Blog Post

Anne Wright was one of the founding members of WWF in India. She was also one of the 5 member team selected by our late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to allocate and identify areas that would become National Parks for Project Tiger back in 1972-73.

Belinda, Anne’s daughter was a wildlife photographer and an Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker who worked for many years for National Geographic. She currently runs Wildlife Protection Society of India which focuses on wildlife crimes.

My experience at Kipling Camp was as unique as the camp itself. Unlike most Luxury Wilderness Lodges opening up around the country Kipling offered a truly different experience focusing on wilderness rather than on adding swimming pools and spas. The camp has the charm of forest bungalows and rest houses from the colonial days and definitely makes you feel like you have travelled back in time. All staff with the exception of Ivan and a small team of volunteers belong to the region. They have been working at Kipling Camp for decades. They were all very polite, helpful and always carried an infectious smile and truly looked happy to be part of the Kipling camp family. Since the dates of my trip were planned around a travel mart that took place in Bhopal it was all very last minute and I had not booked any safaris. This was great as it gave me a chance to explore the camp and the areas around it.

I started my day early with a bird walk in the adjoining buffer area accompanied by Ivan and our guide for the walk, Raheem. Raheem had grown-up with the Kipling Camp family and knows the area and the jungles surrounding the camp. He is an exceptional birder sometimes tracking and identifying birds just by their calls. We walked across a fire-line into the buffer forest, it was not until then did I realize that the fire-line and the buffer forest literally started at the boundary of the last cottage. I walked through the tall trees searching for birds that inhabited this beautiful forest. The early morning sunlight filtered through the leaves reflecting off spider webs that were between every other tree. Even though these were large webs spun by giant Wood-spiders you would definitely not see them and walk into them if it wasn’t for these small rays of sunlight. Just as I was trying to get the remains of a web off my face I stumbled over what I initially thought was a log, when I looked down I was amazed to see the scattered bones of recent tiger/ leopard kills. Raheem must have seen the surprized look on my face for he broke into a smile and said “this area is regularly visited by tigers and leopards and was a great place for the tiger to hunt when the chital herds came to the camp waterhole for a drink in the evening. The movement is less these days as the lantana has been cut”. Nature walks in the buffer forest usually means a lot of birding maybe a few scattered deer but nothing more, but walking through what I would like to call a ‘boneyard’ definitely got my pulse racing.

In our discussion the previous evening one of the boys spoke of a leopard that had been regularly visiting the camp and had been carrying off their chicken and some of their pet ducks. On returning from the morning walk, while I sat waiting for my breakfast, I imagined possibilities of me seeing or encountering this elusive cat at the camp.  How would I react? Where would it possibly enter the camp? But before my imagination could run completely wild Ivan and the volunteers joined me for breakfast and we moved the discussion to their experiences at the camp. It was now bright enough to let out the Ducks who marched their way to the camp waterhole for a swim. Within minutes one of the pantry boys shouted – Leopard!! Leaving our food we all rushed to the edge of the waterhole and sure enough on the far bank was a leopard sitting on the bank trying to decide whether she should pounce or slink away. The ducks (some 10 odd in number) fluttered their wings and made a ruckus trying to intimidate the leopard. The ducks showed remarkable courage and with our presence it was enough to make the big cat retreat. This was already turning out to be quite an experience. We waited for a good hour and half but the leopard didn’t return.

I spent the afternoon in the forest on a safari which was rather uneventful in comparison. That evening I headed out of my cottage towards the Shamiana and I switched on the torch light only to be greeted by 30 pairs of eyes. Not wanting to disturb the inhabitants of the camp I moved to Shamiana in darkness with a sense that where there is prey there is a predator. The events of the day really worked up my appetite and before we could start our meal, the Chital began making frantic alarm calls in unison. Led by Belinda we rushed towards the waterhole and tried to search for the leopard armed with our torch light. Just knowing that the leopard was somewhere nearby on the prowl and yet out of sight made the whole experience very exciting

  

The next morning I started my day with visiting villages around Kisli and taking a trip down to the river with Tara. The villages in the area are very different from villages that we see in north India. The houses have the traditional mud walls and thatched roof with beautiful colours which make the countryside really picturesque. Mr Shukla who accompanied me also took me to the Baiga village. The Baigas are tribals who have recently been relocated from the interiors of Kanha. The Baiga ladies wear very interesting head gear but the tradition seems to be changing rapidly. One could see traces of modernity creeping in and changing their beautiful traditions. The Village Walk is a must do for families with kids to give them an insight about village life.

Just before I left I had enough time to do what has become a highlight of all guests visiting Kipling Camp – Taking Tara for her daily bath! The Banjar River is about 30 minute away from the camp at a brisk pace as it’s the highlight of Tara’s day and come 3pm she doesn’t wait for anyone and darts straight for the river. At times it can be quite a challenge just to keep up with her. But what will actually blow your mind is when you get into the river with her and scrub her down. She is at her playful best in the river soaking you with a trunkful of water. A must do experience for all, especially kids. Such a beautiful experience with a gentle giant is a once in a lifetime experience and will definitely get you hooked for spending more time. Unfortunately for me I had to get back to Jabalpur to catch a train.

It was starting to get to dark and I spent a better part of the two and half hour journey to Jabalpur making notes of my experiences at Kipling Camp just then the car slowed and on the road were 4 jackals approaching us. The jackals soon disappeared into the darkness and I realized we were now only about 25 odd kilometres from Jabalpur. I hoped to find more wild animals. We went another 5-6 kilometres and as the city lights came into view my hopes of any more brushes with wild life dimmed.  Just then  I saw what I thought was a dog walking along the road, but something was different, and just as we pulled up near it I realised it wasn’t a dog but a big cat ,a leopard. It was literally outside the window of my car. The leopard dropped out of sight as soon as I got the driver to stop the car. This is was perhaps the closest I had ever been to a wild leopard. A perfect way to end what had been one of my most memorable wildlife experiences ever. I know I would certainly be venturing into my next excursion with super high expectations!