KABINI 2015

We started our journey driving on the 23rd of February 2015 early morning.  Its about 240kms from Bangalore. We went through Mysore route.  It took about six hours.  We stayed in Kabini River Lodge which belongs to Jungle Lodges and Resorts located on the southern fringes of the Nagarhole National Park.  The website for online booking is junglelodges.com.  They have a schedule for the day as specified in their site.

We reached at 12 noon and settled in our room.  The lunch was served at 1.30pm, there is a bar lounge in this resort.  After lunch we rested for about an hour or so then 3.30pm was our first safari into the park.  Drive started and we went in to B zone.  That evening was quiet pleasant even though the tempareture in the afternoon was quite high.

 

The first sighting was at around 5.20pm in a waterhoele where 3 elephants walked out of the bush.  

 

 

Initially when they came out of the bush they were a bit scared smelling humans but then they started quenching their thirst and cooling themselves in the waterhole. We were there watching them for atleast half an hour until they crossed to the other side behind our jeep.  It was close enough that we were a little scared and the guide who came in our jeep asked the driver to start the engine and be ready.  http://youtu.be/DpiTfARdTuI



Elephants drinking water

 

The time we thought that this safari is ending with the this 3 elephants, we sighted a  few macaques,  spotted deers, and birds like Myna, Indian Roller, and other birds.  Later we went to a  watch tower in the edge of a water hole. To our surprise we saw a female tiger walking towards the bush. It disappeared after making a mark in the tree. It was awesome and we were thrilled to see like everybody else in that jeep.

 

http://youtu.be/Qzkrf1Sr500

 



The day ended with sumptuous dinner in the Golghar with sharing videos and sightings.

 

Next day early morning we assembled for a cup of coffee and ready to go for another safari.  Left the resort after coffee went around in a different zone. At around 7.50am we spotted a tiger family a mother and 2 cubs.  http://youtu.be/8ZC9t4nUTC8.  We were there for atleast 10 minutes watching them crossing one by one.  After a few minutes, we  proceeded with our drive back to the resort. 

After heavy breakfast we saw few birds like Eagle, Grey Heron, Large Egret, Little Egret, etc., in the boat ride on river kabini.

Eagle

Large Egret



Indian Pond Heron



Again relaxing time in the resort sat outside for a while and enjoyed the sounds of birds and had resting time until 1.30pm.  Proceeded for lunch and waited for the evening safari time which is 3.30pm.  Drive started in a different zone again.





Evening weather was pleasant and we were eager to see a tiger again.  First we spotted a Malabar Giant Squirel, then some Langurs.



Few elephants, birds, spotted deers, sambar deers were the sightings that evening.  We were not lucky.

After coming back we relaxed in the bar lounge and watched the documentary that was played by the resort. It was quite interesting and also chatted with other people staying in the resort about their experiences.


Next day early morning started the same way, the weather was quite chill that day and we were not prepared for this, still the thrill of seeing the animals kept us going.  We reached the tip of the kabini river inside the forest and heard some movement but it was very silent.  Few jeeps were along with us in the same zone Nobody had spotted anything that morning.  We waited at the edge of the river bed and suddenly something moved on the opposite bank when I first spotted the tiger with my binocular and that was it everybody was shouting tiger, tiger, so cute it was. It was a bit far and only binocular view was good.

The drive ended we did not see anything else that day eventhough we heard the sambar alarm call from far off.

We came back had our breakfast, settled our bill and started our drive back home.

 

Kabini Forest May2012

Our Kabini trip was another beautiful experiene. We travelled in May.  Good season to spot animals starts from April.  We stayed in Jungle Lodges & Resorts.  www.kabiniriverlodge.com, please use this link for your accommodation booking and also for the route map in case if you are travelling by road.  Its not too far from Bangalore and will approximately take 5 hours. You can either go Jeep safari or Boat ride.  Normally boat rides are suggested for evenings and Jeep safari for mornings.  Staying for 2 nights is really worth for spotting animals.  The guides in the lodge are really good.

We reached by noon, so that we dont miss any of the activities that are included in the package.  As we reached we were taken to a nice cosy room.  Relaxed for few minutes, by then the lunch was served in the dining hall (all buffet system).  We were ready with our binoculars, cameras and also suntan lotion at 3.00pm.

Got into the boat, since its summer the water in the river was not too high.  Once u start cruising in the boat first thing you will spot is lot of birds in the dried tree stumps amidst the river.

Different Birds on the tree in the river.

Tusker by the river side 

Jeep safari morning at 6.00 and evening 3.30.  We had 4 trips in Jeep, we enjoyed all the trips. 

We happened to spot lot of elephants including baby elephant in all our jeep safaries and also our boat rides.  Monkeys, Serpant eagle, Bison, etc.,  were some of the other animals and birds spotted.  

Infact one of the baby elephant we spotted was limping, the back leg was injured and we felt so bad for that baby.  The mother elephant was trying to cover the baby and closely moving together as seen below.

Wild Dogs the famous killer, they come in a pack of 10 to 12 at a time.  We spotted a pack by the river banks, where they just finished their kill and running towards the river.  Normally spotting wild dogs is very rare, we were lucky.

Leopard, we spotted one in the tree branch by the side of the road.  The leopard was literally hanging in the branch as you see in the below pictures.  This we spotted in our first safari trip itself.  The next day also we saw the same leopard but in a different tree branch.

Infact the second day after coming back from our morning safari, we had our breakfast and took off with our Pajero to the same road to see the leopard once again, which was still there.  With binoculars the sighting we had was great.

The same tusker that we saw from the boat ride was also spotted the next day morning in the Jeep safari.

Tusker by the river banks.

Birds, especially Changeover Hawk Eagle(?) was sighted very close to our jeep.

The other baby elephants, bisons, monkeys as we spotted. The limping baby elephant which was very close to our jeep.

The Bison trying to grasp a tree branch for some food.

Another baby elephant but not looking healthy.

Sitting like three musketeers in the tree looking seriously at something.

On the whole this trip we enjoyed since we saw all except the tiger.  The food, the service and the rides organised by the Jungle Lodge was really good and nothing to complain.  Its worth a trip to Junglelodges, Kabini.

The next trip as we travel will be updated in the blog.