2008 Tour Narrative
In Brief: The Spotted Deer saw it first, shortly afterwards the Sambar, and then the langurs. We couldn’t see it, but we knew that it was heading our way. Moments later one of us cried out, “There, there, walking towards us.” Sure enough: there it was, our first Tiger, and what a creature. An adult male, a magnificent beast. By this time the alarm calls of other animals had reached fever pitch, but they needn’t have worried, as our Tiger had clearly eaten recently and wasn’t in the mood for a lengthy chase! There were audible oohs and aahs as camera shutters went into overdrive and the king of the jungle approached. Fantastic—and this was just the first of five game drives we would have inside Ranthambhore Sanctuary. Incredibly, we went on to see another five of these fabulous and increasingly threatened creatures—a female with three almost full grown cubs and a separate adult female. And as if that wasn’t enough, we also saw another Tiger at Corbett! But this first encounter was special, not least because the Tiger kept walking, came right out into the open, and eventually ventured to within 15 yards of our vehicle! Someone was heard to mutter that any birds we saw after our Tiger encounter would simply be a bonus.
In Detail: Ornithological highlights at Ranthambhore included a pair of Painted Spurfowl, White-naped Woodpecker, an obliging Brown Fish Owl, and impressive numbers of exquisitely plumaged Painted Sandgrouse. An excursion farther afield yielded a number of desert species such as Indian Courser, Isabelline Shrike, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, and Yellow-wattled Lapwing. Bharatpur, our next port of call, had suffered badly after the previous year’s very poor monsoon, and there was very little water in the reserve. Nevertheless, we still found many of the area’s premier attractions: a pair of Dusky Eagle-Owls, a pair of Sarus Cranes that flew in to their evening roost right on cue, two pairs of Black-necked Storks, the sanctuary’s first ever Scaly Thrush, and a very obliging Orange-headed Thrush. Elsewhere we also found Greater Painted-snipe, and neighboring Bund Baretha held a fine male Falcated Duck and our first Indian Skimmers.
Our next port of call was Agra and the Taj Mahal, where a fabulous guided tour around the marble wonder almost did it justice. After that the Chambal river yielded several close-range Indian Skimmers and numerous Black-bellied Terns before we headed up to the Himalayan foothills, where a pair of superb Tawny Fish Owls, a typically recalcitrant Nepal Wren Babbler, two surprisingly obliging tesias, and some majestic Great Hornbills all entertained.
Highlights at Corbett Park included Common Green Magpie, Hodgson’s Bushchat, and several Pallas’s Fish Eagles, while Nainital, our final port of call, yielded Upland Pipit, Lammergeier, White-tailed Rubythroat, a diminutive Speckled Piculet, Black-headed Jay, Red-fronted Serin, Golden Bush Robin, and the “bird of the trip,” a male Koklass Pheasant. The pheasant appeared just as we were starting to think it wouldn’t, and stayed for all to admire; he looked all the better in his forest home overlooked by towering snow-capped Himalayan Peaks.
“Incredible India” is how the department of tourism describes the country. Incredible in so many ways: an incredible and bewildering variety of wildlife, an incredible assault on the senses, with an incredibly massive human population seemingly living right on top of each other. An incredible juxtaposition of considerable wealth and nearly abject poverty, quiet serenity and frenetic roads, India is incredible in so many ways, and we were indeed privileged to be able to enjoy it.
Paul Holt
Updated: March 2008