My first experience during my visit to Nagarahole in 2006 was not a very promising one. With no sightings during our safari and the bad accommodation, I had vowed not to travel to this jungle again.

Things took a turn, when I watched a documentary on a wildlife network about Nagarahole. The documentary was a lot more inspiring with one of the famous conservationists and researchers, Dr.Ullas Karanth, sharing his research findings. According to his research Nagarahole was a habitat built for the great Indian big cat, the tiger. This documentary made me reconsider my decision and I decided to explore the jungles of Nagarahole once again.

We moved into a very comfortable and well maintained property called The Jungle Inn on the edge of the Nagarahole National Park. When I walked into the property, I was greeted by Sandeep, who managed the property. We instantly hit the high note due to our passion about the jungle and also found out that we had common friends in Masinagudi, my base camp of over 10 years. The timing of my travel was not a promising one with the forest fires gutting the northern parts of the Nagarahole National park. The Jungle Inn manager confirmed that the safari was still conducted as per schedule and the forest fires were doused a couple of days ago. This news certainly would be music to any jungle lover’s ears.

After a delicious lunch, we headed out the safari in the government mini-van, with my eye wide open and my finger on my camera’s shutter button. We witnessed at least around 40 to 50 spotted deer around every corner, so much so, that it seemed that the jungle was full of the spotted deer. A couple of kilometres away, we had a beautiful sighting of a Snake-Neck Darter, a sight most valuable for a photographer, with the sun light beaming on the Darter’s wide span of wings.As we drove further, I spotted a bird that was native to these jungles, the Crested Hawk Eagle, was perched on a branch, probably planning his next kill. The crest of the Hawk Eagle was spanned out as if he was showing off his dominance on the tree. With low light, it was difficult to study this specimen and with no sightings of a leopard or tiger, we drove out in disappointment. I was not ready to give up just yet!!

All thanks to a small conversation and convincing my forest phobic friends and my supporting wife, we decided to head out on the early morning safari. To our luck, things fell in place and we had an opportunity to drive into the jungle in the Forest Department Gypsy. This was one of the wisest choices we made, as the vehicle was a lot quieter in terms of the engine noise and rattling compared to the government mini-van.

With the early morning sun rays beaming into the thick jungle and the guidance of an expert forest department driver, we spotted an eye-catching sighting of an elephant digging the sand beds near the lake alongside a sambar deer. To our luck, we spotted the Crested Hawk Eagle again, with his dark brown feathers acting as a camouflage on the forest floor with dried leaves. The only way to spot him was his bright yellow eye lid (read more about the Crested Hawk Eagle in my next post). Just before we drove out of the core zone, we were treated to another native, the Indian Giant Squirrel or the Malabar squirrel and the ever-enchanting beauty of the jungle, the peacock.

Although, we did not sight any big cats, the jungle of Nagarahole has left an undying dream in me, to study the bio-diversity in this enchanting jungle and visit once again!!

- Prashanth Bharadwaj