Panna 2021

Introduction

A much awaited Trip to one of the best dry deciduous mixed forest wilderness areas in India after almost two years, and boy was it worth it. This was the first time one added a couple of new activities to the itinerary in terms of the Night Safari and the Pardhi Walk, as well as doing an adhoc Boat Safari on the Ken River during our final Morning Drive in the Park.

Day 1. 29th October

Tigress with 2 nine month old cubs

The trip couldn’t have started any better, with us getting an almost personalised experience (with just one other jeep) with P151 and her two 9 month old cubs. It was our first afternoon drive, and an hour and a half into it found us at a Waterhole in the area they were supposed to be. A jeep was already there when we arrived, but left a minute after, for lack of any movement of any animal. It was a couple of minutes later our guide and driver both noticed ripples on the surface of the water on the side close to us. Wondering what could be the reason, since there was no splash by a fish preceding it, until a tiny movement from the vegetation by the banks of the water near us caught their eye. "Tiger" they said as a Leopard sized cub appeared 20m below us near the water's edge. A second later the second cub appeared, and a couple of seconds later appeared their much larger mother. The mother walked up and sat behind a bush 10m from us and called out to her cubs to join her. They were however, too busy playing leapfrog over each other below, and gave some some good views of them doing so in between the acacia plants separating us from them.

We were joined by another jeep a minute later, but they remained fairly quiet and as enthralled as us, except for a lady in the back who was terrified that the female tiger was that close to us, and thus kept begging the jeep to leave. They paid no heed of course, and we enjoyed the scene for the next 15mins after. Little did we know it was to get even better, as one by one the cubs came up and sat near their mother behind the shrubs just a few metres from us. A minute or so later, the mother stood up to leave, and slowly and steadily walked out through the golden grass onto the road behind us, heading slowly down the other side. The cubs were quick to follow in her tracks, and glided through the grass onto the track behind her. Our driver Bannu was quick to act thereafter, as he turned the jeep around and went round the road so that we could catch them coming head on toward us on the other side.

We circumvented the small barrage of jeeps that had suddenly arrived on the scene, and still made good time to find the beautiful sight of having all 3 of them coming down toward us. Knowing they would go across the road and into the forest again, we gave them space, and once again had the mother regally take the lead and cross, before the cubs followed in her wake. *An interesting follow up note would be that there were quite a few Sambar and Spotted Deer in the area, but since they weren't party to the sighting, continued to graze and browse unawares.

Day 2. 30th October, Morning

Tigress with 2 fully grown male cubs

The following morning we decided to go up along the river and make our way upto the plateau. Half an hour in, and we found the fresh tracks of a male tiger as we were casually moving on the road near the river. Seeing them dissapear in the forest in the

direction of the river we we took the diversion to the river to see if we might get lucky with a sighting. No such luck, and so we went back onto the road a few minutes later and continued on our journey. A minute or so later as we turned toward a slight curve intersected by shallow forest slope on both sides, we noticed a tiger casually walking up just 30m away. It was a fully grown female as we noted, and she didn't even glance in our direction even once as she padded her way into the thickets and made for the direction of the river. This was P141, the resident queen of the area. Little had we lost sight of her, that we noticed another almost fully grown tiger suddenly walk into the space she had just vacated and look at us. From the size of the head, it was apparent this was a male, and before we could make a vague speculation on his identity, we found ourselves looking at a third almost fully grown tiger looking at us having followed up and out behind the previous one. Even though we knew P141 had two 22 month old male cubs (Tigers turn independent at 24 months) it was still a fantastic surprise to see all of them together like this, and so far from where they were anticipated based on reports of them being up on the plateau high above. Gathering ourselves as they all vanished behind the thickets on our side we realised they were heading in the direction of the river, and quickly made our way there, to hopefully catch them coming out. We got to the river and positioned ourselves to the view the point they usually exited. A couple of minutes later a cacophony of peacock alarm calls from within the forest let us know the tigers were approaching. A minute passed, then another, and then another at which point our guide and driver both got a feeling the tigers must be close to the same road we had left them at, because the distance in between was less than 100m of forest, and at their pace they should have walked out already. Doubling back, we headed back onto the road inside, and soon found a jeep ahead signalling to us to slow down as they stood by

