Sleeping with the enemy
Well as many of you have guessed, I’m here in western ghats, trying to film the mating and nesting behavior of King Cobra in the wild for the first time. After a long day’s drive, I only got to have a glimpse of both the male and the females this evening. Right now, the female is in the den and the male is sitting inside a clump of bamboo right outside.
And I’m posting this from my tent which is 10m from this bamboo clump. The King Cobras are generally not known to be active in the night, but I have the gear ready just in case they decide to go at it. In the last few days, they have been most active in the mornings it seems. So I’m just going to sit in this tent till late afternoon tomorrow and only then head out of this place.
Its a funny feeling when you are so close to the largest venomous snake in the world and the only thing protecting you from it is a thin sheet of fiber. Luckly I have Gowry Shanker with me, who happens to know more about king cobras than anyone else in the world and thank god for good cellphone coverage in reserve forests these days 🙂
I don’t know which is more amazing….sitting next to the cobras, or getting connectivity in all those places!
Honey, the dude in the tent next door thinksss we’re only active in the morningsss. heh heh. No wonder they haven’t caught usss on camera yet!
OMG cobras, careful dude.
Spying on snakes getting some action… what has the world come to? 😛
hmm people dont even allow snakes to enjoy their personal life even in wild ahh (yen kala bantappa) — he he he just kidding dude — the day i see or shoot a snake i would stay atleast 1 km behind and would prefer to use a 600mm lens for it 🙂
Do you folks carry anti-venom on you? I know they require refrigeration which might be a challenge in the wilderness.
But your such close proximity to the KING of all snakes sure requires some form of solid protection.
Wow!
G33ks! You know! 🙂
Sleep well! 🙂
-N
And if they bite you, bite them back – don’t let them have an edge over you! 🙂
All the best!
-N
Details?
“Luckly I have Gowry Shanker with me, who happens to know more about king cobras than anyone else in the world..”
I’m interested in knowing more about this guy.
I pray that you guys do get it on tape. Good luck!
King
I knew it would be the ‘King’. I’ve seen a documentary where the lady builds nest with heap of dry bamboo leaves ….in which it lays eggs. As I know, the mother leaves the nest just before the eggs hatch lest she gets tempted to eat them. Kids are as poisonous as adults.
A lot of patience ahead…!! Wish you all the best.
V!nod
Have a good sleep with cobras… just kidding..
Eagerly waiting for some good snaps.
Which part of western ghats are you into?? Who is this Gowri shanker ??? Need more Info…
Cheers Mate…
Haha, Nice. Looking forward to the pics 🙂
What is a G33ks?
Heh! Heh! Heh!
Wildlife porn;-) I can imagine Playsnake centre folds;-) BJP protests and all;-)
he means “Geeks” 🙂
Hah! I thought some new kind of connection, like GPRS;-)
Man once my cousin told me that a Kodak camera he saw was GR8, so I told him Kodak doesn’t have a GR8 model. And his reply to that thereafter;-)
hehe.. nerdy here is too nerdy! 😉
kallu is known to get connected in western ghats/bandipur by climbing the tallest tree and hang his mobile from there to get GPRS! 😉
All hail Kallu bhai as the next Crocodile/Reptile hunter!
Romulus Whittaker
Hi..
Are you operating in Romulus Whittaker’s research field station?
ROTFL
Do let us know when you make it back 😉
Wow Kalyan, seems quite adventurous and exciting.
be very careful.
Sridevi
Unfortunately there is yet no anti-venom for king cobra bite
Enemy ??
When did u become a US Citizen ??
Murali…