Adventures of a Wildlife Photographer

Last Sunday, when I decided to visit the Sultanpur National Park, Gurgaon after a hiatus of about a couple of months, I did not expect the weather to turn for the worse, nor was I aware of a funny encounter I would be having with an Asian Golden Jackal! What had started as a clear morning, at about 5:30 a.m. would become a foggy overcast morning by the time I reached the National Park at 7:00 a.m. After about 25 minutes into my sojourn, it began to drizzle. 

At first, it was the odd sound of raindrops striking the water's surface in the different ponds and pools, and then it really started to pour! Fortunately, I could pack my camera into its case and stand close to the forked trunks of a tree. I was on the track that runs around the park and was literally berating myself for having decided to visit the Park on such a dull morning. In the middle of my thoughts, a sixth sense alerted me to the presence of something, and turning round, I looked through the fork of the tree, and saw to my surprise a young Asian Golden Jackal trotting towards me! I wonder who was more shocked, the Jackal or me! Anyway, the moment the Jackal spotted me, he stopped abruptly and then dashed back the way he had come! I, for one thing, wished I had my camera out and ready, but then one cannot be ready enough when shooting in the wild!

But then that encounter with the Jackal was not the last one and when the rain lessened a bit, I retreated down the path for a hundred meters or so and then stood under another tree with my back to the trunk. This time too, I was alerted by my sixth sense that something was approaching me. Looking beyond the tree trunk I spotted the same Jackal, this time approaching me down a parallel path in a depression. This time the Jackal looked at me fearlessly, even as he turned his head towards me as he passed me. I literally wanted to stamp my feet in frustration as I was helpless, my camera was in its case, it was raining and I was soggy wet. The Jackal, however, was having a grand time, trotting along in the rain. I could imagine the springiness in its feet! The best shots are the missed shots, and they can only be etched in your mind and not in your camera. That, I guess is what drives people to visit the wild, it is not the capture of an image on a digital device, but the experience of being in the wild. I could smell the scents of the mustard flowers wafting in from a plantation nearby and of course the sounds of the wilderness.

The rewards of patience, can, however, exceed expectations at times as I was about to realize. After it stopped raining, the skies opened sporadically as the clouds covered and uncovered the sun and it was during these moments that I was able to spot the Greylag Geese wading in the shallows, rooting for succulent titbits underwater. There were moments when they were literally spotlighted by the beams of the sun as and when they were allowed to pass through the clouds. It was a joy to spot the Northern Shoveller Ducks nesting on huge mounds of dried grass in groups of four or five of them. One particular scene was that of a pair of Shoveller Ducks dozing, with one of them with one eye open looking at me from the distance. What was striking was to see that one eye burning like a beacon in the misty morning!

By the time I returned home, my bike was coated with a thick layer of mud, and my shoes weighed a ton from the mud sticking to it. I was, however, happy with what I had been able to capture despite the bad weather. The moral of the story? Well, I guess, one needs to persevere in one's goal for the the and not let one's negative thoughts ruin the prospects. Moreover, one only sometimes gets good photographs of wild animals and birds in the wild, what matters though is the experience of being connected to nature. A fleeting glance at a wild animal should spice your day.

These photographs might not win accolades, but then they do describe an experience that is genuine and authentic. I have rarely found the best conditions for taking photographs at the Sultanpur National Park for the very reason that the fog and lighting conditions during the winter months are really bad. Nevertheless, I guess my visit to the the Sultanpur National Park on a foggy, rainy day was with it!