 My last trip to Kapila Retreat in Kabini was a teaser. I was dying for more. And I had blocked 12th and 13th of May for this activity. Gradually I realized since this was summer and the sighting would probably be at its best, I should do this trip for a longer period. My 26th birthday gave me the enthusiasm and willingness to spend a fortune for 5 weekdays in Kapila Retreat.
I spent a couple of days at home in Mysore and left to Kabini on Monday the 8th. Kabini is a ninety minute drive from Mysore and I was in Kapila Retreat by lunch time. I met Harsha the jungle boy of Kapila Retreat while checking in. We had just exchanged a few mails before this. After a small chat and the customary tender coconut water in the office, I was shown my room which would house me for the next 5 nights.
Since I had to spend the whole week alone, initially I thought it would get boring and I would feel lonely after some time. But little did I realize the next 5 days was so full of action that I hardly got time to think of boredom. I can’t stop thanking Harsha and Vikram Nanjappa for being so nice and friendly, and I never realized I had been there alone.
 After lunch, all three of us set out for the first safari and it was nice to be the only guest going on a safari. I got ample space for my tripod and bag in the behind of the commander jeep. Very soon, we encountered langurs and some wild boar. Gradually we sneaked in to the core area of the jungle and I saw parts of the forest I hadn’t seen before. We spotted predators for the first time on this trip. We slowly approached the pack of Wild Dogs (dholes) who were probably 7 or 8 in number. For nearly 10 minutes we followed them on the jeep track. They would jog to reach a safer distance and lie down. Once we reach closer to them, they again would get up and jog a few feet away and do the same thing.
After a while, we spotted a small herd of elephants and a young female elephant made me experience the first few thrilling moments of this trip by mock-charging the jeep. For the next 4 days, I took the morning Jeep safari and the evening boat safari except for the 5th evening.
 One the second evening, Harsha and I along with 4 other guests ventured in to the backwaters of Kabini. That was my first ever boat safari and I never realized till I came back that a boat safari could be as exciting. We stopped near the bank of the Bandipur side where a large herd of gaurs were grazing. Suddenly they started running and we spent the last few minutes with the calf which was on the edge. We then left this place and not even a hundred meters away, the Jungle Lodges Boat was coming back in the other direction. Nagaraj, the naturalist there gave us signals and asked us to turn back. We all were in awe of the Tiger which stood on the bank of the river looking at us. It slowly got down to the edge and started drinking water.
I was pinching myself!! What a wonderful lighting and opportunity for a great photograph. But with a slow lens like mine and the boat shaking every second, I had to wait for it to stop.
 It was a nice experience to photograph the elephants from the ground level. Our boat would stop by the banks and I would place the tripod on the ground to avoid shakes. Most of the times we would stay unnoticed except for a few occassions where the elephants were too close to the boat.
 Mesmerized by the large cat and its surprise visit to the banks, we headed back towards the resort. It started drizzling on the way and the skies changed colors to their best shades. The last 20 minutes of ride back to the resort was adventurous. There were medium waves in the water and it started getting scary. The women in the boat would react to the lightning by an involuntary “oh..” “aah god” etc. Harsha would look at me with a smile every time the lightning scares us. The day ended with a bang. My third ever tiger sighting and the first time I clicked a picture of it.
 I was amazed by the number of elephants I could see on the banks of the river. I decided to take the evening boat ride every day and make use of the opportunity to get the best I could. After the boat safaris the number of elephant pictures I had clicked was so much that I still need a week’s time to process them. I requested Harsha to take me near a herd and let me wait for the best actions and moments of the herd.
 Fortunately, the third boat safari was so good that, most of the action shots of the robust beasts were taken during this trip. We spent more time in each place. I was the only guest on the small motor boat which was much faster than the 18 seat boat they have and this could venture in to the shallow waters too. During one such boat ride, we saw at least 75 elephants on the Kakankote side. Amazing sights like Tusker mounting on a female, tuskers fighting for the right to mate, young ones playing games all were seen. We even saw a small herd which swam across to the islets to graze the new juicy vegetation. On one occasion we witnessed a very tiny calf, probably a month old hanging around its mother.
 We for once saw a gaur sleeping so peacefully that it almost looked like a dead beast. We were having a nice look at it when a JLR bus made good enough noise for it to get up and leave. I hadn’t seen a gaur sleep like that ever and even Harsha remarked that it was the first time he saw something like that. The previous evening, Vikram had seen a female elephant do the same thing. They had even stopped by a leopard lazing around the Tiger Tank area for a wonderful twenty minutes.
 On the third day, it seemed like I would almost find yet another cat. We heard plenty of alarm calls, followed a few, waiting for sometime but we were disappointed to know that other jeeps which traveled straight to the elephant camp for the elephant ride saw tigers, leopard and sloth bear. Fate! Harsha joked with me saying “Apply perfume, wear a white shirt and sit amongst a few noisy tourists, am sure a Tiger will be seen”. Laughing all the way we reached the base camp. A young teenage girl in a JLR jeep saw us, smiled at us and said “We saw Tiger” like a baby. We laughed the whole evening mimicking that girl.