a small clearing of grass next to the road watching both the male cubs as they slowly ambled around. One went back into the thickets after a bit while the other remained sniffing the grass near both the jeeps barely 20feet away. After a minute even he went in to join his brother. A few seconds later one appeared 20m away to our right and was soon followed by the mother. Both then lay down in the grass to relax. The next surprise came when the second male cub entered to join them, cause in his mouth was a freshly killed Sambar Fawn, who had probably been killed either before we found them the first time, or in between the time we saw them and awaited their arrival on the riverside. Either way, it was untouched post being killed. He came first and lay down near the two, and then like a typical sibling began giving low growls and flattening his ears in mild threat as his brother got up to approach him, as he had no intention to share his prize. His brother went back to lay down, after which the one with the kill began to slowly pick it apart, casually play eating with the dead fawn using his paws in between. What was most interesting during this entire period was the constant series of purring low growls one could hear and feel from them as they communicated, albeit without any obvious threat. The next hour turned out to be a real treat, as we got to observe them relax at close quarters and sometimes yawn, then roll around, then rub into each other to reinforce the family bond. We only decided to move once a few more jeeps arrived, and brought with them the noise of predictable excitement at seeing the tigers. They had all found a Male Tiger in another area of the forest that morning, and had thus arrived only now.

Having enjoyed our peace well with the tigers, we decided to continue with the rest of our morning drive, enjoying the views atop the plateau, and even tracking the fresh tracks of another tiger in that part of the forest for a bit. All in all a fantastic morning.

Day 2. 30th October Night.

Rusty Spotted Cat

Later that day we skipped our afternoon drive as we rested in to prepare for our night drive just post sunset in another area of the forest. This was a buffer area that had villages and cattle movement during the day, but came alive with a host fantastic wildlife post sunset including Civets, Striped Hyena, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Owls and Small Cats. The highlight of our night was finding a Rusty Spotted Cat. This species is the smallest Wild Cat in the world, with the adult being just a bit bigger than a domestic cat kitten. The larger eyes, vertical stripes in between them, and the beautiful greyish coat contrast superbly with the light rust spots dotting its pelt. The fact that we found it on a wall of rocks layed out by forest guards just behind their hut made the sighting even more incredible. We almost ran into a Striped Hyena on the way back, but it dashed into cover before anybody except our guide could lay eyes on it.

Day 3. 31st October, Morning

Pardhi Walk

The following morning had us experience the Pardhi Walk for the first time. The Pardhis are a traditional tribe of hunters, and have tremenduous local knowledge of plants and animals in this landscape passed down over generations. However, they have been on the fringes of society due to their caste (plays a major role in acceptance in rural India) and their more or less non agricultural way of life. However, with the work of a Wildlife NGO called Last Wilderness, Taj Safaris, and the support of the forest department their inclusion into the fabric of tourism and access to

their wealth of knowledge has been inculcated. Our morning walk was lead by three of them together, and turned into a series of wonderful moments, where we learned about the various trees, got to hear them explain their strategies used to hunt game birds, and even hear them mimic the sounds of animals like the Leopard and the Langur. The fact that it was set in the stunningly beautiful Ranipur Gorge, on a lesser seen part of the Panna Landscape, culminating with breakfast on the falls and some wonderful eye level views of some of the Indian Vultures gliding past us made it all the more complete.

Day 3&4 31st October, Evening and 1st November, Morning

Tigress with 2 cubs, Two different Jungle Cats, Rock Python Our last two drives that afternoon and the following morning found us focussing our tracking on the ultimate phantom of the forest in the leopard. During the course of the search we tracked some really fresh pugmarks of a big male Leopard ending in a Nallah with some good Sambar alarms. Even missed a possible one with an excellent Sambar alarm near us on the Plateau, and finally the ultimate miss where a Leopard dragged his Sambar fawn kill from the previous evening down a tree near the road. That's Wildlife. You get some, you miss a few others. We did get some good luck with a glimpse of P151's two 9 month old Tiger Cubs from the top of a hill as they played for a bit in the waterhole we spotted them on the first evening. Add to that two different Jungle Cats, A dimunitive 5 ft Indian Rock Python, a fantastic 10-12 ft Marsh Crocodile on the short 20min Motor Boat Safari on the final morning, as well as good evidence of Sloth Bear having raided for ants and termites on a couple of roads.

All in all an excellent Wildlife Trip. Would like to thank my two guests Anurag Gihar, and Khushboo Sultania for being such awesome travel companions. Shrey Goel, Abhinav Pandey and the entire staff at Greetoe Camp Panna for being excellent and attentive hosts as always. Lastly to all the wildlife for showing up as it did and making the trip absolutely stellar. Already looking forward to going back again.

Highlights

6 Different Tigers including two different families of 3 tigers each.
One Rusty Spotted Cat
Two Different Jungle Cats
One Rock Python
Common Palm Civet
96 Species of Bird
Walking with the Pardhi Tribe and delving into their local knowledge of the forest.