{"id":315855,"date":"2010-02-13T10:15:20","date_gmt":"2010-02-13T15:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.team-bhp.com\/forum\/travelogues\/75464-tadoba-pench-forests-wildlife-4-tigers.html"},"modified":"2010-02-13T10:15:20","modified_gmt":"2010-02-13T15:15:20","slug":"tadoba-pench-forests-wildlife-and-4-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/315855","title":{"rendered":"Tadoba, Pench forests, wildlife and 4 tigers!"},"content":{"rendered":"
Dear Friends,<\/b><\/p>\n

Destination:<\/b> Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) and Pench National Park.
\nMembers<\/b>:7.
\nRoute up:<\/b> Hyderabad-Ramagundam-Asifabad-Chandrapur-Kolsa-Moharli-Tadoba (all three ranges in TATR).-Umred-Nagpur-Kamtee-Manser-Pauni-Sillari-Seoni.
\nRoute down:<\/b> Sillari-Pauni-Manser-Kamtee-Nagpur-Hinganghat-Adilabad-Dichpalli-Kamareddy-Hyderabad.
\nStay:<\/b> Forest bungalow at Kolsa, Forest guest house at Sillari.
\nTotal distance traveled: <\/b>1500 kms approx.
\nDuration:<\/b> 7th Feb Morning-11th Feb. Evening.<\/p>\n

The objective was visiting these forests to sight and photograph the habitat and wildlife. Valuable advance logistics were provided by
\nDr. Abheek Ghosh<\/b> (abheekg,T-BHP user name<\/i>) and Dr. later on joined us at Pench.<\/p>\n

We had expected Tiger and Leopard sightings at Tadoba, Moharli and Kolsa ranges, except the them we sighted diverse wildlife in wonderful habitat, (though a day earlier another wildlife enthusiast\/ photographer from Hyderabad Mr. Max Ali captured a family of four tigers on his camera)<\/i>. There is east Pench and west Pench divided by the Pench river, East Pench national park is in Maharashtra and west Pench national park is in Madhya Pradesh.<\/p>\n

The undulating forest of Pench was stark contrast to the plain lands of Tadoba with wildlife plentiful and abundant prey base in both Maharashtra and MP Pench.<\/p>\n

Due to circumstances we had to shorten our trip by a day otherwise our chances of sightings would be double of what they were.
\nWater holes at Tadoba are at their worst already before the onset of summer, animal sightings here will be at their best but it is going to be a very very testing and tough time for the animals.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ghosh’s experience at various reserves and national parks at a very young age is enviable, so are his sightings. Our group hit it from the moment we met him as if we had known each other for long.<\/p>\n

The last day at M.P. Pench ,we had a narrowly missed a leopard which was hiding in a nala about 20 feet from us who was trying to ambush a flock of spotted deers who were giving out alarm calls for half and hour continuous and had their eyes fixed in one spot in the nala to our right, the leopard realized it was futile and abandoned its ambush plans and slipped away from behind us. But a little later sighted three tigers from on an elephant ride and in the evening spent about 3 hours with a tigress who is a mother of four male cubs which we saw from the elephant back earlier, nearly fully grown and about to part from the mother any time soon. <\/p>\n

We will be here again in April-May 2010, hopefully.
\nOur day 4 started at 3:30 AM, as Devidas and I were scheduled to picked up at the Sillari check post by Dr.Ghosh at sharp 4:40 AM, from here we proceeded to M.P. border and at 5:15 AM we were at the gate of the M.P. Pench National Park, we had a very very refreshing tea in the dew drenched cold morning, thanks to the kind courtesy of Mr. Lallan<\/b>,…the dhaba and gypsy owner, driver, tracker, guide.
\nMr.<\/b> Lallan <\/b>is known to Dr. Ghosh since many years.<\/p>\n

Regards,<\/p>\n

Fazal
\n_______________________________________________
\n<\/b> This is the story of the Pench tiger family in words and pics.<\/p>\n

