India. Part 2. Kanha.

The second National Park I visited was Kanha and the scenery was very different to Pench.  As usual, it was a very early morning start to get to the gates, and our guide always liked to be first in the queue so we left at 05.15 each morning.  It was too dark to use my camera so here’s a phone shot of all the vehicles lined up waiting for the gates to open.

Not long after entering the park it started to get light, and although we were keen to hunt for tigers it was definitely worth stopping to photograph the scenery in the beautiful light.

A few deer were just visible.

It took less than an hour for our first tiger sighting and it was sitting in long grass right by the side of the track.  It must have been no more than 20 feet away but got up as we stopped and started moving.  Our guide reversed and I was saying “stop, stop” as I had a clearer view but he kept going.  My instant disappointment swiftly disappeared as the tiger came out of the bushes and crossed right in front of us.  The guide knew what was going to happen and where it was going to cross, and got us into the best position……..

Later on we heard that the same tiger was resting in water so we rushed off. There were a lot of cars there, but once again our guide got us into a good spot. It was the first time that I realised that tigers don’t just have stripes and that they have different shades of colour.

Later that afternoon we hadn’t seen any other tigers, so our guide suggested we sat and waited for a while on a road.  It was cooling off, and he guessed that a tiger would be on the move soon.  Sure enough, we were rewarded with one walking directly towards us, and there wasn’t another vehicle anywhere nearby so we had the sighting all to ourselves.

It was completely relaxed with us being so close, but our guide did the right thing and kept reversing away to give it room and not hassle it.

I grabbed my phone for a quick shot below as we drove back to our lodge one evening.  Women carry huge loads of wood on their heads and I hate to think what that weight does to their necks.

There’s plenty of bird life in Kanha too. An impressive crested serpent eagle is below.

Pretty kingfisher and not so pretty vultures.

When vultures are hunched over they always remind me of grumpy nasty ones in Disney films, but they are such important birds and I enjoy photographing them as I think they have lots of character.

Another great sighting – this time of a mother and one of her 12 month old cubs.

Another gorgeous sunrise.

I found the shapes of the termite mounds fascinating.  They are like mini castles.

A peaceful scene of grazing spotted deer.

I’m always struck at how ‘human’ monkeys can look.  This one has learnt the art of manspreading 🙂

The black areas have had ‘controlled burns’, which is necessary to widen areas so that in the case of fire, it would stop it spreading through the whole forest.

Below is the central area – a place where the everyone stops for breakfast.  It’s freshly raked every morning and I immediately noticed the patterns.

The scenery changes a lot between open and wooded areas.

Beautiful early morning soft light below.

I’m  running a trip to India in 2025 with the aim of photographing tigers and the Taj Mahal.  Here is the link with details.    Non photographer partners are very welcome.

Next stop; Bandhavgarh national park.