A Wildlife Tour of Northern India
30th November - 14th December 2012
Participants:-
Holly Anderson, Barbara Gardner, Tony Hawkins, Valerie Stone & Alison
Seymour.
Tour Guide
for Norfolk Birding – Chris Mills
Gallery Images from the trip
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OVERVIEW OF THE TOUR
This tour took in the
amazing sights & sounds of Northern India’s wildlife & birds plus a
visit to the amazing Taj Mahal & the Fort of Agra.
The tour included a
varied cross section of habitat. Starting with the wetland & birds of
Bharatpur. We then stopped off in Agra & the Taj Mahal before heading on to
Nainatal in the foothills of the Himalaya’s & the forest of Oak, Deodar, Rhododendron & conifers
with the visual backdrop to the higher Himalayas.
We then headed on to the
famous Corbett National Park, where we stayed for 2 days inside the park, we
managed to see both Tiger, Leopard, Elephant & a whole host of other
mammals & birds.
Finally the tour finished
in the beautiful surroundings of the buffer forest & river valley around
the Ramganga river.
Over the 2 weeks we saw
a vast range of birds & mammals, culminating in a mind boggling 270+
species of birds, 14+ species of Mammal, plus Mugger & Gharial crocodiles.
Friday 30th November
The group all met up at Heathrow airport to board
our British Airways direct flight to Delhi cost £634.00. World Traveller Plus
upgrade around £140.00 per seat
Everyone arrived on time at the agreed meeting
point & we were soon through security & departure gates boarding our
flight. The flight departed at 12.30PM UK time around 45 minutes later than
scheduled.
The
flight was comfortable with good food & drink, seats were comfortable in
World Traveller, some clients upgraded to World Traveller Plus – affording more
legroom & a few food benefits.
Saturday 1st December
Overnight at Hotel Ashok Country Resort.
Flight time is around 8 hours & we arrived in
Delhi at a local time of 2.30am.
We were met at the airport by Mahindra, our local
tourist guide along with our driver for the next 5 days Ashok. The luggage was
loaded into the 10 seater minibus & we were soon tasting the bright lights
& hussle that is Delhi! Even at this hour the roads were busy! We soon
arrived at the Hotel Ashok Country resort, everyone was shown to their
appointed rooms & we set breakfast for 10am.
After a leisurely breakfast we had a couple of
casual hours around the gardens before lunch. This was a nice gentle
introduction to some common Indian birds, before we departed in the afternoon
to Bharatpur, where bird density was about to become rather hectic!
The well attended gardens yielded a mix of birds,
highlights were – Indian House Crow, 50+ Black
Kite, 20+ Rose-ringed Parakeet, several Oriental White-eye, 7+ Common Babbler,
Purple Sunbird, several Humes Warbler & overhead Oriental Honey Buzzard.
Hotel Ashok Country resort –
excellent rooms, quiet with good food & Indian breakfast & lunch.
After lunch we departed for Bharatpur an
approximately 4 hour journey including a stop for around an hour for some
roadside birding!
The birds were fairly scant as we left Delhi, but
as we reached the countryside we started seeing a few birds, an inspired stop
came as we saw firstly some “Cranes” flyover the road, quickly noticing some
large pools & rice fields. We had a lovely mix of our first wetland birds.
Fantastic were c40 Sarus Crane, other
highlights this early on the trip were 10+
Red-Wattled Lapwing, 100’s of Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Black Drongo, 6+
Black-winged Kite, 10 White-throated Kingfisher, Grey Hornbill, Bank Mynah, Indian
Mynah, Purple Gallinule, Black-winged Stilt, Little & 5+ Temminck’s Stint,
4+ Marsh Sandpiper, 5+ Wood Sandpiper, Greenshank, Ruff, 1 Purple Heron, Grey Heron, c25 Citrine
Wagtail & White Wagtail.
We
arrived at Bharatpur in the dark & were soon comfortably settled into our
rooms at the Birders Inn. Evening meal was a buffet style mixture of Soup &
various curries, with good choice of rice & nan breads. Omelettes, chips
& sandwiches were available here as an alternative to Indian food.
Birders
Inn was quiet, with large comfortable en-suite rooms with hot showers set in
nice lawned grounds. Just a short distance of 200m to the Park entrance.
