Kaas: The wonderland

Among the hills of Sahyadri near Satara, lies the plateau of Kaas. Every year during the month of September and early October it transforms into carpet of wild flowers. Such a spectacular display can only be experienced by visiting this place in person. No amount of words and photographs can bring out the real beauty of Kaas. Still this article is my attempt to frame the nature's spectacle at Kaas. 

The plateau of Kaas is situated just 23 kms from the city of Satara. The road from Satara to Kaas is nice tarmac, which runs through valleys and open meadows. Many spots along this road provides grand view of the Sayhadris. This plateau turns a botanists and nature lovers delight towards the later part of the monsoon. More than 300 species of wild flowers, herbs, shrubs, orchids and insectivorous plants can be seen during this time. 

Its been three years since I first visited Kaas. I fell in love with it at first sight and haven't missed any opportunity to visit it since then. It is really hard to describe the impact it creates when you first see the vast expanse of colourful flowers. I was fortunate to witness the blooming of Topli Karvi in my first visit itself, which blooms once in every seven to eight years. Well my first visit was a short one and I could spend only couple of hours at the plateau. But I knew I will be visiting this place again and again.

Over the year I have seen many outstanding pictures from Kaas. And no wonder that majority of them were flower macros. Surely its an amazing place to do the macro photography. I find this place extremely challenging for photography. It is one of those places where there is no dearth of subjects but probably one will run out of own's creativity. I found it really hard to come up with pictures which will do some justice to this spectacle and reproduce the impact this place makes on one's mind when witnessed in person. Right from the day one, I choose landscapes over macros as my primary format to portray Kaas. However the tiny insectivorous species like Sundew or Dew Drop plant (Drosera Burmanni  and Drosera Indica) are best presented only in a macro format.

As per the available literature, the name Kaas could have been derived from the local plant called Kasa or the goddess Kasani. The plateau is predominantly made up of laterite, a porous mineral rich rock formation, with little to no soil over it. Thus it hardly supports any bigger vegetation apart from plants like grass, shrubs and herbs. The yellow Sonaki and Smithia, pink Terda or Balsam , blue Bladderwort are among the few which dominates the plateau. It is worth visiting plateau multiple times during Monsoons.

The presence of water bodies like Kaas Lake and back waters of Koyna dam brings in rich avifuna to the plateau. Several bird species can be sighted at plateau and areas in its proximity during peak birding season. In terms of birding, one can commonly see owls, eagles, harriers, shikra, oriental turtle doves, quails, flyctachers, shrikes  and other commoners. Dr. Shotri's book 'Kaas: The Plateau of Flowers' gives detail listing of birds and flowers seen at the plateau along with a wonderful account and information about Kaas and near by area. 

Below are few more pictures which I would like to share though I already mentioned that its hard to do any justice with the true beauty of kaas. 

Tadoba: The Land of Tigers

The sound of screeching tires and brakes brought me to reality. I glanced at my mobile and realized that I dozed off for almost an hour. My wife and daughter were still sleeping beside me in that hot summer afternoon taxi ride to Nagpur. I realized that we were already nearing the village Jaahm. The beautiful scenes of jungle are still fresh on our minds and I was gazing out wondering where those bamboos and water holes are. Honking of passing vehicles kept bringing me to reality that we are now heading back home and our four days endeavor with wilderness has already ended.

It all started with a quick plan of visiting Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) during our Raipur visit last February for a family function. I discussed the possibility with my wife Shraddha and she agreed readily. All the planning was done in next couple of days and things started to fall in place. I contacted Atul Dhamankar (an avid wildlife researcher, bird watcher and nature photographer from Chandrapur) and soon all bookings are done and we were all set to be on our first ever safari. We planned for three nights stay at TATR, which allowed us to do six safaris in all. As the park enjoys weekly holiday on Tuesdays, we decided to spend that day in Nagpur with my friend Ishan's parents. This proved to be a fantastic decision as not only it allowed us to meet them but also provided a much needed break from our hectic two days journey. 

Flameback Woodpecker

I had already conveyed our Nagpur address to Atul and he promptly sent me the taxi details on Tuesday itself. We were all set to go to Tadoba on Wednesday morning. The plan was to reach there around lunch time and do the afternoon safari on Wednesday itself. Our stay with Ishan’s parents went as expected with lot of eating and rest. 

