Birdwatcher's Paradise - Dandeli

For many people, bird-watching is a soothing and refreshing hobby. To forget about one’s stress and watch these feathery creatures do some amazing acrobats and singing is one of the perks of this hobby. A hobby that one can follow anywhere whether one lives in a village or city, as birds can be found almost everywhere if one has the eyes and ears to look for them. A hobby that I passionately share with my fellow friends. 

This passion led us to Ganeshgudi near Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka. It is a small beautiful village with a lot of greenery around. The village is on the outskirts of Kali Tiger Reserve. All around the village is covered with dense forest. In this village, the Karnata government have their own guest house named ‘Old Magazine House’. It is a decent stay with some amazing forest and birds around it. The stay package also includes guided tours on various nature trails in the surrounding area. The common dining area is on the first floor, from where we could observe drongos and other birds while having breakfast and lunch. They have built a hide as well with a few watering holes which birds frequent. 

The next morning, our trail was to the Timber Depot which is about 45 minutes driving distance from Old Magazine House. We were taken here by the department vehicle and a guided tour. As we entered, we realised why it is named as a ‘Timber Depot’. We initially thought it might be an old name of the area but we could see the cut logs placed at regular intervals. The notes made on the logs suggested that they were cut only 2-3 years ago. However, the depot was spread across a huge area with several tall trees and dense portions in between. If one gets behind the group, chances are that they may get lost as several routes are going in multiple directions. The bird diversity at Timber Depot was amazing. We were greeted by Malabar Grey Hornbills at the start. As we entered deeper into the area, we could hear numerous bird calls around us. At times it was difficult to spot every bird in dense tall trees. We were able to spot Jungle Owlet, Leaf-bird, Yellow-Footed Green Pigeon, Woodpeckers, Malabar Starling, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Plum-headed parakeet, Orange Minivet, Brown-headed Barbet, etc. 

After Timber Depot, our guide took us to the ‘Supa Bridge’ upon our request. This is a small bridge that goes over the slow-flowing Kali River. The view from the bridge is a sight to be remembered. Slow-flowing clear-blue river water, green mountains on its sides, a temple at one end of the bridge, and silence other than bird calls & occasional sounds of passing cars. Our guide told us that often hornbills fly over this bridge to cross from one end of the river to another. Since it was a sunny afternoon, the bird activity was less. We could see a few Malabar-Pied Hornbills far away. We decided to come back to this bridge in the evening. We went back before evening but only saw a cormorant down on a small island in the river. and Malabar pied hornbills at a distance. A nearby local told us to return during sunset. When we came back, we saw hundreds of swifts flying above. Also, many Malabar pied hornbills were flying close to the bridge and crossing to the other side. I couldn’t capture the scene in the photo but it will always be remembered. 

Since this forest of Ganeshgudi and Dandeli is part of Kali/Anshi National Park, we decided to go for the afternoon safari of this tiger reserve as well. As the ticket window of this park is deep in the forest, the mobile network does not work and one has to take the tickets in a cash payment. The park, unlike others we went to in central and north India, was very dense with bushes and trees. Our safari guide told us that finding a tiger in this type of forest is a very rare sighting to the forest department staff as well who often return with indirect sightings of the tiger during the census. We still managed to see an Indian Peacock, Indian soft-shell tortoises basking in the sun on a wooden log in the middle of the pond, a monitor lizard and a Sambar Deer. The other guests from the Jeep and the guide were very excited about Sambar deer as these deer are also uncommon sightings for such dense forests. Our guide took us to S. R. Bhagwat Sunset Point or Shiroli Kanive Peak. The view from this point was simply mesmerizing. One could only see the green mountain ranges in all directions from this point which are all a part of this national park. From this point, one can imagine the huge extent of this park. 

The most memorable moment of this trip for myself is near the Supa Bridge. One of the locals showed us a way to the nearby off-road forest area. Earlier this area was a farm, but now new construction was taking place. We were told that many hornbills rest on the nearby trees and can often be seen flying around. This land was on the banks of the river. The river bank was peaceful and felt like we came to a place of meditation. Soon after some time, we saw a few hornbills flying around. They were slowly flying to a fig tree near us. Hornbills love the figs and we got to see them tossing the figs in the air and eating them. We spent more than an hour watching this feeding activity. When the activity slowed down, we started to walk back to the main road. As we were walking under the fig tree, a few hornbills flew above our heads and settled in the dense canopy on the other side. As we kept walking, the hornbills kept flying above us. It felt like a red carpet entrance and this moment became a core memory for me and I doubt I will ever witness such a moment. 

With all these beautiful sights and memories, we said goodbye to Ganeshgudi! 

Glimpses of the trip: