Monday, July 18, 2011

The Rainforest Expedition, Agumbe (Video)

This video is made on a short trip to Agumbe a rainforest in north Karnataka state of India. This is just a glimpse of the landscape and the flaura & fauna of this unique landscape....


(Larger version at youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACabvkVkvQA)



Friday, July 15, 2011

The King of the Rain Forest


It was my long time wish to stay inside a rain forest and experience the amazing fauna of a typical rain forest. But after many planning the visit was pending for a long. But this time I was determined to travel to Agumbe, a place at Shimoga District in Karnataka. This place is actually lying in the Thirthahalli taluk and the Malnad region. Agumbe is among the places in India that receive very heavy rainfall earning it the sobriquet, "Cherrapunji of the South".
Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS), founded by renowned herpetologist and snake conservationist Romulus Whitaker was my destination and shelter of my 3 days visit. Arnab, Anirban and Shreyan, 3 of my colleagues were also very interested to visit the place and they also packed their bag with me. There is only one bus goes to Agumbe from Bangalore every night. So, we got into that bus on one rainy Friday evening from Bangalore Kempegowda Bus-stand. The night passed away in the bus and we touched the wet ground of Agumbe on Sat day early morning. It was a small town, drenched in rain. We have a cup of fine Coffey at bus-stand and hired an Auto Rickshaw to go to ARRS. The research station is 2/3 km far from the town and deep inside the forest. Soon, we reached at ARRS and found the Leopard Cottage (Where we would be staying for next 3 days) surrounded by greens. It was the time for our eyes to adjust with the greens around as they are not used to in city life.
Trekking Route near ARRS

After having breakfast, we were trying to explore the surroundings and found lots of frogs, grasshoppers, praying mantis and lots of unknown colorful insects and off-course leeches around us. My camera came out of my backpack and started working. Rain was giving its company and it was lush green all around. We were tired after a hectic bus journey and decided to take little rest after lunch. After a quick nap we also trek around the campus and went towards a stream which was flowing in full strength. The day light was disappearing fast and night was knocking at the door. During our trek I found a beautiful golden frog was posing infront of my camera. As soon as night came, all surrounding changed totally. It was pitched dark as the station runs by solar power and it has very less lights to save the power. We had torches with us but my 5 cell torch was appearing like a candle in that darkness. And the sound of crickets from the jungle in that night – wow it was something to feel. We decided to go for a trek along with the researcher of ARRS to trace mammals around the campus. We all were searching for mammals by using our torch. It was fun. Few people searching for mammals using torch lights in pitched darkness in the kingdom of snakes. Every step was made with extra care. After a search of two hours we could manage to spot a hare and couple of Slender Lorries and few scorpions. After a hectic day it was the time to take proper rest at night. We went to our bed not knowing what is waiting for us next day.
A Golden Frog was found during the night trek

