The Ghost in the Darkness – A trip to BRT wildlife sanctuary

[Jayanth Sharma]

It seems like it’s just been a few weeks since I was in the Biligiri Ranganatha Temple Wildlife Sanctuary. I still remember my stay over here spanning eight full days. But in reality one year has passed and I couldn’t believe I was away from this place for that long. Having traveled to various parts of the country from the North East to the Central Indian jungles to the Western wetlands to the saline deserts, it was time to re-visit K Gudi: A wondrous wilderness and one that has a reputation of usually not disappointing the keen wildlife lover.

Shardul, my friend who works for Sanctuary Asia showed interest in being my partner in crime for this trip and he flew down to Bangalore from Mumbai on Saturday morning. Within a couple of hours we stopped by my house in Mysore and had the customary breakfast (Akki Rotti this time). By lunch time we entered the gates of the BRT wildlife sanctuary after having passed Chamaraja Nagar. The climb to K Gudi is hardly a few miles but it took us over a couple of hours to reach on top (Purposefully). We enjoyed every bit of the drive and stopped at various spots and soon we met up with the folks in the K Gudi’s Jungle Lodges. We actually had to stay in the Forest Department Bunglow as JLR was full on Saturday. It was a very cloudy afternoon and we didn’t go on a safari that evening as well. Just by driving on the main road from K Gudi to BR Hills it feels like a safari and the way I drive within forests it almost feels like one is watching a movie in slow motion. For the less interested, it becomes a pain to travel at 5km/hr speed.

We managed a Safari on Sunday morning and it was amazing to enter the jeep tracks of K Gudi with all the amazing memoirs of last year. I recollected every spot where I had sighted animals and birds and a smile on my face was evident. Within a few minutes barking deer sightings happened and probably that morning, I sighted more barking deer than spotted deer till we met up with a spotted deer herd. The driver suddenly increased pace and the reason was a majestic sloth bear standing like a statue. As usual with most safari drivers, the vehicle stops with a noisy squeak while applying brakes and the bear decides to walk away.

That evening, we actually checked in the Jungle Lodges resort and we were all set for the evening safari. It was about 4 in the evening and we started our safari. Out of nowhere it started pouring heavily and it was very frustrating to start a safari in that fashion. In an absolutely low light situation and no hope of even sighting a spotted deer in the rain we entered the tracks. With a jeep filled with 5 people, I had very limited space for my equipment and I was suggested to keep the 600mm lens and other lenses in the tent and just carry a compact lens as hope was almost zero. I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like if I sighted something special and I had the lens sleeping in the tent. Hence I decided to take the burden of carrying the lens in the crowded jeep in spite of the discouragement.

Very soon it stopped raining and the forest was soaked in water, it was cloudy and very dark inside the forest. The jeeps stopped to see a herd of chital (spotted deer) when we suddenly saw a leopard in the undergrowth. Seeing us it vanished in the undergrowth and every one of us was so disappointed to have lost a chance of seeing it with satisfaction. While we were doing the normal blame game of how we could have had a better experience of the event by may be switching off the vehicle or driving slowing, I asked my driver to clear the road and get back so that if the leopard wished to, it could cross the road and go after the chital. We had moved about fifteen feet back when I started scanning the trees. Usually leopards are supposed to be very relaxed and comfortable on trees than when they are on ground. It’s the basic instinct of the animal to find the nearest safe tree and make it self comfortable.

I had seen leopards at least six times before and during August last year, I had a fraction of a second’s view of a sub-adult leopard sitting on a tree which jumped down and vanished before I even realized the moment. It was a dream to see a leopard on a tree and photographing one was a desire second to none. It was a fairy tale ending. I was spell bound, perplexed, surprised, happy, and mad when I saw this male specimen standing on a tree and looking at us. It took at least fifteen seconds for others to spot the leopard and see in the direction I was showing at. By then, I had already clicked a habitat shot of the leopard in its territory standing on a tree. It was dark and I knew being on aperture priority meant I’d get a good exposure but a slower shutter speed that would mess up the sharpness of the picture. Also the leopard was at least a hundred and fifty feet away.

