We settled into our new lodge last night before dinner. It's owned by the same company but is nowhere near as nice IMO; our room is very shabby which I can accept, but it is also dirty - Ian has had to ask for his bed linen to be changed as it had tea stains on the duvet cover and I've simply unplugged and hidden the filthy telephone. The manager is a young, jumped up, whatsit and his lack of friendliness is in such contrast to the last one where the manager chatted to everyone. This attitude goes right through the staff, unfortunately, who give the impression they are doing us a favour by being there. Moan over.
We were up and out again at 0600 and the routine at the park gate was the same - this time I remembered to photograph the starting grid.
It felt considerably cooler here and certainly the mist hung around for a long time.
Elephants are used to monitor the tiger movement here and apparently they are the only things tigers are scared of.
As I have already said there isn't a great deal of diversity in the wildlife, so a few repetitive shots.
The way the Grey Langurs were sitting on the branch with their feet up the trunk and numerous tails hanging down made me laugh.
You can see just how velvety the antlers are - they are shed annually.
These are bees nests - there are sloth bear in these parks but they are mostly nocturnal and so the chances of seeing one are slim.
Indian Jungle Fowl m.
This peacock was quite a way in the distance but treated us to a good 360° display of his wares.
We spent a good while watching this Green Bee Eater flying around and turning to the same spot.
It wasn't until I downloaded these though that I realised he'd actually caught a bee. He then removed the sting and threw it up in the air so he could swallow it at the right angle.
Indian Pond Heron and despite the name we saw quite a few of these and they were always at the top of trees, much to B's confusion.
This Indian Cormorant gave us a good display and seemed to enjoy posing for us.
There were termite mounds in Panna NP but they were rather ordinary, whereas these were extremely architectural - Ian said they reminded him of Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.
I've left this one uncropped as it shows just how far away the birds mostly were. This is an Indian Vulture which is about 3' in length so you can imagine how difficult the smaller birds are to capture.
This antler arch was at the designated breakfast area.
Breakfast is taken rather late, around 1000, because allegedly by then tiger activity has ceased but shortly after we got back in the truck we got wind of a possible sighting and sped over to the area where several trucks were already waiting. Typically she was on her daily patrol and unfortunately walking past a fenced area.
Our driver then made the best decision and drove along the road to the track he thought she would head down and stopped just past it - we had the best possible view.
It then became obvious she was heading towards where our jeep was parked on the road and so we backed off to give her space but fortunately we still had the best of views.
She was absolutely magnificent and although I was appalled at the number of trucks around and the noise everyone was making, I must say she didn't seem bothered at all and just continued resolutely along her usual route.
Once she'd crossed the track she stopped briefly under the trees, turned slightly towards the trucks probably said in tiger "OK the show's over, you can all b*gger off now" and disappeared into the woods.
As beautiful and magnificent as she was, sadly this will be my lasting memory, even to the dust cloud kicked up as another truck roared up late to the party.
A short video
We all agreed that if we didn't get another sighting the whole holiday, we'd be happy with that one.
Back out again after lunch and the grid line up as before.
We got "chatting" with these lovely ladies and having taken their photo they all got out of their truck to stand by ours so they could have theirs taken with us.
Cows in rural India are a common sight and they do whatever they want to and go wherever they please. This one just hangs around the start grid getting in everyone's way.
Sometimes it looks like English parkland - we could be at Knole.
Sambar deer enjoying the pond weed.
This guy's antlers were massive, I thought at first they were tree branches.
This is what the do with the shed antlers now they don't collect them to make arches.
Jackal
I can always rely on the Grey Langurs for a comical pose.
Or indeed a cute shot.
White Rumped Sharma
Greater Coucal
Apparently at one time there was a motel of sorts within the National Park and this petrol station is a relic of those days - seems rather odd.
We frequently saw park workers but invariably they were just sitting down like this chap!
Once again we found it rather quiet although having listened to others in the group at lunchtime they'd had the most amazing sightings this morning; several tigers and also leopard. We've named one of them Right Place Right Time Rich, as his truck is always there - either he's incredible lucky or he's a total fantasist!