Corbett – Encounter with Elephants
Auli -> Rishikesh -> Corbett National Park -> Varanasi -> Agra
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One fine evening, we were exploring the grasslands of Dhikala looking for birds, and anything else we could come across. Summer was then just setting in and some elephants were starting to come out of the jungle and graze in the grasslands. We hoped to find some of those. I was especially keen to see some baby elephants. And lucky that we were, just before we decided to return we saw a mother elephant with calf.
As it always happens, the mother saw us before we saw them and it was cautious. It decided to move a little further from us, just to be safe. I was aware that I should not disturb them, especially with the calf around, as the mother will be extra careful. But I hoped to get a little closer without troubling them and get some photographs. Our jeep was noisy and there was no place to hide in the planes, so the mother, always aware of our presence, kept moving away as we pressed forward. Seeing that the she was uncomfortable, we did not press forward, but decided to just wait and watch them.
Mother elephant watches us wearily
We watched them for a few minutes as the mother grazed and the kid was just hanging around, not straying too far. After sometime, mother grew weary again and they decided to move away to some place more peaceful. We now decided to follow them from a distance. But seeing us behind them, it looked back, stood firmly, raised it trunk trumpeted loud enough to make it clear that it did not stand our presence. The message was clear now and we did not want to trouble them any further and retreated back to where we started from!
More on Corbett National Park at paintedstork.com
* Images from Corbett
* Arriving at Corbett
* First day at Corbett: safari day trip to Dhikala
* Corbett: In the nature – A struggle between fear and love
* The desperate tourist’s tiger hunt
* Photo Essay: Landscapes of Corbett
* My Days in Corbett
* Encounter with Pachyderms
* Information about Corbett National Park
* Moving on from Corbett