The next morning taxi turned up on time and we were on the way to Tadoba via Chandrapur. The Nagpur to Chandrapur was about 150 kms and Tadoba was further 35 odd kms from there. We started around 9:30am and were hopeful to make it there before 1:00pm. The road till Jaahm (a small village) was a good four lane highway with excellent tar surface. This route is part of Nagpur- Vardha highway. We stopped there for a five minutes and then took the road to Chandrapur. This was now a single lane road for to and fro traffic with a decent tar surface. In this patch of road we saw alarmingly high number toppled trucks, collided vehicles with shattered glass and other small accidents. However we arrived safely at our destination. We also happen to pass through many open mines on the way to Tadoba from Chandrapur. These neighboring mines are real big threat for Tadoba and its surrounding habitat.

Samber

We arrived at the MTDC resort at Moharli. Atul and his younger brother Ashish were already there waiting for us. We were meeting for the first time, so after a brief introduction we chatted over a cup of tea while our check in formalities were completed. Atul showed us a terrific video clip of a tiger cub stalking a distant sambar, which he shot couple of days earlier. He has already ordered our lunch and informed us that he will pick us at 2:45pm for the evening safari. This gave us little over an hour for relaxing. Soon after a good lunch we were in our room only to realize that there is no power supply. A waiter told us that there was thunderstorm last night and the supply line is broken. But he assured us that there will be generator backed power by evening.

Finally the clock showed 2:45pm and it was time to move on. That one hour appeared like a decade. We got on open gypsy along with Atul and his brother (who actually drove it) and arrived at the Moharli range main entrance of the park. There were many other vehicles already lined up and waiting for the gate to be opened. The forest authorities at the park allow two safaris a day. The first one is in the morning 6:00am to 11:00am and the second one from 3:00pm to 7:00pm. It is mandatory that a forest guide must accompany every vehicle entering the park. Our entry pass, guide fee, camera fee was already arranged so no formalities to be done at gate. Finally the gate was opened and slowly one by one vehicle started entering the park. 

Muntjac or Barking Deer

The tar road from the entrance run through the forest and leads to the guest house near Tadoba Lake. By this time I was also ready with both the cameras with appropriate lenses mounted on them. Our gypsy slowly started crawling on the tar road and we crossed the first watch tower on our left. Mostly these are used for watching forest fires. Few forest officials were seen relaxing in shade near that watch tower.

Atul was constant source of information, be it conservation initiatives at park or wildlife and their behavior. The forest was now getting dense on both the sides, which was mostly bamboo jungle and dry deciduous forest with Sal trees. Atul informed us that we will be covering only Moharli range this evening. The TATR is primarily has three ranges namely Kolsa, Moharli and the Tadoba. Each range has its own peculiarity in terms of vegetation and terrains. Soon we crossed few artificial waterholes along the road side and turned left towards Jamunzora. We arrived at Jamunzora after making our way through dense bamboo. It was one the few natural waterholes left with some water in side park. We waited there for some time and moved towards Yenbodi waterhole. After visiting these spots we decided to settle down at tank no 3 along the tar road. Few Langoors were playing and enjoying the afternoon on the tree just above us. We waited there for almost an hour and then decided to checkout Yenbodi and kolsa line again. In the mean while we hardly had any sightings apart from parakeets and Langoors. But this time we spotted few Gaurs, a wild boar and a male Spotted Deer which brought all of us to life. I had been to Kanha NP ealier but I was not so keen about wildlife and photography that time. The primary aim of our Tadoba visit was of course tigers but we were equally  happy to see any other wildlife.

The evening was drawing closer and we decided to move to tank no 3 again. As soon as we got on to main road, I couldn't believe my eyes. A huge tiger was standing on the waterhole and there were no vehicles around it. Ashish quickly settled the gypsy into a good position across the road and I opened up my camera gun even before it came to stand still. All of us were aghast at his size and the magic he had on all of us. Oh boy, he is magnificent I thought, while firing away my camera. The tiger settled down to drink and I framed him in my mind and in my camera. Just then an Indica stopped right in front of him on the road. I guess that was too much for the big male. He got up on his feet in a flash and vanished in to the bamboo thickets behind him. All this happened with the speed of thoughts. It all appeared like a dream. He was right in front of us and then within moments he vanished. We felt like waking up from a beautiful dream.

The King

By then other vehicles turned up but the king disappeared long back. The atmosphere around tank no 3 was still tense. All the vehicles are lined up for king's glimpses. Then suddenly we heard alarm call of a barking deer suggesting that the king is on prowl now. With this, vehicles started to move toward a near by fire line hoping to see him crossing it. We also did the same but soon got back to our earlier position. Few vehicles also settled around us. The sun was almost set and the tension all around was very much apparent. After some time a barking deer started calling again but this time with lot more desperation. Everybody was almost holding their breath, waiting for the king to come out of thickets. And soon he appeared on the road, between us and the fire line and electrified the whole atmosphere. We saw him crossing the road. The vehicles started to move in that direction, but it was too late, he walked into the bamboo jungle with the grace of a king. We watched him all the way from our position. I just cant explain the aura he created in a short time. It was an out of the world experience for us. 

