It was that time of the year again...the time to travel to friendly neighborhood parks like Nagarahole and Bandipur which remain open through the monsoon. We joined good friends Srikanth, Surbhi and their little daughter Navya from Mumbai for a 3-day trip to Kabini River Lodge.
The fours safaris (all expertly driven by Prema) yielded two beautiful leopards (one of each sex) both of which climbed trees in front of our eyes. I have only seen leopards do the opposite -- scramble down trees on seeing safari jeeps! Not sure if this is a good or bad trend for the leopards.
The jungle was lush and beautiful and provided the usual treats though the rain seemed to have dispersed the animals across the vast Nagarahole landscape. We saw a few elephants and just a solitary bull gaur. The only exception was chital which seemed to be in the thousands. As is to be expected, the backwaters yielded nothing except lots of water and fabulous skies -- a very different picture compared to early summer when the elephants congregate in great numbers.
