Wildlife Photography

A couple of months ago, Cindy and I went to a photo show here in Bangalore. There was a drawing by Toehold and I was the lucky winner of a trip to Kabini for a wildlife photography bootcamp. It was all arranged by Toehold, and they even coordinated carpooling for us, as Kabini is about a 5 hour drive from Bangalore. I got to travel with two gentlemen, one who works here in Bangalore for one of the major real estate developers, the other lives and works in Dubai for a bank. I realized almost immediately as we started discussing photography on the way out that they both had more experience with DSLRs than I for wildlife types of photography, and I was outclassed in equipment as well. As it turned out I had the least equipment of anyone on the trip, but I still managed to get some nice pictures.

So we left on Friday morning at 7:30 from south Bangalore. Prasanna, the driver, knew a nice place to stop for breakfast on the way--good South Indian dosas, etc. Aziz was pretty tired on the trip, so he slept most of the way in the back seat. He had flown in from Dubai and arrive very early in the morning. We arrived a the Jungle Lodges at about 12:30, the appointed time, so we did really well. There we met Sudhir and Giri, the two instructors/ guides. After we all assembled, had lunch and got to know everyone on the trip, we went for our first Safari. The safaris run twice a day into the jungle, once from 3:30 till 6, and in the mornings from 6:30 till 9:30. So we head off in two jeeps. The group had been divided into two teams who would stay together for the weekend on the various Safaris, but the instructors would trade off. Sudhir was our first instructor.

We went out for a practice shoot the first afternoon, then we would discuss mistakes and preparation etc. afterwards. Sudhir was excellent at giving tips while we were out there shooting, light conditions, camera settings and all. We got lucky on this trip that we saw, amongst all of the other animals in the forest, a leopard crossing the road. He was a bit far away for me to get a really good picture. My longest lens is 300mm, and it really needed 400-600 to get a good shot of him. Sudhir was working with an 800mm lens which was really something to see. As you can see from the photo, he was walking about half way between our jeep, and another group on safari. They have banned the drivers and naturalists from carrying walkie talkies, something they did in the past, because it became like an overland race to get anywhere something good had been sighted, and the animals would get scared when 6 jeeps would come roaring up to wherever there was a good sighting. So our team saw the leopard, the other team didn't.

Friday evening we had a talk on technique, and then went to bed for an early trip into the forest the next day. Saturday we saw and took pictures of lots of animals, and different birds. I've posted only a few on Flickr The tips and tricks were really helpful. Giri led our morning session, and Sudhir the afternoon one. Unfortunately we didn't see any other cats on Saturday. The other team did see one at the end of the day. We were all waiting around near the Tiger Tank, because we could hear the alarm calls from the deer, indicating that a cat was in the neighborhood, but it never showed itself. We went one route out of the forest, the other jeep went the other way. They saw a tiger off in the distance on their way out, but it went into the jungle before they got close.

We did see Elephants, Deer, Monkeys and lots of Birds.


That evening we talked to someone at the Jungle Lodges who had been coming repeatedly for 7 years, and had never seen a tiger. So sightings are rare. Saturday evening we had a guest lecture from one of the heads of the forestry service who also happens to be an avid wildlife photographer. It was good to hear him talk, and see his beautiful pictures, very inspiring.

Sunday morning was to be our final safari. Giri was leading the group in our jeep. He and the driver kept stopping and listening for alarm calls. And we kept hearing them. Finally we were going up this long hill, stopping every so often. It was our 3rd or 4th stop. We were hearing the alarm calls, and wondering where the tiger was. I looked to the side of the jeep, and there she was, about 30 yards away, crouched down in the grass. I said "Tiger, Tiger 10 O'Clock". My jeepmates didn't believe at first, then they saw her. The camera clicking sounded more like a machine gun going, it was pretty amazing. She stayed there for about 10 mins and then got spooked, so she got up and went into the brush behind her. We could tell she was going down hill, back the way we had come. Giri had by now jumped up on the roof of the jeep cab, holding on to his camera with one hand and the roll bar with the other, he tells the driver to drive backwards down a bumpy, full of potholes, dirt track. We saw her come out of the brush down hill from us but the jeep was still moving too much for us to get pictures. Then she started back up. We raced back up the hill to where there was a clearing cut through the brush at about a 45 degree angle down the hill. She crossed there and some got good pictures. I really only got a good picture of the spotted deer she chased off. And then she went into the brush again. About this time another jeep showed up. They had just missed it all by 5 minutes. Timing is everything.


When I get some more time, I'll go through the hundreds of photos I took that day and see if I can process any more of them to be good for posting and I'll add them to the Flickr.

I have to thank Giri, Sudhir and Toehold for this amazing experience. One I won't forget till the day I die. Seeing a wild tiger, in the forest, and getting the time to take decent pictures doesn't happen every day. I'm inspired to be a better photographer, and to continue trying to get some good wildlife photos, along with the others I take. I can highly recommend Toehold for people who wish to improve their photo skills.