Bandhavgarh, India 2017 Part II.

 A  month went by without me posting a blog and will be mostly gone for the next 3 months.  The peacock is to India what the Bald Eagle is to the USA.  It is common in the forest, and during April when I was there, they were busy displaying to attract the peahens, and most often, after the fancy displays, the peahens just walked away.  At times you see several peacocks displaying closely while being watched by the peahens.  If one is accepted, the peahen walks to him; they do the thing, and part their ways. The fish-eating owl next is often seen and I believe they are territorial since I had seen them on the same spots during prior years. During previous visits I saw one blinded in one eye but not this time. And lastly, the same behavior applies to the snake-eating owl.

 The Indian roller is common but not as beautiful as the Lilac-Breasted roller from Africa.  Still it is an attractive bird, always very active. The rollers were in their nesting season so the males were offering worms to lure the females. The hornbills were also busy feeding their chicks; they always nest in tree cavities.  And then, the common kingfishers; what an appropriate name, they were everywhere but hard to photograph. By the way, the most common beer in India is named Kingfisher and so was a now defunct airline. Typical of these birds they have favorite perches that they defend by dive-bombing any intruders.

 Below is a Red Wattled Plover that I had not seen before; there is always some new species to see no matter how many times you go to India.  And then there is the Mynah bird, very common and sold at the pet stores here.  The Ringneck parakeets (really parrots), also sold in pet stores, were always in groups and noisy; the one below is feasting in the flowers.

 The Spotted Owlet was seen daily at his hollow in the tree; there were really two but every time I got there, one would hide.  The Red-headed vultures could be found at sunrise and sunset at the same perching trees where they spent the night. They are scavengers but I did not see them feeding; with the amount of spotted deer I was expecting to see them having a feast. Why the black and white photo?  I thought these birds look creepier than they already in those colors. By the way, certain populations of vultures in India are threatened with extinction due to viral infections and diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug administered to cattle, that died, and are eaten by these birds.

 There were more than birds - such as monitor lizards; these were abundant and not shy, easy to photograph.  Jackals were also common and mostly seen early in the morning; always moving at a fast pace, they kept their distance.

 The gaur, also known as the Indian Bison, is a forest animal and the largest bovine in India and tallest in the world.  They are very powerful and aggressive, when we encountered one in the forest trails; we waited until they moved on. Notice the white legs.  The sambars are the favorite prey of the tigers, below are pair that were refreshing in a waterhole; they are nervous and will run if you just make a hand gesture. 

 While waiting for something to happen, I could hear the sound of raindrops but there was no rain.  I finally realized that during this season there is a bloom of caterpillars that eats the leaves in the canopy and that what I was hearing was their droppings when hitting the forest floor covered with dead leaves. If you go to my previous year blog about India, you will images of these creatures.  When I arrived in Bandhavgarh, the trees were sprouting leaves and flowerings, by the third day, all was green and flowering. There is a noticeable fragrance from the flowers that are eaten by some of the birds and the bees were active but there are not hummingbirds, here they have sunbirds occupying the same niche as Africa. Have so much material from India; next Kanha.

Challenging India, Part 2.

From Singalila, drove down from the Himalayas to New Jalpaiguri to take the overnight train to Guwahati.  When the vehicle got to lower altitudes, tea plantations bordered the highways and women in their colorful outfits were picking tea leaves. Some of the plantations had the famous brand names found on the tea bags marketed in the USA.

 Boarded a sleeper train car for an overnight ride to Guwahati. It was clean and I was provided with clean sheets, a blanket and pillow.  There was no restaurant service so I survived on a granola bar. Upon arriving at Guwahati, was driven to Kaziranga for the next few days.  Driving in India is a hazardous ordeal. The one who blows the horn the most and gets closer to having a wreck gets the road.  The roadside is full of all kinds of wrecked colorful vehicles; if those blue eyes could talk what stories would they tell? (These are iPhone unprocessed images; I am getting lazy).

While walking in Karingala looking for a Wi-Fi hotspot, ran into a group of friendly kids trying to practice English and a couple of goats having the noon siesta. The accommodations were fine but it had the strangest bathroom arrangement I have ever encountered.  As you entered it, the sink was first, then an open shower and then the toilet.  When one takes a shower, the whole floor gets wet, making it impossible to get to the toilet without getting the floor messed up wearing shoes.    I also found the brand of the toilets very appropriate: HINDWARE.

