So how could we top yesterday then…..? Well on entering the
safari vehicle the naturalist-guy asked kinda smugly what we’d like to go for
today, having been with us yesterday afternoon for the Tiger. So naturally we said Wild
Dog or Leopard which really
wiped the smile off his face I can tell you. So we drove out to the open areas
near the river and had a look, and there were a few birds around but I
suspected it was going to be a bit dull this morning. Well how wrong can you
be? As I scanned the far side of the grassland I picked up a couple of Dholes (Wild Dogs) and rather frantically said “dogs, dogs, dogs…!” Not too
cool really. But then what transpired couldn’t have been more amazing as there
were 7 Wild Dogs and they had tried
to reach a calf Gaur which was
hiding behind a group of adults just inside the forest. Then a huge bull Gaur came charging forward and tried to
scare the pack away but only succeeded in getting surrounded and it looked at
one point as if it would get taken down.
 |
| Wild Dogs Attacking Gaur |
But three other adult Gaurs came charging out and saved the
lone bull. So the dog pack quickly gave up and settled down for a play in the
middle of the meadow where they remained for several minutes, a picture of
serenity and calm. But just then a couple of domestic dogs ambled out into the
grassland and the Dholes saw them
immediately and gave chase. They were unbelievable fast and came hurtling past
our jeep and soon caught up with one of the domestic dogs and the last we saw
of them was when they disappeared into the forest. The chase was enlivened by
the almost Attenborough-esque commentary from Jeff although it couldn’t be
repeated on a public forum such as this, but I think you were right and those
domestic dogs definitely did poop themselves!
So with that excitement over we headed back to the lodge and
after breakfast we left, checking out a nearby area where we had Richard’s Pipit, Malabar Lark, Indian Black
Ibis, and both Woolly-necked and
Painted Storks before driving on to
Mysore, a long and boring journey which eventually resulted in our arrival at a
nice hotel in time for a late lunch. We did check out the nearby hills a little
later but saw very little, so had to settle for a lovely evening meal to round
the day off nicely.
 |
| Indian Black Ibis |
Great series
ReplyDelete