In June, I had visited Jim Corbett National Park. I had booked safaris for Bijrani, Jhirna, Garjia and Dhela zones as booking for these places were available a month in advance. I had stayed at Sparrow Nest Corbett Homestay for around 4 nights and done a total of 6 safaris. Everything was organized by Ramesh Suyal who is also the owner of the homestay. The trip from Dehradun to the homestay which is in Ramnagar took around 5 hours. I would recommend staying here for those who are planning to visit this national park as the meals are well cooked and feels like home.
Wildlife
A Few Days At Shuklaphanta National Park
To get to Shuklaphanta National Park, one has to take a short flight to the small town of Dhangadi which is located in the Western Nepal near the border of India. The park is located at a short distance from the airport. After arriving at Dhangadi, I took a cab to Shuklaphanta Jungle Cottage. This is a great place to stay right next to the main entrance of the park. Rooms are quite comfortable and food served here is well cooked and feels like home cooked food.
Mountain Biking in Pokhara Valley
After spending a week at Chitwan I took a cab to Pokhara where I had decided to try out some mountain biking. Here I spent around 2 weeks exploring the various trails on my mountain bike and taking photos of the landscapes and wildlife. I had actually purchased the mountain bike in Kathmandu at a store called Panc Bike. It is a Polygon Premier 5 mountain bike. I could have rented the bike but I decided on purchasing it instead. I had mainly stayed at Nepali Cottage Guesthouse. I would recommend this place for a few reasons. One is that it is for those on a low budget, rooms are clean and the owners are quite friendly and also there is a juice bar that not only serve juice but also make good breakfast.
A Week at Chitwan National Park
After I had finished my Everest Base Camp Trek, I had decided on my next venture which was to visit Chitwan National Park. This was actually my third trip to this place and during this trip, I had spent a week here. The best way to get to Chitwan is a 3 to 4 hour drive to the village of Sauraha from Kathmandu. Here I had done a few jeep safaris plus some foot safaris as well. Foot safaris are more economical but there is always risk of wild animals and for this reason there are either one or two people while out on a foot safari.
Filming and Photographing the Grey Seals of Horsey Gap
Horsey Gap which is located in Norfolk county in North East of England, is home to the largest colonies of grey seals. From November to the end of January, the beach is crowded with seals and their new born pups. Grey seals can move at a speed of 35km/hr in water and 2km/hr on land.
Deer rut photography at Bradgate Park
I had previously visited Bradgate Park a few times back in October of 2018. You could read about it by clicking here. I had again planned to visit the park during the deer rutting season. This time with my new Canon EOS R6, I took the train from Sandwell and Dudley to Leicester train station and from there a taxi to get to a park.
Moorland Birds of Prey Workshop
I had attended a full day workshop organized by Danny Green last month in September which specialized in photographing various birds of prey such as Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Barn Owl and Eagle Owl. The workshop took place in a moorland environment which is a perfect backdrop to photograph these birds of prey. The workshop was attended by 6 to 7 other photographers all with very expensive camera gear. Here are some of my images which I captured during the workshop.
One week in Anglesey
I had travelled to Holyhead, Anglesey via train. The train trip took around 4 hours from Smethwick train station which is near to where I live in West Bromwich. I was planning this trip for a long time and had wanted to visit a number of locations in Anglesey. Anglesey is small island of the North West coast of Wales. The places I wanted to visit and photograph where South Stacks in Holyhead, Newborough, Penmon and Penhros Country Park.
Testing the animal eye AF on the Canon EOS R6
Since I purchased the Canon EOS R6, I had taken a few nature photos at Sandwell Park which just a walking distance from my home in West Bromwich. The main intention was to try out how accurate the animal eye auto-focus was and I was quite happy with the way the camera would focus on the eye of the animal or bird even when moving. Here are some samples of what I had captured over the past couple of days.
Buffalo photograhy at Jhilmil Jheel
Before arriving back in England, I had decided to do an overnight safari at Jhilmil Jheel. I was in the hope of actually photographing elephants and possibly sighting of leopard which are residents of the area but rarely seen. Anyhow after a morning and afternoon safari session, we were not even able to sight Chital or Sambar. This was a very disappointing trip in itself but even though I had decided to atleast make the most of it. We saw plenty of water buffalo which were either domesticated or feral or a mix of both. However even though they were also somewhat residents of the forest, it was great to observe them within this environment. The main difference between the domesticated and wild water buffaloes is that the wild ones have larger horns and weigh more than captive or domesticated ones.