Naturally Srini

Who doesn't love elephants? They are sooo cute, with their slow & graceful movements. Such a delight to watch.

Kids love to feed elephants and watch in amazement as the food just disappears. 

It was Day 3 of our Masai Mara safari. We had seen two cheetahs within minutes of landing at the Kichwa Tembo airstrip. The previous morning, the first lioness we saw walked past us, just a few feet away. By the end of that day, we had seen nearly fifteen lions. Some of my colleagues even saw a lioness kill and eat a warthog. Wow! A warthog? What kind of a boring kill is that? some of us said to console ourselves for having missed the action. In any case, we had seen four of the Big 5 (barring the leopard) by then.

Back to Day 3. Ten of us were the earliest to leave the camp that morning with our naturalist, Alice. A few minutes later we saw a pride of ten lions and lionesses sitting on a mound of earth, very close to our lodge. We had spent a lot of time the previous evening with five of them and it felt like we were meeting old friends. As we approached them, we were wondering if we should stop for more shots or move on for more interesting stuff. (Two days in the Masai Mara can do that to you!)

However, when the vehicle stopped near them, we felt something was different. Instead of just lying down lazily (like earlier), many of the lions appeared alert and looking towards a particular spot.

Sure enough, the lead lioness (known as the Striker) and another adult lioness stepped of the mound and entered the grass. The male lion, sitting by himself, and the juveniles, waited. 

We pleaded with Alice to get us close to the zebra so that we could get a better / closer view, but she refused. Any movement from our side would disturb the scene. We had to stay there and see what was happening. While my 400mm f/2.8 was giving me a reasonably good view, it wouldn't be sufficient to get in close with the zebra. I decided to sacrifice one stop on the aperture (and superb auto-focusing) for the additional focal length that a 1.4X teleconverter would provide me. Now I was at 560mm f/4. Also, the action was happening on the other side of my vehicle - so I had to lean across to take my shots - some with a bean-bag, some hand-held!

Within seconds, they were almost lost in the grass, as they walked / crawled straight ahead, waiting for the unsuspecting zebra. 

The rest of the pride sat alert, trusting the seniors to do their job.

Soon, the Striker was very close to the line of the zebra path. And she was so well camouflaged that we could barely spot her (even with the benefit of height and awareness).

She was in no hurry - she did not want to rush headlong as the first zebra crossed her. Alice told us that she would wait to attack the last one, particularly if it was separated from the rest. Note that zebras can be strong and brave, with a powerful back-kick; about ten of them can together ward off a predator's attack.

Just what the lionesses were waiting for - two of the zebra fell slightly behind as they cuddled a bit and waited under a tree. Had they spotted the lioness and were waiting for the rest of the herd behind them to catch up, or were they just being slow movers? 

While we were expecting the Striker to wait for those two zebra, she stood up and started walking towards her left - to the zebra that had gone past her. Maybe she felt that waiting for the two stragglers was not worth it... The other lioness started walking backwards - maybe she would try and round them up from the other side.

The Striker ran a few steps ahead and waited. Meanwhile, some of the juveniles got off the mound of earth and started moving forward. Alice remarked that the young ones had probably blown the chance by making their move too soon.

But maybe luck was on the lions' side - perhaps the zebra spotted these 2-3 lions walking towards them, so they suddenly scrambled and ran backwards -- exactly towards where the lionesses were waiting. 

One of the zebra almost slipped and ran right at the Striker. She was upon the zebra in a flash, even as her partner watched.

The Striker gave chase!

As the target ran ahead, she increased her pace...

There was no doubt which of the two was faster and more determined. The gap began to reduce.

Within 7 seconds of the chase, she was within striking distance...

The next second, the Striker used her full might to lunge forward!

This deserves a closer look, don't you agree?

All the other zebra had just come to halt as they saw what was happening, one of theirs under attack. The lion's paws were on the zebra's back, apparently its weak spot.

As the target slowed down, the lioness got a firmer grip on its back.

A second later, it was down...

The Kill was now done.

It was almost the end of a two day photography workshop at Thekkady. The last walk session had been very productive and we were walking back towards the trek office. I was trying some random iPhone panorama shots of the plain and water-body, when I heard our instructor, Sudhir Shivram call out. 

We saw a few wild dogs (Dhole) running out of some bushes. As we started clicking, we realized that there were quite a few of them... soon, there was a pack of 20+ dogs running and playing around there.

For nearly fifteen minutes, we watched them (including a few puppies) play and mark territory. Then they disappeared into some other bushes.

We walked further and the group suddenly spotted a Great Indian Hornbill perched on a tall tree. As I tried getting my tripod in place, it flew away, giving me this out of focus BIF.

