The honking woke me up from my dream where I was drilling down in wireshark looking for some cryptographic key information. It had been a while since I had ventured out on a proper wildlife safari and, it was showing. The last couple years had been busy to put things mildly and I had not got a chance to even consider a few days jungle getaway. I decided I will have to make time and called up Rahul from Foliage Outdoors to plan me one. I was so busy that I didn’t have time to think. He suggested a Dudhwa to me. I had never been to Dudhwa so it was a welcome destination. Rahul knows how I like my trip so nary a thing to worry, I okayed it, and here we were, enroute Pilibhit. The plan was to cover the terai region via Pilibhit – Kishanpur- Dudhwa- Katarnighat
Bareilly to Zeeshan’s homestay is about 2.5 hours drive. As we landed, out of the starboard window I saw a couple of Sukhoi 30MKI’s taxing up for a sortie. I got out of the aircraft to the sound of Sukhoi’s taking off. That unmistakable roar of twin Al31FP power plants 🙂
Thats when I noticed my boots sole starting to peel off. Too much storage and no outdoor movement, has such “boot consequences”. A bit out of the airport we stopped at a “mochi” to rip the sole and paste it back on the boot. The sole pasted, my soul was happy to be getting back to a jungle. My Chocorua boot has lasted quite well , now been some 10 years I guess ! ( with a few stitch ups of the sole ofcourse 🙂 )
Zeeshan’s homestay is a great place to stay at Pilibhit. Pilibhit itself is rather new to this tiger tourism madness and, not like a Ranthambhor or Bandhavgarh. We reached Plibhit by evening and pigged on some wonderful “pakodi and chai”. Our room was a big one with, a gas geyser in the bathroom that roared and crackled like that Sukhoi engine. Scared me initially too !
Next morn I woke up to a misty classic winter morning. This was the view out of my door. Just super happy to finally get out in the wild. A quick chai and 0630H we were rolling out to Zone 2. I told the guide I wanted to do birds and not chase tigers. He was pretty surprised why would anyone not chase tigers! I murmured to myself “Guide ji, I love em white breasts and tits too much” ( xxxplanation ! white breasted kingfisher and coal tits birds for the uninitiated !)
Honestly I was delighted to just be out again and just breathe in the cold wintery air. Birds would take a bit of time to get active due to the fog. There was this very pretty white breasted kingfisher that we saw a few minutes into our drive into the park. We drove around and I took in the air and the magnificent trees in the forest. About 0800H the sun was beginning to peep out and I snagged a few birdies. An Indian Robin on the track and a Blue throat. While stalking the blue throat, I spotted a red patch instinctively sighted and shot a few frames before the birdy dived into the undergrowth. I thought it looked like a Himalayan Ruby Throat, a bird that I had first seen on my Sattal trip in 2018. Now that was a great beginning to the trip. A rare birdie when I wasn’t even searching for any and just enjoying the forest ! The morning came up with a serpent eagle, a few minivets, a flame back woodie and a coal tit. Yeah tits n white breasted baby. Happy, contented first safari to say the least.
The evening safari was into Zone 1 and I was told that there was good sighting there. Zeeshan was along on this round and he stopped at a barrier on “Pakki” and confidently said we will see a tiger coming out here. Morning they had seen the tiger in this area, the S3 male a huge guy. Terai tigers are huge, as in really huge as tigers go. We waited around but it was still quiet early in the afternoon for tiger movement. Tigers like to move a bit late, the word is crepuscular beings that they are. Then we swung around to the “kacchi” road on the other side of the canal and a serpent eagle flew across with a Keelback snake in its beak. It settled on a branch and gave us great views of how it goes about its snack.
We got news of a tiger in the undergrowth in another part of the zone and we hot footed there. The undergrowth was thick and the only clear spot to see the tiger was taken up by the first jeep that has spotted it. We were a bit behind but nevertheless could see the tiger through the undergrowth. A female and we could hear her call. Sounded like a mating call especially that the S3 male was also in the area.
Zeeshan then said we should go back to the barrier and wait for the S3 male and we turned around. Sure enough after a few minutes of waiting we spotted S3 moving up along the path to the barrier. Zeeshan had been dead right about that tiger. There was another jeep in front and most ideally places so I had to shoot between and above them. But what a marvelous sighting it was. The big guy walked slowly, surely marking his territory.
The tiger is a mesmerising animal if ever there is one. No wonder it drives a billion rupees tiger tourism industry just on its personality. Think of all the resorts, homestays, travel and taxi’s that run just on this animal’s charisma. Phenomenal !