Overnight
at Birders Inn, Bharatpur.
Sunday 2nd December
After two days of travelling I decided on a leisurely
start with breakfast served at 7.30am before heading out into the park at
8.15am. The group was introduced to our local birdwatching guide for the next 4
days Brijendra Singh. I can not recommend him highly enough - excellent eyes,
very knowledgeable on all the flora & fauna of the park, with excellent
knowledge of KNP.
Bharatpur
or Keoladeo Ghana National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Sites) is one of the
finest heronries in the world. The park is haven for storks, egrets ducks and waders.
Our
chosen team of Rickshaw riders & guides met us outside the Hotel & we
were soon inside the park entrance. The birding was immediate, intense &
exciting – the first hour saw us manage to get only 400m from the starting
point, as birds came into view from all angles, overhead, on the ground, in the
trees, on the water! None of the group had birded in Asia before, so we were
very busy!
Over
the next few hours we saw an amazing array of birds. We lunched in the park
with a packed lunch at the Visitor centre, where the group were able to
purchase tee-shirts, books & learn more about the park. After a leisurely
lunch we continued into the middle section of the park, exploring tracks.
The
highlights were – 6+ Grey Francolin, Ruddy,
Shelduck, 20+Indian Peafowl, 2 Cotton Pygmy Goose, 40+ Comb Duck, Pintail,
Brown headed Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, 3+ Indian Grey Hornbill, 6+ Indian
Roller, 10+ White-throated Kingfisher, 1 Greater Coucal, 2 Collared Scops Owl,
1 Spotted Owlet, 6+ Red Collared Dove, 6+ White-breasted Waterhen, 1 Crested
Serpent Eagle, 2 Indian Spotted Eagle, 10+ Black-winged Kite, Peregrine, 30+
Little Cormorant, Indian Cormorant, 10 Great Egret, 2 Intermediate Egret,
Cattle Egret, 20+ Indian Pond Heron, 40+ Spoonbill, Purple Heron, 2
Woolly-necked Stork, several Long-tailed Shrike, 6 Rufous Treepie, 3+
Bluethroat, 10+ Oriental Magpie Robin, Black Drongo,20+ Braminy Starling, 100+
Plain Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, 4 Black-rumped Flameback, Greater Coucal,
Plain Prinia, Ashy Prinia, Common Tailorbird, Oriental White-eye, numerous
Humes Warbler, Red-vented & White-eared Bulbul.
Apart
from avifauna we also saw Soft-shell Turtles,
Monitor Lizard, Spotted Deer, Sambar, Nilgai, Rhesus Macaque and Golden Jackal.
Overnight
at Birders Inn, Bharatpur.
Monday 3rd December
After an early breakfast of 6am we departed aboard
the rickshaws for the park again, today was split into two visits. We arrived
back at Birders Inn for lunch at around 12.15pm & then headed back out into
the park at 2.30pm. In the morning we worked some areas off the main path to
the east & the temple area & in the afternoon we headed to the southern
wetland areas.
We saw many species again & started to gain
some familiarity with the regular birds, but also added many new species today
as well!
Avian highlights & new birds as follows:- 35+ Spot-billed Duck, 6 Red-crested Pochard, Indian Hoopoe, c40 Yellow-footed Green Pigeon,
Large-tailed Nightjar sitting on a dead branch & shown to us down to
just a few feet, also memorable were 2 Collared
Scops Owls down to just a few feet, but so well camouflaged that some of
the group really struggled to see them! A Dusky
Eagle owl sat atop it’s nest, 3 Shikra, 2
Greater Spotted Eagle, 1 Bonelli’s Eagle, 30+ Black-crowned Night Heron, 2
Black Bittern (a new species for Norfolk Birding’s Chris Mills), c20 Black-headed Ibis, 100’s of Egrets, Cormorants, 5
Black-necked Stork, 200+ Painted Stork at their rookery, 6 Bronze winged
Jacana, 5+ Pheasant-tailed Jacana, 1 Gull-billed tern, 12+ Red-breasted
Flycatcher, 6 Ashy Drongo, 5+
Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, 5+ Bluethroat, Wire-tailed Swallow, numerous
Humes warbler, 1 Greenish Warbler, 2 Blyth’s Reed Warbler, 10 Common Rosefinch
& 2 Purple Sunbird.