That is how our first safari ended. And what a day it turned out for us. Sighting and photographing a big male tiger for the first time that too on very first safari was an amazing experience. We saw lot of other wild life in our subsequent safaris but no more tigers.  

Crested Serpent Eagle

Brown Fish Owl

Over the next three days we did five more safaris, which I call it as mixed bag. We moved around places, waited in one spot for hours but we could not spot tiger again. But over all it turned out an awesome trip. I did manage to click Indian Gaurs, Spotted Deers, Wild Boars, Sambars, Muntjac, Blue Bulls, Indian Hare, Jungle Cat along with lot of birds including Indian Peafowl, Grey Headed Fish Eagle and Grey Jungle Fowl. The presence of multiple water bodies like Erai dam, Telia dam and Tadoba lake also brings in rich avifuna to the park. Over two hundred bird species can be sighted in the TATR during peak birding season. In terms of birding, we commonly saw Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Tickells Blue Flycatcher, Orange Headed Thrush, CSE, OHB, Treepie, various Parakeets, Drongos and woodpeckers. The Golden Back woodpecker is among the commoners at TATR. I would encourage all of you to go through the 'Field Guide to Birds and Mammals of TATR' by Atul Dhamankar for a detailed listing with pictures.

Due to time constraints we could not visit Kolsa range but I really liked the Tadoba range due to its open meadows and rocky terrain. This offers some terrific photographic opportunities. The katejhari area in this range is an evergreen patch with dense foliage and high trees. A Brown Fish Owl can be spotted most of the time sunbathing in one of those trees. Luckily we saw one sitting on relatively lower branch, which offered us good pictures. Similarly the Jamunbodi presents open meadows and grasslands. I did get some beautiful pictures of Oriental Honney Buzard (OHB) and Sambars grazing in the evening light there. One the way from Katezari to Kala-Amba we also spotted a Crested Serpent Eagle (CSE) basking on a tree top. So in way  we had our sightings and pictures but we could not see Leopards, Sloth-Bears and Dholes which are other top predators of the park. Hopefully we will be able to see them in our next visits.

Tiger walking back into Bamboo: This was taken by my daughter, Nupur

TATR is a rocking place for sighting tigers from close quarters. It did became a wildlife hot spot last summer primarily due to the tigress of Moharli and her four cubs. They presented once in a life time opportunity to many people for watching and photographing 5 tigers together from close quarters. Hopefully we will keep witnessing such wonders of nature in years to come by.

Amit Kalele
September 2010 

The Orange Beauty

Sinhagad Valley

Sinhagad valley is quite a well known place among nature lovers, bird watchers and trekkers. Situated at foot hills of the famous Sinhagad fort, it’s a small valley with patches of semi deciduous forest and agricultural farms. Such a habitat provides an ideal environment for a large variety of birds and other flora and fauna. Over the years it has become favorite place for photographing flycatchers and other birds. Its been two years, since I first visited Sinhagad valley and it has provided some terrific opportunities in terms of sightings and photography. This article narrates one such incidence with Orange Headed Thrush. 

Orange Headed Thrush

Primarily two subspecies of Orange Headed Thrush, 'z. c. citrina' and 'z. c. cyanotus' are found in India. The citrina family is mostly restricted to northen parts of India while cyanotus is resident in peninsular south India. The cyanotus has a white throat and face sides, with two black stripes running downwards from below the eyes. During the months of May-June, these beauties can be seen feeding and singing in the valley. This provides a good opportunity to observe and photograph them from up close. However, it is very difficult to approach them most of the time. But on few occasions, they tend to forget about humans and allow close encounters. One such memorable incidence happened with me last year. 

Usually I go out for birding and photography with my friends Tushar and Vikrant. Both of them are avid birdwatcher and naturalist and ofcourse they do photography. During earlier visit to valley, myself and Vikrant had good sightings and made few pictures of it. Naturally Tushar was desperate to try his luck and get his fair share of sightings and pictures. So all three of us decided to spend one morning at the valley. Vikrant expressed that he would rather do a trek to Sinhagad fort instead of birding this time hence we  decided to meet up in the valley around 9am. 