It must have been the fastest lens changing acts I have done so far and within a few seconds my new EOS 1D mark III was mounted with a 600mm lens and a 1.4X converter. Like my body was on Auto-pilot mode, I switched to the Manual mode and changed the shutter sped to 1/200th of a second which was a gut feel shutter speed I set. I increased the ISO and blindly took shots of the leopard which by now was resting on the tree and almost posing for me. It gave me a beautiful 5 minutes of stare in the same position but seeing left and right and direct in to the camera. It got up after a while and jumped behind the tree, never to return again. Drooling over the leopard’s photograph and watching the video of the event, I spent the evening which ended in a dramatic way. It was a pleasant lesson to realize that no matter how the situation is, anything can happen in the wilderness. May be for photography the light was low, but it was not low for the leopard to have existed. Phew! I dreamt of the leopard on the tree for the rest of the night and no beautiful woman made it to my dream that night.


On the last of our safaris, a pack of four wild dogs posed for me and the trip ended with magnificent sightings. The pack of four seemed to have been well fed and was on the move. Thanks to them for stopping by and giving us a few moments of their busy schedule. Sighting two of the three predators of the forest and even a sloth bear meant, it was clearly an above average sighting and almost a fairy tale trip. While I was sitting next to a water hole waiting for a small-blue kingfisher to appear on a beautiful perch, I spotted a black eagle hover around the area and that was as special as the wild dogs were.

For Shardul who has spotted plenty of leopards in the Borivli national park near Mumbai, another leopard was almost ordinary, but he too exclaimed that it surely was something special to have sighted this ghost in the darkness in the dense forest of the Western Ghats. Sighting of the wild dogs was an added bonus and he got back from here totally excited and probably with images of the dogs and the cat still in front of his eyes. I am glad this jungle didn’t disappoint my friend and me and it was an amazing experience which is never going to fade away from our memories.
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Cheers,
Jayanth Sharma
jay@wildlifetimes.com

[Pramod Viswanath]

Fantastic writeup Jayanth and the words literally took me to BRT. Awesome sightings!!

[Bharat]

Hey Jay, great writing and good pictures also, its always a preasure to read your trip reports......... liked the way you built the momentum before the leapord siting.

[Jagadish]

Hi Jay,
As usual u have done a good job, keep it up, The Leopard Picture is very good. I remember the excitement we had when we spotted the Tiger in bandipur.

Keep Going .........
Jagadish

[Sukumar]

Jay,

The post has been written in such a way that I felt I was sitting with you and enjoying the sanctuary.

Dude, the leopard's pic is too good.. the way it is lazing on the tree.. wow! I also loved the pic of the elephant..

Do keep us all posted on all your trips!

[anoopmysore]

Hi Jayanth,

As usual you never stop hunting for the wild and they never stop posing for you!!

Just Awesome Trip and write up.

Thanks a lot.

Keep Hunting
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Anoop
Going Wild....

[Guest]

Hi Jayanth,

Your pictures are fascinating. I am in loss of words for the picture of the leopard... I can just feel how much at ease the leopard is... Only shows your love for wildlife.

[Guest]

very exciting trip review! i hope i can have the same experiences on my upcoming trip..

[prash_5]

Awsome Pic's Jayanth, Narration made me feel as if i was actually following u thru the routes...: LOOKING FORWARD FOR MORE ADVENTURE .... ..
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Prashanth

[Kartik]

Great trip report Jayanth. I am so glad I came across your site. I loved the wild dog picture and of course the cat

[Nahar]

Dear Jayant,

I just got to see your KGudi trip account with those amazing photographs !! I really missed a chance of interacting with you..


Nahar