Mammals & others today - Soft-shell Turtles, Monitor Lizard,
Striped Ground Squirrel, Wild Boar, Spotted Deer, Sambar, Nilgai, Rhesus
Macaque and Golden Jackal.
Overnight
at Birders Inn, Bharatpur.
Tuesday 4th December
Another early 6am breakfast before departing for
the park again. We visited another area of the park, searching deeper along the
Southern trails that we hadn’t visited on the previous days. We returned to
Birders Inn at 12.15PM.
New birds & larger counts of the notable
species listed – 35+ Indian Peafowl, 10+ Comb Duck,
20+ Spot-billed Duck, 200+ Pintail, 6 Wigeon, c40 Red-crested Pochard, 5
Dalmatian Pelican, 2 Sarus Crane, 50+ Glossy Ibis, 1+ Little Green Heron Grey
Hornbill, 3 Greater Coucal, 1 Wryneck, 100+ Little Swift, 10+ Wood Sandpiper,
10 Bar-headed Goose, 3 Greater Spotted Eagle, great views of Bonelli’s Eagle at 50m, Marsh
Harrier, 6+ Asian Pied Starling, 3 Wire-tailed Swallow, wonderful views
of Moustached Warbler, 5+ Bluethroat –
including one male, 12+ Blyth’s Reed Warbler,
with 2-3 eventually providing clear views, Hoopoe,
Large Grey Babbler, Jungle Babbler, 30+ Citrine Wagtail, 30+ Red Avavdavat
& Pied Bushchat plus many of the commoner species seen on the
previous days.
We had lunch around 1PM & than had a break
until 2.45PM when we headed out to a local area Brijendra knew nearby in the
village – a good site for Painted Snipe.
This area was a canal with some dry weedy fields
adjacent to the water. The water was shall we say “nutrient rich”! It just
seemed amazing that some dirty pools could hold so many birds! We were soon
admiring the wonderful colours of a dozen or so – Painted
Snipe, plus 2+ Marsh Sandpiper, 10+ Wood Sandpiper, 4+ Common sandpiper, Greenshank, Ruff, Redshank, 2 Temminck’s
Stint, 40+ Black-winged Stilt & 3+ Citrine Wagtail the fields
adjacent held Black-winged Kite, Common & Bank
Mynah, Asian Pied Starling, Tawny Pipit,
White wagtail, Bluethroat, Indian Silverbill & Black-headed Munia.
Overnight
at Birders Inn, Bharatpur.
Wednesday 5th December
After a 6.30am breakfast we headed for our last
visit to KNP, Bharatpur today. We returned for lunch to pack our cases &
then depart for Agra.
Notable counts & different species from
previous days listed – Barred Button Quail, 100+
Purple Swamphen, 2 Wryneck, 8 Brown headed Barbet, 1 Collared Scops Owl very
close views, 1 Common Hawk Cuckoo, 10 Wire-tailed Swallow, Golden Oriole &
2 Pied Bushchat. So after 4 full days of birding we left Bharatpur
having recorded 141 species!
After lunch we said farewell to the Birders Inn
staff, our guides & rickshaw team, before loading the minibus with our gear
& setting off for Agra. It was fairly easy drive of a couple of hours to
our accommodation in the middle of Agra, we arrived mid afternoon &
everyone settled in & then we headed out into the busy streets &
traffic of the town to soak up some of the atmosphere & experience some shopping
& bartering! Fabric, silk scarves, soirees, shoes all at amazing prices!
We had our evening meal at the Hotel. Despite the
overall ambient noise that is part of Agra, by late evening the Hotel was
fairly quiet & we all slept soundly!
Overnight Hotel Royale Residency – a reasonable
Hotel, food buffet style & good, all rooms were en-suite, rooms simple
& comfortable. Showers a bit low on water pressure, but acceptable with hot
water.
Thursday 6th December
After a 6.45am breakfast we left early for our visit to the famous Taj Mahal. We were introduced to our local guide for the Taj
visit, it soon became clear that he was a font of knowledge on all the historic
buildings of Agra & took great pride in sharing his enthusiasm.