A warm sunlight welcome our next morning. After a proper rest our energy level was on top and we started a trek towards the same stream in morning. The road was surrounded by thick jungle. The path was slippery due to heavy rain last night. A continuous sound of crickets was coming from the jungle. We were walking inside the meadows carefully. But nature has something different in his mind. He played with us little. I realized soon that our extra carefulness also a joke to natures camouflage when I just stepped a Malabar Pit Viper. I even didn’t realize that I crossed it and my friend discovered something is moving when I stepped out. To my horror I just realized I was almost stepping on a venomous Malabar Pit Viper. Now it was the time to handle it carefully to watch its behavior. I did with a small stick and the viper was in a striking pose. Later my friend handled it which allowed me to click some images of this beautiful creature. This was our first meet with any snake in the kingdom of snakes. Till then we were not aware what is waiting for us for the day. We spent a good time with the Pit and let it go. We headed towards the stream.  After spending some time in the stream we came back to ARRS. 
Malabar Pit Viper in striking pose
We had our lunch and I decided to head towards the town. Shreyan was accompanying me and the other two decided to take some rest at cottage. On the way to town I was actually trying to capture the sound of crickets which was continuously coming from the forest. It was an awesome moment; we two were feeling the forest truly. After spending some time in forest we headed towards the town for some Coffey. We spent almost an hour at town and then decided to come back to ARRS. We decided to hire an auto to reach soon at ARRS. And I will thank this decision to my whole life. As soon as we reached ARRS, we heard that one cowboy was shouting that he has just seen a big snake. We immediately along with the ARRS volunteers ran to the spot. And to my utter disbelief I found a black tail of a snake is going inside a patch of bush. My adrenaline was high as I knew what we have spotted. When we spotted the head of the snake we knew at that time we were meeting the King of Agumbe just inside the ARRS campus. The King Cobra was around 10 ft long and it was comfortable inside the bush turning its head towards us, watching every activity. My fingers were busy on the shutters of the cameras and to my sheer luck I was shooting a 10 ft large King Cobra in daylight with a 100mm macro lens from just 4/5 ft away. Suddenly the snake changed its position and its head was towards us. We felt the distance was not very safe for the king and we should respect the lethality of this beautiful snake. I ran back to my cottage which was very near, awake my two other friends, grabbed my 70-300 lens and came back to the same spot. We all were then in a little safer distance. We watched the beauty of the rainforest for more than 40 minutes and then decided to leave the place and let the king live in peace. It was a moment of my entire life. Everybody was telling about our luck to spot the king in 2nd day. I was thanking my God. On the way back to the cottage we spotted a rat snake and a green vine snake too. We spotted the King again just after couple of hours inside the field searching for food. It was dark at that time. We went there with torches and found it was aggressive at that time. We were just observing its behavior as there was no chance of photography in the darkness.
The King
 
The night was again pitched dark and full of noises from the forest. We had our dinner early and were very careful while coming back from dinner hall to Leopard Cottage. I was using a search light then to scan the pathway as the King was in the campus. Soon we reached the cottage and just for curiosity I switch on the search light and started scanning on the field where we spotted the King last time. Instead of King I could spotted a Big Krait there and it was moving. The krait was not even 15 ft away from our cottage and soon we could spot the King too in the field. It was a fearful experience to spot two snake eater tremendous venomous snakes just 15-20 ft away from the cottage. I was thinking the King is hungry and there is a chance the krait will fall under its prey. I was not sure if King considers Kraits as it prey. Suddenly it started raining heavily and we lost the two snakes in that intense rain. We waited for long but there was no sign of stopping the rain. We came inside the cottage, locked the door scan the whole room carefully and went to the bed.

A warm sunshine welcome our third day at Agumbe. We were expecting the king or krait again infront of the cottage but couldn’t see any of them. The horror of night disappeared with the broad day light. It was our final day at ARRS. In morning we went to see Yogikundi falls which was 6 KM away from ARRS. We took an Auto-Rickshaw and went to the falls. The final stretch was a km trek through the forest. It was a beautiful falls flowing in full strength empowered by the monsoon.
Yogikundi Falls

After coming back to ARRS, we again went on a search of the King, but no sign of it. We had a trek inside the forest towards the stream. We spotted many frogs on the way. We spent almost an hour in the stream. The water was cold and was flowing in its strength. On our way back, I just noticed one snake fall from a tree in the water of the stream and it started swimming. We did an extensive search of the snake in the water and surroundings but couldn’t.
With ARRS Team Members at stream


While we came back to the campus we spotted another pit viper on a tree. It again started raining. We had our lunch and went back to our cottage. The rain didn’t allow us to go outside and we were also packing up our entire luggage. The time to bid good bye to ARRS was approaching and we all were sad.
The Stream near ARRS

Finally we started our journey back to Bangalore at evening saying good bye to all ARRS members and the amazing forest with a promise, we have to come back again. The three days went just like a dream. Meeting the king was an extreme experience.

