Great experience!. Review on Bhigwan

I had been trying to find a good place to sight wolves and hyenas in the wild in India, for quite some time. But my pursuits had not yielded results in this regard in the last 3 years or so. Apparently, there are only over a 2000 wolves left in the wild in India. Lesser than tigers. This time, I got some promising news about spotting them near Bhigwan Bird Sanctuary in Maharashtra. So, without further ado, I set off after some planning in May 2024.

ABOUT BHIGWAN:

It is an area which constitutes the intersection of Pune, Solapur and Ahmednagar districts about 110+ kms away from Pune. The most famous attraction here is the Bhigwan Bird Sanctuary which is located over a dam with a huge lake with grasslands surrounding it, close to Bhima river. It is close to Kumbhadgaon. There are multiple water bodies here, for those interested in such with a few islands amidst the water bodies as well. These are home to many more migratory birds in winter, including the Flamingo.

In and around Bhigwan, further away, there are several separated forest areas which are good for sighting other animals like canids, birds, other herbivores and so on. These are mostly grassland areas with hilly patches and water bodies here and there. Different kind of vegetation. So, no dense forests or a plethora of tall trees, unlike the kingdoms of tigers, lions or leopards etc.

MY EXPERIENCE:

DAY 1:

I reached Pune by air and had already made arrangements for a pickup. I was going to be staying at a homestay near Bhigwan Bird Sanctuary. After about 2.5 hours of travelling by car, we reached the desired location. I discussed about future day plans with the organiser I had discussed all this with.

A research group from Bombay Natural History Society had also come to visit and was staying at the homestay with me. The group had come to collect samples of wetland birds and were discussing how a local while crossing a water body, had drowned due to some storm. The group mentioned they had once seen a leopard 150 m away from the homestay, while checking on nightjars at night, in nearby fields during their past visits. The fields nearby were actually dried out water bodies owing to the summer season. I would start my safaris the next morning.

DAY 2: SAFARI 1(SCORPIO)

We were going to visit Kadbanwadi in Indapur, a grassland 35 kms away from where I was put up. A good place for canids. We had to reach there at 5.30 A.M. So, we set off at around 5 A.M., having woken up at 4.30 A.M. A driver and guide accompanied me. Till 5.30 A.M., it was mostly dark. We saw nightjars, jungle hare and a small civet on our way in the darkness courtesy our headlights.

Upon reaching the safari start point, a guide from the forest department also joined us. We started our safari at the onset of dawn. We had only gone a small distance ahead when I spotted what l thought was a wolf on the left, scampering away. The guide confirmed it and we tried to follow the wolf on a parallel path, hoping it would lead us to the pack. The wolf was a juvenile and fast and I had very few opportunities to photograph it before it crossed our road and moved deep into the other side of the grasslands.

We then moved on. Several sightings of Indian gazelle greeted us along with a Red Kugel and some other birds. Out of the blue, my guide shouted ‘fox’ and we spotted a small white speck in the distance darting across at great speed. It was on a morning hunt. We tried another approach to sight it better but it had already vanished.

Upon going further, we came upon a hilly stretch, with the trough in the undulation up ahead. But right then, we also spotted some wolves approaching in the distance. There were 8 of them. We first sighted them from a distance and then from close as they moved over to the other side. They seemed to be stalking a group of gazelle in the distance. At long last, I had had good sightings of wolves in the wild. They were a young bunch. I had to really swivel from 1 direction to the other swiftly to capture certain moments. I was shocked to know wolves there often hunted gazelle. I learnt they were often successful because of their planned approach. That’s some feat, considering a leopard also struggles to catch a gazelle sometimes, in other forests.