We took
many pictures & watched the Taj changing its mood with the effects of the
rising sun. One of the wonders of world it was wonderful experience. After a
whole couple of hours of looking at the monument from afar, close up, inside
& out, I decided it was definitely time to search a few birds out!! We had
been kept entertained by a number of Black Kite spinning overhead throughout.
But from the rear of the Taj the River Yamuna is visible, with shallow edges
& deeper water I soon managed to spy a few waders & also a new species
for the trip – 2 River Lapwing, c20 Greenshank,
Dunlin, Redshank, Ruff, Common Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper & Ruddy Shelduck.
We then
visited Agra Fort from
where four of the mighty Mughal rulers controlled their vast empire. The fort
serves as a vantage point for viewing the Taj Mahal from a distance Wandering
around the palaces, built by successive emperors, gives opportunity to
experience and appreciate the excellence of fine Mughal architecture. We then
visited one of the few specialist stone masons & were given a demonstration
on how the tiny detailed minerals are cut & inset into the marble stone. We
returned to the Hotel for lunch & then packed all of the gear back into the
minibus & set off for the afternoon drive to Delhi. It was around 5 hours
by the time we had navigated the early evening Delhi traffic. We had a nice
evening meal at a Chinese restaurant & then headed for the Delhi railway
station in time to board the overnight train for Kathgodam. We said our
fairwells to our guide Mahindra & our driver Ashok & then boarded the overnight train departing
Delhi at 2240 & arrived at Kathgodam – 0510am Friday morning. We had a
sleeper cabin & whilst it was quite cosy we all managed to get some sleep.
Overnight on sleeper Express Delhi to Kathgodam
Friday 7th December
We arrived at Kathgodam train station &
were met off the train by the Safari drivers & vehicles complete with our
local birding guide – Nirancar. We transferred to the Vikram Vintage Hotel in
Nainital. The town is a large, pleasant hill station with adjoining temperate
forest & a backdrop to the surrounding higher Himalayas & open valleys.
The region was excellent for altitudinal migrants and a wide array of resident
birds.
After settling in & for some an extra
hours sleep we had brunch, & then headed out to explore some of the nearby
forest areas. Suddenly having left the lowlands behind we were looking at
completely different range & group of birds – more excitement. We didn’t
have to wait too long for our first “hunting party” of small birds, I used the
tape on Collared Owlet & continued “pishing”, this resulting in the nearby
conifer looking like a birders xmas tree! Birds appeared & disappeared for
the next 10 minutes, some showing obscenely well, others just providing
tantalising glimpses, wonderful. Best birds – Maroon
Oriole, Golden Bush Robin (CHM- 2nd ever), 5 White-tailed Nuthatch, Bar-tailed
Treecreeper, Spot-winged Tit, 4+ Green backed Tit, 2 Black-lored Tit, 5+
Black-throated Tit, numerous Himalayan Bulbul, Black-faced Warbler, 4+
Burr-barred Warbler, 20+ Grey-hooded Warbler, 20 Streaked laughing Thrush,
Chestnust-crowned Laughing Thrush, Black-chinned Babbler, 30+ Rufous Sibia, 3
Great Barbet, 2 Rufous breasted Accentor & 2 Blue Whistling Thrush.
It was an amazing couple of hours with several flocks, each resulting in
something different amongst the colours & sounds of each flock!
We also attracted some attention from
locals whom were keen to take a look through the scope, although I think they
were more interested in checking out their neighbours than enjoying the birds
we were looking at!
We walked back to the Hotel & had lunch.
After lunch we took the two vehicles & set out for another area to bird in
the afternoon. As we headed out through the forest along the narrow lanes, the
canopy opened out & huge vista stretched to the wonderful distant
snow-capped mountains. These were our first views of the 25,000 foot plus mountains of the Himalaya’s
– an awe inspiring site!
We stopped off lower down the valley &
birded some secondary forest, this was much quieter than during our morning
session, we saw several repeat birds from the morning, the wooded roads did
yield good views of 1 Hill Partridge & 2 Kalij Pheasant both good target
species. We stopped off briefly at a lovely mountain river – prime habitat for
Forktails & after a few minutes of searching we had our first glimpses of Spotted Forktail, one of the truly iconic species
of the area.