  In three boat safari’s I happened to see just one single crocodile for nearly a minute. Harsha too said the number of crocodiles he saw this time were less. It was the fifth day of my stay and I decided to spend time near the Tiger Tank (Water Hole) waiting for a Tiger to come and drink water. Along with Vikram Nanjappa, I silently waited for something to happen….
 After nearly one hour, we heard something behind us. It was a bull gaur having a look at the proceedings. It had a nice look and then emerged out of the bushes. It was followed by eight other gaurs. Suddenly the gaurs ran across the jeep track and reached the salt lick next to Tiger Tank. They were happy to be there for a few minutes before they walked away towards the power line and the double salt lick area. We found quite a few elephants inside the forest too.
 Meanwhile on the 5th day, in the afternoon I was told that a leopard had carried its kill to the premises of Kapila Retreat and had half eaten the carcass. While having lunch, we discussed about this and after lunch Harsha and I went to the place as he had to setup a Camera Trap! We were surprised to see that within a couple of hours, the Leopard had lifted the carcass again from its hide out. We investigated and found quite a few remains of different dogs which was picked up by the leopard and eaten here. It had left remains of the bones and covered them with leaves. We set up a camera trap near one such place and went on our safari.
 It was the last night of my stay in Kapila Retreat. I had seen a Tiger, Wild Dogs, plenty of elephants, Wild Boar, plenty of gaur, langurs, and a few hundred Indian rollers may be and blacked bellied wood pecker twice. We had missed the leopard Vikram’s jeep had seen a couple of days back. I was wishing something nice would happen on the 10th safari of mine in Kabini. I had missed a Tiger or a Leopard by a margin on many occasions. Fresh pug marks, droppings, alarm calls on numerous occasions made me feel I had got it again. Tough I had already seen Tigers and Wild Dogs, it is never too sufficient. I went to bed praying for one last safari which should be a great one.
 At 6AM Harsha was waiting for me near the reception and we went on our last and the 10th safari in Kabini. Within minutes we encountered a small herd of elephants and we recollected meeting this herd near the teak plantation area a day or two back. The young guy again acting smart mock-charged us. His eyes were really different and very large. Not sure of why it was so different, we carried on. I was pulling Harsha’s leg that he hadn’t showed me a Sloth bear and I said I had a feeling I would see it in the next 10 minutes.
We stopped near a salt lick to shoot an Indian Roller on the ground. I missed a shot as usual of this cunning bird which always flies before I click. As I was done with my job I said “Right” like a typical BMTC bus conductor when Harsha silenced me saying there was an alarm call nearby. I was happy to be silent for once and heard all the cries and calls of animals around that area. A sambar repeatedly made such calls while the langur near us also reacted. We saw babblers fly out of bushes and then there was this leopard which made a sawing sound four or five times. I was thrilled!!
 Within the next thirty seconds, it emerged out of the bushes in amazing sunlight. Sensing the presence of guests in the forest, he hid himself again in the bushes and disappeared. Harsha meanwhile who got up and had a look around told us he was emerging out of the bushes a couple of hundred feet behind us. Kadar the driver reversed the jeep a few feet away when the leopard was crossing the jeep track. It was about 200 feet away. We had to stop to take a photograph. And the leopard was walking away in the opposite direction. Harsha then made a call which made the leopard stare at us and that’s when I clicked the best of my cat photographs till date. It disappeared and I was standing in the jeep feeling like a winner. That was a mesmerizing experience.
 We then drove to the Bisilvadi Lake and climbed the watch tower, spent a few minutes and then got back to the camp. My dream holiday had come to an end. I had for the first time seen a Tiger, Leopard and Wild Dogs – the three major predators of the Indian jungle in one such trip. Fairly satisfied by the sighting and very happy with the Elephant photo session, I drove back to Mysore on Saturday afternoon. It’s been two days and I still can’t stop thinking about the wonderful food I ate for the last 5 days, a high class experience in Kapila Retreat, the sweet company of Harsha, the wonderful chats with Vikram, the fun and excitement of the safaris and a very jovial crew of drivers, helpers and attendants of Kapila Retreat. A customary photograph of the crew marked the end of my trip in Kabini which lasted for six days and five nights.
Photographs of this trip can be found here
Sighting:
Hanuman Langur
Wild Dogs pack of 7 individuals
Wild Boar
Tiger – Female
Leopard – Male
Elephants (I think approximately 600 of them)
Crocodile
Black Bellied River Tern
Black Ibis
Striated Ants
Jumping Ants
Dual-Colored Ants
Jumping Spider
Barking Deer
Sambar Deer
White-bellied Woodpecker or Great Black Woodpecker
Streak-throated Woodpecker
Crested Serpent Eagle
Vulture
Indian Roller
Bonnet Macaque
pied bush chat
large billed crow
Dung beetle (Funny that I was asking Harsha what’s the shit bug called 
Giant squirrel
Also read: The Annual Elephant Symposium
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Cheers,
Jayanth Sharma
jay@wildlifetimes.com
Last edited by Jayanth Sharma on Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:24 pm; edited 8 times in total
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.your dost..naresh.