Kabini Trip Report: May 29-30-31, 2009: Part I

Finally, after an entire year I made it back to Kabini. My usual collaborators were unavailable but when the office on Bangalore’s MG Road told me that a tent was available, I just had to grab the opportunity. And thus on the 29th morning I left Bangalore at about 6.30 am and soon the Gypsy was screaming down the Mysore highway. I was happy with the performance of the vehicle which had just returned from an extended stay at the vets and in no time at all I was in Mysore asking for directions to Manantoddy.

However at this stage I could feel the clutch giving way, but no mechanic was open in Mysore at 9 am and in any event, I knew that it was only the cable that needed to be adjusted. So I roared ahead thinking that I would have the cable adjusted in Handpost. But outside Mysore it became almost impossible to change gear and I finally had to stop the vehicle. I had one adjustable spanner with me and got under the vehicle but could not adjust the cable.

Then followed a few tense moments. If I neutralled the vehicle and started it, even pushing the gear lever with two hands did not engage the gears. If I attempted to start the vehicle in gear, it would not start at all. Finally before calling my mechanic in Bangalore, I decided to give a last shot at starting the vehicle in gear, and after much cranking, it finally started and I was able to continue on a slower drive to Karapura. I was able to get through Handpost , Antharasante, and Karapura without stopping the vehicle, but had a breakdown again when I took a wrong turn outside Karapura and had to stop at the Forest Department checkpost on the Manantoddy road. But my trusty Gypsy started again and I was soon at Jungle Lodges. Here, Venkatesh, one of the mechanics, sorted out the problem in five minutes with the correct spanners. My fault, I had the spanners in Bangalore. Lesson learned.

This was my first time in the tents and they are very nice. Unlike the Thattekad tents, these had a lockable door and a lockable chest of drawers.

There were some new faces at Jungle Lodges but most were familiar. Once the Gypsy was sorted out I quickly got down to doing some QTVR and HDR photography. It was good to be back, out of the city, and to smell the clean air.

The QTVRs are below. The examples below are hosted on a file storage website and clicking on the images below will take you to the site. Wait for the movie to load and you can then interact with the movie. Use your browser's Back button to return to this site.

Hold down the Left mouse button to drag the image to the left or right.

You can use the on-screen controls to zoom in or out or use the Shift key to zoom in and the Control key to zoom out. When zoomed in you can also hold down the Left mouse button to move up or down.



The Central Complex




Walking down from the Gol Ghar



The boating area

The HDR images will be posted on my Fisheye site, http://fisheyephotography.wordpress.com.

Then followed a couple of beers, (not good for an expanding waistline, but what the hell!) lunch, and a snooze.

Off for the evening game drive accompanied by fellow enthusiasts, most also armed with cameras. On through Karapura village waving back at the village children whilst the driver avoided the sundry cows, chickens, goats, and dogs. We were soon in the forest and welcomed by that characteristic sound of Kabini, the one-more-bottle call of the Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus). In the back ground we could hear chital stags roaring challenges to rivals.

Light levels were fairly low but I managed fairly decent shots of our sightings, mainly elephants, in the forest and on the backwaters. The first lot of elephants were an excited group of females and a young tusker. I did shoot stock using the 28-70 mm L lens but here are some close ups with the 500f4 + 1.4 x converter.





In the video do listen for the Shikra (Accipiter badius) calling.

Elephants, Kabini, Indian Wildlife TV from indianwildlifetv on Vimeo.

Elephants on the backwaters with an accompanying video.

Elephants at the Kabini Backwaters, Indian Wildlife TV from indianwildlifetv on Vimeo.

We then chanced upon another nice tusker but he quickly moved off into the bushes. Our last sighting was of an old cross tusker. He would not emerge from the dip he was in, and here is an image that clearly shows the large hole in his right ear. He is a truly magnificent animal.

Cross tusker, Kabini, Indian Wildlife TV from indianwildlifetv on Vimeo.

We also managed a pair of Stripe-necked mongooses. Lastly a small herd of gaur was sighted. A big bull was present but he hastened away into the undergrowth.

Gaur, Kabini, Indian Wildlife TV from indianwildlifetv on Vimeo.

Later that evening when we left the forest we heard of a leopard sighting. We waited a bit but there were no alarm calls and so we moved on.

And here are some videos of the drive back to the resort.

Jungle Lodges, Kabini, Indian Wildlife TV from indianwildlifetv on Vimeo.

Driver's cabin, Jungle Lodges, Kabini, Indian Wildlife TV from indianwildlifetv on Vimeo.

Karapura village, Jungle Lodges, Kabini, Indian Wildlife TV from indianwildlifetv on Vimeo.

Karapura village 1, Jungle Lodges, Kabini, Indian Wildlife TV from indianwildlifetv on Vimeo.

After downloading images and freshening up, I headed to the bar, a place I had not been since my first visit. After a couple of beers and some good chatter with my fellow enthusiasts, it was dinner and off to bed.

Unfortunately, I have to travel unexpectedly, so expect this report to be continued next week.