We then decided to go lower down to some of
the terraced farmed areas on the hillsides. This area provided several new
birds, best birds – 1 Brown-fronted Woodpecker, 1
Himlayan Woodpecker, 3 Himalayan Griffon Vulture, 1 Shikra, 1 Steppe Eagle,
Short-toed Eagle, c20 Black-headed Jay, Russet Sparrow, c20 Yellow-breasted Greenfinch
& 2+ Rock Bunting.
Overnight at Vikram Vintage Hotel
Saturday 8th December
After
an early breakfast at 6.00am we visited the area of Sal Tal, lower down the
valley of Nainatal. This is an area of both primary & secondary forest that
proved very productive. We birded here until lunch time, sadly we left a bird
filled area behind & returned to the Hotel for lunch. In hindsight, we
should have taken the packed lunch
option! Birds here came thick & fast as we explored a river valley, an open
farmland area & some primary forest. Best birds as follows – 2 Kalij Pheasant, Speckled Piculet, Grey-headed
Woodpecker, 20+ Slaty headed Parakeet, c10 Red breasted parakeet, 2 Himalayan
Vulture, amazing close ups of 4 Red-billed Blue Magpie, 1 Grey Treepie, 6+
stunning yellow female & red male Long-tailed Minivet, 3+ Bar-winged
Flycatcher-shrike, White-throated fantail, Rusty-tailed Flycatcher, 2
Slaty-blue F;ycatcher, 2 Rufous-bellied Niltava, 2 Blue-fronted Redstart, great
views of 2 stunning Spotted Forktail, 5+ Grey Bushchat, 4+ White-tailed
Nuthatch, 4+ Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, 3+ Bar-tailed Treecreeper, 100+ Crag
martin, 4 Red-rumped Swallow, Black Bulbul, heard only Chestnut-headed Tesia,
2+ Lemon-rumped Warbler, 2+ Golden Spectacled Warbler, at last after hearing
several of these we had great views of 3+ Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler, 6+
Red-billed Leiothrix, 4+ Blue-winged Minla, Olive-backed Pipit & 10
Scaly-breasted Munia
We
reluctantly left heading back for lunch at 1PM. We then headed out around 2PM,
spending the afternoon exploring the terraced hillside & river valley lower
down on the north side of Nainatal. Best birds – 2
Hill Partridge, 2 Great Barbet, 2 Bonelli’s Eagle, Kestrel, Ashy Drongo,
absolutely superb views of 4 White-capped Water
Redstart, 2+ Plumbeous Water Redstart & Spotted Forktail all feeding
together where a shallow area of the river crossed the mountain track, Ashy Bulbul, 10 Common Rosefinch, c20 Yellow-breasted
Greenfinch, Striated Prinia, 2+ Greenish warbler, plus several repeats
of birds from the morning & yesterday.
A
superb day – with many new birds, the trip running total now up to 208 species.
Overnight at Vikram Vintage Hotel
Very comfortable rooms, good showers &
very clean rooms. Good flexibility with food & a good buffet style choice
at breakfast & dinner. Hot water bottles & electric heater elements
were provided in the cooler altitude weather. A plumbing issue was dealt with
swiftly & efficiently by the staff.
Sunday 9th December
We just had the morning left at Nainatal before
heading off for Corbett NP. We decided to head out pre-breakfast & met in
reception at 6.15am. We explored the hillside around the ski-lift area. The
first few minutes will be remembered by everyone as a very low flying, superb
adult Lammergeier flew straight over our
heads, providing the best views I ever head of this rare vulture. The skies
also yielded 2 Steppe Eagle & Shikra,
This was the distinct highlight, the weather in
Nainatal this winter had been distinctly mild, especially compared with my
previous visit when we witnessed snow on the ground This seemingly had resulted
in very few of the scarce/rarer altitudinal migrants occurring this low down,
we saw a few more tits/warbler flocks but nothing that we hadn’t already seen.
We did have extremely close views of Chestnut-bellied
& White-tailed Nuthatch.
