long thin sticks joined together vertically encloses a small square area for 'doing your business'. No pit, no long-drop, no nothing. Just flat ground. Great if you are just having a pee...

You'll be grateful that I don't take my camera when I go, and that I can't be bothered to go back.

Alexandrine Parakeet - a new one for us

Jungle owlet

Rahim stops the car for us all to sniff the air – the smell of a fresh kill. But there is nothing to see, unfortunately.

Indian Pond Heron

Large Cuckoo Shrike

Green Bee Eater

Black Hooded Oriole

Hanuman Langurs

Giant Wood Spider

White Bellied Drongo

Male Sambar

On our way out of the park after this morning's session, we spot the same (maybe, they all look alike to me) Wild Boar as earlier. They must live just inside the gates as we have seen them in the same small area on every visit.

And so it is time to return to base (Kipling Camp) for some rest, followed by lunch, before this afternoon's game drive.