[Amyth Prabhakar]

Kabini Never Disappoints:



Prelude:

Hello friends, this was my first ever trip to Kabini. Being a Bangalorean, Mysore is kind of next door to me and have been there countless number of times since I was a kid. I had been to Bandipur twice but never to Kabini. So we decided to visit the jungle during the Diwali holidays, in fact a day before Diwali and I will explain the reason as to why we did that in a while. Kabini as you all know is a very expensive affair. I opened up the JLR (Jungle Lodges and Resorts)

website (https://www.junglelodges.com/resort/kabini-river-lodge/)

and checked for the availability and accommodation. It was available and post COVID, the prices have shot up and for a day it showed up as Rs.24,000 inclusive of all taxes for two people just for a tent and for the cottages the prices were even higher and was around 30K INR and hence we decided to do a day trip and experience the safari only.

The Planning:

I googled a bit and found that Kabini could be experienced in one of the most inexpensive ways from Dammana katte or Antharasanthe safari point. The forest department has also launched a new website for online bookings.

Website link: https://www.nagaraholetigerreserve.com/

This is an extremely good initiative and comes as a blessing as one can book the tickets online at leisure and avoid waiting in long queues. Without any hesitation I made an online booking for early morning and evening safari. The next thing was to book an accommodation. Since all the resorts located there at Kabini are super expensive, we decided to stay at Mysore and booked the hotel called Rio Meridian which is located near Banni Mantap. Kabini is about 65 km away from Mysore and can be easily reached in less than 90 minutes. We reached Mysore in the late evening, a day before the safari and had dinner and hit the bed early as we had to get up very early in the morning.

The Execution:

The safari was at 6.30 AM and we got up at exactly 4:00 AM in the morning, freshened up, took bath and got ready with the foliage colored attire and we were all set. I turned on the maps and it showed as 1 hour 15 minute drive to kabini safari point. Since I already had the tickets we did not rush. We left at 4:45 AM and reached there by 6:00 AM. The drive was very smooth with zero traffic, however it was very lonely and foggy. The headlights did a great job and I drove with high beams on throughout and it felt a bit scary as I was the only one driving on the road. The roads at some points were very bad with big pot holes, unexpected humps and had many dangerous curves and accident prone areas. There were a few small villages on the way and apart from that the entire drive was very isolated and in case if something goes wrong, one cannot expect any kind of help whatsoever as it is all outskirts and jungle on either side. A big thanks to my car for not giving up anywhere on the way.

We reached the place in the less than the projected time on google maps and saw people who had already gathered there in a queue to buy the tickets. Tickets can be bought there directly or booked online. Tickets are issued only an hour before the safari if and only if the online booking is not full. So if anyone wishes to buy it at the location then they will have to reach at least an hour before the safari and give it a try and there is no guarantee that they would get it especially during holidays. We saw many people returning back disappointed as there were limited number of safari buses.

Below are some of the early morning pics:

It was all chilly and foggy.



































Safari Details:

Now coming to safari, the safari is available for all 365 days in a year and it is for 2 and half hrs in the morning ( 6:30 AM to 9 :00 AM) and 2 and half hrs in the evening ( 3.30 PM to 6:00 PM) on weekdays and on holidays and weekends it is only for 1 and half hours. So this is the reason as to why we booked it on a weekday, exactly a day before Diwali, so that we could spend maximum time in the jungle. The safari ticket cost is non-refundable and non- transferable. It will be refunded only if the forest department cancels it due to unforeseen circumstances and not due to no show. And of course yes, camera and lens charges are separate. Bigger telephoto and zoom lenses attract bigger fees and so do professional video cameras and absolutely nothing for mobile photography. It is totally free

Busting the myth:

I guess there is a misconception that animals can be seen only if one opts for jeep safari organized from expensive resorts and jeeps do go in paths that are inaccessible to the buses. This is actually a myth. There is nothing as such as far as I know. The buses do traverse exactly the same terrain as that of jeeps and for almost the same duration. So if one is on a bus and do not come across any sighting, be rest assured that people on the jeep also do not get to sight anything either. The only thing that people on the bus would miss out is the Kabini river safari as it is exclusively reserved for JLR.

Advantages of Jeep Safari:

Of course yes, jeep safari will altogether be a different experience and will definitely be more comfortable with limited people and does provide better opportunities for photography.

However there are disadvantages too.

• The jeep safari can be availed only from the expensive JLR as it completely monopolized by government of Karnataka and reserved for only people who have booked at JLR and for all others, irrespective of the resort that one has booked at Kabini, it is just going to be a bus safari.
• Kabini is divided into two zones and the jeeps from JLR get assigned to either Zone A or Zone B. Depending on what gets allocated on that particular day, jeeps will have to roam only in the allotted zone as there is a restriction on number of safari vehicles that can enter the forest at any particular time. This is done to not disturb the wild life.