It was getting late, and we crossed the water body on a raft and were climbing up to the exit. Now I am not sure who spotted it first but there was a shout and we looked across towards where the Dhole had been playing. Sudhir, who must have used his 800mm lens to get a good visual, shouted that the dogs were killing a sambar and he shot off like a rabbit, in spite of his heavy lens and tripod. I hesitated for a second if I should do the same; what the heck, I was here for photography and such an opportunity could not be missed. My Sigma would at best get me 500mm but that's better than nothing.

Here's one of the first shots I got with my Sigma.

You can see that the sambar was still standing up. At least 8 or 9 dogs were attacking it; the dog at its tail was already tearing flesh of the sambar's back. One dog was standing watch.

Exactly 3 seconds after this photo was taken, the sambar was down on the ground. Within two minutes, the dogs were tearing into the sambar's flesh. Mind you, the sambar was still "alive" at this time.

This requires a closer look, for the gory detail.

I waited for a few minutes, shooting in video mode too, but I could not watch it much longer. Sambar served with idli or dosa is fine, this was too raw for my liking. Of course, out in the jungle, it was just another meal.

It was our 12th safari drive in India, our first in Kabini... and we hadn't spotted a tiger yet. My wife was questioning if tigers even existed any longer. I had read that tigers were spotted once in a while in Kabini, but there was a better chance of seeing a leopard. Tired of spotted deer, langur and peacocks, we desperately wanted to catch sight of a big cat... leopard, if not a tiger.

About twenty minutes into our drive, our guide (an enthusiastic Basavayya) received a call on his mobile. His expression indicated that something exciting had been spotted. "If you will permit, we will now drive very fast because a leopard has been spotted," he whispered. Of course we permitted him...

We reached the spot a few minutes later; there were two other vehicles with people excitedly pointing towards the dense deciduous forest that marks the Western Ghats. "Look at that curved branch between the two trees ahead, there's a leopard lying on it," Basavayya instructed us. Which two trees? There were many curved branches. This is what we could see with the naked eye.

While the others in the vehicle tried to time-share the guide's binoculars, I used the 500mm end of my Sigma to scan the area that the guide was pointing at. This is what I saw.

Finally, something! Of course, as a I clicked a few shots of the leopard, I realized that there was too much distraction in the background and one of the trees was blocking the leopard's head. Our guide realized that I was not getting a good shot and asked the driver to move the vehicle ahead. Now, I could get a better shot. I also got some time to adjust the camera exposure settings.

A few clicks later, I was not satisfied. What's the point if one can't get the face of the animal (even if its eyes were closed). I hoped (aloud) that the leopard would shift its head towards us, and maybe even look at us. How long could we wait? And should we not vacate the space for other vehicles to occupy? Basavayya noticed my predicament... he said, "Let us wait till our photographer gets a good photo." 

And wait, we did, for almost twenty minutes. I kept the camera focused on the leopard (thanks to back-button focusing and my new bean-bag), waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, the leopard's head moved and it turned towards us.

Wow! The binoculars were passed around again. I kept my eyes focused on the leopard and my fingers active on the shutter button. Maybe it would yawn or do something interesting...

Yes, it did... a :p to all of us for disturbing its lazing hour! Here's a closer crop:

Having ticked us off, it went back to its resting pose, but now, face turned this side.

A few minutes later, we left that spot, satisfied that our patience and Basavayya's persistence had paid off. He grinned and said, "Sooper photo, sir!"

(Title translation: Us Two, Our Two)

We were on a safari drive in Kabini (Nagerhole National Park); during the summer months, the Kabini backwaters attracts many elephants from other parts of the Western Ghats. Therefore, it wasn't a surprise that we saw several elephants during our four drives into the park. On one such occasion, we spotted a couple of elephants in a plain (this was the Kabini reservoir which would be filled with water a few weeks later).

As I observed through the lens, it became obvious that there were more than two elephants out there. A third was facing away... and almost hidden away from our view was a fourth, a baby!

It was a family of four. The guide said that the baby must not be more than three-months old, and would stay highly protected by the parents.

We spent some time, waiting for them to separate out a bit. But, there was enough grass there and the family was content just standing there, enjoying breakfast. The elder son - probably 7-8 years old - moved around a bit, but the baby remained out of sight. About five minutes had passed since we had stopped at that point, and the driver was restless, wanting to get a move on. I requested that we wait for a while because I wanted to get the full family.

Even a couple of minutes later, this was all that I could get.

Just when it seemed that there was no point in waiting any longer, the baby elephant ventured out of mamma's protection and began her (his?) own exploration. Now I had a family photo!