On the route for the last time

It was our final day in Kazi. The morning elephant ride was very fruitful. We had a wonderful experience of the misty morning which I wanted to have from the very first day. Now we were on our way to the Eastern Part of Kazi as our last safari.

 On the way to the Eastern zone we had to cross paddy field area. Last time when we went there we had seen a big flock of parakeets resting on the tree beside the road. We were expecting the same flock to be present at that place as parakeets normally dont change their daily habits and routes.

For our surprise this time they were not on the trees but in the fields, busy in picking the paddy grains and other cereals. More and more were coming from various directions and joining the party. It was a sight to behold.

At one point of time there were nearly 500 birds in the flock. It was still growing. We all had a wonderful time photographing them. Shooting the flock to make good compositions is always a challenge for me. I think I have failed again! :(

If you were following all my posts of Kazi trip from the beginning you might be knowing that we had visited Eastern zone before as well. It is mixture of various types of habitats. It has woody region, it has lake bed, it has patch of grassland and it has river bed as well! So there are chances of seeing fauna in various types of habitats.

As we were heading towards the river bed, we noticed a huge tusker on the grassland beside a lake. It was quite huge and had very attractive long tusks. Kunwar declared that it will be coming to this part of the lake to cross the road where we were standing. We were a bit apprehensive on his declaration as we thought that it was too early to predict that. But that is Kunwar! He stopped the gypsy and told us to remain very silent, and he just slid onto his seat and closed his eyes as if he was preparing himself for a short sleep... ( in fact he was :) )

We were observing the huge guy. He slowly started showing the interest in coming to this side of the lake. He was trying to find a suitable place where he can cross the lake. After about 15 min, he was on this side of lake, beside which there was a road where our gypsy was standing. Kunwar then decided to move the gypsy a bit forward, to allow the tusker to cross. Doing this had another reason as well. The same guy had charged the previous day for one of the gypsies. As it is very difficult to escape in the reverse gear in case he starts charging from front, Kunwar proactively cleared the way for the tusker to cross the road. It was an intelligent move and that can come only by experience. 

After about another 15min the tusker slowly climbed up to the road and there he was in front of us! He was a bit nervous and immediately crossed the road and disappeared into the woods on the other side.

As we moved ahead we saw a lonely elephant calf! The poor child was desperate to find its herd. The forest guard who was coming with us in the gypsy told us that the herd must have left this calf intentionally! We were surprised to hear that as we always thought elephant share a very complex and deep social bonding and are very protective about their calves. Guard told that this calf must have some disease because of which the herd must have abandoned it so that the disease will not spread to other calves in the herd! It was a totally new information for us! 

The calf was looking very weak and it was roaming alone in the zone of tigers. Don't know what happened to that poor calf afterward.

We hit the grassland but the sun was already harsh. It was about 11:30AM when we decided to leave the place.

We came back to the resort, had our lunch, packed our stuffs and loaded them onto the Jeep to start towards another wonderland - Nameri.

See you there soon!

Cheers,
Ash