Few Random Images:

Golden Frog. The image also captured the wet habitat of this frog

Bush Frog
A Colorful Insect
Tortoise Beetle
A video on this expedition which represents the glimpse of the unique landscape and its flora & fauna





Friday, July 1, 2011

Orchha, A Small Historic Town on the bank of Betwa


Orchha is a place with historical importance. This is a small town in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh. This historical town lies on the bank of Betwa River.
I had to visit this place during my filming of The Last Hope, my short documentary film on Asian Vultures.  I visited the place to find vulture chicks. 
With no prior idea about the place I collected some information that there is a good population of Long Billed Vultures at Orchha. And I had to shoot some footage of vultures’ chick, so decided to check the place once on the month of March, 2011.
As per plan, one evening of late March I started my journey from Bangalore by “Samparkranti Express” which took more than 28 hours to reach Jhansi, which is the nearest railway junction of Orchha. I booked my hotel from Bangalore and they arranged a car for me to pick me up from Jhansi which is 15 km far. I reached Jhansi at around 3 hours in morning. This is the first time I touched any city in central India ever.  My car was waiting outside of Jhansi Railway station which took almost 20 minutes to drop me in the hotel and quickly I freshened up and took a quick nap. However I woke up early and had a quick breakfast. I was ready to explore the town and to find out the best places where I can collect the footage of vultures’ chick.  At the first sight the town seems so beautiful. It was a small historic town with lots of memorials of “Mughal” (Hindi word) Era and with beautiful people. I was happy to see the town is small so I didn’t have much trouble to find out the right places as I didn’t have much time to spend at Orchha.
My driver was a young lad with full of enthusiasm. He guided me to “Jahangir Mahal” (Hindi Word) which is the biggest palace in Orchha. I found the whole town is not very crowded with tourists but many foreigners who actually doing some research on either Indian history or on ancient palaces. When I came to the top of the “Jahanghir Mahal” (Hindi Word) I noticed a group of Long Billed Vultures, but I couldn’t be much happy as there was no sight of their nest and they were sitting in a place which is not ideal for any good footage. 

Jahangir Mahal
Soon, I came out from “Jahangir Mahal” (Hindi Word), my driver took me another place called “Biwi ka Maqwara”(Hindi Word). This place was much smaller than “Jahangir Mahal” (Hindi Word) and no tourist at all. As soon as I reached there, my heart jumped in joy and hope. I could see the nest of long Billed Vultures from the gate. I could see many Long Billed Vultures around the palace. The small river Betwa was flowing just by the side of the ruins of some old monuments. The place was calm and beautiful. The gatekeeper of the palace stopped me for ticket and after checking my ticket when he came to know that I was there to film the vultures and I am making a film on vultures he was really helpful to give me the information from where I can get the footages. I entered the one of the monuments of the palace and placed myself in a place from where I can collect the footages of the vultures. I spent 4 hours and was really satisfied to collect some good footage of the Long Billed vultures, its chick and the conversation between mothers and chicks. 

Long Billed Vulture on the top of one of the monuments



After a satisfactory work I came back to hotel for lunch. At that time temperature was rising rapidly and the sun was very harsh at noon.  After taking a good shower and lunch I jumped into the bed for a good sleep as I was very tired. Again I left the hotel at around 4 PM in evening to the same place where I was in morning. Central India is known for very hot and dry weather in summer, and in the beginning of summer Orchha was not the exception.  In the evening 4 there was plenty of light and it was hot. However this time I went to another monument of the palace and found a chick which is younger than the morning one. My evening went behind the camera shooting the beautiful chicks in different angle.  I was truly satisfied the way the day one gone. With the soft light of the setting sun the ruins of ancient “Mughal” (Hindi Word) Era was looking fabulous in the side of River Betwa. With the light gone I didn’t have many things to do except coming back to hotel, reviewing the images and footages I had taken the whole day and finally go to bed after having a good dinner early.
Ruins beside the river Betwa
The next day started very early for me. I met Dr. Patrick Benson, one of the famous vulture scientists in the word who is known for his cape vulture work for more than 25 years. He came to Orchha to count the number of chicks of this nearly extinct breed and to observe their health and behavior. We have been introduced earlier by email and knew each other. But meeting with this great personality was a big experience for me. We went to the same “Biwi ka Maqwara” (Hindi Word) and went on a top of a monument from where we can watch the vulture movements. Pat has given me an interview for my film stating how fast the decline of the Asian Vulture happened in India and this subcontinent. The time was running very fast; Pat was working on his project and I was filming his work, vultures and chick silently. In between work Pat was sharing his experience and knowledge with me which was all valuable piece of information to make a documentary film.
Biwi ka Maqwara
It was the last day for me at Orchha, so I was trying to collect footages as much as possible. So we roam around the whole day around the town. Though the summer was scorching but it couldn’t stop us to visit all the monuments and ruins in that town. Even we climbed to ”Laxmi” (Hindi Word) temple which was quite high under the mid day sun to find vultures and chicks. We went to one temple which was a bit far from the town, but when we reached there the Orchha was visible from the top of the temple and it was so beautiful. I was happy that I could utilize the days properly and by then I almost had all the footages I require. In evening the time came to say good bye to Dr. Pat. I thanked him for all the help and rushed towards the hotel. I had to pack up and to leave for Jhansi. 
Orchha Town from far. Left is Jahangir Mahal and the top monument is Laxmi temple