After a good brunch, & a good laugh with the
staff as England won the 3rd test! We headed towards the buffer zone
of Corbett NP. En-route we stopped off at the Kosi River bridge there was a good
selection of commoner egrets, cormorants as well as c50
Ruddy Shelduck, c50 River Lapwing, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Wood
Sandpiper, Temminck’s Stint, great views of Pallas’s Fish Eagle, Pied,
White-throated & Common Kingfisher.
We
continued our journey with a brief stop to take in a small colony of 5prs of nesting
of White-rumped Vultures, once a very common
species – these birds are below 100 pairs in the region, decline of all Vulture
species has been rapid during the past decade. The main issue lies with the
injection of diclofenac, an
anti-inflammatory drug used on cattle, which causes avian gout & death.
To read
more about this issue click here
Overhead nearby, Crested Treeswift
& White-rumped Needletail flew by.aspx.
We arrived early afternoon at
Tiger Camp, we off loaded our bags & had lunch, before heading out in the
afternoon for the Kosi river area nearby within the Corbett NP buffer zone.
We had an excellent few hours
& persistance paid real dividends in the last hour of light!
First star birds were 2 obliging Crested Kingfisher, kept company by both White-throated, Pied & Common Kingfishers.
Next star bird was a showy Yellow-bellied Fantail,
but this soon gave way to a superb Black-throated
Sunbird which was far less obliging! Stunning views of Blue Whistling Thrush bathing showing off deep
indigo plumage to it’s best. White-browed wagtails,
White-capped & Plumbeous Water Redstarts were numerous along the
river & very approachable. This area of the river is noted for being a
reliable Ibisbill location. This species is a truly iconic species of the area
& so different to any of it’s congeners to merit being a real jewel in the
heart of most birders. It was mid afternoon & the first area was busy with
locals & looked unlikely to yield the target bird, but undaunted Nirancar
our guide disappeared well ahead of us. His sudden waving & beckoning could
only mean one thing – I broke into a run & the rest of the group moved
quickly to get alongside me. Not one but 2 Ibisbill
in the scope providing great views! As we walked back we scored with 2 Woolly-necked Stork, 2 Pallas’s Fish eagle & 10
Plum headed Parakeet.
We headed back to the very
comfortable Tiger Camp, although rooms were a little cool without heating for
this time fo the year. Extra quilts were available.
Before dinner we were given an
excellent talk by my good friend Sumantha Ghosh whom had helped arrange our
ground logistics. The talk covered Corbett NP, its wildlife & the
Conservation issues. We then had an excellent dinner complete with chocolate
brownies a real nice surprise!
Overnight at Tiger Camp.
Monday 10th December
After breakfast we sorted out the
necessary clothes & equipment for our 3 days in the park. We then departed
for Corbett NP & the Park camp at Dhikala. We transferred from the road
vehicles into two open back 4 wheel drive jeeps & were introduced to our
new drivers, Nirancar continued guiding along with a new guide JP & it was
great to have Sumantha Ghosh along with us as well.
Corbett NP is a mix of dense
deciduous forest, riverine forest, grassland and presence of large water body
has endowed this region with extremely rich avifauna, we weren’t to be
disappointed. Highlights as we travelled through the forest with several stops – 1 Kalij Pheasant, 1 Wryneck, Brown-fronted Woodpecker,
2 Fulvous breasted Woodpecker, Lesser Yellownape, 3 Lineated Barbet, 10
Alexandrine Parakeet, Jungle Owlet, 2+ Black-hooded Oriole, 1 Maroon oriole,
Common Iora, 2+ Rufous Gorgeted Flycatcher, 2 Velvet fronted Nuthatch,
Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch, 50
White-throated Laughing Thrush, 25 White-crested laughing Thrush, Black-chinned
Babbler, 6 Red-billed Leiothrix & 4+ Blue-winged Minla.
Other excitement came early on the
drive into the park, as the guides heard Spotted Deer alarm calling, a Tiger
was not faraway & we were soon admiring the large fresh pug marks in the
sandy edges along the track. We sat quietly waiting but we weren’t going to be
so lucky to see a Tiger within an hour of entering the park! Further non avian
highlights came as we stopped off along the river from here we had good views
of Otter, Gharial, & Mugger Crocodile.