Had a morning and afternoon drive to in Kaziranga National Park every day, just like a safari in Africa.  The park appears to be in a river flood plain with lots of water and tall grasses; the latter made photographing the wild animals difficult.  There were elephants, water buffaloes, samba deer and the one-horned Indian rhinoceros; the park claims that the largest concentrations in the country are here.  The tame elephants (below) are used to work in the maintenance of the parks; there are also wild ones.

 The Indian fish eagle, a relative of our bald eagle and the African fish eagle, was relatively easy to approach.  The bar-headed geese were a surprise, never having seen them before; the black stripes make their color patterns unique. The Indian roller was similar in coloration to the African one but the latter, in my opinion, is the second most beautiful bird in the world.  The Indian roller, the white-breasted kingfisher and the emerald dove were the colorful birds but there is always an ugly duckling, in this case the Greater Adjutant Stork

From Kaziranga, was driven to Pakke National Park, a distance of only 104 kilometers that required four hours of driving.  Crossed the Brahmaputra River Bridge in Tezpur. The river is wide at this point but with very little water; India is currently undergoing a drought. After arriving at the park, I was driven to the Forest Rest House after crossing a larger river and other smaller ones through the forest. The house had all the amenities of a modern home but…they were not working. Anyhow, I did not go Pakke for the facilities but to take pictures. 

There is no India without elephants but I was appalled about the beating that I witnessed of two working elephants…I thought that the relationship was more benign and this may have been an exception to the rules.  There were numerous wild elephants in Pakke and was lucky to observe them coming to a cliff near the bank of a river to lick the minerals in the rocks.  The wardens are supplementing these minerals by dispersing just regular cooking salt. I was at the top of the cliff looking down on them; what a great experience.  The yellow fruit below is known as an elephant apple since it is part of their diet; it also eaten by humans.  It is tough and fibrous with a kind of bitter taste; I prefer to leave them all to the elephants.

Few birds were seen and these, as most of the other wildlife except for the elephants, hard to approach.  At the end of one day, a large flock of bee eaters landed in the trees around the forest house and were just playing around, giving the opportunity to get great shots. The same evening I noticed thousands of “worms” hanging down from the end of what appeared to be silk threads. When closer to the ground, they just dropped and formed into line marching to the base of the tree.  There they marched around and around in a close circle.  The next morning, there was a tent made of fine treads and all the caterpillars were just under it. I uploaded a video of the caterpillars that is the last entry in the blog; do not if it will work.

The Pakke Tiger Reserve was heavily poached and deforested in the past and now the government is trying to restore it to its natural state.  There are tigers as well as other animals but not abundant - scarce due to the past heavy hunting.  A cat was the most interesting beast I saw in one of the camps; its markings may make it eligible for entering into the certified pedigree registry of Cat International Association. The park is renowned because of the variety and abundance of rare orchids.  The government has established more than 20 anti-poaching camps with about 100 wardens forming the anti-poaching team.  There is a large school program to teach the children about protecting the forest and the fauna that makes it their home in the surrounding villages.  Because opportunities of seeing wildlife are scarce and the conditions of the facilities and transportation, the park may have a difficult time becoming an important tourist attraction.  Below is one of the warden camps headquarters and small hutch used for observation.

 This was a demanding trip.  It required walking at 10-12,000 feet high in the Himalayas, long drives, being feasted upon by the local fauna and the typical maladies suffered by the world travelers. I was feasted upon by fleas on the train. On a night drive got stung by a giant wasp that caused my left hand to inflate like a red balloon; it was painful and took 3 days to get better.  The last day while walking in the forest, the guide told me that my right pant leg was bloody behind the knee.  I lifted the pant leg and found 5 leeches feasting on me.  My reaction was to pull them but the guide said not to because I would bleed worse because of the anticoagulant substance they inject to able to suck the blood . So I was watching them feast on me until they dropped. Upon departing Pakke, drove back to Guwahati airport for the night flights to Amsterdam and then home. Looking back, it reminded me of the trip to Mongolia but I would do it all over again…to both places.