The Gypsy is late. We are booked on an afternoon safari in Corbett Park and time is ticking by. The family is busy in the Park Souvenir Shop, trying to choose from overpriced caps and tees. I notice that the artwork on one particular cap is upside down; while one tee sports a bizarre psychedelic print of a tiger.
My attention though, is on a flowering creeper entwined on the tree under which I stand. There are two male Purple Sunbirds busy gorging themselves on the rich nectar in the yellowish flowers. They have just noisily shooed away an intruder of which I have only just glimpsed a flash of bright red. As I watch, a pair of sunbirds returns to the creeper, the lure of the nectar irresistible. This time the interloper male is able to fend off the protesting Purple Sunbirds. Even in the dappled sunlight he is an incredible scarlet over much of the upper half of his body. The Crimson Sunbird.
As the vehicles arrive and we pile in to be driven to the Sanctuary, a Lineated Barbet perches in the thick foliage of mango laden trees in the orchard a few yards away.
We are booked on the Bijrani-Malani route in the Park. It appears day vehicles are not allowed in the more picturesque Gairal-Dhikala route. A pity, because my memories from a trip several years ago is from that area which prominently features the Ramganga River.Soon we are at the Park Gate. In the queue with 15 other Gypsies ! While the paperwork is attended to by the driver, we are accosted by the 'Bin-wallahs'. Several enterprising young men are renting out Binoculars for the safari. They have Russian-made models of all shapes and sizes, and the rentals are negotiable. An Indian lady in the next vehicle is trying out several pairs. She rejects two ( all the while peering at our vehicle just a few yards away, so she obviously is unable to focus). Then she is handed over a most impressive pair with camoflage markings and told to look at a tree much further away. As we get started she is still weaving the bins violently from one side to another ...
Corbett Park is just amazing. Not only is it a birding paradise, with some authorities putting the birdlist at close to 500 species, but the forest, the rivers, the mountains in the Northern section, and the presence of some incredile creatures that dwell on land, air and water make it quite unique. And you still have maneater tigers here. If you don't believe me you could just google for a list of attacks over the past few years. Now I must have read and reread Jim Corbett's books on the tigers of Kumaon many times. And even in the comparative safety of a vehicle with the sun shining brightly, as you pass through the gloom of a particularly dense patch of forest, and suddenly the birds stop calling, and you hear a creature moving in the dense ravine by the track, the only sound that of dry sal leaves crunching underfoot, it certainly raises the hair on the back of my neck.
OK enough talk. Let's have a look at the Park and some of the fauna here....
Sambhar -
Cheetal -
Asian Elephant -
Corbett terrain -
Monitor Lizard -
Chestnut-tailed Starling -
Kakar or Indian Muntjac
Electric fencing around Forest Resthouses in the Park -
My attention though, is on a flowering creeper entwined on the tree under which I stand. There are two male Purple Sunbirds busy gorging themselves on the rich nectar in the yellowish flowers. They have just noisily shooed away an intruder of which I have only just glimpsed a flash of bright red. As I watch, a pair of sunbirds returns to the creeper, the lure of the nectar irresistible. This time the interloper male is able to fend off the protesting Purple Sunbirds. Even in the dappled sunlight he is an incredible scarlet over much of the upper half of his body. The Crimson Sunbird.
As the vehicles arrive and we pile in to be driven to the Sanctuary, a Lineated Barbet perches in the thick foliage of mango laden trees in the orchard a few yards away.
We are booked on the Bijrani-Malani route in the Park. It appears day vehicles are not allowed in the more picturesque Gairal-Dhikala route. A pity, because my memories from a trip several years ago is from that area which prominently features the Ramganga River.Soon we are at the Park Gate. In the queue with 15 other Gypsies ! While the paperwork is attended to by the driver, we are accosted by the 'Bin-wallahs'. Several enterprising young men are renting out Binoculars for the safari. They have Russian-made models of all shapes and sizes, and the rentals are negotiable. An Indian lady in the next vehicle is trying out several pairs. She rejects two ( all the while peering at our vehicle just a few yards away, so she obviously is unable to focus). Then she is handed over a most impressive pair with camoflage markings and told to look at a tree much further away. As we get started she is still weaving the bins violently from one side to another ...
Corbett Park is just amazing. Not only is it a birding paradise, with some authorities putting the birdlist at close to 500 species, but the forest, the rivers, the mountains in the Northern section, and the presence of some incredile creatures that dwell on land, air and water make it quite unique. And you still have maneater tigers here. If you don't believe me you could just google for a list of attacks over the past few years. Now I must have read and reread Jim Corbett's books on the tigers of Kumaon many times. And even in the comparative safety of a vehicle with the sun shining brightly, as you pass through the gloom of a particularly dense patch of forest, and suddenly the birds stop calling, and you hear a creature moving in the dense ravine by the track, the only sound that of dry sal leaves crunching underfoot, it certainly raises the hair on the back of my neck.
OK enough talk. Let's have a look at the Park and some of the fauna here....
Sambhar -
Cheetal -
Asian Elephant -
Corbett terrain -
Monitor Lizard -
Chestnut-tailed Starling -
Kakar or Indian Muntjac
Electric fencing around Forest Resthouses in the Park -
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