Soon after, they disappeared and we spotted several other birds and gazelles. I was intrigued by the chestnut sandgrouse, which was very well camouflaged. One often couldn’t discern their outlines, even when really close. I thought the camouflage of the Eurasian Thick Knee was also very good. We witnessed Lapwings, larks, shrikes and even a Bonelli’s Eagle, flying high up in the sky far away from its nest. There are also hyenas found there and I learnt that recently the pack of wolves had ousted the hyenas from what used to be their territory. So, they had been forced to relocate their den elsewhere, further away. But the hyenas were nowhere to be seen that day.

We waited awhile at a fox’s den, at both entrances to the den waiting for it or its offspring to appear. But in vain! They don’t call the fox ‘wily’ or ‘cunning’ for nothing. We searched one nearby area for an Eagle Owl, who was also absent that day. However, we did see a kingfisher, black cormorant and a lap wing in the process of doing so. With that, the first safari ended.

Upon returning to the homestay, I had breakfast, lunch and rested.

DAY 2: SAFARI 2(SCORPIO+ WALK)

In the evening, the plan was to cover all the birds in and around the lake. This was relatively nearby to the homestay. We set off at around 3 p.m. We saw a few patincoles, plovers, black-headed stilts and lapwings. Some storks, ibises and herons were visible in the distance. But suddenly somewhere near the lake, our vehicle got stuck in the wet mudlands not far from the banks. Owing to some showers not long ago, that stretch of land was particularly wet and the tyres could not get a grip out of certain land patches. The vehicle staff tried a lot of things before resigning and calling out for help to a nearby villager to pull the car out with a tractor.

While all that was going on, I decided to carefully tread closer to the lake’s edge, certain areas being particularly wet and slippery. But I did manage to get some decent shots in the process as the banks close to the lake did have a lot of feathery residents nearby that evening. It was also reasonable lighting. Eventually, the tractor had to pull the Scorpio out of the mud on 2 occasions and it was possible for the driver to finally manouvre the car out of the excessively muddy sections. It was like a safari aborted midway or a semi-walking safari along the lake banks.

We did visit a Shiva Temple site on our way back, near the banks. I got to know the whole area we were exploring including the complete Shiva temple, had been underwater for the better part of the last 45 years with the temple being visible in only 3 years, one of them being 2024. That entire area, including the lake area we partly explored, was generally submerged. That made it feel sort of special. Exploring usually underwater areas, while not being underwater.

With that, the safari came to an end. I went back and after the usual, hit the sack early as we had to set off early the next day.

DAY 3: SAFARI 3(SCORPIO)

I got up at 4 A.M. the next day. The plan was to set off at 4.30 A.M. for an area called Chavanwadi, around 53 kms from where we were staying. This is also in Indapur. This was, with the current animal dynamics, a good place to spot the striped hyena. A female striped hyena was with a cub. So, a sighting was more likely if we reached the right place at the right time. I further got to know from the guide that according to villagers in that area, a group of striped hyenas had taken over the den belonging to a pack of wolves there. The ousted wolves had been forced to relocate somewhere else. The female hyena had given birth to 3 cubs originally, out of which 2 had died out of starvation. Her mate had suffered a tragic death not long after conquering the wolf den, due to other reasons.

We saw a jungle hare on our way again this time in the darkness of early morning and heard some nightjar calls before reaching our destination. We planted the car amidst what looked to be paddy fields. The driver stayed behind while the guide and I exited the car, to make our way up a nearby knoll. Apparently, that’s where the hyena den was. Since she had a cub, the guide reckoned that we would be able to sight it before it left for elsewhere later in the day. We made our way to the exact location of the den. The guide left me at the main entrance of the den, while he hurried along to check the other entrance. I kept staring at the entrance for some time with my camera ready to click away if the opportunity presented, when I heard the guide call to me from behind. He mentioned he had spotted the cub at the other entrance who was feeding on a chicken and it scurried away upon seeing him. Upon reaching the other entrance, I could see the abandoned chicken. But no sign of the juvenile hyena or the mom. Not long after that, the guide got a call from the driver that the female hyena had passed our car from very close and was on its way into another set of paddy fields. The den was in a forested area close to human habitation. We were rushing back when we suddenly sighted the female hyena quietly walking alone amidst the paddy fields from midway up the hillock. It looked at us, before disappearing into the foliage, eventually.

