Andaman - The wild side

"Heavy rains lash Chennai, airport closed" screamed the headlines in the news.  My mind went back a a few days, when I had been in Chennai on my way to Port Blair.  A silent prayer was on my lips, thanking God that I had made it.

Bhadra in Action - A photo essay

kuk kaya kaya kuk ...

The call of the grey jungle fowl welcomed us to the River Tern Lodge at Bhadra wildlife sanctuary.

Situated right next to the Bhadra dam, the rooms in the lodge have a spectacular view of the backwaters.  River terns (the presence of which has given the lodge its name), striated swallows, doves provide ample opportunities for "arm-chair birding" from the room.  On the farther shores, an elephant or even a black panther may make a surprise appearance 

Room with a view	Striated swallow

Tadoba – Into the Forests of Kipling’s Jungle Book

Telia cubs in water

“Welcome to the Real Land of Tigers” – so proclaims the banner at the Moharli Gate of Tadoba-Andheri National Park.  Our first safari justified this statement.  We saw more tigers – five, in fact - than any other animal.

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright

A cub making its way to mother

Imagine a heavily wooded valley with you on one side and a family of tigers, feeding on a kill, on the other.   This was the scene which greeted us on our first safari into Bandhavgarh.  A few minutes later, the mother tigress’s call reverberated through the jungle, making the cubs – which had wandered off – to move back towards the kill and reminding us of where we were.  We were in Tiger Country.