Got back last night after spending 2 weeks in some of the most amazing places in the western ghats. The monsoon has not yet set in, so we did not get all the stuff we wanted, however we did get some weird creatures of the western ghats. I also did a splash and dash to Bangalore to attend the Aerosmith concert which totally rocked. More soon, while I get some much needed rest.
We had to cut short our Kabini shoot because of early monsoons. There has been heavy downpour the last two days and it meant its tough to film in the rain and and the elephants have started to disperse. But just before the rains arrived, we managed to get some amazing sequences of elephants at the backwaters and a very lovery sequence of a young calf playing with another one for a good hour the other day. Infact the day before, we were surrounded by a big group of elephants and got to see and experince all the groups dynamics…
I’m back in Bangalore for a quick trip. I got to spend only two days at Kabini, the Asiatic elephants capital of the world, trying to film the elephants that have come to the backwaters. Yesterday we saw some 200 of them and everyday their numbers are increasing. Its an amazing sight to see them in the open. The elephants are split into groups of 10 to 30 and they all come in the open areas, greet each other, the young ones find company to play with and they move on. Many males (mostly big tuskers) are in heat or…
We were suppose to have been in the Jungles, specifically at Kabini all this time. But first it was the rains that kept us away from there and than it was some paper work and last min equipment preperation. Anyway I’m off tomorrow and hopefully will try to post updates from the forest. Itching to do some photography on this trip.
My week long attempt to capture the King Cobra nesting behavior has been unsuccessful. Waiting for action This place is just outside a small town named Thirthahalli, inside a forest plant nursery. The den itself is right next to the Tunga river, inside a bamboo clump. We had a small open area in the front, where we could pitch out tent, keep all our cameras ready etc. The experience was really tough. Since snakes are sensitive to movements, we had to sit still all day and the place was infested with all bity ants. Male Cobra checking us out For…
My first day with the king went quite well. I sat in clear view in front of the pair all day (9 hours straight) with my cameras. The female was mostly in the borrow and the male spent 9 hours of the day staring at me. He tried to mate with the female in the middle and they were in this head-over-head position for quite sometime, till the female got bored and went back to the den. The king cobra seems to have a thing for watching things around him. He kept his eye on us most of the day…
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…
With this new job, I rarely get to decide my schedule. Its the animals and weather that decide it for me. I just got a call this evening about a chance to film one of the most deadly creatures in the world. Just packing my bags and am off first thing in the morning to the western ghats. If I can get it on tape, this will be the first time anyone would have filmed this creature’s behavior in the wild. Yes, I’m a bit scared, but I’ll have an expert at hand. More about it when I get back…
The last 10 days were really hectic as we finally started our shoot for the BBC documentary. We spent a day in Mysore and the rest in Bandipur, waiting at the waterholes for the animals to turn up mostly. Wildlife film making is atleast 20 times tougher than photography. The sound needs to be there, everything on heavy tripods, cannot hand carry the cameras and lenses and one always needs a crew. Working from 4:30am till midnight did not make it any easier. Alphonse Roy (Probabilty India’s best wildlife film maker) and Harry Marshall (Our producer and director from Icon…
Joy The short trip back to the grasslands was very productive and I was able to trek around a lot easier this time around. I’ve had an amazing sighting of a Jungle cat and wild dogs with pups. I’ll try to process those pics as soon as I find time. Meanwhile, I’ve uploaded the last trips photos onto my gallery. The person in the above photograph is Kapilan who is one of the main forest guards over there. He’s standing at the edge of Kerala and Tamil Nadu starts down the vallery from where he is standing. Infact most of…