Photo Delights of Nagarhole

And so, in April, I led our inaugural photography tour to this tiger reserve, staying at the delightful Kabini River Lodge. We started off by taking our time and enjoying whatever may show itself. The first day treated us to some excellent photography opportunities of gaur – the world’s largest species of bovine. Such a close encounter allowed us to photograph these large mammals in a variety of ways, from environmental shots to close-up portraits. Sightings such as this don’t happen every day and so it was an excellent start to our week of safaris.

Later on that first day, we were watching a herd of elephants on the edge of the Kabini River Backwaters, when there was some movement on one side of the forest’s edge. Suddenly, a pack of Asiatic wild dog (or dhole) emerged from the trees and headed towards where the elephants were stood. We were then privileged to watch for the next hour or so as the elephants made repeated attempts to drive the dogs away.

One of the big hopes for anyone visiting India’s national parks is to photograph tigers, and for our group, that was no different. The start of the week, despite our best efforts, offered little in the way of rewards for photographing this enigmatic big cat. Those iconic stripes eluded us, and we kept just missing out on sightings. Then one morning we heard of a tiger sighting and headed towards the location. We stumbled across a handsome male leopard on-route, before arriving to find a tigress trying to hunt gaur.

After a little while, the gaur worked out that the tiger was there and started to move directly towards her. Unnerved by the tonnes of muscle now getting closer, the tigress turned and started to run right towards our vehicle. We all held our breath as the tiger, clearly undecided to which way to turn, ran right by the back of our vehicle growling in discontent. What an incredible sighting.

Of course, Nagarhole has so much more to offer than tigers and elephants. The park is home to a wealth of incredible mammals and birds which are always on show when the star species keep themselves hidden away. You rely so much on many of the herbivores to alert you to a big cat’s presence that you pay particularly close attention to them. The chital (spotted deer) are particularly beautiful and in the soft, golden sunlight of the mornings and evenings, they prove to be the most stunning photographic subjects. You just have to be patient and wait for them to come to drink, or pose in the right light, and the resulting images can be exceptional.

We were rewarded once again when a tigress appeared on the edge of the forest right by our vehicle. The tigress was just sat there, only 20 metres away, watching as we photographed. In the end, she decided it was time to get up and head back into the forest, but only after crossing the road in front of us and disappearing into the thick undergrowth.

This area of India offers so much more than just tigers, but the chance to see these beautiful cats in the wild takes a hold of you, and you can’t help fall in love. I urge you to discover Nagarhole National Park for yourself on one of our small group or dedicated photography tours.

To photograph tiger, leopard, elephant and more for yourself, contact our team to find out more or to book your place on our Nagarhole Photo Safari.