Mammal Sightings

Blackbuck: The only site that would guarantee a sighting of this beautiful antelope on our itinerary was Velavadar NP and the areas surrounding it. Whilst it appears on the mammal list for most other parks, they are either rare, outside the tourist areas or extirpated.

Gaur: Common in Kanha and Pench where they were seen on almost every jeep safari, sometimes with two or three sightings per safari. Unlike their cousins in SE Asia or Nepal, the gaur here were very tame, even to the point of refusing to move for vehicles.

Chinkara: This animal was listed for many parks but they are shy and uncommon. We saw a small herd at the Wild Ass Sanctuary (at the wild ass site) in the far distance and a small group just on the Bhavnagar side of the Gir Forest in some fields.

Swamp Deer: Easily seen at Kanha where there are about 340 animals. There was a fence being built for a breeding project at the time of our visit.

Jackal: Although we were excited to see our first jackals, they were easily seen at a number of locations.

Wolf: A difficult animal to find anywhere but for the moment Velavadar might be the easiest site in the world for wolf. We managed three + inside the fenced area of the reserve and then a single animal out side of it on the road that leads to the reserve from the main road. A day spent in and around Velavadar should give a high likelihood of success.

Asiatic Lion: There are allegedly 300+ lions restricted to Gir NP. We managed one sighting of two animals in five jeep safaris, so they are by no means guaranteed. Our guides suggested we were a little unlucky not to see more. Whilst the locals denied it we read in the newspaper that some poachers were killing lions for their claws.

Forest Leopard: We managed to see different individuals of these awesome animals on four consecutive safaris in Gir NP. There said to be over 300 in Gir. They were more common near the edges of the park or outside of it. We had great views of one in Ranthambore, where they are difficult to see on account of competition from tigers. Prolonged views of a sleepy leopard were enjoyed at Pench NP, where apparently they are not easily seen.

Tiger: We managed tiger at four of the five tiger reserves we visited, missing only at Pench. Of 16 jeep safaris I saw tigers six times. We may have seen more but on many safaris we were looking in other areas for other things. Whilst Bhandavgarh is probably the best place to see one we were restricted in our movements there by the tiger-induced death of a villager. Kanha should almost guarantee sightings, as some of the poor bloody things are radio-collared. Ranthambore had over 30 tigers but if you get a bad run of route allocations you could miss even getting the chance to see one. Corbett has many tigers and although the one we saw there was outside the park I think we were unlucky not to see any in the core area.

Jungle Cat: Apparently fairly common. One was seen well at Velavadar where the guide expressed no surprise at the sighting. There were two kittens in the grounds of our lodge at Pench (Pench Jungle Camp) as well as good daylight views of an adult walking across the road in Pench.

Striped Hyaena: Although allegedly widespread the only site where we had a glimpse was at Velavadar where Max and the guide saw a small group in long grass. One was seen by friend Jon Hall just after our visit so this would be the place to see them.

Smooth Indian Otter: A group was seen well in Corbett. Apparently they are not too difficult in the big rivers within the park.

Ratel: Our guide was scouting ahead for lions in Gir NP when he flushed a ratel but by the time he sent word and we ran to the site it had disappeared over a ridge into a part of the park we were not allowed to enter. Apparently they are very rarely seen at Gir with one guide of eight year’s experience having never seen one.

Sloth Bear: Crap views of one lumbering off in long grass in Kanha. We were a little early in the bear season as many would have still been hibernating.

Asiatic Wild Ass: Guaranteed at the Wild Ass Sanctuary where their numbers are on the increase with over 4000 animals.

Bonnet Macaque: Guaranteed on Elephanta Island, Mumbai where they are numerous tame.

Asiatic Elephant: Seen at Corbett where they are reasonably common.

Lesser Mouse-tailed Bat: Common within the Jain temples at Palitana (Gujarat).

Indian Horseshoe Bat: Easily seen within the Buddhist temples in Bhandavgarh.

Asiatic Greater Yellow-bellied Bat: Seen in the courtyard of the Laxmi Palace Hotel (thanks to Jon Hall)

Theobald’s Tomb Bat: Easily seen within the entrance gate to Bhandavgarh Fort.