Birds Spotted in the Dhela Zone, Jim Corbett Park, Uttarakhand

Dhela village and the Dhela Zone of the Jim Corbett Park is a treasure trove of birds, especially the little ones that seem to be rather elusive and difficult to capture on camera in the plains. I was particularly drawn by the activities of  Sunbirds, Bee Eaters and Scaly Breasted Munia Birds while staying in the Corbett Treat Resort in Dhela Village. Most of my time was spent photographing the antiques of these birds. Of great interest was the sight of a female sunbird feeding her chick.

I have never been able to get really close to the Sunbirds pictured above in the plains more so because I have never seen them sit still for a second! At the Resort, I was able to take quite a few photographs of these rather twitchy birds (I used a 55-250mm lens for all of my bird shots).

Munnia Birds are the cutest birds I have seen. They are so 'cute' and so playful. The ones that I saw at the Resort seemed to belong to a closely knit community, and they seemed to be very expressive of their emotions.

The Female Sunbird doesn't have the bright purple hue of its male partner and it might be difficult to distinguish it from the green warbler.

The sight of a Green Warbler Mother feeding her chick was an amazing sight. The mother seemed to have brought her chick an insect that was too big for her chick.

The Green Bee Eaters seemed to be present in large numbers, though they seemed to be shyer than the other birds and kept particularly away from the Resort Fence.

The Green Pigeon also found in the plains of North India, and Delhi NCR Territory can be seen in the forest area. They like their cousins could be found perched high up in the tree branches of the Dhela Village forest area.

Doves are commonly found in the farmlands in the Dhela Village. This one seemed to be not very shy of my camera and me.

Fly Catchers can be found in abundance and this might also because of the abundance of insects in the area. When my family and I visited the Dhela Village in the Jim Corbett National Park it was in the second week of  June, and surely the weather was very hot. It was perhaps for this reason that I was able to spot these birds mostly in the mornings before the sun had reached its Zenith.

Eco-Tourism in the Jim Corbett Park and Foothills of Uttarakhand

Come May, June and everyone from the plains rushes to the mountain destinations, especially Mussoorie, Nainital, Shimla and Manali. Unfortunately, this places a lot of strain on these tourist hotspots. Getting stuck in a traffic jam a couple of kilometres from Mussoorie can be a daunting experience what with locals making fun of the poor tourist stuck in the traffic. The Mussoorie crawl can take ages to clear and then when you reach the town, you are faced with another daunting task, that of parking your vehicle in a parking lot a couple of kilometres from your hotel.

It is because of the fact that some of the most popular tourist destinations have become crowded areas that people have begun to explore other options, options that are easily accessible, far from the madding crowd, places that offer some peace of mind. These options are often located in lesser-known villages far away from city centres. Often these locations have resorts that are close to villages. One such location that we visited this year for our summer vacations was a resort in the Dhela Village before Ramnagar. The Resort, Corbett Treat, is just adjacent to the electrified fence of a portion of the Jim Corbett National Park and it offers peace of mind.

While visiting the Jim Corbett National park, one is likelier to spot a wider range of wildlife than in the more populated areas of the hills. We were lucky to spot a tiger while driving back to our resort on the way back from Ramnagar. For people like me, the greatest attraction of visiting a hill station lies in the ability to spot a wide range of flora and fauna. While it might not be just about spotting a tiger, it might be something as simple as watching Munnia Birds playing or a Sunbird sipping nectar!

Eco-tourism is a growing trend not just in the plains but also the mountains of India. Resorts are being built close to villages and they provide employment to the youth. The reduced amounts of pollution, the sight of large vistas of farmlands, farmers sowing seeds or even harvesting provide a suitable break for eyes that have seen nothing but concrete jungles and madly driven cars. The sounds of birds calling to each other, crickets making a noise in the bushes, or perhaps even the call of a tiger is a big draw for discerning tourists.

It is the small pleasures of looking at nature in all its glory that makes you want to visit a place that is not overcrowded, I mean you become so fed up of the mad rush of the towns and cities, that it gives you great joy to connect with nature. The chameleons are so big, the flowers so fresh, the air so clean and what better than to see the clear sky with the stars shining at night!

You hardly get to see a bumble bee in the plains and seeing two is luckier still! Looking at the farmlands stretching till the horizon, or even the scarecrows in the fields all of these sights can be most welcoming at times.

While on an early morning walk you might come across strange sights in the field like for example, I thought there was a very tall woman standing in the field, but then when I got closer I noticed that it was a quilt that had been draped on to a pole!

The earthy scents, the sight of dew-drops on leaf ends, the quiet passage of a gust of wind, these are the treasure that one is bound to miss out when visiting crowded towns in the mountains.

A Trip to Dhela Gaon in the Jim Corbett National Park

This year too, the summer vacations were a long-awaited moment for us to chill out. Like always, we decided to visit someplace that would not be overcrowded like the major towns in the hill stations. One spot we have been visiting almost every year is the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. Thus, we started looking for resorts that would offer us comfort, adventure and perhaps the chance to spot a tiger! Our choice turned out to be a resort called the Corbett Treat Resort in Dhela Village a little before Ramnagar. It was a 300 kilometres journey from Gurgaon and the morning drive was refreshing. We started at 4:30 a.m. and reached at 12:45 p.m.

At the reception, we were greeted by the G.M., Mr Kapil Mehta who wasted no time in making us comfortable by accommodating us in four suites in the same block. The USP of the resort is that it is bang in the middle of the Jhirna portion of the Jim Corbett park and the resort itself is fenced off from the forest with an electrified fortification similar to the one in the film, Jurassic Park although less tall. 

Well, the big question, did we see a tiger? The answer to that question, hovering on the tongues of many is 'Yes!' It was on the third day of our stay, that we spotted one. No, I couldn't take a photograph as I was driving and it happened rather abruptly! We were returning from Ramnagar at about 12:30 p.m. when just 1.5 kilometres from our resort, my brother Sanjay shouted, 'Tiger!" I applied brakes and reversed the car just in time to see a tiger ambling in the jungle just to our left even as it entered into some bushes. That was an amazing moment for all of us, and our first sighting of a tiger in the open from the road itself. We were later told that tigers have been sighted at that spot a number of times. Mr Kapil later told us that we had been very lucky to have sighted one. He told us that there was a shrine close by and that tigers could often be seen close to it. Incidentally, the movie, Kaal had been shot in that vicinity.

On the second day, we went for a 'Nature Walk' in the jungle accompanied by Nitin, one of the employees at the resort. We were able to spot some deer in the distance and a mongoose, not much else, although Nitin did point out to a spot where the ground had been scratched by a tiger according to him-little did we know that we would spot a tiger the next day!

The rest of the days we just chilled out in the swimming pool or taking photographs of the exotic birds in the resort itself. We were able to spot Munnia Birds, Purple Sunbirds, Bee-Eaters, and Green Warblers, besides some of the largest Chameleons, and Bumble Bees too!

Yes, we did take candy with us! One of the reasons why we chose the resort was that it is pet-friendly.

To enjoy the natural beauty of the surroundings, you need to wake up early in the mornings so that you might catch the Munia Birds playing around, or perhaps capture one of the most amazing sights of the rising sun with a backdrop of mountains towering in the distance!

One of the most amazing sights was to see a mother Green Warbler bird feeding her chick food. The grub was probably too big to fit into her chick's beak, but then it was a sight that brought out the tenderness of feelings that a mother has for her children!

We were left feeling fulfilled and satiated by our three-day visit to the National Park. We'd left Gurgaon on the 11th of June and returned on the 14th, back to a dusty environment with all that mad pace that has become the very essence of Gurgaon. Strangely enough, there is so much that we have lost sight of in Gurgaon. The humble Sparrow, the bumblebee with its rather loud buzzing sound - all of this is reason enough to visit the Jim Corbett National Park!

My Jim Corbett National Park Diary

This time, during the Diwali break, my family decided to visit the Jim Corbett National Park in Ramnagar, Uttarakhand. The Distance from Gurgaon was 300 kilometres. We decided to stay at the Corbett Anand Amod Resort at Dhikuli. We started at 4:15 a.m. and reached at 11:30 a.m. The journey got delayed because of the Traffic Jam a couple of kilometres before the Brajghat Bridge on the Ganga River at Garh Mukhteshwar.

On reaching the resort we quickly checked in to our rooms and then rushed up for our lunch as we had booked our safari for 2:30 p.m. that very day. To our pleasant surprise, the first animal that greeted us, that too immediately after entering the park premises was a spotted deer with antlers!

The Sambur Deer is a larger kind of Antelope and the National Park is teeming with Sambur Deer. This is a relatively shy animal and I found it difficult to photograph it from a distance. The moment we tried to get close to it, it fled into the undergrowth.

Apart from the deer and monkeys, we were rewarded with sightings of Wild Roosters and Khaleej Pheasants. The Khaleej Pheasants were relatively shy and by the time we reached them, they were hidden within the foliage!

The last that I saw such handsome roosters was when I was in Ethiopia many years ago. The male roosters can be very colourful and the driver of our jeep told us that the male rooster has feathers of seven different colours!

The hen, unfortunately, is not as good looking as the male rooster. Nevertheless, I guess they both make a good pair, a loyal pair as such. I was able to take a couple of photographs of the hen from close to where the rooster was.

Apart from the birds and fowls, the grasslands are worth a view. The grasslands stretch into the horizon reminding one of how vast the world is and how small, we human beings are! There are spots in the National Park where you can alight from the jeep and walk on the ground. These are designated spots close to the watchtowers.

Towards the end of our safari in the National Park, we were able to spot one more deer, an elusive dog-sized deer known as Kakkar or Barking deer. It moved too quickly for me and the driver could not stop the jeep in time. Nevertheless, we were able to get a fleeting glimpse of one more species of deer.

Our safari in the Jim Corbett National Park had taken about two hours. We had reached the park gate at three and were out by five in the evening. It would also be advisable for visitors to carry binoculars, although the same are available on hire at the entry gates. Moreover, visitors to the park should have warm clothing on as it can become a bit cold by five in the evening in the month of October. Wearing caps and shades might help from the dust that might be caused by numerous other vehicles on the track.