Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Reptiles in Dandeli Anshi Tiger reserve:


Reptiles in Dandeli Anshi Tiger reserve:

Till now in all my visits to Western Ghats, trip to Dandeli Anshi tiger reserve has to rated amongst the most satisfying trips to the Ghats. The trip will also be memorable for me as it was first time that me and my new SLR camera were in the woods together.

It always happens with me that as soon as I reach in vicinity of a forest, the forest starts shaping up my feelings and thoughts, and invariably I turn off the music of my car stereo and start listening to the Jungle tunes. This jungle was raising my expectation levels to some extra ordinary level. With this expectation I was anticipating sightings of Frogs (especially the tree frogs), Snakes (Russels or Malabar Pit viper), the omnipresent Bison, and the Giant Malabar Squirrel.  I was getting excited by the prospect of coming across brightly colored and textured frogs sitting stealthily amongst the dry leaves and on the tree branches. For any wildlife photographer Frogs would always come in top slots as they camera friendly, can be easily spotted and above of all are extremely colorful.

As soon as we reached Dandeli and checked in to our resort, after taking breakfast we took off to a very short yet exciting trek behind the hills of the resort which leads to the view point. 

The first very steps in to the trek and guess what, a vine in the bushes moved in somewhat different manner and a fellow trekker spotted the movement and just said “Snake, it’s a Snake”, as soon as I heard it I was spell bound and my first visual confirmed me that it’s a Semi Venomous (Non venomous to humans) “Vine Snake” (Ahaetulla nasuta). It was a very short rendezvous. As soon as the Green Beauty realized that its mystic camouflage has been identified, it took off and started moving away from us towards the dense bushes.


 A Vine Snake
 
Moving forward we took pictures of some amazing insect life in the forest, and we reached to the view point, the view point was so very wonderful that no matter how much I improve my writing skills I will fall short of describing it. The view point presents panoramic view of back waters forming through the three different rivers, of which the water of river “Kali” was making its prominence clear with Black appearance. 






When we came back in the resort in the night it was time to spot some frogs around the area of the resort. The resort staff was aware of our desire and one of the staffs spotted a wood frog and alarmed us. We reached with our cameras and a flash light. 

  

That was not all of it. That night and the next night we captured frogs of different colours, shapes and Sizes.









While driving back to Kolhapur we spotted this Juvenile Lizard basking in the sun besides the road.



We also spotted a Cobra Snake but by the time we could shoot him it was gone.  


While coming back from Synthia rocks we got our consolation prize as the sighting of this “Jackal Couple”



Thursday, September 23, 2010

Birds and Butterflies in Anshi- Dandeli Tiger Reserve:

Birds and Butterflies in Anshi- Dandeli Tiger Reserve:

I dedicate all the photographs on this blog post to all the naturalists of “The Old Magazine House”, where we had stayed. The naturalists, in fact the entire staff of “The Old Magazine House” is so eager to help people explore the full treasures of the Jungle.  This gesture gets reflected   even in the food prepared by the master chef Vasu. The food is made of not only fresh vegetables but also with fresh spices.  The Dal and the Rice are fried using fresh Bay leaves (Tej Patta) and yields a terrific flavor to the food.

The food is absolutely right mix of spices and is as homely and light as it gets, so that while roaming in jungles never makes one overly thirsty.

If one comes to Dandeli Anshi reserve in monsoons with huge expectations of Animal sightings then I must say that a huge disappointment awaits him. This is true not only for this reserve but for all the reserves of Western Ghats. The jungles are so very dense that one cannot see anything beyond 10 meters ahead.

Although the monsoons brings in a lot of opportunity to observe birds and butterflies as this marks the nesting season for these species.

The time tested ground rule of keeping your eyes open near water bodies while doing bird watching proved out to be right again as we saw birds like White Breasted Hen, a pair of White Wagtail, Little Cormorant, Eastern Skylark, A nesting pair of Indian Robin, Green Bee eater, White breasted Kingfisher and many more birds around water body

Little Cormorant


 A White Breasted Water Hen with two chickens in Crocodile territory


 A Pair of White Wagtails


 A Bramhiny Kite

 An Indian Robin Couple

Birds in the Trees:

One point that I would like to make that the one of the points that go unnoticed staying at places in midst of nature that one requires no morning alarms, the chirping of the birds in the nearby trees makes up a perfect alarm sound which no alarm clock ring tone can beat. 

