Me and my photographer friend Ramnath from chennai decided to make a quick trip to masingudi to shoot a few Endemic Birds of the region. Leaving bangalore by about 2pm, I had to push real hard to reach bandipur before dark,hoping to get some sightings. Though i managed to reach the park by 6, couldn do much with the camera... as the light was bad and the sightings were also pretty dull. We kept a close watch on either sides of the road as we moved. I had seen a Tiger Photograph on the same road, a week back.We cleared Bandipur ( karnataka ) and mudhumalai ( TN border ) National parks without much luck with the wildlife as it was raining. I was informed by the Forest department officials on the chekpost to watch out for a herd of WIld Elephants on masingudi road.
I was driving real slow on the road.. Got to see a couple of WIld Gaurs and chitals. I saw something on the road, something lil bigger than a stray dog running towards the left. Im sure the headlamp of the Jeep must've disturbed him.. I slowed down to check what exactly was it..All I could think of was about a wild dog . He crossed the road and hid behind a tree. I pulled over and focused the headlamp on the tree. I could see something with stripes on its head..
Loud whispers "A Tiger ???? No No could be a TIger Cub ! Naah Stripes on its head , its spotted .. Could it be a leopard cat ?? "
Within no time, our equipments were in position .. waiting for this guy to show up again.. Just once! we waited for about 20 in the same place and he peeped out from behind the tree to check whats happening.. our cameras clicked a couple of frames.. The picture showed us that it was a leopard cub.. I was happpy that i saw a leopard in the wild for the first time.. But normally cubs wont be alone in the wild.. They'll be accompanied with their mother, almost all the times.
Just when I was about to share this thought with my friends , the Mother called from a distance.. It was coming soewhere from the trees.. It was dark and i couldnt spot her anywhere around. The cub was responding to the call of his mother.. There were actually two calls responding to the mother's call.. so , there was another cub in a distance. It was a different kind of an atmosphere. The mother calling from left , a Cub straight ahead looking at me and another cub responding from right.. we just sat in the jeep absolutely silent and eyes wide open
I literally Jumped when I heard loud calls of two sambar deers right next to me.. It came as a surprise... Now i understood the game plan.. The two deers were rounded up from all four sides.. I was expecting the mother to strike anytime... But total scenario changed when the forests guards came to the spot and started questioning us.. We missed a great action.. But at the same time felt proud about the guards' duty consciousness even on a rainy night..
I returned back to the same spot at 5 in the morning to see if there was a kill the previous night, but there was nothing like it. The deers managed to escape..
With a leopard and few birds being the main attraction, it was a fruitful trip for me :)