We eventually reached Dhikala
camp, we settled into our rooms, admired the fantastic view rom the restaurant
area, stretching across the grasslands to the large water body. We lunched
& then headed out in the jeeps for an afternoon & early evening game
drive.
We scored well in the grassland
with Eurasian & Himlayan Griffon Vulture, 2
Red-headed Vulture, 1 Crested Serpent Eagle, Osprey over the water body,
plus Hen & Marsh Harrier. We again
witnessed Deer alarm calls, but despite patiently waiting the Tiger was a no
show. We headed off to take a look at a small herd of wonderful wild Indian Elephants, 2 calves with a family group. A Lesser Coucal was yet another new bird as the
light faded!
The rooms are simple at Dhikala,
but this is the only accommodation in the Park & a “must” if you wish to
see the high order mammals. The room shad improved since my last visit &
the food was massively improved & actually hot & very good. Power &
lighting can be a little unpredictable, but we were never without power for
more than half an hour & over the 3 days we just lost power 3-4 times.
Overnight at Dhikala Forest Lodge
Tuesday 11th Day 10: Corbett -
Dhikala
We headed out at 6.30 for a pre-breakfast
drive arriving back at 9.30 for breakfast. We then breakfasted & headed
back out aboard the two jeeps at 10.30, the plan was to head back for lunch at
around 1.30PM, but this was interrupted – in a very welcome fashion!
We were never too far from the
camp, working along the tracks, woodland & river areas from 2-10Km from the
camp. Birds again, came thick and fast in concentrated flocks – but there was
no doubt that the group, the guides & the drivers had a certain thing on
their minds! Everyone had said – “Well it would be really nice if we see a
Tiger, but it’s not the only thing we are here to see &
Ah well; if we don’t that’s fine”.
But when one sees the pug marks, a
Deer starts alarm calling, the guides eyes & ears narrow, their senses
straining & the Jeeps stop, the silence is deafening & you know a Tiger
is close by – the atmosphere is electrifying & suddenly your whole focus is
on. Will I see a Tiger?
This such moment arrived late
morning 4-5 jeeps were parked in perfect silence, the noises & signs were
all there. Our guides decided to drop the jeep back to a cross road of tracks,
100m from the others, we sat in perfect silence…..the Deer alarm calls
continued, close, very close. Then suddenly emerging from the bend in the track
walking straight towards us was a TIGER. The
message was urgently hissed around the two jeeps, everyone’s binoculars raised,
everyone consumed with the awe struck feeling of watching the most prestigious
of the top food chain predators on the planet. The other jeeps quickly picked
up on the vibes & the first jeep annoyingly did not appear to see the Tiger
& drove straight in front of our view. The Tiger
stood gave them a stare & just as quickly as it had arrived it
disappeared, melting into the forest, gone from view. We were very fortunate,
we had a good view but it was very annoying that the driver & guides of the
other vehicle had not used some basic fieldcraft. We surely would have had
incredible views had they used a little more sense. Still our jeeps definitely
had the best of it & guides had got their position absolutely spot-on,
thanks to Nirancar, Ghosh & JP.
Incredibly this wasn’t our first
big cat of the day. Prior to the Tiger encounter we had visited one of the
river viewing areas & whilst watching 8 Otters,
the guides had picked up on their very nervous behaviour, up on their back legs
sniffing the air, then Deer alarm calls. The guides were sure there was a
Leopard not too far away. Just beyond the far shore of the river was a steep
vast wooded hillside, the focus of our attention, chances of seeing a Leopard
seemed small. But then one of the guides suddenly located the LEOPARD, several people were on to it quickly
& others struggled to locate it. It appeared & disappeared from view as
it very slowly walked the woodland edge, I eventually had it in the scope,
although obscured, again some people could see it & others couldn’t.
Fortunately it re-appeared in an open area briefly, but long enough for
everyone too get satisfactory views of the Leopard.
This is a very rare sight, the guides pointing out that you probably see 100
Tigers to 1 Leopard! We also had lovely views of the 8
Otter which eventually swum directly underneath us, plus Gharial & Mugger Crocodile were seen again.
So it was a great & memorable
day, even without the birds! But we did see a lovely mix of birds as well.
