Thursday, January 10, 2008

At Nagarahole

A couple of weeks back I visited the Wynad and Nagarahole forests - both are contiguous forests and part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Wynad is in Kerala and Nagarahole in Karnataka.
December is actually not a very good time for wildlife sighting. Immediately after the monsoons the greenery is thick, water is available in plenty for the animals and they stick to the deep jungle. People do not often get to see the large animals. But we were lucky - here are some pics...
They are a random mix from Wynad and Nagarahole taken at dawn and late evening.

The forest trail in Wynad. It is about 7.30 in the morning and mist is yet to lift...

An Indian Gaur in the mist - at Nagarahole
A view from a boat at Kabini. Young darters, also called Snake Birds sit on the branches
More darters
A rare sight... at Nagarahole, it must have been about 6.30 pm, I have to thank the ultra zoom and the image stabilisation features on the FZ18 I used to take these pics. It was at full extension of the zoom at 23X (more than 750mm equivalent on film camera) and shutter speed was less than 1/50. The real life sight was actually not as clear as this... managed to catch this guy napping
the leopard in the glow of the setting sun...


fully awake



and glares at the intruding tourists


5 comments:

Ramnath said...

The first one is a painting, no?

Anonymous said...

Balaji,

Damn good pictures, especially those taken from the boat and the forest driveway. Of course, the leapord one terrific, though it was very humble in a sleepy mood

D Govardan

R. Balaji said...

No, Ramnath. But I liked that pic for that painting-like feel.
Govardan, thank you.

ashok said...

wow...good ones

R. Balaji said...

Thanks, Ashok.