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I haven't been back to India since 2019 - primarily due to Covid-19, but this year I was delighted to head back for a dedicated photography tour to Nagarhole National Park with Wildlife Worldwide. This is one of India's hidden gems and despite not being as well known as some of India's more illustrious parks, it offers some truly world-class wildlife encounters and for those that are patient enough, some excellent wildlife photography opportunities. Our group was spoiled with some memorable tiger sightings, several different leopards, gaur, deer and Asian elephant. It was a fabulous week in a beautiful part of the world, which for the time being is still relatively quiet. I hope you enjoy the photos.      The best thing in Nagarhole is that you can be really lucky and enjoy your own, private sightings of the predators. Moments such as these are something to cherish and we had exclusive sightings of both dhole (Asiatic wild dog) and tiger.    If you ever want to visit India, wanting to escape the crowds, I can't recommend Nagarhole National Park enough. Visit the Wildlife Worldwide website to find out more.
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This morning it was a 6 o'clock wake up (after Assam I thought this was a lay in) and we were off at quarter past to head to the park gate. We once again picked up the local guide, who is a complusory addition to the team and set off into the park. We started off by heading straight for the same spot as yesterday, where the tigers had been seen mating. By the time we got there, there were already all the jeeps allowed in the park in place, these were all Indian tourists here for the weekend. After an hour or so waiting for the tigers to show themselves we moved on, later we heard the park officials had closed the loop to any vehicles so the tigers could be left in peace. We then spent the rest of the morning driving around in the Northern part of the park, which is usually much quieter than the Southern part. On our way, we came across a group of Langurs sitting by the side of the road and we stopped to get some photographs. Up until these Langurs I had taken surprisingly few photographs as we had been so focused on seeing the tiger. We spent the rest of the morning driving around but saw very little indeed, there were a few Chital and a few Sambar here and there as well as a timid wild boar. Before we knew it we had to be out of the park (all Indian parks close during the middle of the day) and we got back to Tiger Trails Lodge for our breakfast. After lunch it was time for our third game drive in Tadoba and we were hoping this would be the drive we would get our first good sighting of a tiger. We went out to the Northern area we had visited earlier on in the day and again we saw very little. We went from waterhole to waterhole but nothing much stirred, the animals were staying in the shade avoiding the heat of the sun. At one waterhole we got quite close to a wild boar before it flew off into the undergrowth in alarm. After about two hours we came across another group staying at the lodge who had a close encounter with a tigress, who walked across the road right in front of them. We stayed put hoping she would reappear but once again we ran out of time and had to leave the park for the lodge. That night we had a traditional meal and we were invited to cook our own bread and make our own dessert, much to the local staff's amusement as we were all rubbish. We went to bed after a long hot day ready for our third day in Tadoba Tiger Reserve.  Red Wattled Lapwing  Common Langur  Wild Boar  Sambar Deer Stag This morning I got up at 7 o'clock and went downstairs to meet the guests and our guide, Harish, for breakfast. After we had finished our breakfast we went to pack our bags and all met up in reception to get into our vehicle for our 3 hour transfer to Tadoba. We were in a Toyata Innova, a large MPV, and the journey took us just under the suggested 3 hours. The last few hundred yards to our destination were a little bumpy and we got to see a few local villages on route. We eventually arrived safely at Tiger Trails Lodge, this is a small and simple lodge much more like a home than anything else and we were met by the owner's son, who looks after everything. I was shown to my room, in the main building and had an hours rest before it was time for lunch. Whilst we were staying there, there was another Naturetrek group, but we kept ourselves seperate. After lunch we had an hour and a half until our first game drive in search of tiger and we had been told that there were reports of a mating pair in the South of the park. We were told this would be the focus for this afternoon's game drive and we were also warned to take a sun hat. We set out in the early afternoon and it was around the 40 degree mark, which was a little on the hot side. We got to the gate and picked up our local guide so in total, there were seven people crammed into a small little Suzuki jeep. We then headed off to see if we could get a glimpse of the tiger and after about 30 minutes we got to the spot. When we got there, there must have been 30 other jeeps lined up ahead of us queuing to get a glimpse of one of these poor tigers. It was then our turn to have a look and we could see the big cat's outline through our binoculars but it was not a photo opportunity. We moved around the corner and parked up as we hoped the tiger might move our way. After a couple of hours and no movement we headed off back to the lodge for our dinner and a rest. We did see our first Chital deer, our first Sambar deer and some cheeky Common Langur monkeys.  Chital (Spotted Deer)  Sambar Deer Stag |