INDIA 2010: Corbett National Park – Part 2

Dec 12 – The year’s monsoon rains have changed Corbett’s waterways considerably since I last visited the park. The Ramnagar river and reservoir have filled such that the view across from the Dhikala compound was a sheet of water. Gone are the grasslands where we would often see deer and elephants. Half the remaining grasslands are under water and our travels were restricted by impassable roads. The reservoir has not been filled since 1993, and this year it is the fullest in memory, 30 feet deep in some places!

Our morning game drive began with much excitement. Alarm calls from a Chital got our attention, and soon we saw the doe and her fawn in the track barely a hundred feet away. It was likely we had just missed a tiger that crossed in front of us!

In the more open grasslands we watched our first Black Francolins pecking the ground for seeds. Bright-fronted Cisticola perched on the grasses for brief moments, while Streak-throated Woodpeckers posed nicely on lone trees in the open. A pair of Collared Falconets (above) , Asia’s smallest raptor, graced the top of a bare tree, and Crested Treeswifts were seen over the forest edge with their long forked tails streaming visibly.

Another impressive, long-tailed bird, the Lesser Racquet-tailed Drongo, was spotted high in the broadleaf canopy amongst a mixed flock of Common Wood-shrike and Scarlet Minivet. Yellow-bellied Fantails and uncharacteristic Velvet-fronted Nuthatch were nearby, while Grey-breasted Prinias foraged low in roadside vegetation. We tracked down several noisy, agitated Oriental Pied Hornbills (above) and watched them chase an eagle out of a fiscus tree. Our raptor sightings included Common Buzzard and Short-toed Snake Eagle. Some of us got brief looks at elusive Emerald Doves, which always seems to be flying by at amazing speed.

We came across a rather shy Hog Deer (above) that inhabit the grasslands, along with Muntjac, another spotted deer species that lives in the forest. We saw a few Mugger crocodiles lounging around the water edges, but could not locate any Gharials, the endangered narrow-snouted crocodiles.

After lunch, half of our group returned to the grasslands and forests of the park, via the back of an elephant! It was thrilling to sit high atop these amazing animals, travelling off the beaten track where only elephants can go. Four of us were seated with reasonable comfort on cushions behind a Mahout, the man who owns and guides his elephant for our pleasure. From this unique perspective we gained a keen understanding of how predators could easily hide in dense vegetation, which included lantana and cannibis plants. At one point our path was blocked by a fallen tree trunk, but our elephant snapped the 10-inch diameter branch as if it were a toothpick, and plodded forward without a hitch. During our two-hour tour we saw a number of deer, including Sambar and Chital, as well as Pallas Fish Eagle, Wild Boar and 3 wild Asian Elephants. Did our domesticated mount envy them?

Those who did not fancy an elephant ride went with Karan instead, where they found a Scaly-bellied Woodpecker, among other things.

On the way to dinner John, Pam and I saw a Porcupine ambling through the compound. This was a new species for our trip list, and a nice way to end a lovely tour of Corbett park.