We went back to the den entrance and hid ourselves in the bushes for sometime. But there was no sign of the sub-adult cub. The guide also later checked out a third den entrance nearby, less used in that period. All the entrances were connected underneath the soil. Anyway, that was that. We later went down the small hill to check out an area with birds. Spotted Owls, Green bee eaters, hoopoes and others. The guide was playing recorded mating and territorial calls, which were evoking some interesting reactions from a pair of spotted owls. We later checked out the area where the female hyena had disappeared, on foot. But there was no sign of her. However, surprisingly we did spot a jungle cat, white breasted water hen and a black shouldered kite on the way, by chance.

We then went elsewhere to check out some Mottled wood owls. This area was a bit dark and the guide played his usual specific territorial and mating calls to try and coax them out. There were a couple of owls there too. Because of the darkness, we decided to go to an alternative open area and played the call recordings. One of the Mottled wood owls appeared and checked us out carefully. I was jokingly thinking in my head that it was still checking out the mating call, despite having a mate. Promiscuous owl! We managed to coax a Grey hornbill out too. But that wasn’t a clear sighting. A Brahmini kite suddenly flew by, out of nowhere.

Some birds later, we decided to head back. But not before chancing upon an Eagle Owl, somewhere in a canyon like area. It looked to be smiling at us for awhile before it flew away. That was a refreshing change as most of these owls look dead serious. With that, the safari came to a close for the morning.

DAY 3: SAFARI 4(SCORPIO+ WALK)

In the evening we had plans to go to Rahakudi in Karzan district or Ahmednagar area, maybe around 30 kms from our homestay. This was an impromptu plan made the day before. We started off at 3 p.m. This was on the other side of Bhima river. Wolves reside there too. But instead of gazelles, they had blackbucks to prey on there, other than goats and sheep from nearby farms and villages, as is generally the case. But sighting wolves is not that easy there. We were headed to the blackbuck sanctuary. Upon reaching, we learnt cars are not allowed there. It was going to be a walking safari. I wasn’t really mentally prepared to meet the animals on foot until then.

The entry sign board read that many of the same animals could be seen there, as we had seen in earlier safaris including wolves, hyenas, foxes, owls, buzzards etc. Upon completing some quiet walking, we did eventually come upon several blackbucks. They were surprised to see us because the place is not visited very frequently. Some huge goats from nearby farms also occasionally appeared scaring the blackbucks away, on occasion. They were bigger than the blackbucks. That was a shocker! Normal goats being bigger than deer is not very common. Wonder what their diet is like. Other than a white eye buzzard, there was no sign of any other animal there than the ones mentioned. Very hot and dry climate at the time. We followed the blackbucks and I took shots on occasion. But the blackbucks maintained their distance for the most part. We witnessed the blackbucks jump high on occasions. We tried our best not to disturb them. They always seemed to move away from us. My guide and I tried different strategies to get close. At one point I decided my guide and I will move in opposite directions and the blackbucks won’t know how to react. The guide also suggested he would sit at one place for a while to divert their focus (like a decoy). All of that helped, I think, as their confusion made them pause and gave me some photographic opportunities. On certain occasions, I hid in the bushes, careful not to scare them while closing in. It almost felt like I was a big cat closing in on prey! :) The absence of canids emboldened us to try out these things on foot! After quite a bit of walking and following the blackbucks, the safari ended as after 6 p.m., nobody is allowed in the sanctuary. There was no sign of the canids at the time we visited. The place is surrounded by farms on 2 sides. Soon after, we were back at the homestay.

DAY 4: SAFARI 5(SCORPIO)

I had decided we’d give Kadbanwadi another shot as it seemed like the most promising place so far. I woke up at 4.30 A.M. the following morning and we were off by 5 A.M. We reached the starting point at 5.30 A.M. One of the reasons for waking that early (besides sighting specific species) was that I wanted to hear the wolves howl. Apparently, they do more of that in the morning! Little did I know that this was going to be a very eventful safari.

