Jhalana Forest Reserve November'2016 - Month of the Demonetisation!
This month started with fairly good sightings as there was a blue bull kill on Track 2. And we got back to back sightings in the first week.
November 03 - The kill was in one of the nala near the entrance of track 02. As we reached the spot, the leopard was already surrounded by people who were aware of the kill, and he soon left the spot and retreated to a a rock near the hill. We waited for a lot of time for him to come down and asked everyone not to go near his resting spot. But its difficult to ask people to be patient, cars started going to his spot and parked between him and his food. We waited there, but to no avail. They didn't move and he didn't either.
![Rambling in the wild : Ranthambore, Jhalana, Bharatpur & more-avi_3570.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/travelogues/1627616d1689733268t-rambling-wild-ranthambore-jhalana-bharatpur-more-avi_3570.jpg)
In the end, as it was time for us to also go out, we also joined them there for some record shots and left.
November 04 - We got to see the same leopard sitting a little further but still in vicinity of the kill. He was sitting on a check-dam.
A similar scenario unfolded like the previous day and the leopard went towards the hill and again sat on his favourite rock, and the cars pushed him away further.
November 05 - We decided to enter early so as to get him before he took off. And the leopard obliged us with his boldness.
After eating his fill, he decided to go and rest on his royal throne which had become his favourite spot. This time we urged everyone to go one by one so as not to send him away and hence, everyone got great sighting of this carefree sub-adult male resting very near on his rock.
November 06 - One of my school friend was in town and had requested to join us for leopard sighting. There were many cars surrounding the kill, we decided to take a look at the other track and try our luck as it was getting monotonous. As we climbed towards the watch tower on track 01, I spotted the leopard sitting beautifully in a hole near the water point.
She saw some peafowls nearby and went into stalking mode.
But being a sub-adult, she wasn't trained enough to make a kill, and the peafowls blew her cover easily and gave out alarm calls, forcing her to give up the thought and she decided to sit again and pose.
After posing for some 5 minutes, she moved further in the bushes and we decided to check the other areas and leave her to herself. We found this fox roaming around during the day.
About an hour we went back to track 02, saw people standing and waiting for the leopard, and moved on. We heard some partridge calls near the enclosure, and started looking. The sub adult male for whom everyone was waiting at the kill was resting here in the grass.
We soon realised that he wasn't alone as there were some alarm calls from the water point also. We moved in a better position so as to look around and voila, the sister was also there.
November 07 - Close friend and our member Deky had asked me (rather forced me) to come in morning with him as one of his friend was in Jaipur. So we entered early in the morning and were going towards the kill site, when he pointed towards this rare catch -
The Striped Hyena, hardly 3-4 are there in this forest and are strictly nocturnal. This was my first meeting with this creature, and hence I am extremely thankful to DK for forcing me that morning. Pardon the image quality as it was taken at unearthly ISO speeds.
The Hyena was confronted by a leopard behind a bush, which we were not able to capture. Post which it went on towards the Shikar Audhi (old hunting palace) and vanished.
Nov 08 - Demonetisation!
As we had cash crunch, and forest department only accepted cash, I decided to stay away from my beloved forest for some time.
Nov 29 - After around 3 weeks when things were stabilizing, I went again. We searched everywhere and heard many calls but the leopards were smart enough to give us a slip. At last we traced this male again near the water-point of the enclosure. With hardly few minutes left to exit the park, he was a delight to watch and brought a big smile on our faces.
Nov 30 - Since I was going out of town for a week from 1 december, I decided to pay another visit. This sub adult female delighted us by coming out in open in broad daylight.
![Rambling in the wild : Ranthambore, Jhalana, Bharatpur & more-avi_6215.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/travelogues/1627643d1689733374t-rambling-wild-ranthambore-jhalana-bharatpur-more-avi_6215.jpg)