The tiger is a gentleman – Up close with Barahee male ( Bara as in Big )
The next morning again was Zone 2. Zeeshan was confident we will see the tiger again. This time we patrolled the “kacchi” but not much luck. I told the guide that I want to do birding and we roamed around to another part of the park. It was still cold and the bird activity had not yet picked up. Around 0815H we get a message that there is a sighting on kacchi and we made our way there. There were already many jeeps and we were at the very end of the jeep line. Some 7-8 jeeps already ahead of us. This big guy was the “Barahee male”. He strolled along confidently moving periodically into the undergrowth to mark his territory.. I got a few long shots and a few wide shots by randomly clicking by raising the camera above my head. As the tiger walked towards us all the jeeps were backing to keep distance.
I told the driver to turn around else we would be backing continuously to allow for the jeeps in front of us to maintain distance. One of the drivers was “raw” and in the commotion, he went smack into the rear vehicle. Some lights were broken in the process. It was a good decision to turn around instead of backing. Then the tiger dipped into the undergrowth and my guide said we should go to the parallel road and see if we can pick up Barahee again. We were the last jeep and we turned around and entered first on to the parallel road.
The parallel road was a dream setting. Light fog still hanging, a canopied long track and lo behold, Barahee emerged walking slowly and the best part, we were the first jeep on this track. The other jeeps were catching up too and were lining up behind us to view this magnificent huge stud of a young male tiger. What a glorious view it was. As the tiger approached we kept backing and urged the jeeps behind to also do the same. As Barahee approached and we were backing, the jeeps behind us were not moving back. There was this culvert behind us and as we backed our rear wheel went into a ditch. Suddenly pretty shit situation. Tiger approaching , jeeps behind not backing and we are stuck in a ditch and cannot move. The tier moved to the undergrowth expecting the jeeps to move as he turned back onto the road but we were still right there. Absolutely nothing we could do but look Barahee in the eye. All my shooting sense went for a toss. I was just hypnotised by the big amazing animal. Barahee emerged on to the track a couple meters right in front of our jeep, saw the jeep standing still, waited a couple seconds expecting the jeep to move back. Suddenly all the yelling and confusion behind was totally blocked by my senses and i was totally focused only on the magnificent being in front of me and I let out a uff ..uh ( as grabbed in my video before being hypnotised !). As I looked straight into Barahee’s face, I saw a flash of irritation/ aggression, a eye widening a flash of barred teeth and the next second, that passed to a “jeez what a moron – BAH” kind of look. With that look Barahee thankfully turned away into the undergrowth, away from us and never looked back. The tiger is a gentleman is what we had just experienced. The whole thing would have taken just a few seconds but seemed to me like a lifetime. We waited a few minutes for the tiger to clear and the jeeps behind us pulled us out of the ditch with a rope. The driver and guide were totally shaken too. It had been a very close call. If somebody should send a clip if this to the forest guys the driver and guide were in for a two week ban for not maintaining distance from the animal. In this situation, it was because of the jeeps behind us that we got stuck, and not due to the fault of our driver or guide. But it is what it is. “Bara-hee” love to Barahee ! That 200Kg cutie pie could’ve made us into delectable lip smacking ribs ne….
We went back to “kacchi” for some much needed, unhurried birding and had some great woodpecker sightings.
After the morning safari we packed up and hit the road for Kishanpur. Dudhwa Wilderness Camp is the perfect stay for Kishanpur. The evening safari was at Kishanpur, another extension of the Dudhwa National park. Pilibhit-Kishanpur-Dudhwa-Katarniaghat are all extensions of the Dudhwa national park. Kishanpur is the area south of River Sharada.
Our guide was Sandeep a young knowledgeable chap with enthusiasm for birds. He said that we were the first set of tourists in this season who prioritised birds over a tiger. Kishanpur has some great birding. We saw some five types of woodpeckers all around the same tree ! The park has a big lake in the middle where all the migratory birds come in. It was still early in the season and if you want to see a full lake, go there in Dec – Jan. The lake is home to the the unique swamp deer the Barasingha.
We also saw a few Common Pochards and a some Red Headed Pochards among a lot of gadwals in the far distance. The lake has a few watchtowers and hides where one can get down and watch the goin ons in the lake. At one hide, we saw marks of a tiger that had rested just by the waterline. Sandeep then showed me a picture on his phone of a tiger emerging out of this same hide.
Gotta be careful here ! We rode along the “ring road” as it is called, the road parallel to the river Sharada. Sandeep said there has been a sighting of nine distinct individuals on this road in just one safari. The tigers from Dudhwa and on the Nepal side kind of swing by here. So there is always some possibility of a new sighting here. As the light began to dip, Sandeep said we have a good chance for the Nakkatti tigress if we wait at the T point. We had hardly waited a few minutes that we saw a tigress walking on the road. There were a lot of jeeps ahead of us so we waited at the same spot. Nakkatti, then cut away from the main track and crossed over through the undergrowth to the track by our side. Though the light was very low, I got a few shots of her walking away into the forest.
The next morning we started early to hit Dudhwa. It’s about an hour and a half to Dudhwa from Kishanpur.
