Prince of Nagerhole

Over the past few years I have traveled far and wide scouting for places steaming with wildlife for my photographic expeditions, but the last place I went was a bliss which blinded me with wildlife, not only the density but the variety of fauna I found made me fall in love with the place.

Nagerhole is the name of the place. In the beautiful language of kannada “Nager” means snake and “Hole” means lake, so the name translates to snake lake. Indeed the place lives up to its name as the location is the residence of the kabini river.

The Kabini river was once the State Highway of Karnataka providing a crucial link to Kerala. It was a time when the sun was thirsty, mercilessly leaving nothing for the flora and fauna, then just in time, like mother nature gave a boon, came a heavy monsoon and this flooded the highways that was built in a dried out percolation spot. The roads became a lake shaped like a snake.

Nagarhole has the highest density of tigers anywhere in India and therefore the chances of sighting a tiger in the wild is quite high. Hence getting attracted to the better odds and the best season for sighting (which being summer), I decided to make our way to Nagarhole forest. Finding accommodation inside the forest is a very expensive affair. There are some resorts near the Kabini reservoir and they charge a bomb for that, but my passion took a higher priority.

Setting my DSLR camera and lens ready, I set off into the wilderness to to get myself the perfect photo. After just 20 mins into the trip I spotted a wild leopard basking and resting on top a tree branch. It’s silhouette shining down from the golden canopy filled with early morning rays. I slowly took out my camera and took a few shots to test the lighting in this damp condition for a photography. We had to wait for another 10 minutes to get the perfect light setup. While we waited I noticed a movement, the leopard was awake and scouting the region. It had spotted us. I was worried it might fled to cover being the shy creatures they are, but instead those gleaming yellow eyes glared down on us with sign of fear. The eyes suited to that of a prince. I was relieved as I was confident I can get my picture now, which I did. An abstract themed leopard photo suited for a wallpaper.