SATPURA WILDLIFE SEASON SPECIAL 2021-22

Many people ask what is a season for you in the jungle. Well it used to be October- June but now thanks to our forest department, as a tourist you can still enjoy safaris in Monsoon (in the buffer area).
This blog is just a little recap of the season that we celebrated with our guests, with all the epic sightings, food, and family at Forsyth lodge.

Every year when the tourism season starts in Satpura Tiger Reserve it is like a clean slate for all of us. The rivers are full and many routes are closed, only to open up one by one as the gates of Tawa Dam (30 km downstream from Denwa River) are opened for irrigation for agriculture around the landscapes.

This season most of the tiger sightings were happening in either the Churna full day safari, or the Parsapani buffer area, well all those sightings the world knows about. We would like to share the sightings we had in the lesser visited buffer Sehra at night. When we saw a tigress chasing a bull for almost an hour and a half, finally failing to hunt.

First Tiger Sighting

Sehra Night Safari

 

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Satpura is one of those places where you can expect the unexpected and that is what happened with us in one of the safaris when we stumbled upon this mother with her two cubs moving around, unperturbed by our presence. Where in most parts of our country finding a sloth bear is difficult, Satpura Sloth Bears move around in broad daylight.

Sloth bear cubs

BIRD SURVEY IN SATPURA

Each year during winters hundreds and thousands of birds migrate to the Indian Subcontinent and that is the time when our forest department with the help of birders across the country organize bird surveys across the country. This year our team got to join the survey and be in the most beautiful and unexplored part of the forest, Bori wildlife Sanctuary.The experience of watching the Hard Ground Barasingha thriving in the grasslands/ Meadows was bliss and commendable. The landscape was even more breathtaking with the clearest water you could possibly see anywhere.

Landscapes of Satpura

BEST OF THE SEASON

While we had great Tiger, Leopards and sloth bear sightings, Wild dogs sightings were not at its best. Hearing that people used to see over 30 wild dogs in a pack at once, which reduced to just a pair, was worrisome. At the start of the season we were very hopeful when the pair was courting. In a few months we knew they had their pups hidden somewhere. The hunts in open grassland had become frequent where we also often sighted leopards. One evening while returning from the drive just 10 minutes short, we saw this pair moving towards the rocky hilly area. We planned to follow them. In no time we started hearing the yapping of the pups from the cave. They were their all this time but no sound until the parents came back. Incredible is what the season was!!
Watch the pups suckling after the long days wait!!

 

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While now the monsoon had brought some relief to the denizens of the forest with water all over the place we are enjoying the changes that are happening each day in the majestic Satpura Tiger Reserve!!!