Sunday March 10
March 10 was a travel day, featuring a 6–hour car ride to our next location at the Kanha tiger reserve and National Park. We made several stops along the way to stretch our legs and to observe a colony of Indian Fruit Bats (Flying Foxes). Our drive took us over the spine of the central Indian mountain range and through large swaths of agricultural land. The wheat fields showed a staggered level of maturity from new green growth to yellow seed heads ready for threshing. Other fields lay fallow, waiting for the rains to enable crops of rice. And of course there were cows everywhere.. some inside paddocks (largely dairy), some free range but driven as a group back to the farm ( largely bullocks for farm labor), and still others roaming wild ( as a source of fertilizer). We also observed different architectural styles from traditional to colonial to modern.
After our arrival at Singinawa lodge, we had lunch. After a short rest, we went for a sunset walk in the buffer zone of the Park. Kanha is twice the size of Bandhavgarh, 3500 square kilometers with about 105 tigers in residence. We were excited to hear that there has been a sighting of a sloth bear every day in the past week! We walked along the Banja River, one of the oldest rivers in India and part of a watershed that predates the breaking up of Gondwana. This is known because the rivers in the watershed flow west while after the continental breakup, India “tipped” to the east and all other river systems flow into the Bay of Bengal.
After dinner we went on a night drive in the buffer zone, but we didn’t see all that much besides three Indian hares. Still it’s fun to be out in the jungle in the dark!
Pictured: Indian flying fox, Indian hare, Blue-tailed yellow skimmer.
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