The advantages of mini bus safari at Kabini:

On the other hand, the advantages of bus safari are:

• They do not have any restrictions and they can freely move in any zone and they do enter the forest much before these jeeps, mainly because there are limited safari buses. So there is a very high chance of catching the sight of wild animals before the people on jeeps.
• The safari bus drivers constantly stay in touch with other drivers over phone and communicate the sightings to the fellow drivers. So the moment they receive a message or a call about the sighting, they turn the bus around and take it to the spot ( could be Zone A or Zone B) and ensure that the occupants gets to see the animals.

The disadvantages of bus safari are:

• They are not as comfortable as the jeeps and photography is not easy and people do make a lot of noise.
• The bus does not go near the back waters of kabini like the jeeps do. Not that it cannot but it is restricted and reserved for only jeeps.
• The bus generally won’t stop when we come across commonly seen animals unless one asks for the driver to do so. So people wanting to photograph the deer, the gaur etc. and get a shake free image, will have shout and ask the driver to stop the bus. If not, the bus keeps moving slowly and due to vibrations, the photos will blur out and becomes unusable.
• All types of people get on to the bus. Some are interested to see only the tiger or big cats and nothing else. Some enjoy seeing anything that comes along and there is the third category which is least bothered about the safari itself and just come to do time pass and make noise, sleep or crack PJ’s.

My Photography Gear:

Canon 80D + 70-300mm canon IS II USM

The journey begins:

Since I had booked the tickets online, they issued the tickets (hand written with the safari vehicle number ) at the counter, just 10 minutes before the safari. Finally the wait was all over and we boarded the bus with great excitement but no expectations. I was also mentally prepared to go back seeing nothing. I set up all necessary camera settings, bumped up the ISO and turned the dial to manual mode on my DSLR, took a few sample shots and kept it ready to shoot the animals.

The Entry into the jungle:

The bus started exactly at 6:30 AM and entered the forest (Zone A) and we were very active and alert with the hope of catching a glimpse of a wild cat. The driver took us straight to the water pond as the chances of sighting animals near the water body is very high early in the morning. He stopped the bus and turned off the engine and waited there for about 5 minutes. No action and we had to leave. The bus now took a different path and entered the section where the Gaur or the Bison would normally be seen. And yes there we saw a herd grazing. The moment they heard the rattling sound of the bus, they started to walk away into the bushes. It was onto my left and we were seated on the right and so could not click pics from the moving bus.





The sighting of a big cat:

Moving on further, it was about 15 or 20 minutes deep into the jungle and suddenly we spotted a deer herd extremely alert and making alarm calls. The driver stopped the bus and turned off the engine with the anticipation of seeing a wild cat. Some people on the bus said that they saw a tiger behind the bush and started making noise. A few fellow photographers and the bus driver silenced them and asked them to only whisper and not shout. There was pin drop silence in the bus. I was initially not able to see and was hoping to see a tiger jump out from its hiding and was scanning the area to locate the big cat. But I was wrong. In between the trees, we saw a majestic male leopard, ready to hunt. The driver called and informed the other drivers. I took a few pics of the action. It was fast and by the time the other safari vehicles came to the spot, it was all over. We just got to see the action for about a minute or two. We were still waiting there with the hope of seeing the big cat again but in vain. The other safari vehicles came and piled up behind our bus about 5 minutes later but had missed the whole action.

Finally we spot him!

I could have gone for a completely vertical composition and avoided all the distractions but wanted a bit of habitat in the frame.



Absolutely focused! Analyzing the situation.



The wild look!





Stealthily stalking a deer herd and almost ready to hunt !!



The deer herd spotted him and started making alarm calls and ran away.

He got up in frustration and began to walk and this was the only chance for me to capture him up close !



Bad luck!



Better luck next time!



Tough shot as he was walking behind the trees!!



Walking back into the woods!



The Leopard disappeared into the jungle. No where to be seen again !!

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Now the next couple of minutes was spent in just photographing the habitat.

Just loved the lush green landscape amidst the fresh air and forest aroma.























The jeep safari from JLR.



The inquisitive look!



A few minutes later, we spotted a tusker that was playing hide and seek!

The driver reversed the bus and turned the engine off and waited for him to step out but no luck.



Further deep in the jungle, we saw some movement in the water. Is it a crocodile ??

We patiently wait for it to surface and realize that it is a tusker completely submerged in the water beating the heat!



