Bandhavgarh beauties

[joydeepm]

Hired an elephant for an entire day ( 8 hrs ) . The cost is shocking - 40000 bucks for self , wife son and camera equipment . Got suckered by the low elephant hiring charges in Corbett and kaziranga which are about 500 bucks a person for 3 hrs or so .

End of the day , after a lot of haggling with the ranger , we settled for a much smaller sum , but still absurdly high . Anyone going to Bandhavgarh - I recommend the bandhav Vilas hotel . Excellent . Take the jeep rides and opt for the Tiger Shows on elephant back - which is 100 bucks a head . They pick you up from the jeep on the track and return you to the jeep after tiger sighting - a 10 minute affair.

All the mahouts have walkie talkies so they communicate with the jeep drivers after spotting a tiger .

At the end of the day , i felt like tarzan - chasing tigers thru bamboo thickets , marsh land and hilly terrain . Shirt and jeans were ripped , skin scratched - but got these and some other excellent pics ( they are too big in rAW format - have to convert ) .

The most foolish act - for which I chided myself later was to point a keyring laser pointer at the Sidhbaba female's heart and say " bam ....you are dead ".



For my fellow IFGians - enjoy the pics ...
























Best

Joydeep

-- Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:15 pm --

er...

dont know why the pics have become cropped from the right side ...
shall try and figure it out

[swordfish123]

Amazing. I have been to Bandipur and Nagarahole reserve many times in search of a Tiger. But have never spotted it.

[fantumfan2003]

Joydeep,

Nos. 2, 6 and 7 are awsome pics....wall paper category.....What equipment did you use ?

swordfish123, You have 100% chance of spotting RBT in Bandhavgarh. Plan for your trip in late winter or early summer.

Manish

[Vikram]

Joydeep,

Those pictures look worthy to be in National Geographic.Great pictures.What camera were you using?Congratulations on a very nice outing and thank you for sharing with us.

Hopefully, at least this tourist revenue helps the tiger to survive.

Best-
Vikram

[timmy]

Joydeepm:

Thanks for sharing these great pictures and your experiences! These are superb pictures that put me right into the middle of your visit.

Re: the cropping from the right: the pictures are not actually cropped. It's just that the software only allows pictures of a certain size to be displayed. I'm not sure, but maybe something like 600x600 is the limit. To get them to fit, you need to have a shrunken copy posted that you can link. If you have a Mac, you can adjust the size in Preview very quickly.

Meanwhile, anyone wanting to see full pictures can open them in another tab or window and see them -- they are quite striking!

Thanks again!

[Anand]

Joydeepm,
It is an awesome sight to see tigers in their natural habitat in all their glory, truly majestic.
Thanks a lot for "sher"ing!
Anand

[swordfish123]

Can you upload the full resolution pics somewhere. Atleast the tiger pics. Which camera, lens are you using. These are just awesome pics.

[joydeepm]

Dear All ,

thanks for the kind comments and appreciation .

The camera(s) were Nikon D90/D40X with fixed 50mm , 18-200mm and fixed 150 mm Nikkor D lenses . I also use a sigma 150mm fixed with macro for close ups . i sometimes use a 400 mm fixed tele - but it was not with me on this trip . Very modest equipment - but effective in most cases .

If you use good cameras in the Indian jungles , on elephant back or jeep , be sure to wrap them in towels - other than the shooting times of course - to protect the rquipment from dust . if you are on elephant back or shooting from a jeep , please ensure you have a lens with VR( vibration reduction - Nikon) or IS ( image stabilizer - canon )or some such technology . Nth momentl urch by the pachyderm or vibration from the jeep spells the difference between a great snap and a blurred one .

The pics were in NEF RAW format . I had already shrunk them to 1.2 mb - 2.3 mb file size after converting them to jpeg . Some of them are in photobucket . If you guys look me up in facebook - some of the hi-res pics are uploaded there .

Anyone here wishing to go to Bandhavgarh in the near future - send me a pm . Shall be glad to share info .

Timmy - if you are ever in this part of the world , ensure a visit to Bandhavgarh or corbett national park or ranthambore . You will not regret it .

Best
Joydeep

[timmy]

Joydeep:

Some day, if fortune smiles on me, I will visit. The list of places I want to see is already miles long!

[xl_target]

Thanks for posting Joydeep.
Incredible photos.

[Sakobav]

Great pics Joydeep and thanks for sharing..truly majestic 'Lord of the jungle' and the others too. Any information on conservation or what the locals see any improvement?
I am also debating between Nikon D5000 and Nikon D90. Its my first DSLR still confused..

Cheers

[nagarifle]

nice going. good shots.

[hvj1]

Just goes to confirm what Corbett had once said. - To see the tiger for the first time in the jungles of India is a 'moving' experience.
Thanks pardner for sharing your photos.

[joydeepm]

Dear ngrewal ,

My 2 cents on your choice of cameras
the D5000 is actually an inferior SLR camera for stills as compared to the D90. Both have video capability - the D5000 has superior video capability than D90 - but what the heck . Even a medium range sony compact handycam shoots better video than any of these DSLRs . My view on this is - for the present and possibly the next 2 years - keep your DSLR and the video cam separate .
The D90 scores over D5000 in still capability and I feel it is more ruggedly built .
If you can afford it , you can go for the D300 or the D700 . They are better still - more ruggedly built and can stand a lot of abuse .
I am actually suprised by the results of the D40x - a very good entry level SLR . With a good Nikkor lens this gives very good results .It however needs to be handled with care as dust easily gets inside and it does not have auto sensor cleaning . In the US where you stay , dust is not a serious factor . So I recommend , as a first time dslr user - you can go for this camera . Buy the 18-200 Nikkor AF-S DX VRII
lens with this and you are set for most photographic situations you shall face .
If you want to do serious wildlife , then you need to upgrade to a more rugged body and longer telephotos .

End of the day , you can own a paradox , a H&H 0.375 or a H&H double - if you shoot the tiger in the tail -the animal does not go down in reverence of your equipment . In photography , at the end it is the composition and the feeling you bring to it .

happy shooting


Dear hvj1

it is a very "moving" experience . I had an enterprising mahout . The 2nd , 8th( same tiger) and the last snap were taken within 12 feet of the tigers . The mahout kept on saying "do not worry - they know this elephant and wont come near ". The elephant was a 65 year old tusker called Indrajeet . Its back is a min 12 feet from the ground . Perched precariously on the seat , holding on the to the cameras , son and wife ( my wife maintains it was in that strict order) I almost felt my bowels "move" .

The mahouts in bandhavgarh , takes the elephants nearest to the tigers in my limited experience .
On a more serious note - nothing is a more majestic sight than a wild tiger roaming freely in jungles which are rightfully their's . Trust me on this .

Best

Joydeep

[Sakobav]

joydeep

Appreciate the guidance and I agree DSLR should only be bought for still photos and D 90 is in fact D 300 and the fact it has a motor one can use cheaper lens. Its true Nikon D40 is still considered by many including experts as the best entry level camera or its new replacement D3000.
One of the biggest fans of D 40 is Ken Rockwell http://www.kenrockwell.com/. I agree about 18-200mm VR lens but it retails for $900ish. Its a great travel lens.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/SLR-D ... 4291315846

Thanks