On that occasion too, I was the first one to spot a wolf on the left. This was a bigger one than the first safari. On following it, we came upon a whole pack. It was early dawn and there wasn’t too much light to play with. This pack had 14, which included the 8 from the other day. This group included the adults. One of the wolves found some abandoned hosepipe lying around and started chewing it, with 2 others also joining it eventually. Some of them were quite close and keenly observed us. They eventually crossed over to the other side and we followed them around for a bit before they disappeared for good.

Upon going further, we chanced upon some birds and several gazelles were also spotted. We learnt from another jeep, there had been a hyena sighting some distance ahead. We waited for a bit and looked around elsewhere. Suddenly, from on top of a hill, a guide spotted 2 hyenas in the distance on top of a plateau. It took a bit of time for me to spot them. When I did, they had started running down the plateau / hill into an area covered by vegetation. Apparently, a mother and her cub. I got some distant pics until they disappeared.

We decided we’d take a closer look near their den. On our way, we spotted a short toed snake eagle which looked quite fierce and elegant. Some other birds and a jungle hare also made their presence known. We were waiting near the den when out of the blue, the female hyena appeared out of nowhere (not the den) and briskly ran up a hill. Shortly afterwards, we saw a wild boar give it chase up the hill. They were both very fast. I was still lost for words at what was unfolding when the guide decided we could also follow it up the hill on foot. So, we did. But midway up the hill, we heard some huge rustling of the bushes and I wondered if it was the wild boar coming back or something. Very tense moments before a huge jungle hare whizzed past us down the hill at unbelievable speed. I thought if the wild boar was charging back at us, it was surely going to be “game over” for my dear life. :D Upon reaching the top of the hill, we could not see the wild boar or the hyena anywhere. They had disappeared somewhere on the other side. We spotted some usual resting spots of the hyena before heading back.

We checked out 3 Bonelli’s eagles high up in the sky(apparently the mom was teaching the children how to fly, as per the guide) and also spent some short time near the lake to check out some wetland birds. With that, my last safari came to a close.

THINGS TO NOTE:

1] Besides the mentioned places, Sirshuphal is also a place for bird and canid sightings. But canids are apparently more difficult to spot there.

2] This was as great an experience as my other forays into forests involving big cats. Never thought something only involving canids and birds could be so exciting.

3] It was an affordable stay and trip overall. Food was also interesting enough. Didn’t know that fish and meat is widely eaten in Maharashtra other than the usual things one would expect.

4] The guides of the bird sanctuary take proactive initiatives to know about these surrounding places involving other wild creatures. There is also a grassland trust safari. But apparently, that is limited in scope.

5] Safaris are conducted in a Mahindra Scorpio with a closed top at Bhigwan. Bit inconvenient as you can only swivel left and right for sightings and pics. Open jeep safaris would give one more flexibility. Apparently, it’s always been with a Scorpio there. No specific reason.

6] Contrary to popular belief, wolves don’t always have dens in the form of stony caves etc. There the habitat alternated between small hillocks and grasslands. So, the dens of hyenas, wolves and foxes were like holes / caves of mud in the soil, sometimes under or beside rocky structures.

7] Indian hyenas look quite serious(or troubled?) and can be bigger than wolves. But some wolves can be pretty big too. Indian hyenas don’t laugh that much. I am yet to hear wolves howling.

8] I was staying 110-120 kms from Pune and all the places I visited out of interest were even 30- 50+ kms further from there. So, not really close to urban areas.

TO CONCLUDE:

This trip certainly exceeded my expectations. I was thrilled to witness the things I did. A long standing goal of mine was achieved in the process. To have good sightings of canids in the wild in an environment where they are the true rulers of their kingdoms. Not just mere survivors in some buffer areas of other forests.