Destination Rajasthan!

Green! was the only colour my sleepy eyes noticed when we were about to land in Udaipur. There has to be some mistake, I thought. Rajasthan is the desert state was what I was always taught in the school. And here I was, wondering if the pilot had taken some wrong turns up in the air to enter some jungle.

But it was Udaipur indeed. Equally sleepy cabin crew of our ATR flight almost yawned while warning us to tie the seat belts as the flight descended into the greenery of Udaipur.

Funniest part of that morning was when we were told to walk to the airport building after getting off the plane. We were on a vacation hoping it to be an exciting one. And this was not a bad start!

Yet another day break in jungle

Kanha trip was my most successful jungle trip ever.

On the last day, while saying goodbye to this jungle, I shot this picture at sunrise.

Somehow to me, this picture need not be of the sunrise as tries to paint the setting sun also. More than that it has captured the frozen time. The time that you savour forever.

Smoky waters

The smoke you see here is not the product of a fire.

Nor Kanha is a home for hot springs.

I shot this picture at 6.30 in the morning when the lakes try to bask in the morning sun shrugging off the freezing cold of the nights.

Dil Maange More..

The first time we saw the big cat it was for about 15-20 minutes. Then you get addicted so we naturally wanted more.

And the jungle god decided to be kind to us. So the second time we had the rendezvous with this Ms Tiger, it was for about 45-50 minutes. Ms Tiger walked about 2 kilometers in the grass parallel to the road, roaring for pleasure, scaring the shit out of deers, monkeys etc. Then she crossed the road where atleast 25 jeepful of people were thanking their luck. Reaching the other side Ms Tiger again wandred randomly before disappearing into the woods.

Thank you Her Royal Highness Tiger of bengal. (We were in MP, but this species is called Royal Bengal Tiger anywhere it is found.)

Sunset

The road that you see here had the most perfect curve. Perhaps the sunset we saw from here was the most enchanting. The green grass shining with the golden tinge never looked so beatiful.

Maybe the whole affair was not as good. But we were yet to recover from the ecstasy of experiencing the tiger and we were overwhelmed by the supreme presence by that Royal Bengal Tiger.

Yahooooooooo

No. I am not such a great admirer of brand Yahoo.

But after about 6 safaris when I finally finally saw the big royal cat I was extremely happy. Of course the tigress was some half a kilometer away my poor man's camera does not have great zoom. But this picture is not to be flaunted for the great aesthetics or composition of the frame. The black stripes that you see amongst the green, painted on the yellow-brown rich fur that shines golden in the sun is the living proof of I saw the TIGER!!!

And trust me, it's such a pleasure to watch a tiger in his own habitat!

The Jackal

I know it's a bad shot. Mr Jackal was running towards our jeep which itself was at good speed. I spotted him at quite some distance but my calculation on when would the two objects in motion travelling towards each other would meet went wrong and I still regret of having missed of what could have been a great capture.

By the way, after three jungle trips, I can authoritatively say that it is quite likely that you will miss so called great shots quite a few times. But always keep in mind that jungle is about the feel and the experience hence no regrets for not having captured something that I very well witnessed with my naked eyes.