As usual me and Tushar headed towards the valley after having a cup of tea at our regular hotel.  We started our day looking for various birds with orange headed thrush at the back of our mind. In a place like Sinhagad valley, it is extremely difficult to locate a small bird like thrush. At best one can wait at spots where it is expected to be feeding, hoping that he may turn up there. Both of us were busy enjoying birds which came our way. Soon we noticed a pair of babbler like bird flew from the ground and settled on a distant tree. We could not identify them and the pair moved into nearby bushes and started calling. Wow, that must be Indian scimitar babbler, I thought. After making way through bushes and climbing few rocks, I got their glimpses perched on a small tree on the higher slopes. Climbing there without disturbing them was impossible, so I fired few frames from where I was standing and took some record shots just to confirmed my thoughts. This was my first sighting of scimitar babbler in valley. Till then I had only read about it in Jim Corbett’s books mentioning how he always relied on their calls, warning him against the presence of a carnivore. I retracted back after that. It was already close to two hours in the valley and still there were no signs of orange beauty.

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

Vikrant joined us by then and was chatting with Tushar. On seeing my pictures he commented that one can also find them at water stream in winters. We decided to leave them in peace and moved on. On the way Vikrant spotted a serpent eagle (CSE) sitting at a tree top on an adjoining hill. At first look we thought it’s not possible make our way up there and we decided to walk further. Suddenly Vikrant shouted ‘barking deer’ and started shouting at us to click pictures. I kept looking at his face like fool trying to understand what he means. And before I could spot them, they vanished in thickets and tall grass.  Such a miss only left both of us to face angry Vikrant. He was of course frustrated that how on earth one can miss an opportunity of clicking deers in the valley that too on open grassy slopes. We stopped there hoping to see it again. All this time we didn’t see any of orange headed thrush.  

After a while I looked up and was surprised to see that CSE still hanging out on the tree top. And what followed after that was a little stint from all three of us in pursuit of CSE. But thats another story for another day. Vikrant decided to call it a day after our CSE stint and left us all alone to look for the orange one. 

Both of us decided to rest on a mound at the edge of an empty field. Particularly I am not used to trekking or hiking, so climbing a small hill in pursuit of CSE totally drained me. This was certainly the end of our day’s birding efforts and we were busy chit-chating. While relaxing I looked back for moment towards the empty field and couldn't believe my eyes.  An orange headed thrush was feeding just few feet away from us, completely ignorant about our presence. I immediately signaled to Tushar and boy, how could I forget the glint in his eyes seeing the orange one. We felt our tiredness vanished with the fresh sighting. We were fully charged and picked up our cameras again.

Common Iora Male

By this time he shifted few meters towards left so laying flat on our belly we crawled to the edge of the field and started looking for it. Soon Tushar located it and we aligned ourselves hoping that it would cross the field and end up somewhere on the ground in front of us. But this guy was crazy, this fella must have seen us laying on the ground and peeking on his activity time to time. Still, instead of continuing on his path, it turned and started coming straight to us and within few seconds it was right in front of us on the edge of the field.  This guy was so close to us that Tushar could no longer focus on it and had to crawl back few steps. We made lot of pictures in that time. Laying flat on the ground we were in a position that to our right we had this empty field and to our left there was a slope of 4-5 feet which meets the main trail. This fellow walked straight to us then again started moving towards the trail to our left. 

For a moment I thought our session is over but I was wrong. We followed him on the trail and soon he again turned towards the place where we were laying earlier. In between I changed my memory card and had some water. I was almost shivering with excitement. This little break allowed me to calm down a bit. By the time I got ready to click again, he was on the slope and busy feeding. I again got down on my belly and made some pictures. He was continuously closing on me and soon he was well within touching distance. I just can’t explain what I felt that moment. It was out of the world experience. The black bands on his white cheeks and brown eye were so clearly visible in the view finder. I was watching this orange beauty with hair splitting clarity. The olive yellow feathers blended so well with its ashy blue feathers around his shoulder area.

For the first time in our lives, we were stepping back to get a picture instead of closing on. Finally we gave up and left him on his own again. Tushar also had his pictures and now watching him feeding right next to his feet. We couldn’t believe our luck and till today we remember the whole episode like it happened yesterday. He flew away soon after that and we started winding up. What a birding day it turned out. From scimitar babbler to CSE and finally the orange beauty apart from commoners, all seen within a span of couple of hours.  That’s the beauty of the Sinhagad valley.  We never got such an opportunity again till date. Mostly the orange headed thrush keeps a distance from people. But the one we met was totally remarkable and I would go further and call him a crazy fellow. We felt a strong urge to touch him many times during our encounter but somehow controlled our emotions. 

Orange Headed Thrush

This summer we only got few glimpses of the Orange Headed Thrush in the valley. Lets hope that we keep watching them in valley for the years to come by.

Amit Kalele
September 2010