A day with the Krishna mruga's (Blackbucks) The herd with many females and the solitary male were busy grazing, I had never heard of this place rather I was unaware of this place on the peripherals of Bangalore and where blackbucks are sighted! I too as others was surprised to know this fact that there is a Blackbuck conservation reserve near Tumkur, known as Jayamangali Blackbuck Conservation Reserve or Maidenahalli Blackbuck reserve that comes from the name of the village where it is located. This reserve is located 23kms to the north east of Madhugiri town and about 20kms to the west of Hindupur town. It’s a 798-acre patch of grassland with the largest population of Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) in Karnataka apart from the Ranibennur Blackbuck Sanctuary (another surprise). Laudable here are the efforts of the Tumkur based Wildlife Aware Nature Club who have worked hard in getting the protected area status to the reserve. With the place of visit decided, the next big thing was to find the route to this place, reached the reserve area by 7am with the help of guidance from the villagers. The roads were in good condition with bad patches here and there As we approached the gate of the reserve expecting forest guards but were surprised not finding anybody to welcome us, we went inside and hardly few meters ahead we saw a male blackbuck on the Left happily grazing, he gave us a quiver look and then not finding us dangerous enough continued his grazing and slowly moved out of our sights. Blackbucks are very shy animals, they run away at the very sight of humans, but they cant differentiate humans sitting in a car, as we knew this we didn’t step out of the car and neither the blackbucks ran in spite of seeing the car. In a span of 15-20 minutes we had sighted around four blackbuck males in addition to a large herd of female blackbucks. The roads inside the reserve are mud roads and with stones popping all over, driving in small cars need to be with care so as not to get some hard hitting underneath. Clicked some images of Blackbucks and some birds way back came to madhugiri below we can see the big range of the mountains captured and joined many images to make that big Rectangular Image. In the evening light then reached home at 12 in the mid night. Time duration: about 3 hrs traveling on the right path. Route: there are quite a few routes but mentioned below is the route we took Nelamangala – Kyatasandra tollgate – Sira bypass road – Koratagere - Madhugiri – Puruvara village – Giregoudanahalli – Maidenahalli reserve. ½ a km after giregoudanahalli, an unmetalled track turns right which needs to be taken to reach the reserve gate. Food: Carry food and water, madhugiri is the nearest place for these. Camping: Possible with prior permission from the forest department.Caution: Don’t litter the clean place; leave no traces of your visit. care for the nature
A village Sean when i was going to the shoot at "Mydanahalli Forest" on the way saw the farmer taking his OX for the field. what a seen it this there is a morning due falling. Can see the Due clouds going between the big green trees.
This was taken around 6.30am from Sony DSC 858 camera.
