The Day of the Barking Deer
Some days remain etched in your memory for no discernible reason. While I would hesitate to call them ‘eventful’ there certainly were not uneventful as well. Sometimes the world just aligns and you get one of those days that just pan out perfectly. No drama, no fuss just a nice peaceful feeling at the end. The Day of the Barking Deer was one such day.
It started as the day of the Barking Deer as I saw three of them, in different locations, during the morning safari. I was even fortunate to have been able to capture them on film and was feeling quite pleased with myself. Of course, I would have had to wait to see how they would have come out as I had gone back to shooting with a film camera and one could never really tell — the glorious uncertainties of film.
My luck continued to hold in the evening, I had gone across the lake to the Kabini River Lodge to collect the safari permits, and as soon as I had them I received a call cancelling the safari. I had initially decided not to conduct the safari in the evening but I now found myself on the right side of the river with a permit in my hand but no guests. Since the permit was paid for and not refundable I did what any sane person, not that I make any claims on sanity, would do — I proceeded on safari.
As is my wont when I am alone, I headed towards the loneliest part of the park — the Russell Line. At the park gate, I took the right towards the Nainji Katte, a waterhole on Russell’s line. We surprised a herd of chital as they were proceeding towards the water hole. They were perfectly silhouetted on an embankment near the water hole. After taking a good look at us they proceeded on their way. Unfortunately, they seemed to have already had a drink and so went away from the water. I switched off the engine and settled down to wait. I love waiting at this place primarily because it is not a very popular spot and hardly anybody frequents the area. This gives me the privacy I prefer. I take this opportunity to listen to the jungle sounds. It does not matter that I do not see anything as long as I can listen. That day too, the area was alive with bird calls and I enjoyed myself listing and waiting hopefully for an alarm call that never came.
After a while, I decided to move ahead to the open clearing where I was expecting to find Grey Jungle Fowl feeding on the seeds of grass. But I had not bargained for the fact that the grass had dried up and so did not find them there as I had hoped. After a hasty consultation with Shabir, my driver, I decided to visit as many waterholes as possible. This would mean a fair bit of driving which was quite unlike me but I decided to go ahead.
At the entrance to Temple Road, there is a small waterhole that is so small that it has not been named, and it was here where we stopped again. A few Green Imperial Pigeons were perched on a tree, a Greater Racquet Tailed Drongo flew by, and a Barking Deer approached the water hole with its typical halting gait. Barking Deer are extremely shy and this one, which was a male sporting fine antlers, was very careful while approaching the water. It was aware of our presence and kept looking at us. It bounded away quickly after quenching its thirst.
After a while, we glimpsed a Gaur moving behind a clump of bamboo, it was a female, and it was approaching the water. Another female with a very young calf followed it — less than three months old, as the white stockings, so typical of the Gaur, had not yet been formed. I was very happy, as I had not seen Gaurs for a long time. Shortly after, a large bull Gaur also stepped out and they went to the waterhole for a drink. I managed to get a photograph as they drank.
The bull suddenly stopped drinking and turned to look in the direction of the road behind him. After a while, I heard a jeep approaching and before we knew it the Gaur left the waterhole and disappeared from sight.
We now proceeded towards Greetal Kunji Kere as we wanted to avoid the jeep. I would have preferred to wait at the waterhole a little while longer but I wanted to avoid the approaching jeep. On the way to the Kere, we spied a Malabar Giant Squirrel on a tree and stopped a while to watch him as he scampered from branch to branch, tree to tree with the sunlight setting his beautiful maroon coat of fire. At the Kere, we saw a female elephant half-hidden behind a rise. She approached the water slowly and began to drink. I took a photo just to finish the roll as the light was rapidly fading. Leaving her to finish her drink, we drove away towards Somaniah Kere.
There we struck gold. A herd of elephants with two calves that were barely a week old. We spent the rest of the safari watching them.
