22/11/2024
The striped beauties of Bandipur. On a one nighter, with just two safaris to call our’s, the forest opened its arms out to us and showered us with magic! ✨
On our first safari, we happened upon a huge male tiger, sprawling in the bushes, not more than 10 feet from us. This one, we call the Karadi (sloth bear in Kannada) Male, was named after the time he fought and devoured a sloth bear! He got up, walked towards us while sniffing and territory marking before he disappeared back into the thick forest.
On the second safari, for the first two hours, mist made visibility hard but everything was a magical white. We drove through moving mist while the forest slowly transformed in front of us. It was only towards the end of safari that we came upon Moorkere Female. Skittishly lapping up water while she had her eyes constantly on us. What a way to end a safari!
If Bandipur keeps unleashing adventures like this, it will surely quickly move up my list of favourite Indian forests. Which one is your’s?