Some of the birds which are worth mentioning that we spotted in the trees and bushes were Black Drongo, Black headed Cukoo Shrike, A pair of Heart spotted Woodpecker, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Common Golden Backed Woodpecker, Malabar Grey Hornbill and Orange headed Thrush. 


Black headed Cukoo Shrike








Heart spotted Woodpecker 


Orange headed Thrush


A Male Malabar Pied Hornbill


A Female Malabar Pied Hornbill

If this was not enough we were blessed  sightings with some of the butterflies  so big that one can get confused with them being birds. Colourations so perfect and stylish that will give any fashion designer run for there money and for sure will never ever run out of fashion. 
 A Bird Winged Butterfly




 A Pair of Butterflies

Friday, September 17, 2010

Insect Life in Dandeli- Anshi Tiger Reserve.



I am yet to come across a better stress reliever for me then exploring the nature and Jungles. This extended weekend offered me yet again an opportunity along with my three cousins to explore the Jungles of Western Ghats. The reason why I always have loved to visit Western Ghats is the fact that it not only offers breath taking landscapes and kaleidoscopic view in to Animal life but also due to the fact the air flowing through the Jungles of Ghats is as pure as it gets. The Air has an invisible tint of Green shade mixed with it. This shade can only be felt when this air flows through the nose to the lungs.


We decided to go to “Dandeli Anshi Tiger reserve” near Belgaum. The Sanctuary offers one of the richest patches of wild life offered in the Western Ghats. The reserve boasts of a healthy feline population (13 Tigers, 37 leopards and around 41 black panthers). The sanctuary lies around the Kali river basin. The Kali river is called so because it flows on the Manganese bed, which gives it a black texture and hence the name. The 10 Km patch of Kali River has a population of around 200 crocodiles. The most interesting part of this crocodile success story is that there have been very few human- crocodile conflicts recorded, and very few of them fatalities out of these conflicts. The reserve also has back waters of the “ Supa Dam” providing other core water body for the animals and birds of the sanctuary.






Thanks to an excellent travel advisory by comrade Karamveer, we ensured that we our bookings were done in “The old Magazine House”, one of the properties owned and Managed by “Jungle Lodges and resorts Ltd”. And I must say that the decision proved every bit true. Thanks to the excellent location and knowledgeable staff of the “Old Magazine House”, the trip became so fruitful that I have decided to publish two more posts on my adventures in the Dandeli Anshi reserve.


In this post I will be sharing with you some of the photographs and my experiences of the insects found on the floor and on the woods of the reserve.

The Pill Millipede: This creature can be found on the floor of the jungles lying beneath the bio mass of the forest. 




They have thirteen body segments, and as a defensive strategy against predators, as soon as they sense a invasion in their territory they wound themselves up and form a ball. It’s a treat to watch them fold up in front of your eyes.


 
Spiders- “The Eight legged freaks”:

The Ghats are home to some of the most fearsome and spiders. Each one varies from each other in the dwelling place, hunting styles and persona.

The Signature Spider:

This spider weaves zigzag stripes in its web, and holds its legs together in pairs. It holds its legs in pairs to disguise itself as a four legged creature and to not appear to look like a spider. These spiders are bright coloured for a specific reason. The  bright colours of the spider attract insects such as bees and wasps making a easy meal for the spider.







The Wood Spider:

This spider belongs to the golden orb weaver family, and the silk is the strongest of any spider. They're said to be docile but, yes, the spider is somewhat poisonous, and the bites said to be painful because of the size of the fangs. 


 A Giant wood spider having lunch

The Tarantula:

We were lucky enough to get the sight of this Terrestrial Tarantula in the night. In the day time, I went to observe the burrow of the spider in the day time and found out that the burrow was lined up with the silk to stabilize the burrow. This species is typically a nocturnal species.  



  
Some other Insects


 A Dragonfly having some rest


 Basking in Sun


A Caterpillar 



  Rush Hour


 A Horn Beatle


 A Giant Centepede


 A Carpenter Nest


A Ground bee Heave


A Snail Basking in Sun