2 days in Orchha took me those old days where a small town beside a small slow moving river. People are used to with a very slow and peaceful life. One can feel the history around this place and the town has it unique charm around it which is quite far from the city madness of 21st century.
Climibing Laxmi Temple in search of Vulture chick

Dr. Patrick Benson



Corbett – An Amazing Experience in Foothills of the Himalaya


I was at Ramnagar (Uttarakhand) in mid february of 2011 for almost 15 days during my documentary film The Last Hope shooting. The film was extensively shot in the villages around Ramnagar. Ramnagar is known as the gate way of world famous Jim Corbett National Park or Corbett Tiger Reserve.  We were not sure whether we would get time to enter the park due to our strict schedule of filming Vultures outside the forest; however we had a wish to manage some time and to visit the famous park.
At the end of our stay we found that we collected almost all the footage what we wanted and we can spend at least one full day and one half day visiting the park. At the 11th hour when we decided to visit the park we didn’t have any permit to do that. However that didn’t become a big issue because during this stay we met Mr. Tiwari who was the Park Warden and a gentleman with vast knowledge in wildlife and about Corbett. With the same interest in wildlife and photography we soon became good friends. He gave me special permission to visit the park and he offered me his own Bungalow at Dhikala, deep inside the forest to stay over the night. I was so grateful to him that for his kindness we could visit the park which is always booked by the visitors from all over the world.
We could only manage one afternoon and one full day to enter the park from our busy shooting schedule. So, with all excitement one fine afternoon we entered the forest. Our location coordinator Yashpal was driving the vehicle. The vehicle was an open Gypsy. We were passing through the thick Sal forest. Yashpal was telling many stories of tiger sighting. I was ready with my cameras and lenses that no opportunity should be missed. Suddenly we heard the alarm call of langur. We stopped and started following the alarm. A Langur throws alarm if it sees a tiger. Our adrenalin started running as the langur was not very far from us. But we couldn’t spot anything after waiting for a long time at that spot. The langur was not calling at that time and we decided to head straight because there might be a chance the tiger left that place. We started moving and after a few kilometers we again heard the call of Langur and this time we even could hear the call of crows. But we cannot see any movement inside the forest. We were feeling frustrated as we knew the tiger was very near but we couldn’t see anything. We met few more vehicles as all the drivers and guides with tourists were following those calls. But all our effort went vein. We entered the park at 2 PM and we couldn’t spot a tiger till 5 PM. However we have seen many spotted deers, langurs, wild boars, jackal, and variety of birds by then. But our all senses were looking for a tiger.  It was then almost dusk; we decided to come outside the forest. Our fellow tourist already left quite before.  Our Gypsy started moving towards the gate and we came out from the core to buffer zone soon. Suddenly we again heard the langur’s call and we could spot one elephant of forest department with two tourists. We were then almost just few kilometers before the entrance of the park. Our vehicle stopped near the elephant and Yashpal whispered “Saab, Tiger” (Sir, there is a tiger). At that point I could hear only some noise of breaking bones and it took me few more seconds to realize that there was a huge male tiger on a sambar kill deep inside the lantana bush just 15 feet away from our vehicle. We were hearing the calls from langur as the tiger was approaching towards its kill. For first few minutes I forgot everything about the world. I was amazed to see the huge size of a wild tiger seating on its prey. The tiger was not very happy with the presence of the elephant and it was growling. I stood on the gypsy to take some images of the tiger, but there was no light and the tiger was inside the lantana bush. So make a clear image of the tiger was impossible. I was riding on the top of the open vehicle if I could manage any good image. In this time the elephant made a move towards the tiger and suddenly I heard a sound of thunder and a lightening effect in front of my eyes. The tiger roared and made a mock charge toward us. To my horror, it was not even a second when the tiger made the charge from a distance of a mere 15 feet and went back to its kill. The elephant didn’t waste much time to clear the area and moved back and I was hearing Yashpal was telling “Saab Ji Baith Jaiye” (Sir, Please seat down). But I couldn’t move. However I came t o my sense soon and took the seat in gypsy and then I realized even I couldn’t move my camera and the lenses. My all five senses were not working properly and the camera seemed very heavy to me. Phew, what an experience to face an angry wild male tiger. I could remember those few seconds in my whole life.
Growling Tiger in Lantana Bush

