Trip to Tipeshwar

 Tipeshwar : when I heard the name just like you I was wondering where on earth it is. It apparently is a tiger sanctuary which I had not heard of. A friend of mine suggested this as it is a drive-able distance from Hyderabad (~5 hrs) and would be the long deserved break for me from WFH.

Tipeshwar is a wildlife sanctuary that came into being over the last 3-4 years. It's near to Tadoba and  sanctuaries at the border of Telengana and Mahrashtra and not very far off from Pench and Melghat. These fragmented sanctuaries allude to the fact that these entire belt used to be tiger territories. We have now restricted them to a few wildlife sanctuaries and there is movement of tigers between one sanctuary to other. It's a different topic on whether we are able to provide safe passage for them to move.

Tipeshwar sanctuary get's it's name from Tipeshwar Mandir which is next to a beautiful lake. There were three villages in the forest that were relocated once this became a sanctuary. It was great to see the initiative where wildlife for a change took precedence over human settlement.

We stayed at the Foxtail Eco retreat at Sunna gate. The resort is very thoughtfully designed and has tents with all facilities. This is the place to stay if you ever visit Tipeshwar. 

It was Aug end and there was possibility of heavy rains and chances of seeing a tiger was slim. But I guess I was so desperate to get to the forests that it didn't matter what we saw. And we were not disappointed.

At the resort itself there was some birding like the wire tailed swallow

Plenty of baya weavers and this was their nesting season

And grass birds like Zitting Cisticola

During the safaris  the bird life was a bit limited because of the rains and a bit because of not efficient tracking. The guides are pretty new and not the most knowledgeable on birds and their behaviour.

We saw white eyed buzzard almost everyday

Among other raptors were the crested serpent eagle, Common hawk Cuckoo and Shikra

Sirkeer Malkoha, Common Wood swallow (juv), Painted Francolin, Red Naped Ibis 

Common birds like the Indian Rollers, hoards of Parakeet and peacock and peahens and bay backed shrike

Moving over to mammals we saw Nilgais, Langurs and Cheetals

Finally on our fifth safari after a lot of tracking, we finally encountered Jack a male tiger (8 year old)

Who definitely was not expecting us and was not so happy with our presence. Twice he crouched to take a closer look at us.

This was my third visit to a tiger sanctuary (yes I am more of the birding types) and was lucky to see this magnificent cat every time.

Given it's proximity to Hyderabad this sanctuary definitely deserves a few more visits especially in summers