It was 2.30am when I slept that day. I could only sleep for another hour or so. I badly needed some sleep. At 3.30 I woke up to the phone call from Ravee telling me that he was waiting outside. I quickly brushed and headed out. By 4am, 5 of us were out on Magadi road heading towards Mullainagiri. A small tea stop at the Magadi Road – Chennarayapattana junction set us for the day. After a quick stop for breakfast at Berur, we headed towards Kemmangundi and Bababudangiri. This was my first monsoon trip and I was quite excited about it. It is refreshing to see completely green surroundings. The roads were slushy and it was raining intermittently. I loved the rains. After nearly a 5 hr drive, we were at the base of the Bababundangiri hills in the Bharada Wildlife Sanctuary. Ravee and others were looking out for orchids and wild flowers. I had never before attempted to identify wild flowers even though they look really pretty. Our first stop was close to the Kalahatti falls where Ravee identified an orchid flowering out on a tree, which was later identified as Aerides ringens. Just around there, we always the wild flower, Impatiens zombensis. There are found flowering all over the western ghats during the monsoons.

This marked the real beginning of the trip. After this we kept stopping looking at ferns and wild flowers all along the road. There were so many different types of wild flowers, including the Sandalwood (one of which I can remember) with a lot of unknowns. The sight of the trees hitting the ground due to rains was a common one. But still they supported a lot of orchids and others. While looking at one of the fallen trees, we also noticed a dead Porcupine below it. It was just off the road. it seemed to have been hurt due to something and then dead. This was the first time I was seeing a porcupine, and also a dead one. The view from the road into the valley was beautiful. There were streams of fresh rain water flowing across the road at various point and we didn’t hesitate to get there and enjoy. Strobilanthes were in plenty and our observations are just from the stuff we saw from the road. I was amazed that so many times I have just ignored to look at the beauty of the wild flowers that are found just off the road. I had gone with an intention to see at least a few birds but now I had already synced in into flower-watching. One can keep observing them for ages and the only thing that could shake them up is the wind. After walking along the road in the slush and such, we realised there it was time to get bitten by leeches. They happily sucked our blood while we ignored them. So every time getting back into the car meant, also cleaning up our legs to get rid of leeches.

Impatiens zombensis

Bulbophyllum sp.

Strobilanthes

Conchidium filiformis

Chlorophytum sp

the moss

A moth caterpillar

Calanthe sylvatica – a ground orchid in the middle of ferns

Dendrobium nanum – the orchid on a tree which had fallen off due to the rains

Peristylus spiralis – a beautiful orchid just by the road

Wild Turmeric – again saw this growing just off the road

I really enjoyed watching various orchids both on the ground and other trees, ferns of various types etc. There was a wall which was actually filled with ferns with an orchid flowering out of it too. It looked really beautiful. By this time, it was raining heavily. By the time we reached Bababudangiri, it was already 4 pm. There was nothing around to eat and somewhere near Bababudangiri, a small tea stall was our saviour. After sipping multiple cups of tea, we headed towards Mulaianagiri. It was literally driving in the clouds. There was hardly any visibility on either side. It was getting chilly too. It was nearly 6 when we reached Mulaiayangiri. The strong chilly wind was hitting us very hard. All of us were shivering and enjoying it at the same time. After spending a few minutes there, we started heading back to Bangalore. I reached home by about 1.30am. It was almost a 23 hr trip, also one of the most memorable one. I want to go back again, NOW :)

Against the wind :)

the leap

just before the leap

a stop between the leaps

just before the leap

Archduke (male)

Archduke (female)

Black-winged Cuckoo-shrike

Sultan Tit

Sultan Tit

Green-billed Malkoha

Malayan Giant Squirrel (Ratufa bicolor)

Malayan Giant Squirrel (Ratufa bicolor)

When we reached the Burrapahar forest office, there were hardly any visitors there. Probably not many people visit this place. The forest is dense and wild comprising of both thick forests and grassland. On one side, there is the Bramhaputra river too. We got 2 more sightings of the Malayan Giant Squirrel inside the Burrapahar forest. We stopped the jeep when we reached the Bramhaputra river bank. This river is so vast. We walked along the bank looking for birds. The view was really beautiful. There were birds calling out from all sides, some of them I couldn’t even identify. There were River Dolphins which we could occasionally see creating ripples. On the rocks by the bank, we saw a few turtles too. Our guide said that it was the Indian Tent Turtle. There were pied kingfishers , River Lapwings, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Black-hooded Oriole, call of the White-rumped Shama and many others . I spent quite some time watching the River Lapwing. We could see the Otters den all along the bank. When we walked along, we also saw a recent pugmark of a tiger. More than anything, we enjoyed the habitat. The butterflies were in plenty mostly unknown to me.

Bramhaputra

Turtles

Pied Kingfishers and the River Lapwing

Tiger pugmark

River Lapwing

Otter’s footprints

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher – Common in South India too

The vast Bramhaputra

After a while, we decided to explore the other parts of the park. It was much drier than other parts of the park. Infact the forest dept was carrying out controlled burning too. There were Rhinos and saw a lot of Spot-billed Ducks by a water body. There wasn’t much to see otherwise, but to be in the Burrapahar forest is a beautiful experience.

Controlled burning

Spot-billed Ducks

We headed back to the resort for lunch and decided to go back to the western range in the afternoon where we briefly got to see the rare Swamp Francolins.

Water Buffalo

the first look

Young one coming out

We had already spent 2 days at Kaziranga. The morning was spent in the Eastern Range watching new winter arrivals, the Bar-headed Geese. We also got a feeling of how huge the Bramhaputra river is and I can now imagine how the entire place would look when it floods during the monsoons. The evening safari was mostly to enjoy the sunset at Kaziranga. We headed back to the western range this time again for the evening safari. We finally got a decent sighting of the Water Buffalo in the water. A Common Kestrel was sitting just off the road and we had failed to notice it and got to see it only when it was taking off. There wasn’t much of wildlife to see around, the evening light was already setting in. The Alexandire Parakeets were getting back to their nests. We also spent some time at the water body watching the Assam Roofed Turtle (Kachuga Sylehtensis). These turtles would just come on to the dead branches of the tree and sun themselves.

Common Kestrel

Alexandrine Parakeet

Assam Roofed Turtle

Red-headed Vulture

As it got dark, we moved ahead. A Red-headed Vulture was just sitting on top of a tree. It was a lifer for me, but sitting on top of a tall tree also meant “pain in the neck”. The evening light was very beautiful and we went clicking for a while. We stopped by a watch tower and enjoyed the sunset. By 5pm, it was pitch dark and all we could do was to plan for the next day :)

Right above me