[Leica] Bandhavgarh - 1

[jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj)]

Richard,
Depends on the Sanctuary, and more precise the man in charge. Poaching is a
major problem - two sanctuaries have had all their tigers poached in the
last 5 years.  Another problem is poisoning by villagers living around the
sanctuaries, usually as revenge for livestock kills. Generally, tigers are
thriving in South India because of the thick tropical forest cover, and not
so well in Central India, where the forests are more open. Both ranthambhore
and Bandhavgarh are relatively well managed right now.

Tourists are only allowed to move in the "Tourist Zone" which generally
comprises 15%-20% of the total sanctuary. The rest is termed the "Core
Area", and access is rigidly controlled. Of course, there is less chance of
poaching where tourists abound, but the flip side is that wildlife gets used
to vehicles being around, and make themselves easier targets.
Cheers
Jayanand

On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 12:07 PM, Richard Man <richard at 
imagecraft.com>wrote:

> Such big PAWS they have~!
>
> How do the tigers fare in these sanctuaries? Are all the tourists and
> photographers affecting their lives at all? I suppose poaching is a problem
> too :-( ?
>
> On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 5:11 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > Bandhavgarh was all about tigers - we had 10 drives in all, and saw
> tigers
> > on each drive, but only a few were photographic opportunities. In fact,
> on
> > one drive, I saw 6 tigers/cubs, but did not photograph even one, as they
> > were deep in the forest. It is not surprising that sightings of tigers
> are
> > relatively easy here, as it has the highest density of any reserve in
> > India.
> >
> > The first drive - the Sidhibaba female - she had 2 cubs which Howard
> > captured, thanks to the superior low light capability of the Nikon D700.
> > This was the limit of the D300:
> >
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100316_0016.jpg.html
> >
> > Climber's Point - so called because the area is full of vines, and the
> > resident tigress:
> >
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100317_0041.jpg.html
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100317_0049.jpg.html
> >
> > A rare sighting of a Jungle Cat, and that too close to the road who did
> not
> > get spooked:
> >
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100317_0060.jpg.html
> >
> > A Tiger Show was on the next day - basically elephants locate a tiger,
> and
> > if it is close enough to the jeep routes, tourists are ferried up and
> down
> > to see it. Here, they had located a male, simply called the "New Male".
> > Here
> > are the tourists on the elephants:
> >
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100322_0140.jpg.html
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100322_0143.jpg.html
> >
> > Come evening, and everyone knew where a sighting was likely - actually I
> > was
> > on the elephant in the morning when the New Male settled down for the
> > afternoon. The area was packed, and there was bedlam when he was sighted
> > (note the tripod on the ground - a major impediment to quick movement):
> >
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100322_0204.jpg.html
> >
> > Luckily my driver and guide had expertly parked our jeep, and he broke
> > cover
> > right in front of us:
> >
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100322_0211.jpg.html
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100322_0213.jpg.html
> >
> > Criticisms and comments welcome!
> >
> > Cheers
> > Jayanand
> >
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> >
>
>
>
> --
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