We came outside of the forest soon and went back to our guest house. At night after consuming a few cups of tea when I restored back my all senses I found there was one image came capturing the growling tiger in the bush.
The next day we went again inside the forest and started going towards Dhikala range. That night we were supposed to spend inside the forest at the Bungalow of Park Warden. We noticed lots of spotted deers, sambar, barking deers and variety of birds. But our heart jumped in joy when we spotted one elusive yellow throated martin. It was such an amazing experience to see this rare species. We also spotted a handsome jackal just in front of us. He was very curious about us and was heading right towards us.
Yellow Throated Martin - A rare Encounter

Jackal - Inside Corbett NP

The cool night was awesome at Dhikala. The guest houses were surrounded by thick forest and a species of monkey was making sounds all around the night. A cool breeze was following from the river Ramganga. We went to bed early as we have to wake up very early in next morning. 
We woke up in next morning with the alarm calls of Sambar deer. But it was coming from the opposite side of the river. The morning was very cold. We started our journey again through the grassland of the forest. The whole forest was wrapped by thick mist. We headed towards the river from where the alarm call was coming. We noticed fresh pugmark of tiger but couldn’t notice a single after waiting for a long in cold. We spotted a beautiful Crested Kingfisher right on the top of a wooden pool on the river and then noticed a Sambar pair. Those were mating couple. The male was following the female on the river. They watched us carefully and then crossed the river slowly.
Male Sambar on Ramganga River Bed


Female Sambar on Ramganga River Bed

Then we moved to the Gharial Points of Ramganga and we could notice few Gharials basking in the Sun. Even we spotted some huge Golden Mahseer fishes in the clear water of Ramganga. While roaming inside the forest we again came across the line of Spotted Deer, Sambar and Wild Boars. Then we realized we had to come out from the jungle soon as that was our last day at Ramnagar and we had to start for Delhi post lunch.
Gharials on Ramganga River

Golden Mahseer in Ramganga

So, it was the time to say good bye to Corbett with a promise that we have to come back again and spent some days inside this amazing forest with amazing biodiversity. This time we couldn’t spent with the wildlife of the Corbett much due to our documentary film which was going on Asian Vultures, but by then we made many friends there and I am sure we will get the same warm hospitality whenever we will be back to this amazing tiger land.

Few random images from Corbett
Corbett NP in evening sunlight from the outside of the park



Corbett National Park, Ramganga River

Misti morning in Corbett at Dhikala Range

Corbett Landscape

Sunset at Corbett

Crested Kingfisher on a pool on Ramganga River





Canadian Rockies in Winter

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