The tusker slowly came out of the water and walked back into the jungle.



We then caught sight of the other elephants from the herd.







The playful youngster showing his face from behind a tree.





A mongoose searching for a snake!



Deer happily grazing!



Just as we were heading back we came across this giant.

The Gaur crossed our path and this time I managed to click this hulk from the moving bus.

There is a slight shake. Nothing much could be done from a moving bus.



The back waters of Kabini !!



The jeep ahead of us looked imported and had a group of National Geography / Discovery / Animal planet team along with the celebrity, Mr. Shaz Jung (Bison resort) with expensive camera setup.

They were carrying Sony Alpha 9 Mirrorless cameras with G-series lens. ( 600 mm ) and some professional video cameras from Canon.



Before the exit we did come across a few variants of the deer family.

The male spotted deer!



The stag looked a bit scared and I noticed a few scars on him.

He would have most probably fought with another male.



"Palat" , "Palat" and there you go, staring at us !!



The female Sambar deer.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

We returned back from the safari at around 9:20 AM and clicked a few pictures in the broad daylight.

Almost everyone had left for the day. But we preferred to stay there as we had booked the evening safari too.

Since our accommodation was in Mysore we did not have any other options other than to kill time there.

We drove to Antharasante and had breakfast and also visited the Taraka dam which was close by.

















Since we still had lot of time left we also drove all the way to Bavali ( Karnataka and Kerala border ) through the jungle and returned back.





















RT-PCR is required to enter Kerala for people travelling from Karnataka and vice-versa.















As seen from Karnataka-Kerala border.



Toehold is present near JLR and one can easily rent photography equipment.







Kabini is technically Rajiv Ghandhi National Park !!

[Amyth Prabhakar]

We had been to evening safari too with the hope to see the tigers. Mild rains played a spoil sport and we saw only the commonly seen animals like the Gaur, deer and the elephants. We saw different types of birds and eagles but it was very difficult capture them from a moving bus. we did spot a few peacocks and wild boars running around. Also it was very dark and I did not shoot much.

Below are the last two photos I clicked. It was taken almost at 6:10 PM and it was too dark. I had to bump up the ISO to the max to get this shot.

Gaur feeding its calf:





That was it and we thoroughly enjoyed the safari and happily returned back.

Just for Info:

Pathetic state of safari buses:

The seats were all torn and the shock absorbers were broken.

All the buses had worn out tires and I was really surprised as to how they drove them inside the jungle:

Absolutely no maintenance.





Safari timings and fees:

[Amyth Prabhakar]

I had been to Bandipur Tiger Reserve too as it is a part of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve and will take this opportunity to present the photographs.



















The Duet !!

































The fresh pug marks !! Looks like we missed an opportunity here.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Thankyou very much for your attention up to this point.

I also do have a separate post on Ranganthiittu Bird Sanctuary and you can check it out at the below link:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...sanctuary.html (A day out @ Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary)



Thankyou all once again !!

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage tomorrow

[wolfsnare24]

Amazing travelogue, I felt like I was almost there with you as it’s so detailed! I especially loved the Bandipur shots, were you on foot when you took them?

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Originally Posted by wolfsnare24

Amazing travelogue, I felt like I was almost there with you as it’s so detailed! I especially loved the Bandipur shots, were you on foot when you took them?

Yes, especially the ones near the Bandipur forest office. (last few landscape pics). All other pics were shot from Gypsy ( our safari vehicle ) and no one is allowed to alight the safari vehicle at any cost in the jungle. The driver was co-operative and stopped it wherever we wanted it to. So we got better shots in the morning safari.

[rd18]

What a refreshing set of pictures!

And thanks for providing all details which are useful in planning the journey. You have a great attention to detail and obviously good eye in capturing the nature.

[haisaikat]

Remarkable wildlife photos. I toured Bandipura back in 2016 during our trip to Ooty but we were not lucky enough to receive any sighting of the big cat. Spotting habitants of the jungle is always thrilling and you seem to have had lots of fun. Keep travelling and sharing. Rated well deserved 5 stars for the photos.

[vijayols]

What a wonderful log amyth.You missed seeing saya the black leopard but we’re lucky to spot a cat .
Forest safaris are just so beautiful even without the cat sightings.The info provided is just so useful as if someone visiting Mysore can make a quick trip .

Photos and write up is simply amazing.

[pd1108]

Thanks for the amazing pictures. Kabini never dissapoints

[cryptarchy]

I have stopped going for wild safaris after watching a documentary that explained how the noise by safari vehicles is putting the animals in danger because the noise drowns out the audible cues that they depend upon for survival. Instead, I can just look at these beautiful pictures.