That day the rhinos which were in a protected area were being moved to the open park. As we moved through the Sonaripur camp we were waved away and told to keep clear of the Rhino area. Dudhwa is a landscape to really soak in. It’s huge and being bang on the foot hills of the Himalayas has abundant birds and wildlife. And because the park is huge, spotting becomes pretty difficult. The only remaining meter gauge train in India runs through this park from Mailani – Baraich. The entrance to the park is absolutely magical and the tall Sal trees welcomes you to another world. We saw a bunch of tiger tracks but no tiger. We also saw fresh kill drag marks near the watch tower overlooking the swamp. The birding wasn’t too great but all in all, I enjoyed the morning drive thoroughly. Dudhwa would need a cool 3 – 4 days on its own to explore fully. That will have to be planned for another time. The interpretation center is worth a visit here. I wanted to pick up some souvenirs from the shop but then there is no knick knacks as might be in Ranthambhor or Bandhavgarh. All they had was fleece jackets and caps more for the guides & staff. The couple of coasters and mugs were not exciting enough to take home as a gift.
Evening safari was back at Kishanpur and we saw a scaly woodpecker give us some great views. There were a lot of barking deer calls on the ring road but the tiger was probably deep in the undergrowth and didn’t come out. One mystery bird that I got on the grasslands, turned out to be a lesser coucal juvenile.
That evening, M’s Samsung phone wouldn’t charge …again. It kept throwing up that “Moisture / foreign object detected on USB port and wouldn’t charge. A couple of days ago the same had happened but a nice “blow job”, gosh…that don’t sound right …breath work …yeah breath work, on the port fixed it. We tried different cables and chargers but no luck. I then recalled seeing a “advanced Chip level repair ” board in Palian. Maybe we need to get the phone checked there I thought. Then my brain clicked and I remembered that I carry my camera cleaning blower. Coupla ‘phus phus” and the annoying error was gone. I was kicking myself why I didn’t think of this a couple of days ago since I always have this blower in my kit! “Phus Phus” works !
The next day the plan was to take packed lunch, do Katarniaghat boat ride and get back to Dhudhwa for the evening safari. But, having seen Dudhwa, I changed my plan to do the boat ride and the evening safari at Katarnighat itself. It turned out to be a good decision. While we were enroute to Katarniaghat we forest had a fan belt replacement to do. The as were near Katarniaghat, one of the tyres burst while navigating a small gap after a railway crossing. Probably the tyre scraped the edge of a spare rail track lying there. That then took some time as the road was being black topped and there was a huge jam already.
Anyway the boat itself was a swank new fiberglass thing setup by UP tourism.
Shanu the guide was in charge. The Karnali river coming in from Nepal becomes the Gerua river here. The Nepal border is only some 5- 8 kms away. We motored up the Maila nala which goes up to Nepal. Maila nala has thick cane trees/ bushes on its bank, the cane thats used in furniture. A very iridescent Small kingfisher flashed its colours.
All kinds of wildlife criss-cross here, especially elephants. The boat ride of about 45 minutes one can see the Gharial and the Mugger. I asked if Northern lapwings were sighted, Shanu replied in the negative. Just as we turned the corner in the river we spotted two Northern lapwings. On the spot manifestation I thought to myself ! The park has a captive location for breeding gharials & muggers. The eggs are rescued and they are hatched here till they become bigger to be released into the river.
The evening safari into the park we saw some great hornbills and the Eurasian coot. Lovely park with a lot of elephant signs but no elephant to be seen.
This park I thought was kind of a mix of Corbett, Velavdar and Kahna ! A very peaceful and lovely safari drive it was. I was totally satisfied. Shanu said we can see the “Hooded Pitta” during Feb- May.
The next morning, the last safari we were trying to get the Bel-danda tigress and her grown cubs. Lots of tracks but no joy. I thought it was “Belinda” but not. Bel is a fruit tree and dand is from track Pug dandi. This tigress used to be seen often at a waterhole on the track which had a bel tree hence “Bel-danda tigress”. A non eventful safari morning after all the excitement. No complaints at all.
Post safari we loaded up for Lucknow for our flight. What should have taken 4 hours took a better part of 7 hours. Rahul had thankfully planned a 2200H flight so we made it in time. Enroute there is a popular mirchi pakoda shop where my driver insisted we try. Fresh pakoras were flying off the tray and one has to make some effort to get some. Too spicy for me and smoke rose from my scalp when I bit into it. For those of you who like spicy, this is something for you to try 🙂
Tips
* Pilibhit is nearer from Bareilly
* I used my Nikon D5 + 600mm and a Nikon Z50 the kit lens 16-50mm DX for this whole trip.
* No need for tripod. Just a bean bag only. I didn’t even use that, I was 100% handheld.
* Carry a cloth to cover the camera & lenses while on safari.
* Katarniaghat for the Hooded Pitta in Feb-May
Here are the landscapes from this trip in a slideshow. Click through them
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