Pam & Cled's Last Long Haul - Wild India
06th December 2024
In: News, Members' Articles
The Last Long Haul
Wild India Trip
Cled and I have just returned from a trip to India which covered three tiger reserves. India is an incredible country and should be on everyone’s bucket list, including magnificent scenery and fascinating people.
The internal travel arrangements included flights, road and rail transfers and featured Pench, Kanha and Bandhavgarh tiger reserves. Landing at Mumbai which has a population of 23 million, most of whom appeared outside our hotel in a temperature of 37 degrees C adjacent to the Gateway to India, was quite an experience before embarking on our Safaris.
To benefit from early entry to the game reserves we had to rise at 4.45 am every morning to be at the gate by 6 am.
The transport was a Jeep (Gipsy) which accommodated four passengers, a driver and guide. Although the roads were free of potholes the tracks in the reserves were hard going. It would appear that the tracks in the reserves, all connected, generally circle around patches of jungle because the tiger population are located in these areas and the guides are alerted to the location of the tigers by the alarm calls of the langur monkeys and sambar deer. Sometimes it involves driving around the thicket until the tiger emerges.
We were fortunate to see tigers on two occasions, the first occasion as we were about to leave the reserve and we had about twenty minutes to ourselves with the tigers.
Being confronted by a tiger at twenty yards is an experience not to be missed; almost emotional. But we were treated to three tigers, a brother and two sisters about two years old but even at two years they were BIG. Cled put his foot on the wheel arch for a better shot only for the guide to immediately whisper “Get back in”, which seemed like a good idea.
Wild India Trip
Cled and I have just returned from a trip to India which covered three tiger reserves. India is an incredible country and should be on everyone’s bucket list, including magnificent scenery and fascinating people.
The internal travel arrangements included flights, road and rail transfers and featured Pench, Kanha and Bandhavgarh tiger reserves. Landing at Mumbai which has a population of 23 million, most of whom appeared outside our hotel in a temperature of 37 degrees C adjacent to the Gateway to India, was quite an experience before embarking on our Safaris.
To benefit from early entry to the game reserves we had to rise at 4.45 am every morning to be at the gate by 6 am.
The transport was a Jeep (Gipsy) which accommodated four passengers, a driver and guide. Although the roads were free of potholes the tracks in the reserves were hard going. It would appear that the tracks in the reserves, all connected, generally circle around patches of jungle because the tiger population are located in these areas and the guides are alerted to the location of the tigers by the alarm calls of the langur monkeys and sambar deer. Sometimes it involves driving around the thicket until the tiger emerges.
We were fortunate to see tigers on two occasions, the first occasion as we were about to leave the reserve and we had about twenty minutes to ourselves with the tigers.
Being confronted by a tiger at twenty yards is an experience not to be missed; almost emotional. But we were treated to three tigers, a brother and two sisters about two years old but even at two years they were BIG. Cled put his foot on the wheel arch for a better shot only for the guide to immediately whisper “Get back in”, which seemed like a good idea.
Comments
By dennis Steel: Superb - You cannot beat photographing nature. Well done By Keith Walker: I take my hat off to you. The jorney out and back plus a Safari is something to be proud of! Great images that I guess made it worthwhile. By Stephen Arnold: Beautifully sharp and a magnificent subject. By David Askham: Congratulations on your accomplishment. It is no mean achievement in your dotage. Now take the rest of yhe year off 'to restore your batteries'. You deserve it. And your pictures are super! By Denis Gilbert my: Terrific shots ,I had no idea they were so big at two years of age . By Pam: Thanks for all of your kind comments but I did use a 100-400 micro four thirds lens. They were about twenty to thirty yards away from us. We were very lucky. By Alan Humphries: Whilst wildlife is not a genre I have worked in a great deal, I do appreciate good images. Well done Pam.
I am sure both you and Cledwyn have returned with many more great images as well as boundless memories.
By coincidence a day or two ago there was an interesting post on Macfilos telling the story of a trip to Botswana, the choice of camera being a Lumix bridge camera. It is a good read and is accompanied by some rather nice images.