Making Memories: Road Trip to the Jungle

 Been missing the jungle for a while now, so decided to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life!

There's always a sense of Peace and quiet when we move away from people to nature. 

Here's a wild elephant!

 

 

Here the woods are lovely, dark and deep

 

And the creatures here live in their natural habitat

The sambar deer is native to India and South East Asia and listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List

More Wild Elephants

Our jeep. 

Yes, it's open on all the sides, 

allowing us a 360 degree experience of the all the sounds and smells of the jungle!

Wild boar

 

 

The Indian giant squirrel is also known as the Malabar Giant Squirrel 

(Several times larger than the ones in our backyard)

It's not common to find the word Hawk and Eagle in the same bird!

This is the Indian Crested Hawk-eagle

Peacock in the wild

A Grey Langur

It's the alarm call of this monkey that alerts other animals of large predators like tigers and leopards

More wild elephants. Probably a kilometre away

The same elephant zoomed-in below.

Its tusks are almost touching each other at the tips!

A Grey-headed fish eagle patiently waiting for its prey.

We spent twenty minutes watching the eagle!

Yes, it's the same moon that we see wherever we are!

For almost 16,000 years Tigers have lived in India!

This is a Bengal tiger

We watched it for almost forty five minutes. It didn't even bother to look at us

This is our road

A White-throated Kingfisher patiently waiting for its prey

The Chital is also known as the Spotted Deer.

These deer are on high alert as they have sensed the presence of a large wildcat.

Maybe a tiger or a leopard.  Let's wait and see...

Not sure if this is a Gharial, a fish-eating Crocodile. 

If it is, they are among the longest of all crocodiles. With males between 9 and 19 feet.

A Crested Serpent Eagle

Probably feeding on a snake!

A Woolly-necked Stork

The Brahminy kite was once known as the Red-backed Sea-eagle in Australia.

These kites are found in India, South East Asia and Australia

The peacock is native to India.

This beautiful bird has had cultural significance across the world for centuries.

It is even mentioned in the Bible during the time of King Solomon (1 Kings 10:22)

 Heard the alert call of the grey langur and knew there was a big cat nearby.

Moments later, saw this Leopard walk across and disappear into the jungle.

(This is a snapshot of a video that I took that is too large to upload on this blog)

 

 Twenty seconds later, a Tiger appeared less than 30 feet from where the Leopard disappeared.

What a majestic sight to see a Tiger and a Leopard within a few feet of each other,

 in such a short timespan, 

in their natural habitat!!

(Got lots of video clips, here's one) 

 

 

 

We were in an open jeep.

As the tiger approached us, I kept zooming out ...

Then it got so close, I instinctively took a few steps backwards!

A Monitor Lizard also known as the Bengal Monitor

This one was about 3 feet long.

The Indian Bison also known as Gaur is native to South East Asia and is listed as vulnerable 

on the IUCN Red List.

Great to see a whole family of them!

Can you see something hanging by a thread in the picture below?

What an impressive web.

This is a Giant Wood Spider also known as the Golden Silk Orb-weaver.

They can spin webs up to 5 feet in diameter.

 

Just love the trees! 

Many of them have been around for centuries

Another wild tusker

The White-throated Kingfisher is also known as the White-breasted Kingfisher

And the highlight of our road trip safari was the most elusive of the big cats.

We were moving slowly past a few trees, and I thought I saw a leopard about 50 feet away.

I wasn't sure so I didn't tell anyone.

A few feet further, I confirmed it!

It was so well camouflaged that nobody saw it even after pointing it out to them.

Managed to take these photos ...

It looked at us ...

Looked away ...

At us again .. 

and twenty seconds later, it vanished.

Grateful to GOD, 

my brother-in-law,

 and my nephew,

 for arranging this road trip jungle safari, and all the rare sightings! 

See other Road Trips here

Muskoka

Painting Muskoka

It's over six months since I did a painting
 

"Muskoka"

24"x36" oil painting