10 March 2023

Kabini Tour Report- 27th January to 3rd February 2023

Nagarahole national park, locally called as Kabini is one of the best parks in India to track and photograph Tigers, Leopards and Elephants. Kabini forest mainly consists of moist and dry deciduous trees. January being peak of winter in India is the best time to track big cats, why? Because the deciduous trees shed their leaves in the winter and as a result monkeys and deers can easily see a tiger or a leopard from far and give alarm calls to alert all other animals in the jungle.

So, on our safaris we used to stop at multiple places in the jungle and waited patiently for these alarm calls. When the alarm calls started, we could understand which side the cat was moving and we would follow these calls until we spotted the cat.

The main focus on our 7nights/8days tour was to track the big-cats and we successfully tracked about 15 tigers and 3 leopards over 8 days. Apart from these cats we also saw many herds of Elephants and Indian Gaurs. Sambar deers, Spotted deers, Langurs and Wild boars were very commonly seen. We also had opportunities to shoot many birds such as White bellied woodpecker, Flame-back woodpecker, Serpent eagle, Crested Hawk eagle, Kingfishers, Peacocks etc

Day to day big cat sighting update on our 8 days tour was like this,

Day1- 2 Tiger, 1 Leopard

Tiger sitting in the water

We checked-in to the lodge in the afternoon on 27th January 2023 and went on our first evening game drive. We started our tour in a great way by tracking two tigers and a leopard.

1 tiger sitting in a water-hole close by.
1 tiger walked on a bund and went into a thick patch of jungle. Glimpse of 1 leopard running into the bush.

Day2- 3 Tigers

1 tiger walked along side bushes for a long distance and sat down.

1 tiger walked along our safari car and went into the bush. Glimpse of 1 tiger walking into the bush.

Day3- 2 Tigers

1 tiger walked along the safari track for a long time and went into the bush.
1 tiger was roaring inside the bush, later came out and crossed the safari track in front of us.

Day4- 4 Tigers

1 tiger with 2 small cubs were sitting by the bush, later crossed the safari road in front of us.
1 tiger walked along side us for a long duration, scent marking the trees.

Day5- 1 Tiger, 2 Wild dogs

Wild dogs feed on a deer carcus

1 tiger walking head-on towards us on the safari track. Pack of 2 wild dogs were feeding on a sambar fawn kill.

Day6- 2 Leopards, 1 Tiger

1 leopard sleeping on a tree.
1 leopard sitting on a tree, later got down and disappeared into the bush. 1 tiger sitting in open area.

Day7- 2 Tigers

Tiger scent marking, Flehmen response

1 tiger walking and scent marking
1 tiger came to water, sat for a while and went into the bush

Day8- No big-cats

Herd of elephants playing in the water

We finished our morning safari on 3rd February and checked out of the lodge.

 

Overall, we had a very productive tour. The jungle gave us many stunning photo opportunities, wonderful experiences and some great memories to cherish. Over 7nights/8days tour, my clients got enough content to build a strong winter portfolio of Kabini.

I hosted three batches over three weeks in January 2023 in total, all three batches were super productive and had similar results in terms of wildlife experience.

Bookings are now open for May/June 2023 and January 2024.

Follow my recent work on Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/yashasnarayan/?hl=en

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yashasnarayan

I am Yashas Narayan, a professional wildlife photographer based in India. I specialize in tracking the big cats and spent the last ten years documenting the tigers, leopards and Black panthers of India.  Over the years the quality content I have been producing consistently has earned me many publications and features in the major platforms like Natgeo, Discovery, BBC, etc. I have also been featured in a Discovery Channel film as part of ‘project cat’ campaign. I currently take clients on private guiding tours across the jungles of India. On my tours I help my clients to get the best possible pictures on the field, understand the science behind tracking big cats, learn about local ecosystem and aim to have the best wildlife experience. 

website: www.yashasnarayan.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yashasnarayan/?hl=en

 

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