Listed are the most notable & different species from the previous day – 1 Lesser Yellownape, 4 Greater Yellownape, 4+ Himalayan
Flameback, 2 Stork-billed Kingfisher plus Pied, Common & White-throated
Kingfisher, 12 White-rumped Needletail, 1 Jungle Owlet, 2 Brown Fish owl, 3
Lesser Fish eagle, Osprey, Red-headed Vulture, c10 Collared Flaconet, 2 Marron
oriole, Great Slaty Woodpecker & White-rumped Shama
Overnight at Dhikala Forest Lodge
Wednesday 12th December
We left Dhikala after a pre-breakfast
morning game drive, & then slowly took in several areas on the way back to
the park entrance gates.
We were fortunate to come across a species
that had eluded us on the drive out, a final chance to see - Tawny Fish Owl & this one was sat quietly in
view on the side of a horizontal branch in the canopy. Other birds of note on
the drive out were - 6+ Red Junglefowl, Lesser yellownape, Grey-headed
Woodpecker, 3 Himlayan Flameback, Greater Flameback, 2 Black-rumped
Flameback, Lineated Barbet, 2
Coppersmith Barbet, Alexandrine parakeet, 6+ Slaty-headed Parakeet, 10+
Red-breasted parakeet, 5 Himalayan Swiftlet, 10+ White-rumped Needletail, 10
Little Swift, 2 Cinereous Vulture, 1 Black Stork, 2 Black-necked Stork, Yellow-bellied & 1 White-throated
Fantail, Slaty Blue Flycatcher & 2 Rufous Bellied Niltava.
We said fond farewells to our drivers &
guides of the last few days, switched vehicles & left the wonderful Corbett
NP behind us.
We stopped
off at the White-rumped Vulture site &
also visited the Womens charity shop that sells an array of locally produced
clothing & foods. The enterprise here is supported and encouraged by
Ghosh’s charity, linking the attraction of the Vultures to the opportunity of
visiting birders to purchase Gift items. This in turn helps ensure the local
people have an interest & sustainable relationship with the Vultures.
We were
slightly late arriving at Vanghat, but saw some nice birds on the walk in to
the lodge & we all had fun crossing the river on the wooden raft. We were
all fitted up with life-jackets &
hard hats! 10+ White-capped Water Redstart, 10+ Plumbeous
Water Redstart, Long-taled Shrike, c20 Bronzed Drongo, several Blue Whistling Thrush, amazing views of White-crested Laughing Thrush bathing at the camp
in the bird baths provided.
Vanghat
is a beautiful location with 5 bungalows hidden deep in the inspiring Ramganga
valley and surrounded by hills and the wildlife rich. The location is far from
any human habitation on the banks of the Ramganga & it was only a shame we
didn’t have a little longer to enjoy the peacefulness & diversity of the
area.
Thursday 12th December
The next
morning we set out for around 2.5hrs on a pre-breakfast walk along the river.
This was our last morning’s full birding before setting off on the long journey
back to Delhi. We had a lovely few hours with great views of 2 Crested Kingfisher, Plum-headed Parakeet, River
Lapwing, both Lesser Fish eagle &
Pallas’s Fish Eagle gave great flight views overhead as they fished
along the river. Common Woodshrike was new
to the list & several Wallcreepers gave
us lovely views feeding on the boulders. We saved one of the best birds until
the last few minutes, I was busy trying to get some images of a White-browed Wagtail, when into view came the
beautiful & diminutive Little Forktail,
after a few whistles & shouts to the rest of the group whom had moved along
the river – they were all able to enjoy a final speciality of the Himalayan
rivers!
After
packing all of our gear for a final time we walked back to the main road,
checking carefully for Brown Dipper & Great Hornbill on the way, but sadly
they were one of the few specialities to elude this trip. We said goodbye &
a fond farewell to Ghosh & his staff.
It was
then a long haul drive of 7-8 hours back to Delhi. We reached the Hotel Akosh
where the adventure had begun & we had a nice evening meal before being
transported to the airport.
Friday 12th December
We
transferred through the check-in & security just after midnight & were
aboard our British airways flight around 3.30am, the flight was comfortable
& we arrived back in the UK at Heathrow around 8.20am local UK time. We all
gave each other a hug & wished everyone well for Xmas, it had been action
packed 14 days!
