Safari guides in India - Kaziranga featuring Babloo Ali

I have been travelling seeking new experiences and places. There are many people behind the scenes who make it happen. Safari guides are crucial to make that memorable experience come to life in a faraway place.

I am featuring  guides who made it very special during my recent visit to Assam. 

1 . Mr. Babloo Ali - 

He is an experienced Wildlife and birding guide. With over 15 years of experience navigating all four zones of Kaziranga National Park, He offered me an unmatched expertise for an unforgettable wildlife and birding experience. His extensive knowledge of the park’s seasonal fauna ensures the best photo opportunities to spot iconic species like the one-horned rhinoceros, water buffalo, giant squirrel, capped langurs, monitors , assam roofed turtles. He is an avid birder who will spot even the smallest of warblers and assist you in taking rare images of the park's diverse birdlife. 

He helped me customize my trips by accommodating specific equipment needs and providing ideal setups for capturing stunning shots. His punctuality and professionalism reflects his commitment to delivering a seamless, enriching, and memorable adventure through on of India's last surviving extraordinary wilderness.

I have made a long term friend and am very grateful for his inputs and guidance during my stay at Kaziranga. 

The images below would not have been possible without his expertise.

1. A lesser adjutant stork. 

2. a lesser racquet tailed drongo.

3.territorial display of the Indian Roller.

 

4. the familiar watering hole customers : family of assamese water buffalo with a trio of elephants.

5. a proudly strutting female jungle fowl.

6. Mallards in the morning light.

7. Dominant Assamese macaque male.

8. yellow footed green pigeon.

9. Siberian Stonechat. 

10. Last But not least : The Majestic Royal Bengal Tiger cooling off in the river. 

Feel free to contact him on your next trip to Kaziranga. 

The Observation of Greater Cormorant Breeding Behaviour in Kaikondrahalli lake , Bangalore.

This is a fictionalized account of breeding behavior observation of Greater cormorants in Bangalore.

Finding a house and making it your home in Bangalore is a task indeed. Many of us , recently married, some of us sometime back , emerging from the purple haze of a honeymoon start on the arduous task of shifting from a 1 bhk/ PG accommodation to our very own[ rented] घरौंदा. The task is abundantly described in many Bollywood songs.

I saw an avian version of it recently. As the male preened and pecked at his beautiful streaks of white breeding plumage, she sat distant on a cold, bare branch on a wheezy grey morning which was the 21st .

He went forth and located a Dense scrub dried to the core and heaved and heaved . Some things are just so hard to do [ especially without hands or opposable thumbs]

Finally , a consolation of a twig broke free just enough to suffice her desires.

Freeing himself from the mess of the dry branches, and hurrying up to the mate in waiting, the courtship begins all over again.

Inducing a lady to set up ones house when you just want to go fishing is a true exercise in patience. Too short, too long , too wet, too dry, thorny, too brittle. finally she accepts or probably relents.

Then the heavy lifting begins. First the girders ;

Then the packing material. [ damn!! are those reeds heavy]

this is how you put a totally bum shot to good use. [ hahaha]

Finally, Her majesty inspects the piffling abode and finds it too cramped, the water too green, the air too polluted and BAH!!! the mosquitos.

The only saving grace being the eucalyptus trees which are in flower and fruit. All the guys living in the condo swear by it . Why shouldn't we try too? Being organic and all.

Hopefully the missus likes it :

After all the commotion of wooing her with girders drapers and the works.

A hot bath and shave later she says :

You missed a spot.

Happy Birding y'all ..

See you somewhere sooner than later.

Interesting reading and references :

1. घरौंदा : roughly translates to Nest , could mean primitive simple human dwellings with kuccha construction. Context implies meaning.
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3059459/
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11672937/
4. https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v101n03/p0615-p0618.pdf
5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11679542_Aromatic_plants_in_bird_nests_as_a_protection_against_blood-sucking_flying_insects