[Leica] Bandhavgarh Part 2

[jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj)]

 *Wishing all members of LUG, PSM and MNS a happy, fruitful and productive
2024.*

Bandhavgarh is arguably the most tiger focused national park in India, the
guides and drivers generally have to be told, quite firmly, to stop for
other flora and fauna as well.

So, between tigers here is a short interlude:

Gaur:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231208-037-Edit.jpg.html

Langur:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231208-1049-Enhanced-NR.jpg.html

Lesser Adjutant Stork:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231208-1131-Enhanced-NR-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231208-1155-Enhanced-NR-Edit.jpg.html

In the preceding mail, I had shared photographs of a female tigress called
Katiba. Not very long after we lost track of her, while we were still in
Khitauli zone, the alarm calls started ringing out again, and we saw a
handsome male tiger moving through the forest. Deducting that he was making
for a waterhole nearby, we went and took a pole position there. Sure
enough, shortly afterward, he broke cover and started loping down a slope
to the water:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231209-670-Edit.jpg.html

Once there, he looked at the water for a few seconds:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231209-686-Edit.jpg.html

Then he started drinking, and continued for a long time:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231209-836-Edit_001.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231209-1282-NEF_DxO_DeepPRIMEXD-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231209-1314-Enhanced-NR-Edit.jpg.html

As he finished, I took an environmental portrait:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231209-905-Edit.jpg.html

He then spent a few minutes cooling off in the pond:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231209-1471-NEF_DxO_DeepPRIMEXD-Edit.jpg.html

After which he left the waterbody on the far side:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231209-1613-Edit.jpg.html

Lastly, he marked a tree, and then disappeared into the thicket:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231209-1643-Edit.jpg.html

Finally here are two random offerings to close out the trip. The first one
is a fellow tourist capturing memories of Katiba:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231209-511-NEF_DxO_DeepPRIMEXD-Edit.jpg.html

Lastly, here is a seven shot panorama of a misty morning in Bandhavgarh.
These open grasslands were once villages and the cultivated lands that
surrounded them - these have been relocated outside the national park some
time ago, but not very successfully, as there is a lot of resentment still
simmering among these villagers about being robbed of their hereditary
lands:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tigerland/Bgarh+Main/Bgarh23/Bandhavgarh-20231208-006-Enhanced-NR-EditCropped.jpg.html

Please see LARGE.

Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome.

Cheers
Jayanand