Tiger Time!

Our last wildlife sanctuary in India (on this Naturalist Journeys trip!) is Kanha Tiger Reserve. Located in the heart of north-central India, Kanha Tiger Reserve is comprised of lands having several designations: Kanha-Kisli National Park covers about 360 square miles and has a surrounding buffer zone, which connects to Phen Sanctuary. The three regions together form the Tiger Reserve. Kanha and its forest habitats are the setting for Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.

Woodland at Kanha Tiger Reserve

(Photos by Narca, unless other credit is given)

This hilly reserve holds both highland and lowland forest types. Highlands support tropical moist and dry-deciduous forests. Slopes are shrouded in bamboo. Lowland forests are dominated by sal trees (Shorea robusta), with meadows scattered among the forest patches.

Many of the larger open meadows were once the sites of villages of the Baiga and Gond tribes, which were relocated, beginning in 1968. Controversial relocation of residents continues in parts of the Tiger Reserve. Those who have been evicted often do not feel that they were adequately compensated, so issues remain to be resolved. The reserve generally hires local people, whose roots in the region run deep.

A large meadow with grazing Chital and one big Sambar

Where Tigers thrive, a substantial prey base also thrives. The meadows today support large herds of Chital (Spotted Deer). Other deer are Sambar, Barking Deer, and the rarest of Kanha's mammals––the Barasingha, a swamp deer. Thanks to efforts at Kanha, the Barasingha is being rescued from extinction.

Chital, or Spotted Deer (3 photos)

Chital bucks have quite the outsized antlers!

A small Barking Deer, or Northern Red Muntjac

(Photo by Jim Shiflett)

A magnificent buck Sambar

The rare Barasingha: a buck above; and a doe below

The huge Gaur (the largest living wild cow) is considered vulnerable to extinction, but has a stable population in Kanha. Gaur bulls measure over 7 feet high at the shoulder. They prefer to live in semi-evergreen and deciduous forest, often in hilly terrain. Herds of Gaurs are led by a matriarch. Only Tigers and very large Saltwater Crocodiles are known to prey on adult Gaurs. When confronted by a Tiger, adult Gaurs will form a circle around their young  to shield them––a defense strategy that usually works.

A big bull Gaur

Blackbuck, a very striking small antelope, was reintroduced to the reserve after having disappeared.

This small group of Blackbucks are the only ones we see.

Indian Boars are also common.

An Indian Boar

Northern Plains Gray Langurs are abundant: they race up and down trees, groom each other, and regard us solemnly.

Portrait of a Northern Plains Gray Langur

(Photo by Jim Shiflett)

A group of langurs

A mother Northern Plains Gray Langur, with child

People in one of our two vehicles even find a Sloth Bear, foraging near them without concern. In addition to Golden Jackals, we are privileged to discover a pair of Indian Wild Dogs, quite a rare sighting.

Golden Jackals are often seen...

but not their cousins, Indian Wild Dogs!

Portrait of an Indian Wild Dog (Photo by Jim Shiflett)

And, yes, the Tigers cooperate! The first afternoon we find a Tigress with her half-grown cub. The cats are extraordinarily beautiful, resting beneath the trees in the late afternoon light.

A Tigress with her half-grown cub, resting after play

The next day, a large male Tiger emerges from the forest on the far side of a lake, bathed in evening light, and walks along the treeline with calm dignity. In all, our group sees four Tigers, over a period of four days in the reserve. It is easy to spot a group of folks who have just seen a Tiger: everyone in the jeep is beaming!

Kaziranga's Grand Rhinos

Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northeastern India, is among India’s finest national parks. The great Brahmaputra River flows through it, bringing annual cycles of flood to replenish the swamps and grasslands along its shore. The park holds a vast expanse of marsh, tall Elephant Grass (in which an elephant can hide!), and tropical broadleaf forest.

A Greater One-Horned Rhino with Wild Water Buffalos, Bar-headed Goose, egrets, and distant Eastern Swamp Deer in Kaziranga National Park, India 

(All photos by Narca)

On this Naturalist Journeys tour, our first visit to Kaziranga National Park was in late afternoon, when the mellow, slanting light revealed vistas of a big, shallow lake, surrounded by patches of forest––and chock-a-block with Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros, small Hog Deer, rare Eastern Swamp Deer, massive Sambar deer, wild Asian Elephants, Wild Water Buffalos, and hidden Tigers. As the afternoon passed, the glow lighting the rhinos and the wildlife-filled lake intensified. 

From some vantage points, it was possible to count 20 or more rhinos! They waded far into the water, foraged on the shore, and haunted the thick brush. Alluvial grassland is their habitat of choice.

Alluvial grassland habitat in Kaziranga National Park

Once these rhinos ranged across the entire plain surrounding India’s major rivers––the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus––but now that range has dwindled to only 11 sites in northern India and southern Nepal. It’s thought that about 3000 of the animals remain. Over 70% of the entire population of this rhino lives at a single site, right here in Kaziranga National Park. We were privileged to witness this ancient beast, flourishing in its natural state.

A close Greater One-Horned Rhino, with attendant mynas

Another afternoon brought a very close encounter with a One-Horned Rhino, which seemed nervous at first, but then returned to its foraging. Not all are so easily soothed. Apparently rhino encounters support an entire local industry of fixing cars which have been damaged by their charges.

In addition to the magnificent rhinos, Kaziranga also holds thriving populations of wild Asian Elephants.

An Asian Elephant bull at Kaziranga National Park

An extended family of Asian Elephants, foraging in tall Elephant Grass

Deer diversity at Kaziranga is high, with three species.

 A small Hog Deer, one of three deer species at Kaziranga

The Eastern Swamp Deer, a recent split from Barasingha, is found only in swamp grasslands of the Indian state of Assam. It is even more endangered than the rhino. Until recently, this deer lived in several locales, but poaching extirpated all the populations away from Kaziranga. At the penultimate hour, a recovery plan for the deer was developed and implemented, and a herd of 19 deer was translocated to Manas National Park, later augmented by a herd of 17. Those translocated deer have survived at Manas, and their numbers were recently estimated to be 80-100.

 Smooth-coated Otters also lounge and play at the water's edge.

 

Smooth-coated Otters in Kaziranga

We climbed a tower to overlook some of the extensive wetlands.

Our leaders––Carlos Sanchez of Naturalist Journeys and Avijit Sarkhel of Vana Safaris––scope the wetlands from the tower.

Next installment: the birds of Kaziranga!