<\/b>The first photograph shot of the mother and three cubs (fourth not in pic.) by Dr. Ghoshabout a year back, these are the very tigers we saw on 10th Feb10, from the elephant backin the day and later spent 3 hours with the mother sleeping before a hunt.<\/p>\n

As we were moving in the second round in the park after lunch, just within 15 minutes we were alerted byLallan, …SIR TIGER!!!
\n<\/b>
\nJust 26 feet away from us lay the most beautiful tigress that is four and a half years old, the mother of 4 cubs in first pic. She has to be a extremely cunning predator and a very able mother to successfully feed and bring up four male cubs to adulthood.
\nShe wears a radio collar, which was put on her in Kanha National park, but she decided to migrate to Pench through fractured forest corridors from a distance of about 300 kilometers.<\/p>\n

She lay there totally indifferent to our approach and presence, then other vehicles laden with people too joined us,, she did not bother to look, when she did it was when she decided to. Since we spotted her and were there first, we were in the best seat (gypsy parking) the show could offer.<\/p>\n

She finally decided to move after about three hours as she was looking intently, ears up and alert..in the very opposite direction from where we were and within a few seconds disappeared in the bushes and trees. We moved our gypsy in reverse and tracked her at first clawing a tree and spraying it, thus leaving her bench mark before she moved on to the prowl,, slowly moving and sitting to assess the source of the noise of her prey which was unseen or un audible to us . It was getting dark and the timing too perfect for an ambush or hunt, after her success she would get her cubs to join her. We photographed her until she was about 600 yards away, the light did not allow us more than we could shoot.It was 5:50PM.<\/p>\n

We only could manage a very minute glimpse of her super predatory skills that made it possible for her to survive and bring up four male cubs to adulthood.
\n
\nCaptured by Dr, Ghosh, in March 2009.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287362<\/a>
\nMother of cubs in above photograph.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287363<\/a>
\nDeep gash <\/b>(on chest) healing, probably by a horn or antler of its prey as concluded by Dr. Ghosh and I.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287364<\/a>
\nPiercing eyes that can freeze prey.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287365<\/a>
\nA yawn exposing canines and and ulcer under the tongue. <\/b>
\nAttachment 287366<\/a>
\nAlways wary.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287367<\/a>
\nAttracted by the noise deep in the jungle, probable dinner.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287368<\/a>
\nFinally up after nearly 3 hours.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287369<\/a>
\nMe… atop the gypsy frame trying to get a better angle. <\/b>By Dr. Ghosh’s camera.
\nAttachment 287370<\/a>
\nA wider angle of the radio collared tigress at rest.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287425<\/a>
\nOthers too waiting for the action.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287426<\/a>
\nAssessing, analyzing and waiting for darkness to set in.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287427<\/a>
\nMeanwhile marks a tree in her territory.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287441<\/a>
\nFollowed by spraying.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287428<\/a>
\nMoving deeper in.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287429<\/a>
\nA wide shot.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287430<\/a>
\nAcute hearing prowess at work.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287431<\/a>
\nWaiting and watching.<\/b>
\nAttachment 287432<\/a>
\nMany times you realize you focused on the wrong thing <\/b>(leaves here) and got the subject out of focus,<\/b> but only after seeing it on the laptop.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\nAttached Thumbnails<\/legend>\n
\n\t\t\t\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/fieldset><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends, Destination: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) and Pench National Park. Members:7. Route up: Hyderabad-Ramagundam-Asifabad-Chandrapur-Kolsa-Moharli-Tadoba (all three ranges in TATR).-Umred-Nagpur-Kamtee-Manser-Pauni-Sillari-Seoni. Route down: Sillari-Pauni-Manser-Kamtee-Nagpur-Hinganghat-Adilabad-Dichpalli-Kamareddy-Hyderabad. Stay: Forest bungalow at Kolsa, Forest guest house at Sillari. Total distance traveled: 1500 kms approx. Duration: 7th Feb Morning-11th Feb. Evening. The objective was visiting these forests to sight and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4871,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4871"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}